What Is It With Sports Media, Anyway?

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"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story"  ~ Mark Twain

Offseason trade rumors has generally been a fun topic to explore. But, as always, sensationalism, abject irresponsibility and industrial strength BS has virtually eclipsed actual facts, possibilities and reality and it gets worse every year. Unfortunately, the concept has been the main marketing strategy and sales/ratings hook for the media as a whole for generations. For example, remember this Chicago Daily Tribune moldy oldy about the results of Election Day in  1948?

                

And how about the New York Post's shameless 1978 attempt at drumming up newspaper sales?

                         

And they almost never apologize for deceiving the public, whether it was accidental or not. And if they actually were to admit their error they bury it in another section where it will most likely be overlooked. No accountability, not even an hint of guilt because they know it'll all blow over in a few days as long as they keep creating chaos.

There always someone (especially a young newcomer) who tries to make a name for himself through emotional, angry hysterics and making up or spreading fake rumors or creating controversy in an attempt to provoke an emotional reaction. And it works for them because, 1. Bad news outsells good news, and 2. That's how fans have been conditioned. Players refer to it as "stirring up shit" and, quite frankly, that's the perfect definition.

[I once heard an overnight sportsradio call-in rookie try to hook his listeners into calling  by claiming, very loudly, that in Major League Baseball, "Anything that happened before 1950 doesn't count!" The next sound my radio made was "Click!" I've never reached for the "off" switch so fast in my life. One of the dumbest things I've ever heard. - Ed.]

Anyway, the cases in point for this article are the constant trade rumors, proposals, fiction and runaway speculation surrounding New York Knicks' All-Star power forward Julius Randle and the New York Rangers' captain and leader, defenseman Jacob Trouba. 

[Because of his impending free agency, New York Mets' All-Star slugger Pete Alonso has had a "Trade him!" bullseye on his back all year until the Mets vaulted themselves back into contention. But now, even after the trade deadline, the media is still trying to worry Met fans by giving Alonso's undecided future top billing with multiple articles at a time in different publications as well as sports radio and TV shows. It's so aggravatingly typical.]

The fodder for this particular wave of media hype is player contracts and, along with an overdose of media science fiction, it targets those fans who just can't resist buying into all that smog. In Randle's case it's about a contract extension in which the Knicks have until October 21st to make a commitment either way. Meanwhile, the writers and radio hosts have floated countless unfounded rumors, questionable trade proposals and seriously poor excuses to Trade Randle.

               

Claims: He's an awkward fit now with four key members of the 2016 and 2018 Villanova NCAA champions now on the roster. Many of the local hacks propose trading Randle for a backup/starting center, a legitimate need they have had with the departure of Isaiah Hartenstein to free agency. Even with the Knicks re-signing Precious Achiuwa, a potential backup to starting center Mitchell Robinson, the media is still at it.

Facts: 1. Julius Randle knows Knicks' coach Tom Thibodeau's system and has excelled in it over his five years with the team. 2. Randle's one of the toughest and strongest players in the game and combined with his talents, it's an asset not easily replaceable. 3. Besides, if he's traded for a center, who's going to replace Randle as the starting power forward? None of the scribes have addressed that issue, have they? And it's by design. They have practically no interest in professionally examining the ramifications of such a move beforehand. Why should they bother with the dull truth when there are perfectly good rumors to be spread?

In July, Randle's teammate, superstar point guard Jalen Brunson, signed a four-year, $156.5 million contract extension to help the team avoid salary cap issues should the need arise to add another star player or two. If he'd played out his current contract instead he would've been eligible for a five-year, $269.1 million deal next year as an unrestricted free agent. Brunson sacrificed a lot of money to assist the team. It was a very rare move by a star player and it was met with raves from fans and consternation from some players who only work via the dollar $ign and have very little or no interest in the home team discount concept.

Julius Randle's extension may or may not pan out the same way, so the writers have taken it upon themselves to start churning out absurd rumors and trade proposals that demonstrate quite clearly that they'll never be management material in any field. Long/short, when it comes to prognosticating, the media knows virtually nothing because they conveniently bypass conventional wisdom until unavoidable facts come to light and spoils their fun.

Jacob Trouba's going through the same thing:

             

Claim: Despite the Rangers coming off an outstanding season, the sports "experts" say that the team needs another big-name scorer and the only way to accomplish this goal is to trade Trouba and his big contract which will carve $8 million off their payroll this year and increase the room they'd have under the NHL's ludicrous hard salary cap rules. The team also had some of their own players to re-sign so, seizing the opportunity, the local media took the low road, as always, and flooded the fans with incessant trade rumors (The Rangers are sending Trouba to this team or he was being offered to that team or he was going to be outright released), and generally without any real evidence, i.e., no authentic quotes from any member of Rangers' management. It's always "Unnamed sources" or "somebody familiar with the situation" - the terms often used to protect the the identity of their sources - but it's all too often used as a license to "stir up shit."

Fact: News bulletin, you guys. The Rangers had the best record in the league last season and Trouba was a big factor whether you know it or choose to ignore it in order to create a story to gain ratings/sales. The team fell short of winning the Stanley Cup but they don't need a scorer so badly that they have to trade their captain, team leader and inspiration in order to get one.

So why does the sports media play these games? Is it due to what's known in the business as a sloooow news day and they have space/airtime to fill? Is it a quota they're required to meet? Is it to get their jollies? Is it satisfaction? Is it ego? Fulfillment? Gratification? Mind games? Power? Sadism? Truth be told, it's a little (or a lot) of each. Or, as the great W.C. Fields once said, "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit."

In recent years, the overall credibility of the Fourth Estate has taken a beating due to blatant sensationalism and they have nobody but themselves to blame (that is, if they actually give a damn long enough to blame anyone). And sports fans, in the guise of being uber-passionate, eat up all the gossip-style nonsense and sometimes even adopt the same attitudes and opinions that they may read and/or hear. In many cases, almost everything that sportswriters and sportsradio know-it-alls say or print are revered by their fans, whether true or not. The media knows this so why would they stop? Hey, it's America! Freedom of the press and all that. Okay, fine. But can't just a smidgen of ethics be dropped into the cauldron? It can't hoit.

For What It's Worth Dept. - Here's your bottom line: Providing a happy, or at least contented ending is not possible here because, unlike most media types, this writer refuses to insult his audience's intelligence by faking anything. It's a major league shame that the mainstream media operates under the same dollar $ign that the players do. Common sense, accountability, responsibility and the truth have virtually no lease in the newsroom and there are no plans to change the formula.

More's the pity.