The media has turned the Jets into the
Miami Heat. They're the villains of the NFL now. You're either a Jets
fan or you completely hate this team. They have an outspoken and
obnoxiously perceived head coach in Rex Ryan and the most polarizing
and popular player in the NFL in Tim Tebow. This is a team that is
always going to give the media a headline and that's why we've seen
ESPN basically relocate their headquarters to Cortland, New York.
Every day there is a new meaningless
story on ESPN regarding this team. We all seen the stories, Tim Tebow
runs in the rain, Tim Tebow dominates at the goal line, Mark Sanchez
gets called Tim, Tim Tebow gets called Mark, and the recent “brawl”
and aftermath surrounding it. None of these stories are actually a
big deal or even remotely different than what normally goes on during
a training camp yet of course the headlines now is, “Are the Jets
out of control?”
Getty Images
Mark Tebow and Tim Sanchez
ESPN is about making money and there is
a ton of money to be had covering teams people perceive as
villainous. Look at how many negative stories that were written about
the Miami Heat despite them making two NBA Finals and winning one.
Mainstream sports coverage has turned into professional wrestling and
the media is always looking for a “heel” to grab headlines
because that's what people want to read. (A “heel” for those who
don't know, is a professional wrestling term for the wrestler who is
perceived from the fans as a bad guy. He's usually doing despicable
acts to the good guy wrestler, the “face,” in order to get the
crowd more involved in the fake wrestling match.)
Sports fans love being outraged. It's
almost the entire point of this blog. Some part of me while being
disgusted with sports news coverage, loves hating on it. I'm not
alone in this and people love hating on teams and players whether
they're the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox or whether they're
Tim Tebow, Carmelo Anthony, and Lebron James. Negative news sells and
the Jets were already a guaranteed polarizing and headlining making
team and then they added Tim Tebow. Whether you buy the negative news
or like hating it you're making organizations like ESPN money and
that's all that matters.
It's important to remember as sports
fans though that these narratives are as made up as the WWE. They are
ultimately meaningless in the grand scheme of things. They say teams
can't win a Super Bowl with the chemistry the Jets have but the
Giants won the Super Bowl in 2007 despite multiple fall outs between
Eli Manning, Plaxico Burress, and Jeremy Shockey. Hell, Michael
Strahan skipped training camp that year and received negative press
for it during that entire offseason. Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin
literally came to blows in the Yankees' dugout in 77' and the Yankees
went on to win the World Series that year. Kobe Bryant and Shaquille
O'Neal clearly didn't get along and that didn't stop them from
winning three NBA titles with the Lakers.
Togetherness, chemistry, and a winning
attitude can be seen as important but ultimately they do not decide
who wins games in the end. We focus on them as a society because they
are something we can all relate to and understand. Sure, these things
can contribute to a team winning but we tend to lean on these things
because they are easier to understand than a statistical analysis of
the games we love. We rarely ever know exactly what players think
about each other and the only way we perceive chemistry is by seeing
them play for 2 hours at a time.
We want heroes, we want villains, and
we want to think that togetherness and chemistry is what wins in
sports. We've been trained to think this way despite the reality of
this being a falsehood sitting right before our eyes. We want to read
about the Jets being a mess and how impossible it will be for this
team to win with all the distractions. This entire situation is not
very different than the stories about how the Miami Heat and Lebron
James would never be able to handle the pressure on them after “The
Decision.”
I will love cheering against the Jets
and Tim Tebow but let's not irrationally talk about this team. The
Jets didn't fail last year because of being “out of control” but
because of atrocious offensive and special teams play. Their defense
was one of the best in the NFL yet the Jets as a team were 20th
in points allowed. That plays completely into turnovers, field
position and poor offensive execution. Were there some issues in the
Jets locker room? Of course there were, but that's never stopped
anyone else from winning before and I don't see why the Jets would be
any different. These guys are professional athletes, it's required
that they like one another to win.
You can either study a team and
rationally break them down or you can irrationally allow the media to
write your opinion for you. The Jets locker room is not as insane as
people make it out to be and while I will make fun of the Jets for
trading for Tim Tebow, it's only because he's a horrible quarterback.
The one thing I will say about the Jets is they clearly wanted this
when they traded for Tim Tebow and hopefully for the sports media,
they can continue to play the “heel” everyone wants them to be. I
know that's what's going to make money.
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