Ryan
Petrone
Professor
Zimdars
Adv.
Mass Comm
March
2, 2016
Discussion
Assignment
The Boston Media’s Influence on Professional
Athlete’s Performance
The Boston Red Sox are one of the
most storied sports franchises in the history of professional sports. With
legends like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, and modern superstars
like David Ortiz and Pedro Martinez donning the uniform, one can imagine the
pressure an athlete goes through knowing they play for one of the most historic
teams in all of sports. So put yourself in their shoes and think about it for a
second, and while you’re doing such, also factor in the pressure one receives
from the fan base, which can be the most loving fans ever or the most ruthless
(depending on performance of course) and then factor in making a mammoth
contract like say $95 million dollars over five years, yeah, the pressure can
be legit. But wait, how about you add to that mix, the success of the franchise
and the urgency to win a championship every year because you are playing in a
city that has won nine championships with their 4 major sports in less than
fifteen years. And then factor in the most underrated issue of all, the effect
of the media on athletic performance. Just like a grumpy or happy fan, the
media guides the fan’s perception of the player and team. The most prevalent
examples of the media’s affects on an athlete in the past five years of Boston
baseball athletes come with two once superstar players in Carl Crawford and
Pablo Sandoval. My purpose in this paper is to focus on both Carl Crawford and
currently Pablo Sandoval and examine the influence the Boston media has as a
distraction for these athletes, and the impact the media has on their
individual performance. The “media” can be anyone who reports on the team via a
public document, mandated reporters, or the general fan criticism through the
use of blogs or other media outlets.
Crawford came to Boston after
spending the first nine years of his career in Saint Petersburg Florida playing
for the lowly Tampa Bay Rays. He excelled during his time down south, and as a
result, the Boston Red Sox paid him an astounding eight year, $142 million
dollar contract, totaling roughly $17.75 million dollars. In an interview with
Bill Roden of the New York Times following a rough series for Crawford and
terrible start to his career in 2011, Crawford admits his difficulties playing
under the “spotlight” and “pressure” in Boston. The spotlight he refers to, is
of course the media coverage. “Being watched all
the time, the attention you get — that’s the biggest difference,” Crawford
stated. “In Tampa, I was able to hide…Now it’s like your every move is watched
all the time.” Psychologically this can play a huge role on a player,
especially when you’re playing a sport like baseball where the mental challenge
is one of the biggest issues with success. In a sport where you fail 7 out of
10 times you will earn yourself a $142 million dollar contract, fail 8 out of
10 times, you wont even make the major league roster. The media’s influence on
Crawford played a major role on his eventual trade and departure not even two
years into his eight-year contract. Crawford’s manager at the time, player
friendly coach, Terry Francona, was quite frank in his response defending
Crawford “What we were trying to give him a heads-up on was, every night
there’s going to be a microphone in front of your face, so you can’t be trying
to sneak out the back door. On the bad nights, you’ve got to stand there and
take it.” If we fast-forward roughly two years later, Crawford is out of
Boston, traded and playing average baseball from a baseball junkie’s
perspective, he still was complaining about the Boston media. In an interview
with Danny Knobler of CBS Sports, Crawford said “I
took so much of a beating in Boston, I don’t think anything could bother me
anymore . . . They love it when you’re miserable. Burying people in the media,
they think that makes a person play better. That media was the worst thing I’ve
ever experienced in my life.’’ Over a year removed, completely on the other
side of the country playing for the LA Dodgers, starting a new season, and yet,
Crawford still couldn’t get his mind off of his issues he had in Boston. Dan
Shaugnessy, one of Boston’s historically opinionated sports writers had this to
say about Crawford’s comments,
“Let’s
start with the fact that Carl gladly signed a seven-year, $142 million contract
and delivered nothing. He was never the player that he had been when he played
against the Sox. He was soft and often injured. He didn’t hit, didn’t get on
base, didn’t steal bases, and became a subpar defender. It was all bad. And despite
all that, we cut him slack. Fans and media. We pumped his tires. We noted how
much he cared, how hard he tried. We discouraged booing the guy. Poor Carl.
Don’t blame him. Now he comes back and says
the media was the worst thing he’s experienced in his life?
Who?
Where?
When?
Nobody
ever ripped this guy.
You
want to see tough, Carl?
We’ll show you tough.”
Shaugnessy went on to list multiple players who went on to
become hall of famers who were “ripped” in Boston when they played bad for just
a few weeks, not to mention playing like a guy who never played the sport his
entire time in the uniform; point proven. Even a year later and this player is
still discussing the negative effects the media in Boston specifically had on
his performance. We can wonder though, what if he got off to a great start? I
bet he would’ve been loved here and more importantly he would’ve loved it here as
well.
As we look at
today’s current situation, Pablo Sandoval signed a five year $95 million dollar
contract (average annual value of $19 million dollars) during the 2015
offseason. One week ago, on February 26, Pablo Sandoval arrived to spring
training for the Boston Red Sox to being working out for his second season in a
sox uniform. Last season was the worst season ever for Pablo who earned the
nickname “Panda” during his time in San Francisco for being a fan friendly,
overweight, yet productive third baseman and world series champion Giants. He
was fat, successful, young, friendly, productive, and did I mention fat? As a
25 year old it’s cute especially when you’re winning in a market like San Francisco
where the fans and media aren’t tough on their athletes. Come to Boston as a 29
year old making nearly $100 million dollars, have a terrible season, arrive to
spring training heavier than ever, though reports all winter said he was not
nearly as fat and had lost weight, well it isn’t quite cute anymore especially
in the hostile atmosphere of Boston. In one week, there were 49 Red Sox
articles written on Comcast Sports Net New England’s website. Out of all these
articles, 16 were about Pablo’s weight issue. Round it up and that’s a whopping
33% of the articles you could write about an organization, 40 guys on their
roster, ownership, the fan base, the first spring training game… 16 articles
were about Pablo’s weight, SIXTEEN!
How about videos where they literally rank the fattest
athletes in not just Boston sports history, but the entire country! The most
amusing part of all, if Sandoval performs, we wouldn’t hear a whisper about his
weight, but we do. We hear it every day. People comment on these posts every
day just look at the article entitled “I didn’t try to lost weight” there are
20 comments next to it, some of the ones that stand out are:
Joe
The boy's
hungry what do you want from him? Haven't you ever been hungry?
John
his ankles
look thinner!
Jason Eby
Well to be
honest as soon as the check cleared I guess there wasn't much incentive to
perform left.
chris
findlay
PUP
(physically unable to perform) void his contract or tell him he don't get
paid til he loses weight cause he isn't fulfilling his part of the contract. He
needs to be held accountable, shouldn't get paid millions to do nothing. What a
disgrace.
Alexander
Robson
If he's fat at
the beginning of the year, you're in for a real treat by the all-star break.
David
Levin
Trade his fat
butt at the deadline
The point, not only does the media guide the response of the fan
base, but once the fan base responds, it doesn’t get too much prettier. My
reaction is simple, how about we wait and see how the guy performs this spring
training, before we jump on that “trade him”, he “doesn’t care because he got
his money”, “he is a fat pig” bandwagon.
For this blog discussion I contacted one of my best friends who
is a major league pitcher who pitches for the Minnesota Twins and is currently
in Spring Training in the same town (Fort Myers Florida) as Pablo is with the
Red Sox. I asked him how easy it is for major leagues to feel the pressure of
the media, to react to it, and to find the information. His response was this,
“I am a bullpen guy, a
second year player making the major league minimum, the only media I hear in
Minnesota about me is positive stuff, but I hear it. All Stars like (Brian)
Dozier and (Joe) Mauer, are crowned when they are playing well but when they
struggle they hear it. Its not hard for me to log on to Comcast Sports Net and
see the opening title “Dozier Strikes Out, Twins Lose.” As a professional
athlete you just shrug it off, but when the media hounds you daily (like in
Sandoval’s case) it can be extremely difficult to brush off and mentally can
eat away at some guys.”
The sports media in Boston is one brutal industry. From
worshipping guys when they succeed. To doubting them when they have a bad day
and wanting them shipped out of Boston on the next flight to Alcatraz, the
media can be brutal or lovely, warming or cold as ice. It all depends on the
athletes’ psyche and where he is mentally. How good he is at blocking it out. Carl
Crawford let the media control his fate here in Boston in such a negative way,
a guy like David Ortiz performed at an other worldly level and is beloved, lets
hope Pablo follows the “Big Papi” path and not the Carl Crawford path. He has
four more years to right his story in Boston and hopefully the media will one
day love him too, not make 33% of articles about his weight. His performance is
a reflection of the pressure he is under here, and the majority of all that
pressure derives from the media.
Works Cited
Rhoden, William
C. (2011, May 14). Crawford Struggles at Plate and With Boston Spotlight.
Retrieved March 03, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/sports/baseball/crawford-still-finding-his-way-in-boston.html?_r=0
Shaughnessy, D.
(2013, March 11). Hard to believe Carl Crawford thinks Boston media tough on
him - The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 03, 2016, from https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/03/10/hard-believe-carl-crawford-thinks-boston-media-tough-him/swMlxkUK6qHkCroh2HEFwJ/story.html
CSNNE STAFF.
"Pablo Sandoval: 'I Didn't Try to Lose Weight'" Comcast SportsNet.
Comcast, 21 Feb. 2016. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
CSNNE STAFF.
"Where's Pablo in Ranking of Overweight Athletes?" Comcast SportsNet.
Comcast, 22 Feb. 2016. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
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