It’s a shame that “The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart” doesn’t ever satirize sports journalism. Now,
I know the good people at Comedy Central aren’t going to ever
be able to put an end to shoddy tabloid journalism. After all, Jon
Stewart would need a new gig.
But if there was just some sort of way to keep the sports
journalists honest by showing the absurdity of their work much in
the same way that “The Daily Show” parodies cable news,
then maybe we could restore some semblance of professionalism to
sports broadcasting.
There’s a recent example that shows the conflict of
interest major sports media outlets are facing and the hypocrisy
they employ that keeps them from even admitting it themselves.
In an Aug. 15 episode of HBO’s “Real Sports with
Bryant Gumbel,” the reporter was interviewing Roger Goodell,
the newly hired NFL Commissioner who is replacing the long-tenured
and financially shrewd Paul Tagliabue.
Gumbel, who was notorious in his days with NBC’s
“Today Show” for being a controversial yet highly
effective broadcast reporter, asked Goodell perhaps the most loaded
question ever proposed by a journalist, Fox News not
withstanding:
“Before he cleans out his office, have Paul Tagliabue show
you where he keeps Gene Upshaw’s leash. By making the docile
head of the players’ union his personal pet, your predecessor
has kept the peace without giving players the kind of guarantees
other pros take for granted. Try to make sure no one competent ever
replaces Upshaw on your watch.”
Gumbel was referring to the NFL’s contract policy that
doesn’t guarantee a base salary to its players. Despite being
arguably the most physically traumatic sport of the four major
North American sports, football is the only one that doesn’t
have guaranteed contracts for the players. Since Upshaw has been
the players’ union representative and Tagliabue the
commissioner, the league has also implemented a widely popular
salary cap and revenue sharing system.
Gumbel has been torched in the media for being unfair, unethical
and just plain classless with Goodell, who never really had a
chance to defend himself.
After all, Gumbel has been hired by the NFL Network to do
play-by-play for its games on satellite with Chris Collinsworth.
Gumbel’s critics say he can’t do his job for HBO with
full disclosure if he is getting paid by the NFL.
What? How can he be unethical on both sides of the fence? What
this little media explosion really shows is that too many people
are ignoring the bigger problems with the football media.
Make no mistake. Gumbel’s aggressive interview was not an
accident or a lack of tact. He knows he has a reputation for being
a cavalier sports journalist who is also collecting a paycheck from
the NFL. So, what’s the first piece he does as football
season starts? He touches a taboo subject that the NFL would rather
ignore.
The fact remains that football players are risking injury the
way few athletes in the world are willing to do, and there’s
no ethical reason why they shouldn’t be paid accordingly.
Nobody’s asking for a handout, or even more money. Just draw
up the contracts similar to that of MLB or NBA or NHL.
Too often an NFL player signs a contract with a front-loaded
signing bonus, gets injured in the first couple years of the
contract, and is released by the organization. The player will
still receive his signing bonus, often guaranteed over the length
of the contract, but doesn’t get any of the base salary.
This is a system that unfairly rewards management and penalizes
labor. It’s a dangerous sport and players get hurt, so owners
don’t want to keep paying employees who are unable to perform
at their highest level.
However, injury-prone players are often physically limited later
in life, especially in their golden years; yet, they cannot legally
sue the NFL for having both hips replaced. Therefore, it is only
fair that the players get what is rightfully theirs.
As for Gumbel, he is a journalist, which some naive people still
think should represent an independent voice.
Gumbel wasn’t unethical. He would have a conflict of
interest if he decided not to ask Goodell about the contracts.
Meanwhile, ESPN and every other sports broadcasting show have
gotten into the trend of hiring former players as analysts. Talk
about conflict of interest. This is what ESPN’s Joe
Theismann, former Washington Redskin quarterback, had to say about
Gumbel’s interview:
“That’s not the sort of person we want representing
our product.”
Product? Do you work for a media outlet or the NFL?
For critical news on sports, I’ll take my cues from a
self-righteous reporter before a Neanderthal masquerading as an
analyst.
I hope Tony Kornheiser enjoys the fine work of Theismann on the
new Monday Night Football broadcasting team.
E-mail De Jong at [email protected] if you are a former
UCLA football player looking for a job as an analyst.