"A Media-Player Love Affair"

A league built on media and revenue, the NFL needs characters like Terrell Owens. Not a player but a character, the drama of Terrell Owens provides people with jobs in the sports industry. Without his shenanigans on and off the field, the NFL would be nothing more than just a game, rather than the entertainment package that it markets itself as. Like gasoline to a fire, Owens fuels the media. To go a week without Terrell Owens on the news can be compared to agricultural states going without rain, they need him.

So, if the media and league needs characters like Owens so much, why is it that they only acknowledge them when they are acting out? In a pro-bowl like season, Terrell Owens has received considerable less attention than he did last year while leading the league with dropped passes. In every interview with or about Terrell Owens, the media tries to bait someone into a negative comment either from or about the player. Why is it that they can’t respect him as a good player? With numbers matching Brady and Manning, and a personality greater than both players put together, why is it that Brady and Manning are in every commercial and Owens is in none. He is good enough to sell your tickets but not to market your cell phone. The last TV exposure I can remember with Owens was a controversial “Desperate Housewives” skit for a Monday Night Game.

Try to imagine a league without Owens; you couldn’t. Owens brings life to a league trying so hard to go corporate. Owens is that rebel that refuses to change himself for the better of the whole. Though this is selfish, the league secretly loves it. He is what I like to call, “a necessary evil.” The league needs him, but they need him to act out some. Not to break any laws but just show his hind parts to the league and its rules every once and awhile.

The league should pay more dues to its characters. Without them there would be no life and no money. The media feeds off of these characters and the league feeds off of the media. They all need each other. The media knows that people want excitement. They want touchdowns, fumbles, interceptions, but more importantly they want drama. Here in the 21st century, drama dominates television. Every major network has some form of reality TV on it and with reality TV you get drama. Just look at Bill Parcells, he was hired for the simple fact by ESPN to give dirt about Terrell Owens. Every week he was asked to give some negative comment about “tha player,” but as he continued to speak positively about “Terrell Owens,” he was featured less and less in the coming weeks. So the media loves T.O., but they can’t let everyone know it, they have to keep this affair on the down low, so T.O. keep doing what you do.

Leave A-Rod Alone

With Alex Rodriguez coming off one of the better all around seasons in baseball over the last few years, we are all still being bombarded by one thing--his failures in the playoffs. Could ESPN and the rest of the media be kind enough to talk about the season he just put together, instead of his "failures" in the playoffs? Could someone please focus on the great playoff match-ups and not the stats of a player who has had a few bad playoff games? I guess that is too much to ask from a network like ESPN, who at a time where it should be promoting the game of baseball and its great playoffs, will be breaking down one of the more marketable players in the game today.

Checking ESPN.com the day before the Yankees were set to begin the playoffs, and on the front page of the site as the main headline of the day was an article titled King of Gotham?...The next month will determine if baseball's best player conquers New York...Or abdicates the throne. Instead of focusing on how A-Rod helped the Yankees reach the playoffs, we have to hear again how A-Rod has had a few bad postseason at bats.

Now ESPN is not the only one to blame, as the New York media has played a role in bashing A-Rod. I feel that without the constant scrutiny on A-Rod, this topic would never have come about. Does anyone remember A-Rod's first playoff series as a Yankee where he single handedly helped the Yankees beat the Twins? Of course not, because that wouldn't generate the buzz that his failures produce. I truly feel that all the negative media attention has turned some Yankee "fans" against A-Rod. The true fans don't hate A-Rod, but others are easily swayed. My argument not only applies to A-Rod's play on the field, but also on off the field matters. Is there a reason why we have to know when A-Rod hangs out with his family in Central Park without a shirt or why we need front page news when he was reportedly being unfaithful on a road trip?

I guess my whole point of this is why the media needs to jump on this guys back for a few hitless games. Sure, he's the games highest paid player and probably it's most recognizable player, but it is baseball, which is not the easiest sport to play. Is the pressure getting to him? It's possible, but I don't think there would be this enormous pressure on him if it weren't for the constant attention the media puts on him, both on and off the field. And I don't buy that it's the pressure of New York that is getting to him. No other player has had to deal with the stuff that A-Rod deals with. I think a lot of people may be taking for granted what a great player A-Rod is. I really believe that instead of bashing the guy, they should try to market him as a great representative of Major League Baseball like a Derek Jeter or a Vladimir Guerrero or a David Ortiz. Why can't A-Rod also be in that mix? To me, there is just no need for stories on A-Rod's failures to be shoved in our faces anymore. I think everyone should just leave the guy alone, let him play, and let him be the star that Major League Baseball should want him to be.

Speaking about marketing, the negative attention that is constantly put on A-Rod can't help the marketing of him as a great player. I feel that the negative attention is mostly unnecessary, as there are bigger and more important things that the media should be focusing on. No one in the media pointed out the bad statistics of other Yankees in the playoffs--all the blame went to A-Rod. If I were MLB, I would try my best to get this guy viewed in a more positive light to maximize his value to the sport. Having a guy like A-Rod, in a market like New York, should be an easy sell, but so far it hasn't. If A-Rod stays in NY, MLB should really try to market this guy better than they do now, or they will miss the boat and probably regret it.