By Kate Roth

Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs has been a man of few words when it comes to talking with the media. In fact after a 6-2 loss on Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres he became a man of no words.

Kessel refused to talk to the media following the game and even told one of the reporters, “Get away from me.” Kessel has never been one to go out of his way to speak to the media, but usually gives them at least a small response to make them happy.

Being the best player on the team and one of the leading scorers in the league, the media are always after Kessel. This is why his response or lack thereof to the media after the game on Saturday became such big news around the league. Often times it is almost expected for bench players to shrug off the media and ignore them as if they are not there, but for a player like Kessel who is supposed to be the leader of the team his actions came as a shock to many.

Yes we know that getting interviewed after a tough loss is not on the top of the priority list for players, but it is still something they are expected to do. As a professional athlete you are expected to show the media respect and give them a few comments before or after the game, it’s just how the system works.

The comments can be as simple as, “We didn’t get the job done” or “It just wasn’t our day”. No the media will not make headline stories with these comments, but as long as the athlete is there and willing to provide them they are satisfied.

When asked about the situation after the game and why he did not cooperate with the media Kessel responded by saying that his answers are not always great so he is not sure why the media really wants to talk to him in the first. I also did add that he does realize he needs to do a better job of communicating with the media, but does not want to have the media in his face every day.

Kessel may not view his own answers as great, but for those covering the team and getting the players responses the answers may be exactly what they are looking for. The reporters that cover these teams want to get opinions on the game from different guys each night and by getting Kessel’s “not so great” responses they feel they are doing their job.

I am glad that Kessel made it a point to mention that he needs to cooperate with the media more, no maybe not after every game, but more than he has been willing to in the past. We see this issue with players all over in the professional sports leagues so hopefully this is something other athletes can learn from.

Talking with the media after a game is not something that will kill you and the athletes need to realize this. The reporters are not out to hurt anyone, they are just trying to do their job and athletes can make that much easier just by quickly responding to their questions and then be on their way.

By Kate Roth

Since the moment that NBA superstar LeBron James announced his decision to come back to his home and join the Cleveland Cavaliers there have been countless news stories and headlines highlighting his name.

With the large amount of these stories popping up on the screen it started to become more likely for me to bypass the headline and move on to a different story. That is until I read the headlines about LeBron’s latest interview today. The headlines all read as different variations of LeBron telling reporters that he believes the Chicago Bulls look to be a better team than the Cleveland Cavaliers at the moment.

After reading these headlines I was a bit shocked to see that LeBron would say something like that about his team just a few weeks before the start of the NBA season. So I decided to watch the full interview and see what LeBron had actually said just to check and see if the media had blown his statements out of proportion.

For the most part the media did a great job reporting on this interview, however they did have one flaw in that they twisted some of the LeBron’s words around to make his statements come off as a little more serious than it seemed LeBron intended them to.

Yes LeBron did say that he believes the Bulls are a better team than the Cavs are right now in terms of chemistry, but we all already knew that. LeBron was just stating something that is obvious to all NBA fans, not trying to cause a panic for those fans predicting the Cavs to win it all this year. The core of the Bulls team have played together for a couple of years compared to the Cavs team who has many new members playing together for the first time, of course they are going to have more chemistry.

What you didn’t see in the headlines is that LeBron went on to say in his interview that the Cavs have spent time over the past month really working on team bonding to build that chemistry so they can be at the same level as the Bulls. He also commented that the team will need to play a few games together and even go through some disagreements before they can reach the same level of chemistry as the Bulls, but he believes that the team is well on their way there.

It seems as though this happens to us frequently while scrolling through sports media. We see a headline making claims about someone in the sports world and we instantly become interested and have to click on the link. Then upon reading the article we are disappointed to find out that the headline doesn’t quite exactly match up with the story.

In the media’s defense, I probably would have shown very little attention, if any, to these articles if they had headlines stating what LeBron actually said in his interview, so I cannot blame them for writing up the stories the way that they do. It’s all just a part of the business.

Last Monday’s Monday Night Football game was more than just a platform for Russell Wilson’s athleticism. While the Seattle Seahawks racked up 27 points against the Washington Redskins 17, another element other than football was presented during a broadcast that included announcer, Jon Gruden. You’d imagine that because his brother, Jay Gruden, coaches for the Redskins organization that the interview would become a one-sided story of the glories of Washington and amplify the blunders of Seattle. However, the broadcast was nothing of the sort.

Even during pregame, it was obvious that Jon had no intention of showing favoritism towards his brother’s organization. He presented the strengths and weaknesses of both teams as if he had no association. He didn’t dazzle me more than any other broadcaster, but impressed me with his professionalism. However, I didn’t know what to expect when the game clock started.
The game soon turned into the Russell Wilson show. By the end of the night he had rushed for over 120 yards and threw for 201 passing yards. As each second ticked down on the clock, Jon held true to a good broadcaster and was completely unbiased. In fact, his broadcast criticized the decisions of the Redskins with comments that included, “I don’t know if they watched the wrong game film or what”.

I truly respected this type of broadcasting. It makes the game more enjoyable knowing that the broadcasters are bringing nothing to the game except good, unbiased analysis. It’s becoming more and more common that sports broadcasters lean towards one side or another while announcing. Whether it be the underdog versus the undefeated team or having some kind of association with one of the teams participating, broadcasters are leaking comments that show they have some kind of mindset about one of the teams or its players. It’s becoming frustrating to know that some broadcasts turn into matters of opinion rather than using their talents to help their viewers further understand the game.

However, Jon Gruden acted against this ongoing trend and broadcasted a fair game. Broadcasts are not places for tons of opinions. It’s an ongoing trend that needs to be addressed and I was proud to see that not all analysts are feeding into this.

By Diontre Delk

Social media seems to make its way into every aspect of life. After all, it is one of the fastest ways to notify the public of news. This is also another way to recruit without breaking any rules.

There have been many stories in the past about athletes, (young and old), misusing social networks like Twitter and Instagram. But very rarely is there ever a problem with faculty misusing these social networks, until recently.

Recently, there has been a trend in the recruiting industry, and athletes and recruiters need to be aware of what’s going on.

A student athlete named Houshun Gaines was recently deceived by who he thought was a University of Florida recruiter named Brad Lawing. The three-star recruit was encouraged to make a commitment to the University of Florida, leaving behind other great opportunities at North Carolina State, Virginia Tech and the University of Miami.

It’s easy to see why Gaines was so easily persuaded to make his commitment. He has indeed met the real Brad Lawing and the Florida Gators have shown interest, just not as much as Gaines was led to believe.

Who’s to be blamed at this point? The University of Florida? The head coach, Nash Central? The student-athlete himself?

There is a lot of gray area in this situation and it needs to be addressed for future references.

If an athlete were to think that they had an official scholarship from a university and decided to prolong their final choice until a later date, then a kid could be without a locker in the fall if they chose the school that never officially offered.

Perhaps if full time coaches/ recruiters were certified on Twitter, they could be more easily distinguished. Also, I think that recruiters should contact the head coach of the targeted athlete for these reasons before communicating with the athlete.

BY KATE ROTH

The first time I heard the touching story of Adreian Payne, star basketball player for Michigan State University, and his friendship with Lacey Holsworth, a young girl battling cancer, it was on the Big Ten Network’s show called The Journey.

All I could think of while watching the show was what a great person Adreian Payne must be and how nice it is to see an athlete in the media doing something nice and kind. This is much better than the usual headlines we see about athletes being arrested or making negative comments.

The story of Adreian and young Lacey started spreading through the media quickly and soon everyone in the country seemed to know this incredible story.

The media stayed on this story from start to finish. They followed the friendship in the offseason, regular season, NCAA tournament, and all the way up to Lacey’s unfortunate passing on April 8.

Although this was not the most joyful story to read or hear about because of Lacey’s unfortunate circumstance, it was still nice to see the media give attention to an athlete who is actually trying to do some good in the world.

Too often I turn on Sportscenter or log onto a sports blog and see stories that feature athletes making terrible, selfish decisions. That is why I commend BTN, ESPN, and all of the other sport media outlets that covered this story. They did an amazing job of showing how special some athletes really are.

I hope that other athletes have learned from Adreian and Lacey. I would love to see the media eliminate all of the negative stories and focus on more inspirational stories like this.

R.I.P. Lacey Holsworth