I’ve done a lot of Justin Herbert analysis while avoiding the most interesting aspect of his spectacular decline. Maybe I’m still an institutional actor at heart. One of the many reasons mainstream sports journalism lost out to other forms of fan discourse is that the former shrank its topic list, out of fear of certain taboos. I’m not necessarily defending the era of columnists calling trained professional athletes “frauds” and “bums,” but I am observing there’s a market for that. Now, if I want to see that sort of appraisal, or even just a smarter channeling of such a sentiment, I go to YouTube or Twitter/X.
Let me tell you, there was a time when, if a highly touted quarterback got engaged to a hot pop star, skipped two weeks of voluntary team workouts to visit her European tour, and started the season 0-and-6 while playing horrifically…this would be a major subject of official media speculation. Instead, it’s a huge topic for the informal discourse, while remaining a “hear no evil, see no evil” subject for the mainstream. Madison Beer’s potential influence on her fiancé is a clear illustration of how there’s a Sports Media A and Sports Media B.