Compiled by Pershelle Rohrer and Dr. Nancy Spencer
April 21, 2021
Pershelle Rohrer is a second-year BGSU student from Logan, Utah. She is a Sport Management major with a minor in Journalism. Her primary sports interests are football, basketball,and baseball, both at the professional and collegiate levels.
Dr. Nancy Spencer is a Professor in the Sport Management program and is faculty advisor for the Maxwell Media Watch Project.
What a difference a year makes!
Do you remember where you were on March 11, 2020?
That was when sports virtually shut down due to COVID.
It began when we found out that Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID!
Then there was March Madness…
By March 11, 2020, the BGSU women’s basketball team had already been eliminated from the MAC tournament. Western Michigan trounced BG with an 84-67 first round win. The season ended with a last-place finish in the MAC and a record of 10-21.
Fast-forward to one year later, and the women’s basketball team was just “coming off the program’s first win in a Mid-American Conference Tournament game in eight years” (“Setting the scene,” 2021, para. 1). Even more impressive, the Falcons were the tournament’s top seed and set to face 4th-seeded Buffalo in the semis. The turnaround was impressive by any standard, but in a year when the nation faced a global pandemic and sports were on hold for much of that time, it is even more impressive.
How did the media capture what the past year has been like for BGSU athletic teams? We examine several ways BG Athletics covered our athletic teams to understand the transformation that occurred on the women’s basketball team over the past year. We begin with an interview that Todd Walker, the ‘Voice of the Falcons,’ conducted on ‘Quarantime with the Falcons’ (2020) a month after the season ended.
One month after sports shut down due to COVID, players on the women’s basketball team, like other BGSU athletes, were dealing with how to stay engaged with one another. Coach Robyn Fralick reported they were doing a lot of FaceTime, having big team calls and doing many one-on-one calls to focus on building the depth of their relationships. In deciding how to navigate the ‘new normal’ of the pandemic, Coach Fralick encouraged the players to take control of their fitness, nutrition, and skill levels. They would need to be creative to do that. However, as the coach pointed out, they all had outdoor hoops and could work on things like ball handling skills on their own.
In reflecting on the 2020 season at BGSU, Fralick believed the team had improved a lot, although the improvement did not translate to the level she had hoped to achieve. Still, she pointed to specific signs of improvement: Madisen Parker’s three-point shooting (while she made 6 threes as a freshman, she made 98 threes in her sophomore year); Angela Perry shot 57% from the field; and Kadie Hempfling’s assists increased significantly from her freshman year.
Looking ahead to the 2020-21 season, Coach Fralick identified areas where further improvement could occur. First, she said the team needed to become better defensively, to complement their solid offense. Second, the team had to become better at rebounding. Third, she emphasized that the team needed to find ways to create better possessions, whether through second shots, free throws, or steals. And finally, they needed to increase their free throw shooting percentage.
On Monday, March 22, 2021, the memorable 3rd season of the Fralick-coached team came to an end, “as Drake University downed the Falcons, 78-68” (Cihon, 2021, para. 1).
In her postgame interview on March 22, Coach Fralick described the WNIT tournament as “an incredible experience for the team.” She felt really proud of the team and what they accomplished in continuing to change and elevate expectations all year. Fralick added that the team also got to see what the ‘best of the best looked like,’ which should be a motivating factor for next season. Whatever the 2021-2022 season holds for the BGSU women’s basketball team, it should be exciting for fans to see how this young team continues to develop.
As the women’s basketball season was ending, the softball season was just beginning.
The BGSU softball team returned to Meserve Field on Friday, March 19 for their first home game in nearly two years. The Falcons only played 17 games in the 2020 season, all of which were in neutral or road locations (“2020 softball schedule,” n.d.).
In 2020, the Falcons had an 11-6 record with five games remaining before conference play was scheduled to begin. However, the season came to an immediate halt on March 12, 2020 when MAC Commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher announced the cancellation of all competition for the remainder of the school year (“MAC statement regarding,” 2020). All practices and in-person recruiting were also suspended.
Members of the softball team participated in interviews discussing COVID in late February, about three weeks before the start of MAC play.
Redshirt freshman pitcher Payton Gottshall described the experience of shutting down as emotional for the team.
“When we found out we were all crying together, and it was just a big mess for us,” Gottshall said.
The softball players went back to their respective homes following the transition to remote learning and could no longer meet in person to practice. That didn’t stop them from improving and working on their skills. Head coach Sarah Willis created accountability groups for the team to participate in remotely.
“We would work out and do mental training or do schoolwork and send it to each other,” redshirt senior catcher Evelyn Loyola said. “We would just work that way and hope that everybody would do their part so when we came back we would be ready to go.”
Summer competitive ball was another way for players to compete even if there was no timetable for when the MAC would clear the team for the 2021 season. As the country began opening up during the summer, Gottshall found places to compete to continue refining her skills.
The Falcons returned to practice in the fall and began their 2021 season on February 12. BGSU is currently 18-18 overall and 10-11 in conference play.
Willis said that keeping the team healthy will play a significant role in the outcome of this season, including who will be crowned MAC champions.
“We, so far, have been good on our luck and discipline as a program in making sure everyone’s staying healthy so we don’t get shut down,” Willis said. “If we can keep everybody healthy and going, then we’re going to be extremely competitive in the MAC this year.”
Willis also emphasized the adaptability that is necessary to remain competitive.
“You can train for it, but you certainly can’t train for every single situation,” Willis said. “If you lose half the team because of COVID and you are still able to go play with 10, then hey, we’re going to go play with 10. The team that’s going to be the most consistent in this conference is going to have to do with adaptability, and they’re going to have the tougher mindset in terms of controlling what we can control at the end of the day.”
BGSU softball is sixth in the MAC as of April 21 (“2021 softball standings,” 2021).
Pershelle Rohrer is a second-year BGSU student from Logan, Utah. She is a Sport Management major with a minor in Journalism. Her primary sports interests are football, basketball,and baseball, both at the professional and collegiate levels.
On June 22, 2020, the Scrap Yard Dawgs, an independent professional softball team, played the first of what was supposed to be a seven-game series against Florida-based USSSA Pride. The game marked the return of softball, as the sport was one of the first to restart from the coronavirus-related shutdown that effectively halted sports in March. The New York Times writer Natalie Weiner (2020) noted, “For a few hours this week, softball had a shot at something it has pursued for decades: the spotlight” (para. 1). The sport did receive attention following the game, but it wasn’t because of the teams’ play on the field. Rather, a mid-game tweet from Scrap Yard’s general manager caused an uproar that led all 18 players and the team’s coaches to walk away from the team (Poe, 2020).
When the players arrived back in the locker room following the game, they were met with screenshots and texts about the tweet. Scrap Yard general manager Connie May posted a photo on Scrap Yard’s Twitter page of the team standing on the field during the national anthem, tagging President Donald Trump’s Twitter handle with the caption, “Hey @realDonaldTrump Pro Fastpitch being played live … Everyone standing for the FLAG!” (Poe, 2020, para. 3). The President has been critical of athletes who kneel for the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial injustice. The tweet was posted at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, just shy of a month after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The tweet was deleted before the conclusion of the game.
The players quickly identified May as the poster of the tweet and met with her to discuss the issue. May used the phrase “all lives matter” during the meeting, a statement that is often used in opposition to “Black lives matter” in order to disregard the struggles of the Black community to find justice and equality (Weiner, 2020). Kiki Stokes, one of Scrap Yard’s two Black players, walked out of the meeting, and the rest of the team followed (Hays, 2020b).
Players expressed their frustration about the politicization of the post. Pitcher and Olympic gold medalist Cat Osterman said, “We were used as pawns in a political post, and that’s not OK” (Weiner, 2020, para. 9). USSSA Pride player A.J. Andrews emphasized the freedom to express personal political beliefs but opposed speaking for an entire group without consent. “Any statement anyone wants to make regarding the national anthem — it’s their right to take their own personal stand. It’s no one else’s right to take that for them. So to have someone shift that and have it come out in a statement that does not represent you as a person — you feel violated,” she said (Brunt, 2020, para. 9).
The story spread through the players’ social media accounts, which they used to call out Connie May. Aubree Munro and Aubrey Leach both emphasized that “this isn’t us” and stated that they wouldn’t play for Scrap Yard again.
Tonight we were misrepresented by Connie May who acted on behalf of @ScrapYardFP I’m appalled by the insentivity & will not represent Scrap Yard ever again. I’m so sorry to all my friends & teammates and the future softball players that are hurt by this. pic.twitter.com/39B1CaO9uh
— Aubree Munro Watson (@Aubree_Munro1) June 23, 2020
May’s tweet from the Scrap Yard page was a deviation from the norm. Jade Hewitt, a longtime employee of Scrap Yard, managed the team’s social media almost exclusively. It was unusual for anyone else to post to the Scrap Yard accounts, so when May’s tweet was posted, many people assumed that it was written by Hewitt (Hays, 2020a). May’s decision to tweet from the official account not only took away the voices of the players, but also caused Hewitt to receive backlash for something that she did not post (Hays, 2020a). It was a demonstration of how quickly a social media post can spread and the impact it can have on the image of the individuals involved with its creation.
Hewitt said, “I did not write or post that tweet. It is not what I personally stand for. I stand by our athletes, I stand by our players. And Scrap Yard is no longer an organization that I will be affiliated with” (Hays, 2020a, para. 13).
Scrap Yard’s players pledged to never represent the organization again, and many fans and media members assumed that their season was over. However, the players felt that they could continue to make an impact on the field. Yahoo Sports’ Chris Cwik (2020) wrote, “The players may have left the Scrap Yard Dawgs behind, but had no intention of walking away from softball, especially after what happened. So they did the next best thing: They started their own team” (para. 3). The 18 players, 11 of whom are listed on the United States roster for the Tokyo Olympics, rebranded as “This Is Us” with the intention of continuing their series against the USSSA Pride (Poe, 2020). The team developed a mission statement, saying that This Is Us is “here to spark a necessary change in the softball community, gaining and sharing knowledge about racial injustice in our world” (Hays, 2020b, para. 4).
The team put their words into action following their first game under the new brand. This Is Us defeated the Pride, 3-1, on June 27. Kiki Stokes and Samantha Show took a stand against social injustice by kneeling for the national anthem prior to the contest, and Sam Fischer led a moderated panel discussion on the field following the game. Stokes, Show, Aubree Munro, and Taylor Edwards participated in the discussion about the events of the past week (Rosenberg, 2020).
Media members praised the players of Scrap Yard for making the difficult decision to leave the team behind despite the potential financial insecurity it could cause. The Orlando Sentinel’s Julia Poe (2020) talked about the risk behind the decision, explaining that, “Professional softball is a high-risk, low income sport in the U.S., with players coaching or picking up extra jobs on the side to support their careers” (para. 11). ESPN’s Graham Hays (2020b) wrote that Scrap Yard was one of the most lucrative options for softball players to compete professionally without going overseas to Japan. Natasha Watley, the first Black softball player for team USA, emphasized that, “We’re already getting paid pennies and now we’re going to get paid nothing to stand up for this. That’s how much it matters” (Poe, 2020, para. 14).
Despite the potential financial issues the walkout could cause, Cat Osterman explained that the decision to rebrand was easy. “We’re not going to tolerate that in our sport. It wasn’t as hard of a decision as everyone thinks it was, because we knew it was the right thing to do,” she said (Weiner, 2020, para. 20).
This Is Us played through donations and fundraising before Smash It Sports helped sponsor the team. USSSA helped provide uniforms for the team and planned on hosting the team for at least 20 games against the Pride with the season ending on July 24 (Rosenberg, 2020). However, the season was cancelled on July 8 after just five games due to This Is Us being exposed to COVID-19 (Hays, 2020c).
While This Is Us didn’t have the opportunity to finish their season, their story was covered by national news outlets such as the New York Times and Associated Press (Rosenberg, 2020). However, sports media, particularly ESPN, had little to no coverage of the series of events. Graham Hays was the only ESPN writer to cover This Is Us, writing three articles about their journey from quitting Scrap Yard to the rebrand to the season’s cancellation. ESPN’s social media accounts do not have any coverage of this story. Social media plays a major influence in fans’ perceptions of sports, and ESPN’s lack of coverage could be a cause of This Is Us’ story remaining virtually unknown in the sports world three months later. Yahoo Sports’ Chris Cwik, Softball America’s Benjamin Rosenberg, and Sports Illustrated’s Jenna West also released stories about This Is Us, but it remains unknown how much more coverage an entire team’s disaffiliation would have received if it occurred in a more popular sport.
The rebranding of the Scrap Yard players into This Is Us helped inspire change in a predominantly white sport. “Playing would be really powerful, taking that control back that was taken away from us,” This Is Us player Sam Fischer noted (Hays, 2020b, para. 8). That goal should be considered a success, as the softball world united behind the 18 players who walked out and supported them on their goal for achieving racial equality. Although their season was short, This Is Us looks to continue to fight for social justice in 2021 and beyond.
References
Aubree_Munro1. (2020, June 22). Tonight we were misrepresented by Connie May who acted on behalf of @ScrapYardFP I’m appalled by the insentivity & will not represent Scrap Yard ever again. I’m so sorry to all my friends & teammates and the future softball players that are hurt by this. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Aubree_Munro1/status/1275247782648053760?s=20
aubrey_lynne10. (2020, June 22). THIS ISN’T US! What has happened was incredibly inconsiderate, we do not condone, and will no longer be supporting @ScrapYardFP due to the actions taken behind our backs. This season was ment to be something special, to be a light in the darkness. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/aubrey_lynne10/status/1275239965862002692?s=20
Pershelle Rohrer is a second-year BGSU student from Logan, Utah. She is a Sport Management major with a minor in Journalism. Her primary sports interests are football, basketball,and baseball, both at the professional and collegiate levels.
Milwaukee Bucks players refused to play Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic on August 26 in response to the police shooting of a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 23. Their actions led to widespread boycotts throughout the NBA and across the sports world.
Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times by a police officer while entering his vehicle, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down (Cohen, 2020). Three of Blake’s six children were inside the vehicle at the time of the shooting. Videos of the shooting quickly went viral on social media, and athletes quickly used their platforms to speak out against racial injustice.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard and National Basketball Players’ Association President Chris Paul sent a message of support to Blake and his family following the Thunder’s Game 4 win over the Houston Rockets, encouraging people to register to vote (Cohen, 2020). Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James asked, “Why does it always have to get to the point where we see the guns firing?” (“Inside the hectic,” 2020, para. 3). Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, the son of a police officer, said, “We keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back” (para. 5).
Bringing attention to social injustice and police brutality in America has been the ultimate goal for NBA players in the bubble since the killing of George Floyd in May. The shooting of Blake reawakened the players’ anger, and teams began to consider boycotting their playoff games in order to raise awareness. The Toronto Raptors were the first to discuss a boycott, considering skipping the opening game of their second-round series against the Boston Celtics scheduled for August 27 (Cohen, 2020).
The Milwaukee Bucks became the first team to boycott their game on August 26, participating in pregame warm-ups and media sessions before ultimately deciding not to play shortly before tipoff. Instead, the team participated in a Zoom call with Wisconsin lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes and attorney general Josh Kaul (“Inside the hectic,” 2020). Milwaukee is about 40 miles north of Kenosha, where Jacob Blake was shot.
Barnes said, “They just wanted to know what they could do. I mean, they were very interested in a call to action. They wanted something tangible that they could do in the short and long term. They wanted the walkout to be Step 1” (“Inside the hectic, 2020, para. 19).
The Bucks emerged from the locker room after over three hours, speaking to the media about their decision not to play. The Rockets and Thunder planned to follow the Bucks’ lead by boycotting their game, and the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers discussed doing the same. The NBA ultimately postponed all playoff games for that evening and the following day (Owens, 2020).
"Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on basketball."
Sterling Brown and George Hill read a prepared statement from the Milwaukee Bucks players.
A quote from an ESPN article reflects on the events of the day: “The Bucks didn’t expect to be the thread that caused the NBA to unravel, one player said. But that thread had been fraying for awhile” (“Inside the hectic, 2020, paras. 10-11).
The NBA boycott also led to postponements of matches in the WNBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, and even tennis (“Inside the hectic,” 2020).
NBA analyst Kenny Smith walked off the set of Inside the NBA in response to the boycott, saying, “And for me . . . as a Black man, as a former player, I think it’s best for me to support the players and just not be here tonight” (McCarriston, 2020, para. 15). Eleven-time NBA champion and civil rights activist Bill Russell praised Smith’s actions. “I am so proud of you. Keep getting in good trouble,” he said (Bieler, 2020, para. 24).
"As a black man, as a former player, I think it's best for me to support the players and just not be here tonight."
Kenny Smith walked off the set of Inside the NBA in solidarity with the players' boycott. pic.twitter.com/VAaNvrro7D
I’m moved by all the @NBA players for standing up for what is right. To my man @TheJetOnTNT I would like to say Thank you for what you did to show your support for the players. I am so proud of you. Keep getting in good trouble. @NBAonTNT@ESPNNBA@espn#NBAPlayoffs ✊🏿
Many athletes expressed their support for the boycott on Twitter, including San Jose Sharks winger Evander Kane, Kansas City Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu, and Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young.
Major statement by the NBA players 👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽 I’m with it!
FED UP. Ain’t enough money in world to keep overlooking true issues that effect the mind body & soul of what we do. We cannot be happy for self when our communities are suffering & innocent folk are dying.. since George Floyd, there have been at least 20 other police shootings. https://t.co/UmzuuWP7us
CBS Sports writer Shanna McCarriston (2020) recognized that the statement was four years to the day from Colin Kaepernick’s first national anthem demonstration against police brutality and racial inequality. Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since January 1, 2017, just over five months after he began protesting (Guerrero, 2020).
NPR’s Scott Simon recognized how far protests in sports have come since then. “This week really seemed to be a breaking point. And how did we get from Colin Kaepernick being considered an outcast not long ago to major league sports joining national campaigns of protest?” (Goldman, 2020, para. 10).
Players from all 13 teams remaining in Orlando’s NBA bubble met in the evening on August 26 to determine whether or not to continue the season. Before the NBA restart, Avery Bradley and Kyrie Irving argued for ending the season in order to prevent distraction from social justice issues following the death of George Floyd (“Inside the hectic,” 2020). The Lakers and Clippers voted to end the season, but the other 11 teams decided to continue and use their platforms in the bubble to promote racial equality.
Former University of Maryland basketball star and Harvard Law School graduate Len Elmore recognized the tangible change that the players have the opportunity to create. “Now they have started to take some action, recognizing the frustration that every person of color should be experiencing and certainly that they are experiencing. It’s a watershed moment,” Elmore said on Glenn Clark Radio (Gold, 2020, para. 3). He wished the boycott would have lasted longer due to his belief that the initial restart distracted from the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. He said, “I would like to see the thing last a lot longer. I thought the resumption of play would be a distraction and it wouldn’t change anything and we are kind of seeing that play out now” (para. 15).
Bucks guard George Hill shared Elmore’s concerns. On August 24, he said, “I think coming here just took all the focal points off what the issues are” (Owens, 2020, para. 12).
NBC Sports’ Dan Feldman (2020) pointed out that the players ended their strike before they met with the owners about social justice issues, writing “Obviously, players lost leverage with that order of events. But owners have shown they’re at least willing to do what’s necessary to present the league as aligned with social justice, and the strike necessitated a greater showing” (para. 1).
Despite losing some of that leverage, the NBA and NBPA released a joint statement announcing tangible actions that will be enacted in order to support the movement. They established a social justice coalition to address issues such as voting, civic engagement, and police and criminal justice reform. NBA arenas will be used as voting locations for the 2020 general election. Lastly, the league will raise awareness for voting and civic engagement through advertisements for the remainder of the NBA playoffs (Feldman, 2020).
Chris Sheridan (2020) wrote that, “NBA players agreed to resume their season in a bubble in part because they believed their platform to push for social change could best be achieved through having their message seen and heard on every game telecast” (para. 21). They are finding concrete ways to take action as a result of the boycott, especially by encouraging people to vote. LeBron James established his More Than a Vote initiative in June to help fight voter suppression, and the NBA and NBPA agreement helps create “a safe in-person voting option for communities vulnerable to COVID” (Feldman, 2020, para. 7).
The NBA players accomplished their overall goal: they brought attention to another instance of police brutality and helped make Jacob Blake a household name. On August 27, Andy Nesbitt (2020) wrote, “They are keeping Jacob Blake’s name at the top of all conversations and they are doing their part to bring justice for a man who was shot seven times in the back” (para. 8). The boycott reminded fans of the injustices that were brought to the forefront of American life in May when Floyd was killed and showed the importance of the messages written on the players’ jerseys. The players look to continue using their platforms to promote racial equality and the importance of voting in November.
Mathieu_Era. (2020, August 26). FED UP. Ain’t enough money in world to keep overlooking true issues that effect the mind body & soul of what we do. We cannot be happy for self when our communities are suffering & innocent folk are dying.. since George Floyd, there have been at least 20 other police shootings. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Mathieu_Era/status/1298719311066853376?s=20
RealBillRussell. (2020, August 26). I’m moved by all the @NBA players for standing up for what is right. To my man @TheJetOnTNT I would like to say Thank you for what you did to show your support for the players. I am so proud of you. Keep getting in good trouble. @NBAonTNT @ESPNNBA @espn #NBAPlayoffs [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/RealBillRussell/status/1298762120394182657?s=20
SportsCenter. (2020, August 26). “As a black man, as a former player, I think it’s best for me to support the players and just not be here tonight.” Kenny Smith walked off the set of Inside the NBA in solidarity with the players’ boycott. [Tweet].Retrieved from https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1298752425608785927?s=20
SportsCenter. (2020, August 26). “Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on basketball.” Sterling Brown and George Hill read a prepared statement from the Milwaukee Bucks players. (via @malika_andrews).
Pershelle Rohrer is a second-year BGSU student from Logan, Utah. She is a Sport Management major with a minor in Journalism. Her primary sports interests are football, basketball,and baseball, both at the professional and collegiate levels.
Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace has been thrust into the national spotlight over the last month after becoming the face of NASCAR’s push for racial equality. In recent weeks, he has successfully called for the ban of Confederate flags at racetracks, supported the Black Lives Matter movement with a shirt and paint scheme dedicated to the cause, and received a powerful display of support from his fellow drivers after an alleged noose was discovered in his garage stall at Talladega on June 21. He also received widespread support following criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Wallace, NASCAR’s only current Black driver, was inspired to speak up after reading about potential new fans being turned off by the display of the Confederate flag at racetracks. According to James Doubek (2020), the tipping point for Wallace was the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a Georgia man who was fatally shot while jogging in February.
Wallace told NPR on June 12, “It shook me to the core to a point where it kind of flipped a light switch inside of me” (Doubek, 2020, para. 7).
NASCAR has a long history involving the Confederate flag. A sport with deep Southern roots, NASCAR was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and the Cup Series began in 1949 (Kelly, 2020). Most races were in the South in the sport’s early days. Drivers had the Confederate flag displayed on their cars from the beginning. Frank “Rebel” Mundy had the flag painted on the side of his Hudson Hornet in the early 1950s, according to NASCAR historian Buz McKim (Kelly, 2020). Darlington Raceway had a tradition involving “Johnny Reb” that began in the track’s early days. Godwin Kelly (2020) writes, “One of Darlington’s early traditions was ‘Johnny Reb,’ who was a man dressed in a Confederate soldier’s uniform and carrying a Confederate flag on a pole. The race winner would wait for ‘Johnny Reb’ to get on the hood of his car then head to Victory Lane. The character would proudly wave the flag during the short ride” (paras. 11-12). The “Johnny Reb” tradition was dropped before the 1980s.
NASCAR began to push back against Confederate traditions in the 1980s. Henley Gray was forced to paint over the roof of his car, which was decorated with a Confederate flag, because “NASCAR would not let him run with it,” according to McKim (Kelly, 2020, para. 18). Following the Charleston, S.C. church shooting that claimed the lives of nine Black churchgoers in 2015, the sport asked fans to stop bringing the Confederate flag to races. Widely circulated photos of the shooter posing with the flag led to NASCAR issuing this request, according to Maria Cramer (2020).
Despite NASCAR’s request, fans continued to bring Confederate flags to the racetrack. During the 2015 Fourth of July race weekend, Daytona International Speedway started a swap program, allowing fans to trade in their Confederate flags for American flags (Kelly, 2020). Juliet Macur (2020) writes, “Few fans took them up on the offer, and NASCAR continued struggling to balance a new demographic of fans beyond the white and conservative Southern ones that helped NASCAR grow into a powerhouse industry in the early to mid-2000s” (para. 10).
Following the death of George Floyd in police custody in May, the Black Lives Matter movement took off nationwide. BBC News writes, “The movement has sparked a campaign to remove symbols associated with slavery, imperialism and the Confederacy” (“Bubba Wallace: Nascar,” 2020, para. 6). Bubba Wallace called for an outright ban of the flag at racetracks on June 8, saying that the fans should feel comfortable coming to races.
Wallace told CNN’s Don Lemon, “No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race. So it starts with Confederate flags. Get them out of here. They have no place for them” (Cramer, 2020, para. 4).
NASCAR banned the flag from its events and properties on June 10. In part, the statement says, “The presence of the Confederate flag at NASCAR events runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment” (“Bubba Wallace praises,” 2020, para. 3).
Wallace responded, saying, “Props to NASCAR and everybody involved. It creates doors and allows the community to come together as one” (“Bubba Wallace praises,” 2020, para. 4).
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson also praised the move, stating that they belong in the history books instead of the racetrack. “I know some want to make it political. In all these injustices and inequalities that exist, to me it’s kind of simple if we start with being kind first . . . I think they have a place in history, and we need to keep them in the history books and not have them flying in the sky at the racetracks,” he said (“Bubba Wallace praises,” 2020, paras. 11-13).
Kyle Petty, longtime racer and son of the seven-time champion Richard Petty called it “a huge moment” (Macur, 2020, para. 12), saying on NBCSN’s ‘NASCAR America’, “As we look at the sport and how the sport has grown, we were way behind the curve” (para. 13).
Some fans and drivers were upset with the decision, citing the flag’s ties to racing culture. Ray Ciccarelli, who drives part-time in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, voiced his intention to leave the sport after this season in a Facebook post following NASCAR’s decision (Fernandez, 2020). During the race weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, fans drove by the track with Confederate flags in reaction to its ban from NASCAR facilities, and a plane flew a banner of the flag with the words “Defund NASCAR” (Fryer, 2020).
Wallace wore a shirt that said “I can’t breathe,” the plea spoken repeatedly by George Floyd as a police officer knelt on his neck, followed by the words “Black Lives Matter” ahead of the June 7 race at Atlanta (Doubek, 2020). He wore the same shirt at Martinsville on June 10, this time sporting a car with a special Black Lives Matter paint scheme on it (Gartland, 2020). The car had #BlackLivesMatter over the rear wheel, Black and white hands interlocking on the hood, the words “Compassion, Love, Understanding” on the back bumper and hood, and a peace sign decorated with different colored hands underneath the Black Lives Matter hashtag (Gartland, 2020).
In a video posted to the Twitter page of Wallace’s racing team, Richard Petty Motorsports, Wallace said, “We knew that the Martinsville race was open—we did not sell a sponsorship for that—and it sparked an idea of, why not run a blackout car? Our team brought that idea to me and I jumped all over it. … Why not dive in straight to the root and put #BlackLivesMatter on the car?” (Gartland, 2020, para. 4).
Before the Martinsville race, Wallace spoke about what Black Lives Matter means to him. “I haven’t really slept much thinking about this race — everything that’s going into it and everything going on in the world. Trying to race to change the world here. It’s not that we’re saying no other lives matter. We’re trying to say that black lives matter, too,” he said (“Bubba Wallace praises,” 2020, para. 2).
Many athletes, including LeBron James, Alvin Kamara, and Bernard Pollard Jr, expressed their support for Wallace. Kamara attended his first NASCAR race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on June 14, wearing a Bubba Wallace shirt and hat. Sports Illustrated writer Dan Gartland wrote, “What makes Wallace’s statement especially powerful is that it’s not the safe thing to do” (Gartland, 2020, para. 5).
Kamara live-tweeted a race on Wednesday, in direct response to the league banning the confederate flag and NASCAR extended him an invitation to Sunday's race.
Gartland’s sentiment proved to be a real concern just a week later. On June 21, an alleged noose was found in Wallace’s garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama (Bromberg, 2020). The noose was discovered by one of Wallace’s crew members and reported to NASCAR. NASCAR President Steve Phelps informed Wallace about the noose and issued an FBI investigation (Fryer, 2020). Phelps said that the individual who left the noose “will be banned from this sport for life” (para. 16).
Wallace received widespread support from current and former drivers, as well as other athletes, politicians, and sports analysts. He also released a statement following the discovery.
You’re my brother and always will be. Don’t let the people who are lower than life to try and bring you down. They won’t scare you because you’re strong. I stand with you pal. Forever. https://t.co/fiIALd9XCE
Sickening! @BubbaWallace my brother! Know you don’t stand alone! I’m right here with you as well as every other athlete. I just want to continue to say how proud I am of you for continuing to take a stand for change here in America and sports! @NASCAR I salute you as well! 🙏🏾✊🏾👑 https://t.co/1TwkjVHai5
We’re with you Bubba. The journey to racial justice has taken far too long. Keep your eyes on @bubbawallace at Talladega, keep that racist’s noose in your thoughts and ask: when will this end? Maybe Bubba can get us to that checkered flag 🏁 a bit sooner. It’s time America. https://t.co/dK51FgnjoR
A few years ago @BubbaWallace was nice enough to take a couple minutes out to meet my family (they’ve been fans since he raced in the truck series). He’s the only NASCAR driver they ever wanted to meet, and he couldn’t have been kinder. We’re rooting for you Bubba; all of us.
The June 21 race was postponed until the next day due to rain, leading to a powerful display of unity from NASCAR as Wallace’s fellow drivers and their pit crews pushed his car to the front of the starting grid before the race. Joined by NASCAR legend Richard Petty, they stood with Wallace during the pre-race prayer and national anthem (Bromberg, 2020) while Brad Keselowski held the American flag during the display (Fryer, 2020). Wallace then took a selfie with everyone behind his car (Bromberg, 2020).
According to Wallace, Jimmie Johnson came up with the idea to stand with him for the anthem, and Kevin Harvick suggested pushing his car down pit road (Fryer, 2020). The hashtag #IStandWithBubba was also painted in white on the infield grass (“NASCAR stands with,” 2020).
NASCAR (2020) tweeted a video of the display using the same hashtag and the word, “Together.”
Wallace had a chance to race for the win, even leading for a time with under 30 laps to go, but a fuel shortage forced him to take a late pit stop. He received a push toward pit road from Corey LaJoie after running out of fuel, allowing him to ultimately finish 14th (“NASCAR stands with,” 2020).
Wallace celebrated with a group of first-time fans, many of them wearing Black Lives Matter shirts, after the race (Fryer, 2020). While speaking to the media he apologized for not wearing a mask, explaining that he wanted to show the person who left the noose in his garage that “you are not going to take away my smile” (para. 10).
The FBI released the results of their investigation into the noose on June 23, determining that Wallace was not the victim of a hate crime and that the garage door pull fashioned like a noose had been in the garage since at least October 2019 (“FBI says rope, 2020). The results produced a variety of reactions. NASCAR released a statement, expressing relief that there “was not an intentional, racist act against Bubba” (para. 3), but Wallace received backlash from individuals who felt that he or his team planted the noose themselves (Rosenblatt, 2020).
In a June 24 interview with Craig Melvin on TODAY, Wallace said, “I was relieved just like many others to know that it wasn’t targeted towards me. But it’s still frustrating to know that people are always going to test you and always just going to try and debunk you and that’s what I’m trying to wrap my head around now” (Rosenblatt, 2020, para. 2).
NASCAR released an image of the noose on June 25 following an internal investigation by the organization. Steve Phelps defended NASCAR’s reaction while admitting that he could have worded his initial statement better. “Upon learning of seeing the noose, our initial reaction was to protect our driver. … In hindsight, we should have — I should have — used the word ‘alleged’ in our statement. … As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba. With similar emotion, others across our industry and our media stood up to defend the NASCAR family — our NASCAR family — because they are part of the NASCAR family too. We were proud to see so many stand up for what’s right,” he said (“NASCAR releases image,” 2020, para. 4-5).
#NASCAR has released the photo of the noose found in the No. 43 garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon. (Photo Credit: NASCAR) pic.twitter.com/09StWX6fbg
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) June 25, 2020
NASCAR doesn’t typically receive much coverage on social media from accounts such as ESPN, but the sport received lots of attention throughout the investigation. ESPN’s Instagram account (2020) posted about NASCAR nine times between the flying of the Confederate flag over Talladega on June 21 and the release of the noose photo on June 25. Bleacher Report (2020) added twelve NASCAR-related posts between June 21 and June 26, and Sports Illustrated (2020) covered support for Wallace and the outcome of the FBI investigation with four posts between June 22 and June 23.
Media coverage of Bubba Wallace and NASCAR expanded further on July 6 after U.S. President Donald Trump (2020) called out Wallace on Twitter, saying that he should apologize for the “hoax” while criticizing NASCAR’s ratings following the Confederate flag ban, calling them the “lowest ratings EVER.”
Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the president. “What the president is making is a broader point that this rush to judgment, before the facts are out, is not acceptable,” she told Fox News’ Sandra Smith on July 6 (Owens, 2020, para. 5). McEnany then compared Wallace’s situation to that of Jussie Smollett, who was accused of staging a hate crime against himself in 2019 (Pereira, 2020). Jason Owens (2020) emphasizes the implications of this comparison, writing that “McEnany’s Smollett comparison implies that Wallace and his team orchestrated the incident as a hate crime” (para. 9). Steve Phelps has emphasized from the beginning that Wallace’s team had nothing to do with the noose. “I want to be clear about the 43 team: The 43 team had nothing to do with this” (“FBI says rope, 2020, para. 16), Phelps said on June 23.
The media came to the defense of Wallace and NASCAR after Trump’s claims. In response to the president’s claim that the noose was a hoax, Daniel Roberts (2020) responded, “There was no ‘hoax’—the sport merely responded to what looked at first like a hate crime—and Wallace never saw or reported the noose; it was found and reported by a member of his team” (para. 2). Trump’s claim that NASCAR’s ratings are plummeting is also false. According to Michael Mulvihill, the sport’s ratings on Fox networks are up 8 percent since its return from a shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic (“President Donald Trump,” 2020). Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis, broadcast on NBC, had the largest viewership for an Xfinity race at that location since 2017 with nearly 1.7 million viewers (Pereira, 2020). The rating for Sunday’s Cup Series race was up 46 percent from last year’s race at Indianapolis (McCarriston, 2020).
Wallace responded to the tweet with a message “To the next generation and little ones following my foot steps” (Pereira, 2020, para. 8).
“You will always have people testing you. Seeing if they can knock you off your pedestal. I encourage you to keep your head held high and walk proudly on the path you have chosen . . . Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE! Love over hate every day. Love should come naturally as people are TAUGHT to hate. Even when it’s HATE from the POTUS… Love wins,” Wallace (2020) wrote on his Twitter page.
Audio company Beats by Dre announced a personal partnership with Wallace that night, according to NASCAR (“Bubba Wallace lands,” 2020). “We weren’t going to announce this until later this week, but hate cannot win the day. No one should ever be asked to apologize for standing up for what’s right — we are proud to welcome Bubba Wallace to the Beats by Dr. Dre family,” the company wrote on Twitter announcing the partnership (Beats by Dre, 2020).
We weren’t going to announce this until later this week, but hate cannot win the day. No one should ever be asked to apologize for standing up for what’s right — we are proud to welcome @bubbawallace to the Beats by Dr. Dre family. pic.twitter.com/HeiC76MDle
Fellow Cup Series driver Tyler Reddick responded to Trump in a since-deleted tweet, saying, “We don’t need an apology. We did what was right and we will do just fine without your support” (“President Donald Trump,” 2020, para. 5).
Kevin Harvick also backed up Wallace on Golic and Wingo (2020), saying that “a misinformed tweet is not gonna change the unity and the direction of our sport and our garage, and the way that we feel about each other.”
“A misinformed tweet is not gonna change the unity and the direction of our sport and our garage, and the way that we feel about each other.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) agreed that Wallace had nothing to apologize for (Carney, 2020). “You saw the best in NASCAR,” Graham said in a Fox News Radio interview with Brian Kilmeade. “When there was a chance that it was a threat against Bubba Wallace, they all rallied to Bubba’s side. So I would be looking to celebrate that kind of attitude more than being worried about it being a hoax” (President Donald Trump,” 2020, para. 15).
The praise of NASCAR’s unity has been echoed since drivers and crews walked behind Wallace on June 22. Following the FBI investigation on June 23, Elijah Burke (2020) tweeted about how the findings shouldn’t “overshadow yesterday’s display of peace, love, and unity.” NFL analyst Mike Clay (2020) responded, emphasizing that the show of support for Wallace was “important and necessary.” The support of Wallace continued following the president’s tweet with Richard Petty Motorsports (2020) tweeting a simple graphic with the number 43 and the hashtag #IStandWithBubba.
Yes! We’re all glad the noose was a misunderstanding, but let’s not pretend like racism is solved. The show of support for Bubba through all this (including Monday) was important and necessary. #IStandWithBubbahttps://t.co/CMiiOuAY5J
— Richard Petty Motorsports (@RPMotorsports) July 6, 2020
Wallace collected his third top ten finish of the season at Indianapolis on Sunday, placing ninth (Holleran, 2020). He currently leads fan voting for the upcoming All-Star Race, which will take place on July 15 at Bristol Motor Speedway (Stone, 2020). The next Cup Series race, the Quaker State 400, will take place at Kentucky Speedway on Sunday, July 12, at 2:30 PM ET.
BarrVisuals. (2020, June 22). @BubbaWallace gets a late race push from @CoreyLaJoieafter running out of fuel during a late race caution during the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. #NASCAR [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/BarrVisuals/status/1275243933749084166?s=20
beatsbydre. (2020, July 6). We weren’t going to announce this until later this week, but hate cannot win the day. No one should ever be asked to apologize for standing up for what’s right — we are proud to welcome @bubbawallace to the Beats by Dr. Dre family. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/beatsbydre/status/1280283245465071622?s=20
Blaney. (2020, June 22). You’re my brother and always will be. Don’t let the people who are lower than life to try and bring you down. They won’t scare you because you’re strong. I stand with you pal. Forever. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Blaney/status/1275054984732774401?s=20
DougJones. (2020, June 22). We’re with you Bubba. The journey to racial justice has taken far too long. Keep your eyes on @bubbawallace at Talladega, keep that racist’s noose in your thoughts and ask: when will this end? Maybe Bubba can get us to that checkered flag a bit sooner. It’s time America. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/DougJones/status/1275071653781725188?s=20
Erik_Jones. (2020, June 22). I’m competing against @BubbaWallace on the racetrack today, but #IStandWithBubba every day. You come at him with ugliness, you’re coming at all of us. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Erik_Jones/status/1275085641785671683?s=20
ESPNNFL. (2020, June 4). .@A_kamara6 rocking some @BubbaWallace gear on his way to his first-ever NASCAR race. Kamara live-tweeted a race on Wednesday, in direct response to the league banning the confederate flag and NASCAR extended him an invitation to Sunday’s race. (via @NASCAR) [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ESPNNFL/status/1272212295884640257?s=20
GolicAndWingo. (2020, July 7). “A misinformed tweet is not gonna change the unity and the direction of our sport and our garage, and the way that we feel about each other.” -@KevinHarvick on the tweet that President Trump sent about NASCAR’s ratings and Bubba Wallace. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/GolicAndWingo/status/1280496766555742210?s=20
KingJames. (2020, June 21). Sickening! @BubbaWallace my brother! Know you don’t stand alone! I’m right here with you as well as every other athlete. I just want to continue to say how proud I am of you for continuing to take a stand for change here in America and sports! @NASCAR I salute you as well! [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1274914521396604928?s=20
MikeClayNFL. (2020, June 23). Yes! We’re all glad the noose was a misunderstanding, but let’s not pretend like racism is solved. The show of support for Bubba through all this (including Monday) was important and necessary. #IStandWithBubba [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/MikeClayNFL/status/1275552791654813696?s=20
Rachel_Nichols. (2020, June 21). A few years ago @BubbaWallace was nice enough to take a couple minutes out to meet my family (they’ve been fans since he raced in the truck series). He’s the only NASCAR driver they ever wanted to meet, and he couldn’t have been kinder. We’re rooting for you Bubba; all of us. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Rachel__Nichols/status/1274926710643781632?s=20
realDonaldTrump. (2020, July 6). Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER! [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1280117571874951170?s=20
SiriusXMNASCAR. (2020, June 25). #NASCAR has released the photo of the noose found in the No. 43 garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon. (Photo Credit: NASCAR) [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/SiriusXMNASCAR/status/1276188868551806976?s=20
Pershelle Rohrer is a first-year BGSU student from Logan, Utah. She is a Sport Management major with a minor in Journalism. Her primary sports interests are football, basketball,and baseball, both at the professional and collegiate levels.
The XFL had a major officiating controversy at the end of a game between the Houston Roughnecks and Seattle Dragons on March 7. The way the league handled it could set an example for the NFL, a league that has struggled to improve its officiating for years.
The Roughnecks led the Dragons, 32-23, with the clock running down at the end of the fourth quarter. Instead of throwing the ball out-of-bounds on fourth down to kill the remainder of the clock, Houston quarterback PJ Walker took a knee with two seconds remaining. The play should have resulted in a turnover on downs, granting Seattle one last shot at the end zone from Houston’s 21-yard line (West, 2020).
Seattle would have had a chance to tie the game with a touchdown and three-point conversion. Instead, the clock ran out, the referees left the field, and the game was declared over. ABC announcers Steve Levy and Greg McElroy immediately called out the officiating crew. McElroy said, “It can’t happen. It absolutely can’t happen. It is inexcusable,” (Werner, 2020, para. 5). When they asked officiating supervisor Wes Booker why the game was called with time on the clock, he admitted his mistake but claimed that he could not bring the teams and officials back for the final play. In USA Today writer Barry Werner’s words (2020, para. 4), “The replay official told ABC the game was over and there was nothing they could do about it, somehow.”
Later that evening, the XFL reassigned Booker and released a statement apologizing for the mistake. Dan Lyons wrote, “Good on the XFL for getting a statement and apology out very quickly,” (2020, para. 7).
The XFL’s quick response to the situation was impressive for the league, especially in a time where fans, players, and coaches are frustrated with the officiating in the larger NFL. Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians called out the NFL in 2019, stating that, “My biggest thing is, referees aren’t held accountable,” (Seifert, 2019, para. 25). The NFL and XFL officiating crews have different levels of exposure, and the transparency of the XFL is what allowed Booker to be held accountable for his mistake. In the XFL, all officials are mic’d up throughout the game, and the access to the officiating supervisor in the booth made it possible to immediately ask for his reasoning behind calling the game early.
All plays are booth reviewable in the XFL, with a replay official in the stadium. In the NFL, plays are only booth reviewable for the last two minutes of each half, and the replay official is at a central command center in New York (Schwartz, 2020). Since officials are mic’d up in the XFL, fans can listen to the booth official’s conversation with the on-field referees and understand the reasoning for either overturning or upholding a call.
Geoff Schwartz claims, “The NFL is already in need of an officiating overhaul and letting people in on the review process would go a long way to making nice with everyone involved” (2020, para. 14). Taking a page out of the XFL’s playbook could be the solution the NFL needs to help restore integrity to its officiating and improve the in-game experience for players and fans alike.
Pershelle Rohrer is a first-year BGSU student from Logan, Utah. She is a Sport Management major with a minor in Journalism. Her primary sports interests are football, basketball,and baseball, both at the professional and collegiate levels.
The NFL season may be over, but football still continues as the XFL enters its fifth week of play. In its second stint after the original league’s failure in 2001, the XFL features modified rules and some familiar faces looking for a second chance at a football career. Through four weeks, the league has received substantial TV coverage with all games broadcasted on ABC, FOX, FS1, and ESPN (Guzman, 2020), and attendance saw a consistent rise for three straight weeks before dropping in Week 4 (Lombardo, 2020). However, the XFL’s attendance figures appear to be on track to reach commissioner Oliver Luck’s standards for its first year if fans continue to show up.
Prior to Week 4, Luck expressed approval of the league’s returns in attendance and television ratings, acknowledging that, “we’ve got a long way to go, still. … (But) I think we’ve got something that we can build on” (Schad, 2020, para. 3). According to XFL News Hub, a total of 298,259 fans have attended games through the first four weeks with each matchup averaging 18,641 spectators (Lombardo, 2020). Some cities are gathering significantly more interest than others — for example, St. Louis and Seattle averaged 29,554 and 22,060 fans, respectively, in their Week 3 home games compared to Tampa Bay’s 18,117 and Los Angeles’ 12,211 in the same weekend (XFLNewsHub, 2020) — but overall, the league is hovering above their end-of-season attendance goal, which they hope to see in the mid-teens at the end of the season (Schad, 2020).
Week 3 Attendance Numbers:
Tampa Bay: 18,117 Seattle: 22,060 St. Louis: 29,554 Los Angeles: 12,211
St. Louis and Seattle have notably done well with attendance numbers, hosting the three most-attended games through Week 4 (Kercheval, 2020). While all eight teams are in established football markets, both of these cities are unique as they both lack a variety of professional teams playing during the winter and early spring months. Seattle’s “12th Man” eagerly supports the Seahawks during the NFL season, but the city currently lacks an NBA or NHL team to draw fans between the Super Bowl and the opening of the MLB and MLS seasons. As the only professional team playing during those months besides Major League Rugby’s Seattle Seawolves (Saul, 2020), the Dragons have received a strong fan turnout. St. Louis was the home of the NFL’s Rams before they left for Los Angeles four years ago (Kercheval, 2020), and they also lack an NBA team. The fans are hungry for football and flock in mass numbers to “The Dome” to watch the BattleHawks play.
The BattleHawks are the East Division’s best team so far, currently holding a 3-1 record due to the stellar play of quarterback Jordan Ta’amu and running back Matt Jones. Ta’amu ranks second in the XFL in passing yards (876 yards) and fifth in rushing yards (186 yards) through four weeks, and Jones is second overall in rushing yards with 244 yards for St. Louis (“Stat Leaders,” 2020). The team has been receiving attention from the media in recent days due to their strong start and positive reception in the city of St. Louis. ESPN’s Brendan Meyer (2020) recently wrote a feature on the return of football to St. Louis after a 1,529-day drought. “For now, no matter what happens, the love that St. Louis has shown the BattleHawks is entertaining and real, a perfect match between a fringe NFL city and a team of fringe NFL players,” Meyer writes (para. 55). In fact, St. Louis loves their team so much that “The Dome” will open more seating in their upper deck for Week 7’s game against the LA Wildcats, according to Ben Kercheval (2020). Cody Benjamin (2020, para. 6) writes that the BattleHawks would “give Houston a run for their money,” referring to the league-leading Roughnecks.
🗣️ ST. LOUIS … you made yourselves heard!
We are OFFICIALLY opening up seats in the upper deck of The Dome for our week 7 game vs LA on March 21. 👀
— St. Louis BattleHawks (@XFLBattleHawks) March 4, 2020
The Houston Roughnecks are the last undefeated team in the XFL, led by quarterback P.J. Walker, an early MVP favorite, and veteran coach June Jones. Walker is likely the league’s most heavily-covered player due to his journey from the Indianapolis Colts’ practice squad to the Houston Roughnecks. Undrafted out of Temple, he was with the Colts on and off for two years before being cut before the 2019 NFL season (Barshop, 2020). Walker found a spot in Houston thanks to Oliver Luck’s son, retired Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, who recommended that his father offer him a position in the XFL. Just three weeks into the season, Sarah Barshop wrote, “If Walker continues to play the way he has in the first three weeks of the XFL season, he’ll likely get another chance to compete for an NFL roster spot” (para. 19).
Walker fits in nicely into head coach June Jones’ system. The veteran college, USFL, NFL, and CFL coach is notably a “pioneer of the run and shoot offence” (Andrews, 2017, para. 2), something that has rarely been brought up by the media. According to Ben Andrews (2017), the offense was founded by Glenn “Tiger” Ellison in the 1950s as a no-huddle offense where the receivers’ only responsibility was to get open. Darrell “Mouse” Davis introduced the run-and-shoot offense at Portland State, where June Jones was one of his starting quarterbacks, and Jones became widely known for using it with his own teams. He modified the offense to use the shotgun formation and an offset running back at the University of Hawaii, helping Rainbow Warriors quarterback Colt Brennan set the Division-I record for touchdown passes in a season in 2006. After taking over as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ head coach after the Canadian team started out 0-8 in 2017, Jones once again used the run-and-shoot offense to lead the Ticats to a 6-4 record in the final ten games of the season (“2017 Regular Season,” n.d.).
According to Jones, the run-and-shoot offense is most effective with a quarterback with passing accuracy and speed (Andrews, 2017). Walker leads the XFL in passing yards through Week 4 with 987 yards (“Stat Leaders,” 2020). Roughnecks wide receiver Cam Phillips has also played a major role in the offense, catching 21 passes for a league-high 333 yards and 7 touchdowns through the first four games, averaging 15.9 yards per reception (“Cam Phillips,” 2020). The Roughnecks should always be favored with Walker under center in the eyes of Cody Benjamin (2020).
Excluding Walker and Ta’amu, the XFL’s quarterback situation has been a cause for concern for members of the media. Brad Gagnon claims that “the XFL’s shoddy quarterback play has held it back” (2020, para. 5). Bill Bender (2020) suggests that the league could have a “quarterback crisis” early in its existence. Through Week 3, each team averaged 216.1 passing yards per game, falling between Mitchell Trubisky and Joe Flacco’s numbers from the 2019 season. That would be good for 22nd in the league last year. In Week 4, Cardale Jones’ DC Defenders were shut out by the previously winless Tampa Bay Vipers, Brandon Silvers was benched for B.J. Daniels in Seattle, former Pittsburgh Steeler and current Dallas Renegades quarterback Landry Jones turned over the ball four times and was injured late in the game against Houston. Luis Perez made his first start for the New York Guardians in place of the injured Matt McGloin, and Josh Johnson has played well in his starts for the LA Wildcats, but both teams are sitting in the bottom half of Cody Benjamin’s power ranking heading into Week 5 (2020). Tampa Bay Vipers backup quarterback Quinton Flowers even requested a trade, hoping for a larger role in the offense (Bumbaca, 2020).
In Bill Bender’s words, “Walker needs to be the rule, not the exception” (2020, para. 5).
Despite the quarterback struggles that the league is facing, the XFL has received widespread praise throughout its first month. The league first game on ABC had 3.3 million viewers, topping the Duke vs North Carolina game from the night before, and the XFL Instagram account has surpassed 500,000 followers (Guzman, 2020). Television broadcasts feature mic’d up coaches, players, and officials as well as in-game interviews on the sidelines (Gagnon, 2020). During Week 1, Doug Gottlieb tweeted about the open mics and JJ Watt enjoyed the sideline interviews that occurred almost immediately after critical plays throughout the game.
The league features unique rules, including a modified kickoff and three different extra point options, to increase scoring opportunities and improve safety. Citadel head coach Brent Thompson likes the new rules so much that he will implement some of them in the college’s upcoming spring game (Gaydos, 2020). “During a spring game, you usually don’t do a kickoff, because it can be a dangerous play. But the way the XFL does it is pretty safe, and it was a chance to get a special teams play executed,” Thompson said (para. 3).
The XFL also uses a unique strategy to interact with its fans through social media. Their various social media pages feature highlights, memes, fan interactions, and celebrations. Social media is used to highlight player success, creating personalities for fans to support leaguewide.
Nick Holley shouted out his parents after catching a touchdown pass for the Roughnecks.
Television exposure, social media highlights, and written coverage are providing fans a variety of viewership opportunities, drawing new supporters. Despite some critiques of the quality of play, the reception through four weeks has been relatively positive. As long as players like P.J. Walker and Jordan Ta’amu continue to draw attention, attendance stays steady, and TV ratings remain positive, the XFL could look to outlast both last year’s Alliance of American Football (AAF) and 2001’s original XFL. With six weeks of the regular season remaining, any team still has a shot at the four-team playoffs. The race will continue to heat up as April approaches, culminating with the inaugural championship game in Houston on April 26, 2020 (“Houston to Host,” 2020).
JJWatt. (2020, February 8). Just turned on the XFL. Kicker missed a field goal and they immediately interviewed him on the sideline asking what happened haha. That’s tough. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/JJWatt/status/1226231665023967244?s=20
xfl2020. (2020, February 23). Martez Carter said if he had “one more in the box” he’d bust out his signature backflip. He then front flipped INTO the box. Mr. Excitement @ThatManCarterIV. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/xfl2020/status/1231748191986561026?s=20
XFLBattleHawks. (2020, February 23). 1 Sack 1 box of Thin Mints @case_man_ will agree that Girl Scout cookies taste even better when you’re winning!#ForTheLoveOfFootball x #ClearedToEngage [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/XFLBattleHawks/status/1231709732408348672?s=20
XFLBattleHawks. (2020, March 4). ST. LOUIS … you made yourselves heard! We are OFFICIALLY opening up seats in the upper deck of The Dome for our week 7 game vs LA on March 21. Tickets will go on sale this Friday at 10 AM! #RockTheDome x #ForTheLoveOfFootball [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/XFLBattleHawks/status/1235315275576348672?s=20
XFLRoughnecks. (2020, February 16). Name a better duo… I’ll wait @pjwalker_5
Pershelle Rohrer is a first-year BGSU student from Logan, Utah. She is a Sport Management major with a minor in Journalism. Her primary sports interests are football, basketball,and baseball, both at the professional and collegiate levels.
At this time three weeks ago, I was in a car coming home from a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For eight days I had been in Miami, Florida with seven other Bowling Green State University students volunteering at the Super Bowl. This is an opportunity that I applied for through the university’s Sport Management Alliance. I spent much of the semester following the NFL and waiting to see which teams would make the trip to Miami to play in the big game in February. After an exciting playoff race, the battle for the Lombardi Trophy came down to the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. While in Miami, I interacted with both fan bases in the week leading up to the game as well as NFL fans from all over the world.
Just hours after our arrival in Florida the Monday before the Super Bowl, we attended Super Bowl Opening Night at Marlins Park, home of the Miami Marlins. The event was covered heavily by the media, as it was televised on NFL Network. Both teams were introduced on the floor, and interviews with stars like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Richard Sherman followed. We were each given a radio earpiece upon our arrival that allowed us to listen to different players while we walked around the concourse participating in different activities. We took individual and group pictures and met Miami Dolphins players Christian Wilkins and Charles Harris. Harris liked the Dirk Nowitzki shirt I was wearing, saying, “He’s my guy.”
Throughout the week I didn’t go a day without seeing a Kobe Bryant jersey somewhere. Bryant was involved in a helicopter accident the day before our arrival, and moments of silence were held on the plane as we landed in Miami and at Super Bowl Opening Night at Marlins Park. Many players in the interviews were asked what Bryant meant to them or about his legacy. The media was able to unite the sports world by crossing football with basketball and covering two major events at the same time, and it was fascinating to watch up close. American Airlines Arena and a couple other buildings in Miami were lit up in purple and yellow that night as sports fans mourned the loss of an NBA legend.
On Tuesday, we went to Bayfront Park to work at Super Bowl LIVE, an outdoor fan experience in the heart of Miami. This event was covered on the Super Bowl Host Committee’s Instagram account in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, and it featured various places for photo opportunities, food tents, live music, a large football field, and carnival games for kids. While this event was the main thing covered by the host committee on social media, I did not see as many individuals from the media making their way around the park. The majority of coverage I saw was at the Super Bowl Experience in the Miami Beach Convention Center.
We were at the convention center Wednesday through Saturday, working multiple volunteer shifts on three of those days. The Super Bowl Experience was an indoor fan fest that featured football activities like field goal kicking, Hail Mary, and NFL combine events. It also included photo opportunities with the Lombardi Trophy, a Super Bowl ring display, autograph signings from NFL players, and other displays showcasing the NFL’s history that spans one hundred years.
The Super Bowl Experience is where I truly saw the media at work. One of my classmates ran the obstacle course with a Los Angeles television reporter, who recommended a Cuban restaurant that ended up being a highlight of our week. Media covering the Chiefs took footage of their cheerleaders and mascot trying out the course. I spent most of my time working at the Hail Mary station where fans threw footballs into nets at various distances, and we had several reporters participate for television coverage. The media ensured that the event received exposure nationwide, creating the potential for more fans to attend in future years. Fans were enthusiastic and enjoyed participating in the games and meeting current and former players like Lamar Jackson, Dan Marino, and Rob Gronkowski. While not everyone was able to attend the Super Bowl, the Super Bowl Experience permitted anyone in the Miami area to get involved in the celebrations leading up to the big game.
Super Bowl Sunday was a hectic, exciting experience. We worked On the Fifty VIP party for some of the highest paying guests in the stadium. Six BGSU students worked inside the party and two of us participated in wayfinding and ushering in fans. From my post outside of the party, I saw Bruce Matthews and several other members of the NFL 100 All-Time team, Venus Williams, and Urban Meyer. Joe Theismann and Dan Marino were a couple of familiar names inside the party. As game time approached, we switched into our new role of finding fans in the suites who purchased post-game field access. We directed them where to go and what credential they would need. After having a break for halftime and part of the third quarter, we made our way back to the concourse outside the suites to try to catch any straggling fans with post-game field credentials. While I was there, I saw Larry Fitzgerald, without any security personnel in sight, meeting with fans, and a World War II veteran celebrating his one hundredth birthday. Photographers were taking his picture and thanking him for his service, celebrating his milestone. Other media personnel followed celebrities that I couldn’t pick out as they made their way in and out of the suites.
With five minutes left in the game, I made my way into the stairwell to take my post for directing fans to the field. While there, I listened to the Chiefs’ comeback on the radio. Knowing what was coming, I prepared myself for the hundreds of excited members of “Chiefs Kingdom” as they sprinted down the stairs toward the field, screaming and cheering as they went. After our job was over, we took in the postgame scene from the stands. The sight of confetti on the ground, some of which I took home with me, and the Kansas City Chiefs colors lighting up the stadium was incredible to see, especially since I have watched the Super Bowl from my living room every year since I can remember.
Participating in the Super Bowl LIV experience is something I will never forget, and the interactions with enthusiastic toddlers to 100-year-old war veterans, fans, and celebrities helped me truly understand the influence that sports have on people from all walks of life. I would like to thank Bowling Green State University and SMA for granting me the opportunity to participate in the Super Bowl festivities. I am thankful for the chance I was given to represent BGSU, and I look forward to doing so as I continue to further my career in sports.
Pershelle Rohrer is a first-year BGSU student from Logan, Utah. She is a Sport Management major with a minor in Journalism. Her primary sports interests are football, basketball,and baseball, both at the professional and collegiate levels.
The Seattle Seahawks brought back two familiar faces on December 23, 2019, signing running backs Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin for the remainder of the 2019-20 season. The move comes after Seattle lost their top three running backs for the year due to various injuries, leaving rookie Travis Homer as the only active running back on the roster (Rost, 2019).
Lynch began his first stint with Seattle when he was acquired from the Buffalo Bills in 2010. He quickly became a “Seattle sports icon,” according to John Boyle (2019b, para. 6). Lynch played with the Seahawks from 2010 to 2015, helping the team to two Super Bowl appearances. He had four consecutive seasons in which he rushed for 1,200 or more yards (2011-14) and led the league in rushing touchdowns in 2013 and 2014. (Henderson, 2019). The five-time Pro Bowler retired briefly before returning to play for his hometown Oakland Raiders in 2017 and 2018 (Marek, 2019).
Just three weeks ago, Lynch was handing out tequila shots to tailgating Raiders fans prior to the team’s final game before next season’s relocation to Las Vegas (Marek, 2019). Last Sunday, he was playing for an NFC West division title as the 11-4 Seahawks took on the 12-3 San Francisco 49ers (Alexander, 2019). He impressed in his return, rushing for 34 yards on 12 carries, including a 15-yard run, and leaping for a 1-yard touchdown in a 26-21 loss to the 49ers (Stecker, 2020).
Marshawn Lynch was serving tequila shots at a parking lot tailgate in Oakland eight days ago for the Raiders' last game there. Now he's gonna start for the Seahawks in the playoffs.
Beastmode officially is back in Seattle. Marshawn Lynch and the Seahawks have an agreement, and Seattle has a new RB to line up against SF during Sunday night’s NFC-West-deciding showdown.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider had discussions with Lynch about a return before the 2019 campaign, according to head coach Pete Carroll (Gustafson, 2019). In regard to his return to football after his year-long retirement, Lynch said, “At my age, this is a great opportunity to be able to come in and be able to help when needed, get in and do my little thing and get out, hopefully be able to help them go ahead and get to the Super Bowl that they should be playing for” (Boyle, 2019b, para. 7).
Lynch’s return to the NFL generated excitement throughout the NFL, as he was “entirely out of the NFL rumor mill in 2019” (Marek, 2019, para. 5). Andy Nesbitt (2019) wrote, “You have to believe that just his presence alone will pump up the team heading into a game that will decide the NFC West title” (para. 5). Brandon Gustafson (2019) said, “It’s clear fans of the team are excited about Lynch’s return” (para. 19). Julian Paredes (2019) described, “The jury’s still out on whether Lynch remains the dominant player he’d been for nearly a decade, but his return brings life to a team whose season was all but lost to injury” (para. 8).
NBA player Jamal Crawford, a Seattle native, and former Seahawks punter Jon Ryan expressed their excitement on Twitter:
Man, man, man.. My favorite player is BACK!!! @MoneyLynch back with the @Seahawks. Christmas came early!!!!!
Pete Carroll, referring to Lynch, said, “The circumstances rolled just at this time, and he could have four or five games left in him, maybe that’s what we need” (Boyle, 2019b, para. 5).
Just hours before the Lynch signing, Robert Turbin announced his return to Seattle on Instagram, posting a picture in front of his locker with the caption, “…Happy to be back HOME” (2019).
Turbin was drafted in the fourth round by the Seahawks in 2012 and was part of the draft class that included seven-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson and six-time Pro Bowl linebacker and Turbin’s Utah State teammate Bobby Wagner (Boyle, 2019a). Turbin played alongside Wilson, Wagner, and Lynch from 2012 to 2014, rushing for 928 yards in 1,231 attempts (good for 4 yards per attempt) in 48 games for Seattle (Henderson, 2019). He also caught 43 passes for 427 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Seahawks during those three seasons (Dajani, 2019). Following his years in Seattle, Turbin played for the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, and Indianapolis Colts (Boyle, 2019b).
And so one day after the Seahawks lost Chris Carson to a fractured hip and C.J. Prosise to a broken arm, the Seahawks went retro RB and signed Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin.
While the signing of Lynch is drawing more attention, an Associated Press article emphasized the importance of Turbin as both running backs prepared to play their first games in over a year. Lynch was not expected to handle an entire workload, and Turbin had the potential to take a significant number of snaps as a result. It was unknown at the time how the carries would be split between Turbin, Lynch, and Homer (“Robert Turbin the,” 2019). Turbin did not have any offensive snaps in Week 17 as Homer and Lynch split the workload (Stecker, 2020). However, that does not mean that he will not be a part of Seattle’s game plan as they head into the playoffs.
The Seahawks, who were third in the NFL in rushing yards per game this year heading into Week 17, found themselves “desperate for help at tailback” (Rost, 2019, para. 6) after they lost their top three running backs for the season. The injuries occurred over a fifteen-day span. Rashaad Penny tore his ACL in a Week 14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, and Chris Carson and C.J. Prosise suffered a fractured hip and a broken arm, respectively, in a Week 16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Carson rushed for over 1,000 yards for the second straight season and entered Week 16 as the NFL’s fourth leading rusher (“Seahawks officially bring,” 2019).
The additions of Lynch and Turbin help the Seahawks rebuild their running game as they look to return to the Super Bowl for the first time in five years. The two running backs are “a backfield tandem blast from the franchise’s past” (“Seahawks officially bring,” 2019, para. 1), reminding fans of the back-to-back Super Bowl appearances that the team enjoyed in 2014 and 2015 (Gustafson, 2019). It remains to be seen how Lynch and Turbin impact the remainder of Seattle’s season, but an initial assessment after their first game gives a positive outlook for the Seahawks. Brent Stecker (2020) emphasizes the importance of a strong group of running backs, writing, “Suddenly that run game that has long been a trademark of Carroll’s Seahawks teams – the same one that was eroded away by injuries late in the regular season – looks to be back just in time for the playoffs” (para. 9).
The Seahawks (11-5) will play the NFC East champion Philadelphia Eagles (9-7) on Sunday in a win-or-go-home matchup. Fourth-seeded Philadelphia comes into the playoffs on a four-game winning streak while Seattle has lost two straight games. The Seahawks were 7-1 on the road during the regular season and defeated the Eagles in Philadelphia, 17-9, on November 24th. Carson Wentz will be making his first career playoff start after missing Philadelphia’s successful Super Bowl run two years ago and last year’s playoffs due to injuries (Booth, 2020). Fifth-seed Seattle aims to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2015, and Lynch and Turbin could play important roles for the Seahawks as they start their playoff campaign on Sunday.
References
AdamSchefter. (2019, December 23). Beastmode officially is back in Seattle. Marshawn Lynch and the Seahawks have an agreement, and Seattle has a new RB to line up against SF during Sunday night’s NFC-West-deciding showdown. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1209330496490094593?s=20
AdamSchefter. (2019, December 23). And so one day after the Seahawks lost Chris Carson to a fractured hip and C.J. Prosise to a broken arm, the Seahawks went retro RB and signed Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1209334252057366528?s=20
mattschniedman. (2019, December 23). Marshawn Lynch was serving tequila shots at a parking lot tailgate in Oakland eight days ago for the Raiders’ last game there. Now he’s gonna start for the Seahawks in the playoffs. Legend. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/mattschneidman/status/1209170987905945600?s=20
Pershelle Rohrer is a first-year BGSU student from Logan, Utah. She is a Sport Management major with a minor in Journalism. Her primary sports interests are football, basketball,and baseball, both at the professional and collegiate levels.
Luka Doncic may be only twenty years old, but his youth isn’t stopping him from impressing early in his second NBA season. The guard from Slovenia is off to a hot start for the Dallas Mavericks this year, collecting awards and accolades for his play and drawing attention from the media as an early MVP favorite.
Doncic was crowned Rookie of the Year for his performance during the 2018-19 season. He became just the second rookie in NBA history to average at least 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists per game, joining Oscar Robertson as the only other player to accomplish the feat (“10 things to know,” 2019). Doncic currently leads the league in triple-doubles (7) and holds the record for the most triple-doubles before his 21st birthday (15). His efforts earned him the October and November player of the month award as well as the Sports Illustrated 2019 Breakout of the Year Award (“Mavericks’ Luka Doncic,” 2019).
Doncic is playing like a superstar, continuing to “assault the NBA record book” (Owens, 2019). He recently recorded his 19th straight game of at least 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, breaking Michael Jordan’s record since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976. He only trails Oscar Robertson (29 games from 1964 to 1965) in such games all-time (Owens, 2019). He is the second player under 21 to record a 40-point triple-double, joining his idol LeBron James in accomplishing the feat (Rader, 2019). He is third in the NBA in scoring, second in assists, and twelfth in rebounds among all players, practically averaging a triple-double with 30.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 9.2 assists per game (“Luka Doncic,” 2019).
The third overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft, Doncic has helped revive a Dallas Mavericks team that finished 33-49 last season. The Mavericks are red hot, having won 10 of their last 12 games en route to a 16-7 record, which is good for third in the Western Conference (“Dallas Mavericks”, 2019). Doyle Rader (2019), a contributor to Forbes, illustrates Doncic’s impact on the organization, writing that “The team looks rejuvenated and the atmosphere inside the American Airlines Center is buzzing and vibrant.”
Doncic was supposed to be good, but he became a breakout star much sooner than anticipated. He is projected to not only be selected to his first NBA All-Star Game, but he is in MVP conversations already, being mentioned among players such as James Harden, who leads the league in scoring, reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, and LeBron James, one of the greatest players of all time (Manrique, 2019).
Doncic could have been one of the rare rookies selected as an NBA All-Star last season, but he was overlooked by the media in favor of veteran players. All-stars are selected through a voting process that includes fans, players, and the media. Doncic received 4.2 million fan votes, which was third only to LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo but he did not receive the media and player votes to qualify as a starter (Golliver, 2019). He was then bypassed by the coaches, who selected the reserves. The media missed out on the opportunity to help send one of the league’s most intriguing young stars to the All-Star game, something that many fans would have loved to see. Like Rader (2019) said, “Everyone wants to experience their own piece of Luka magic” (para. 17).
Despite not being selected as an all-star last year, Doncic is considered a lock for this year’s game by most media members unless something goes drastically wrong. However, they also have the opportunity to potentially make him the youngest MVP in NBA history. Derrick Rose was 22 years old when he won the award in 2010-11. Doncic will be 21 years old at the conclusion of the season, and his current numbers are similar to those of Russell Westbrook in his 2016-17 MVP campaign.
Doncic’s stellar play causes him to receive heaping praise from many media members. Mo Dakhil (2019) writes, “Luka Doncic is running the Dallas Mavericks offense the way a maestro conducts an orchestra” (para. 1). Mike Prada (2019) argues that he is a top-five player this year. Mary Louise Kelly (2019) claims that sportswriters are already suggesting that he could potentially be an all-time great. From the beginning of the calendar year to now, media members have gone from leaving Doncic off the All-Star ballot to considering “Wonder Boy” a legitimate MVP candidate. As the season continues, Doncic’s development is something to watch for as he tries to become the youngest MVP in the history of the league.
Pershelle Rohrer is a first-year BGSU student from Logan, Utah. She is a Sport Management major with a minor in Journalism. Her primary sports interests are football, basketball,and baseball, both at the professional and collegiate levels.
The Cleveland Browns defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-7 in the week 11 Thursday Night Football matchup on November 14. Baker Mayfield threw for two touchdowns and rushed for one in the victory, giving the Browns a record of 4-6 and putting them back in the playoff race. Cleveland’s win over Pittsburgh (5-5) should have been something to celebrate, as it was just their fourth win over their division rival in the past ten years (“Browns, Steelers brawl,” 2019). However, a fight that broke out in the last eight seconds of the game overshadowed anything positive that happened in the Browns’ second straight win.
On the second to last snap of the game, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett brought down Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph well after Rudolph had completed a pass. Rudolph attempted to remove Garrett’s helmet, kicking him while they were still on the ground. Garrett then tore off Rudolph’s helmet and hit him on the top of the head with it when Rudolph followed him to retrieve it, causing the benches to clear. Garrett was ejected along with teammate Larry Ogunjobi, who shoved Rudolph to the ground just after the helmet incident, and Maurkice Pouncey, who then punched and kicked Garrett in retaliation.
The NFL issued suspensions to all three ejected players. Garrett was suspended indefinitely with a minimum ban for the remainder of the season, Pouncey was given a three-game ban, and Ogunjobi sat out one week. All three players appealed their suspensions, and Pouncey’s was reduced to two games as a result, according to ESPN (“Myles Garrett’s indefinite,” 2019). Rudolph received a $50,000 fine for his actions, and both teams were fined $250,000 each.
Garrett was immediately criticized by the media, fans, and players alike. Troy Aikman, current Fox commentator and former NFL player, called Garrett’s actions “barbaric” (“Browns, Steelers brawl,” 2019, para. 11). Reggie Bush (2019) tweeted that it “might have been the craziest thing I have seen on a football field!”
In all my life of football that might have been the craziest thing I have seen on a football field! They about to suspend Myles Garrett for 30 years! People getting stomped out, that was a hood fight! 🤦🏾♂️ Hate to see that in our game that’s not what pro football is about!
Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield said the incident would become “a soap opera on the outside much like the media has portrayed us to be for the whole season” (“Browns, Steelers brawl,” 2019, para. 13). The Browns have faced growing pains with a revamped roster in their first season under head coach Freddie Kitchens. The win against the Steelers was their second straight, but losing Garrett for the season could potentially hurt the Browns’ playoff chances as the defense has to make up for the loss of their star defender.
Following the game, the media took turns speculating about the length of Garrett’s suspension. Many reporters and players called for a season-long ban, some suggesting that the suspension should go into the 2020 season as well.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Garrett misses the rest of this season and half of next. It’s an ugly situation, Mason could have suffered a life altering injury. Football is an emotional sport but that was something different.
Prior to Garrett’s penalty, the longest suspension for a single on-field action was five games, awarded to Tennessee Titans defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth in 2006 for ripping Dallas Cowboys center Andre Gurode’s helmet off and stomping on his face (Trotter & Pryor, 2019).
Garrett’s indefinite suspension makes a statement to the rest of the NFL, especially since Rudolph recently came off a concussion after a helmet-to-helmet hit by Baltimore Ravens safety Earl Thomas in week 5 that knocked the quarterback unconscious (Seifert, 2019).
Garrett will have to meet with Commissioner Roger Goodell before his reinstatement (Trotter & Pryor, 2019). By holding out one of the league’s stars for the rest of the season and potentially part of the next, the NFL is showing its decreased tolerance for fighting and the need to prevent incidents like this from occurring again.
The media calling for the lengthy suspension of Myles Garrett put pressure on the NFL to act. By issuing the longest suspension for a single on-field act in league history and later upholding the indefinite ban, the NFL demonstrates its power to discipline players for unsportsmanlike conduct, which it hopes to reduce in the future.
The Browns and Steelers met again on December 1 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
JForsett. (2019, November 15). I wouldn’t be surprised if Garrett misses the rest of this season and half of next. It’s an ugly situation, Mason could have suffered a life altering injury. Football is an emotional sport but that was something different. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/jforsett/status/1195215451657318400?s=21
ReggieBush. (2019, November 14). In all my life of football that might have been the craziest thing I have seen on a football field! They about to suspend Myles Garrett for 30 years! People getting stomped out, that was a hood fight! Hate to see that in our game that’s not what pro football is about! [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/reggiebush/status/1195202558643490816?s=21
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Maxwell Media Watch 