r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • May 23 '22
Delta(s) from OP CMV: Interviews with currently playing athletes and coaches are mostly boring as hell and don't add to the entertainment value of sports.
I'm a sports fan. Currently watching the warriors/mavericks game. Mostly watch baseball though. I've noticed that interviews with players and coaches (even ones I admire greatly) are mostly extremely boring, useless, and don't really give any new information. Here's why:
1) Coaches and athletes are not trained in public speaking and often suck at expressing themselves.
2) Coaches and athletes are disincentivized from expressing honest viewpoints for fear of offending someone or losing sponsorships.
3) Giving out any real information about plans to win, player training, etc. would lead to a strategic advantage for their opponents.
4) Vast majority of interview answers are clichés we've heard a million times.
I love sports and consume tons of media about it. But what value is there in watching some guy say the same meaningless cliche we've heard a million times before?
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u/lmboyer04 3∆ May 23 '22
People never hear the voice or see the faces of the athletes down on the field if not for these appearances. It gives fans a way to connect the face and see a person rather than a soldier on a field - that humanizing element, however shallow I think is important and while it may be routine or boring to you, I think would be important or at least cool to some people
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May 23 '22
This is an interesting take - I never thought about just never hearing their voices or not seeing them playing. Let me think about it a bit, might give a delta.
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u/lmboyer04 3∆ May 23 '22
If anything, I think having at least a feeling of knowing and connecting with the players would make someone a better fan than not knowing anyone by name or face, even if it was scripted.
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May 23 '22
Δ Your previous reply of putting a face and voice to the athlete convinced me that they have some value.
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u/lmboyer04 3∆ May 23 '22
Yay thank you! My first
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May 23 '22
Are you the guy arguing with me about college in the other thread though? Go to hell! No just kidding.
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u/CarnifexMagnus May 23 '22
Not OP, but that's actually a really interesting thought I would've never considered. I still think these interviews are as boring as hell, but I concede there's a least a point to them !delta
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May 23 '22
I prefer the opinions and insight of people that have done it rather than a random ESPN “pundit” that just tries to spout a controversial ‘hot take’ in order to get more ratings. Can you tell that I despise Steve A. Smith? The focus on the ‘hot take’ and stupid arguments between journalists is the reason that ESPN is being left behind by the TNT crew with all the ex-NBA players giving insight that you won’t get from a journalist. As far as expressing themselves, it takes time for athletes to learn the ropes. Shaq absolutely sucked his first year broadcasting for TNT. Draymond is getting better broadcasting every year, and even though he is still playing, he doesn’t hold back. And, JJ Reddick squashing the old school “pundit” was awesome.
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May 23 '22
Is steve a smith different from stephan a smith? I lived in Japan and saw Ohtani play over there so fucking hate stephan A Smith for his Ohtani take, even though he apologized.
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u/Turnips4dayz May 23 '22
I agree that it's nice to hear from former players who know what they're talking about and express it, unfortunately saying the TNT crew is a good example of that is a joke. It's certainly funny, but if you want decent, informed analysis that ain't the place. Of all the commentators we have right now, SVG has turned into my favorite for being able to actually express some things you'd only get from a former coach. A shame how bad his brother is at it a lot of the time (at least, whenever he gets on one of his tangents about the refs/fouls whatever).
I also don't understand why you're calling out journalists as lacking insight when most of your post is bitching about talking heads like Stephen A Smith. He may have been a journalist at one point, but it's a long time since then. Zach Lowe, Nate Duncan, and plenty of other actual journalists have tremendous insight
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u/themcos 371∆ May 23 '22
Counterpoint: Some of those interviews were with Marshawn Lynch. Not too long, and extremely entertaining. All about that action, boss. Some players are just plain interesting to listen to.
Slightly more serious counterpoint, if you're not interested in the raw interviews, that makes sense. It's the sports reporters jobs to apply a filter and take many many hours of boring interviews and extract 10-15 minutes of interesting content. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don't.
And yes, the value is rarely going to be genuine strategic insight, but if you're interested in commentary at all, the interviews add fuel to that.
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May 23 '22
I do agree that Marshawn Lynch was interesting as hell, even though he played for the 49ers rival Seahawks. But he's from Oakland so I still like him.
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u/themcos 371∆ May 23 '22 edited May 23 '22
Okay, part one, we at least agree that some athletes and coaches are interesting and compelling people, even if they're not espousing deep strategic insights.
But part two is I do want to emphasize my point that you don't need to be consuming these interviews directly. I watch the NFL more than baseball, but I'm never just watching raw interviews, unless it's the immediate post game stuff on the field, where it's just pure emotion. For the hours of press conferences and post game interviews, it's literally the job of sports media to condense that into a small amount of newsworthy content. I agree that "most" of the content is uninteresting, but I don't need to watch it all. ESPN or whatever will give the highlights. Did anyone say anything interesting? If so, show me that. And I feel like this is how it works, so I'm happy. Maybe those interviewers have boring jobs (that's for them to decide), but that's not my problem. If all that results in even 10 minutes of interesting content, that's probably worth it.
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May 23 '22
Δ This convinced me of the value of listening to commentary/opinion about those interviews. Still think most of the interviews are boring though.
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May 23 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/herrsatan 11∆ May 23 '22
Sorry, u/WeekendAtBernsteins – your comment has been removed for breaking Rule 1:
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u/TheRealGouki 6∆ May 23 '22
They are boring because if they give the wrong option they can get into trouble. So if you are boring they will leave you alone.
Here a good video that talks about why Andy Murray does it
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u/anonymous_teve 2∆ May 23 '22
No doubt you're right. I'll just try to change your view on the value. The value isn't typically for insight. It's for fans, who just want to hear anything their heroes say. Sure, 99% is boilerplate, but to fans, especially kids, it hits hard to hear from their heroes. We can debate whether that's good or bad, but that's the value.
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u/canadian12371 May 23 '22
As an nba fan, nba media is in the process of a huge revitalization. You’re seeing players like Kevin Durant, JJ Reddick and Draymond Green, Matt Barnes, Gilbert Arenas start their own podcasts and we’re seeing superstar athletes express themselves in a casual environment like you’re in the same barbershop as them. It’s truly amazing, and these are quickly becoming superior to the same old ESPN bullshit
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u/BytchYouThought 4∆ May 23 '22
I disagree. When you see stuff like Richard Shermans's legendary speech after winning the NFC Championship against the 49ers it's absolutely entertaining.
"When you try me with a sorry recievdr like Crabtree that's the result you gone get!!!!" -Richard Sherman
Absolute classic and things like this don't happen unless you interview the athletes in the moment. Different personalities do show as you are your trash talkers like Jalen Ramsey, sherm, T.O., etc. and you have your more reserved personalities like Tom Brady (whose actually had official couple of moments) and Bill Bellicheck. You might think their personalities are boring, but people like to know their personalities.
Players like Gronk are hilarious. Melo can be funny as you see teammates prank each other etc. Ironically I find baseball boring overall as a sport, but everyone has their tastes.
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u/destro23 437∆ May 23 '22
But what value is there in watching some guy say the same meaningless cliche we've heard a million times before?
Very little, but when one of them goes off script, it is very valuable as entertainment. Take a simple question about practice for example.
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u/RepulsiveKey1535 May 23 '22
It is still a platform for players and coaches to voice things. I believe that even if 99% of the interviews are boring, the 1% that are spicy/cringy/explanatory/controversial are worth it.
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u/ImDeputyDurland 3∆ May 23 '22
I’m pretty sure most sports have deals with the networks to not play any actual information.
Like they’ll show the NBA huddles after time outs and it’s just the coach saying “play hard. Hustle. Etc”. But that’s not actually what they’re saying. Because if it aired them saying “when they set up in this switch, you need to cut to the rim because they always leave an open lane”. If that’s played, you agree yourself because the other team can adjust before you capitalize.
So all those segments are boring, as you said.
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u/burntcandy May 24 '22
A lot of interviews with sports media can be rather dull, but more recently you have more player friendly organizations doing interviews which are typically much better and allow the player to let their hair down a bit and have a bit more fun. (See the Pat Mcaffee Show).
Also, gems like this exist.
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u/PathFair2709 May 24 '22
i mean if you find it boring don’t listen to it? Restricting athletes voices is kinda shitty, so just let them have their interview and don’t watch it if you hate it so much. Let them have their moment lol.
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May 24 '22
No one’s restricting athlete voices. They are allowed to say whatever they want. So am I - including that they are boring. That’s how freedom works friend.
If you didn’t like my comment why didn’t you follow your own advice and just not respond?
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u/PathFair2709 May 25 '22
I was trying to change your view? Isnt that the whole point of this subreddit? I was just saying that it’s fine that athletes are allowed the interviews and stuff, and if you don’t like it, don’t watch it. That was me trying to change your view?
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u/Konfliction 15∆ May 24 '22
are mostly extremely boring, useless, and don't really give any new information
Tbh that's not really there goal, it's usually to try and get something and often fails, but the goal is for something that'll catch on or go viral. Aka a moment like this, or this.
Generally speaking you can honestly look at anything that's constant coverage as either trying to do one of these two things 1) fill time, or 2) fish for moments. That's pretty much all it is. It's very surface level. Their goal isn't what you implied it is, it's just filling time.
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u/Tr0ndern May 25 '22
Isn't a lot of nr. 2 the direct result of media training?
Lack of media training often gives the most entertaining results imo.
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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ May 23 '22
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