A Horrible Day For The Sports Media

I find myself today, the most disgusted I have ever been with the mainstream sports media, who have officially followed in the news’s footsteps, and turned into a tabloid. ESPN, Yahoo, CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox are among the headlining acts that are guilty, but I am sure there are thousands more, and they all should absolutely be ashamed of themselves.

I had suggested a few days ago on my site that the NFL, use the current Vince Young situation as a positive example for other athletes in his situation, to give the man his privacy and space away from football and get his life together. Today however, Young lost any opportunity he had to do that, when a Police Report was released publicly stating that Young had repeatedly mentioned the idea of killing himself to his therapist, and left his home with a handgun in his possession (note: I am only mentioning this because it was already mentioned in literally every direction a sports fan could look).

Thousands of American sportswriters should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

Obviously, the Vince Young situation was significantly more serious than anyone anticipated which is exactly why it should have been kept in house. The first mistake began when this man’s therapist was somehow allowed to speak to police and the media. But it was elevated to an absolutely disgraceful extreme when literally every serious sports media entity made a public story out of Young’s apparent serious emotional issues.

There is not a single human on the planet that is perfect, and now Vince Young simply for trying to address his issues has become a victim of the media. In a dimension like this, someone’s personal life is exactly that, personal. Young’s privacy was violated, and because of this he will probably never use his team’s therapist as an outlet again, which could make his mental situation even worse, all because of the media. And of course, this entire situation is happening to an athlete who in three years in the NFL has a squeaky clean record and has already been named his team’s captain.

What makes the situation worse is in no doubt the shock wave that this will send throughout the rest of the league. Based on sheer statistics alone, there are a handful of people with either deep personal secrets or emotional demons that simply can not be on display in the unique masculine culture that is the NFL locker room. And now, every player will be even more petrified to share information with people who BY LAW are supposed to respect requests for confidentially.

When I opted to not pursue a career in the news media, it was because stories like this, tabloid stories, incredible invasions of people’s privacy, were seeping into local and national newscasts. I can now say with 100% confidence that this will go down as a horrible day for the sports media. Thousands of American sportswriters should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

And to Vince Young…I had no reason to know what you are going through, but now that I do, I send you my well wishes and kindly remind you as well as everyone else out there, that you are just playing a sport, and there is more to life than being a puppet for Americans filling up a stadium.