I think of the cliche lesson in Bull Durham )
There’s nothing worse than interviewing a boxer in the ring at the end of the fight. They just spent an hour getting punched in the head repeatedly and Larry Merchant thinks he can ask insightful questions about something that happened back in Round 4.
That’s why boxers are the only athletes I can forgive for going into “praise God” mode after the fight. They’re usually in no shape to blurt out anything else.
Stop watching, reading and listening. Your problem solved and if enough people do it, it will show in ratings and the interviews will not be done anymore.
There are adults who eat crayons whose intellects (and ability to host radio shows) are the equal of Jim Rome.
I give you Charles Barkley.
Now that’s an interesting, thought-provovking interview.
It’s not a question of being equal. It’s a question of being able to answer the simplest question without bombarding the listener with like, you know, I mean…
This has been a long-term trend in public speaking, one that has so entrenched itself that not only are people not cognizant of the fact that they say it, but it’s now acceptable to the public at large. It’s absolutely infuriating to me. Just say what you’re trying to say. Or, as you say, stop doing interviews.
Watching Larry Merchant interview anybody at any time is a painful experience. He’s boxing’s equivalent of passing a kidney stone.
And this illustrates why so many athletes resort to the same old cliches. They know it’s better to sound bland than to sound like an idiot.
More hilarity and insight from Charles Barkley"
#14 is especially true.
Wish a lot more athletes spoke their minds, rather than sound like timid, canned and scripted sheep.
It is like your younger brother when he is told to clean the bathroom. He does such a terrible job that he never gets asked again.
“Biff, that was a heckuva second half you played out there. How do you feel?”
“Jim, lemme tell you, I feel great, but I’ve gotta give credit to the team. Today, we came to play. They came to play too, but we played just a little bit better. It was a good game, and we gave 110%. But yeah, I was backed by a good team, and I gotta thank the guys. And Jesus. Thanks guys, thanks, Jesus, and thanks, Jim; I gotta go shower up.”
{someone beat me to it}
I’m jealous that these knuckle dragging NBA players make more in a game than what a doctor or lawyer makes in a year, or what a minimum wage employee makes in a lifetime and this is OK with everyone.
If you look at most players, especially in NBA and NFL, have a lower IQ than even the general public. Many spend four years in college taking miminum coursework just to play basketball/football, with most not graduating. Or they agree with the school to play for them for a year or two then bolt to the NBA.
I like athletics, I really do, but these guys make too much money.
Take it up with your fellow citizens willing to pay too much money to watch the athletes.
I recently watched a coach come back to one of those with “was that supposed to be a question? I’m here to answer questions, but that means you have to ask them.” (emphasis his)
The dumbass answers are better than the stuff scripted for the athletes by their agents/handlers.
Take for instance the ghostwritten response when an athlete possessing a sixth-grade vocabulary and fourth-grade grammar skills has two sixteen-year-old girls up to his hotel room for a party, gets caught and comes out with “I should have extricated myself from a compromising situation, but made a bad decision. I have disappointed myself and my fans, and must seek to regain their trust.”
Or the troubled player who is heavily coached on what to say.
Ben Roethlisberger: “I’ve never been to me.”
While you may be right about general intelligence, these guys might be more knowledgeable about and put more work into their professions compared to almost any other. What other profession studies hours every day just to be able to remain in the profession? Musician? I cannot think of others.
There are millions of doctors and lawyers. There are a few thousand people capable of playing basketball at the NBA level. It’s a market economy.
You want professional athletes to make less than doctors or lawyers? Go live in North Korea.
In any case, doctors and lawyers can make rather good money for 50 years or more. The average NBA career lasts five years; the average NFL career, just four.
I don’t pay much attention to basketball and football, so I’m mostly spared the worst of the worst.
OTOH, I’ve been through more than my share of painful baseball interviews.
NASCAR was once a haven for articulate goofballs but is now seemingly infested with a bunch of robotic clones who always remember to say “The crew worked really hard and the Kellogg’s Office Max Viagra Sherwin Williams Paints Chevy was awesome today”. Most of them, however, can string a meaningful sentence together if they can be arsed to do so. A personal favorite loose cannon was Michael Waltrip. I remember an interview once after a bad finish, driving a car sponsored by the movie “102 Dalmations”, where he led off with, “Well, first I’d like to apologize to my fans, 'cause this car painted up like a dog run like one…”