Jan

8

A Rough Transition From the Field to the Booth

January 8, 2009 | by T.J. Donegan | Categories Television | Comments Off

As we’ve come to see yearly with the will-he, won’t-he saga of Brett Favre, the idea of the athlete, worn from years of play, stepping away from the limelight and off into the sunset with Gary Cooper just doesn’t happen anymore.

Yet for some athletes, the transition out of their playing days is much easier and doesn’t mean an end to their time in the public eye. A lot of big name athletes in recent years have cashed in on their name and face recognition to land big-time media gigs as studio analysts and journalists.

I, for the most part, don’t have a problem with this. I try to not begrudge anyone’s success and I like that some athletes aren’t just going to go peddle used cars with their name for the next 20 years. My problem is with the networks who place these guys in every role imaginable.

In the studio I think these guys have passed with flying colors. They’re generally very interesting, smart, and they bring a lot of experience to the table — experience the viewer is aware of at all times, lending a definite credibility.

However, why do networks insist on trying to turn ex-athletes into interviewers? It doesn’t make sense. Several times this year, both in NFL and Olympic coverage, I’ve watched Tiki Barber interview athletes, not in the studio, but in the locker room with a microphone, like a traditional TV journalist. Just recently I saw Rodney Harrison in a similar situation interviewing Ray Lewis for the NFL Network about the “mentality of his defense.”

Look, interviewing is an art. It takes years of practice to become really good at it. To be honest, I’m not very good at it still. To get a subject to open up and give you interesting information, revealing quotes, etc. is hard. It takes a good listener and an experienced ear to know when to pose follow-up questions. It also takes, on occasion, the ability to ask a dumb question. Sometimes, you just need a good soundbite and to get those, you have to ask a simple question like “What’s the mentality of your defense going into a big game?”

I have no issue with the question, I have every issue with the fact that a network put Rodney Harrison, a guy who’s as qualified as anyone, including Ray Lewis, to talk about being a leader on a defense going into a big game, in that awkward of a position.

As soon as Ray heard the question he looked a little stunned, then handled it well, saying something along the lines of “we handled it the way you’ve always handled it and I’m really honored to watch you play and I respect you as a man.” That’s a little over the top, but that’s Ray Lewis for you. It’s just awkward to make a guy with loads of experience playing this game and being in the same position, ask a question like he’s never played football in his life. It just makes for an awkward interaction and forces Ray to address the fact that a guy like Rodney Harrison is asking him that question.

I think there’s miles of room for growth for ex-athletes in the sports journalism business and they’ve been very, very good in studio and analyst roles. One of the best sports media moments I saw last year was when Adrian Peterson came on the Monday Night Football set with Emmitt Smith and Emmitt gave him lessons on what it takes to be a great running back in this league — all the hardships you have to suffer through, how you have to take care of your quarterback in pass protection so you’re in on every down, etc. It was a great moment and Emmitt’s best bit of analysis so far.

If he’d been standing outside a locker room with a cameraman and a microphone asking a question like “What’s it like to go out there and have a 150 yard game in the NFL?” It just never would’ve happened.


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