All Things Sports

Have you ever heard of Riccardo Calafiori? He is an Italian defender that just signed for Arsenal from Bologna and the hype around him is crazy. Linked with the great Italian defenders of the past such as Maldini and Nesta, Calafiori is the subject of much praise, especially since he had a solid(note solid) performance in the Euros. However, you want to know something? I, an ardent soccer fan that keeps up to date with pretty much everything relevant to the sport, have NEVER seen a highlight of this guy that actually shows him playing. Every single highlight I have seen has been related to his “aura” that essentially stems from the fact that many fans find Calafiori attractive(a straight male here and yes I think so too). And while he is a solid defender that helped guide Bologna to a surprise Champions League berth, the media would have you think he really is the next Italian legend without even showing a clip. That right there is the PR boost of sports. Welcome back to All Things Sports, where we understand the media perception in a bit more lighthearted, albeit serious manner. 

If you think this is a one-off, let’s look at other examples, this time in other areas of the sports realm. Formula 1 saw a huge boost in popularity, largely due to Netflix’s “Drive to Survive Series”. However, like all shows, it portrayed characters in a certain way. In particular their portrayal of 3-time defending champion(probably 4 with the way Lando keeps choking) Max Verstappen is something to note. The show, especially at the beginning, depicted him as a villain of sorts. They almost seem to partially blame him(from my perspective at least) for driving Daniel Ricciardo out of Red Bull and as this arrogant, bratty, and immature child that seems hellbent on wasting his god-given talent by crashing all the time. And while Verstappen was a bit crash-prone early on due to his aggressive driving style, the portrayal as somewhat of a villain is extremely harsh to put on a 18 year-old that won on his debut for Red Bull Racing. In fact many fans that were drawn in because of the show disliked or even hated Verstappen because of the show’s portrayal, which they believed to be accurate. While he may have his occasional moment of weakness(Hungary 2024 perhaps?), the portrayal is VERY inaccurate. If you see him in clips where he congratulates other drivers, talks about his good relationships with them(including Ricciardo by the way!), and sees the way he acts normally, you’d know this is not a man you should hate. But the perception created by the media’s portrayal gave him so much hate that he decided to opt out of the show for multiple years. And I don’t blame him because it is unfair to show a professional athlete in a light that is inaccurate and unfair to the point where his life and career are affected. However, we must move on to what might be my favorite(read: most infuriating) example: Kendrick Perkins making the case for Joel Embiid over Nikola Jokic for the 2023 NBA MVP. 

During the 2022-2023 NBA season the debate about who should be named the Most Valuable Player was fierce. Enter ESPN “analyst” and former NBA player Kendrick Perkins, the man responsible for some of the most stupid takes I have ever seen. He claimed that a major reason why people were choosing Embiid over Jokic was because of racism. Yeah I’ll let that sit for a minute. Now I am not denying racism’s existence or its prevalence in systemic oppression, or even in the power structures of sports. I am denying the fact that there is a racism issue in the voting for the MVP of the NBA, a league where over 80% of the players are black and where Jokic is the first white/European MVP since Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash won it for 3 years almost 20 years ago. If you wanted to go to the next white MVP you’d have to go to the 80s. So I am gonna go out on a limb and say racism wasn’t a factor in MVP voting for at least 95% of cases. Now thankfully, it didn’t play a huge role in the outcome; Jokic lost because of voter fatigue. But what if it did? And here’s where we get to the serious part. Because while it may be fun to talk about how it portrays someone as having “aura”(like me) or someone as a child, the media has a huge amount of power when it comes to shaping our preferences. 

Just like in politics and other areas of society, there are real consequences here. When the media, a trusted source of information(has Woj ever been wrong?) depicts someone a certain way you are going to believe it. If Adrian Wojnarowski(non-basketball people look him up) were to say that some NBA player was immature and childish, you best believe I will think he is right. But this has consequences beyond perception. Because when it comes to things like awards which are voted on, fans driving both fiscal and emotional support, and the mental health of the athletes themselves, the perception created by the media has real impacts. It may/may not be responsible for Lionel Messi winning his 7th and 8th Ballon d’ Ors, Luka Doncic losing the NBA MVP vote this year, players being driven out of teams and careers, and so much more that I don’t have the space to mention because most of you have already clicked off. Sports fans need to be careful about how they interpret media portrayals, especially considering the fact that sports media is essentially in a “race to the bottom” seeing who’s “hot takes” can generate more clicks, revenue, and growth for their industry. That is because while sometimes, it may just be reporting stats, other times it’s Kendrick Perkins.