Response to KD Sports and Authority

I really hope that you wrote this extremely opinionated blog just to see the reactions of other people. If so, I will oblige you in replying. First off, to say that sports analysts and announcers “have no credibility” is a statement of idiocy. This is their profession. These people have devoted their lives to the study of professional sports. They spend WAY more than forty hours per week watching, analyzing and studying game tape, stats, and going over interviews. The vast amount of knowledge that these individuals have is unbelievable. Does it really “frustrate [you] to hear him talk because he has no idea what playing a professional sport is really like”?? Clearly you don’t really understand sports that well if you think that “former players/athletes themselves” would make better announcers. Do you realize how many players do not actually hold college degrees?? Do you realize that the only book some players have read over their entire career has been a play book?? Players are not the lone announcers because the vast majority of them could not handle the amount of preparation that it takes to deliver a quality analysis of a game. The fact that you picked Tony Kornheiser to criticize above all others is even more intriguing to me. He was not only a football commentator, he has his own show (along with Michael Wilbon) analyzing ALL sports. Not one, but ALL. That means he is watching tape and interviews of several different sports everyday. Just because an athlete has played the game does not mean that he really understands it completely. He has played most likely only one position for his entire career. How can he provide accurate analysis when his entire career has been devoted to the study of a single position? While some players do understand the game well enough to come out and be announcers, this can not be a general assumption that because you played the game you can commentate or analyze it.

On to your next point. You find it interesting to see how much respect we give athletes?? Really?? You don’t respect someone like Michael Jordan who led his team to multiple (I think five or six) NBA championships? Our culture is centered around sports. Just about every major city in America has at least one professional sports team. Some even have four!! And in these cities, some of which are completely obsessed with their hometown teams, you find it “interesting” that people idolize and respect professional sports athletes. Why is this?? Because they are not winning Nobel Prizes and participating in jobs and careers in which you find people to respect?? Such generalizations of the American public are extremely offensive to me. To downplay the accomplishments of sports legends is almost un-American.

Not sure if you asked these questions to get a rise out of people or if they were sincere…
“Now what in the hell does a former basketball player know about Haynes
underwear? Does he make them? Is he an underwear expert? Likewise, what in
the hell does MJ know about ballpark franks? Does he kill the pigs? Does he go to
the factory to see how they are made? Does he have some type of special taste
ability?”

Im sure that Michael Jordan probably knows very little about Haynes except that they are comfortable and he likes wearing them enough to market them. No, MJ does not make underware. It is also doubtful that he is an underware expert.

I’m sure that MJ appreciates a good ballpark frank at his cookouts, although I doubt a superstar basketball player has ever killed a pig, and it is also doubtful that he knows how they are made.

I find it interesting that you do not understand the simple concept of endorsements and marketing in our society today. If you have ever watched tv, you would notice that there are commercials in between shows, and during timeouts of sporting events. Many of these commercials contain products that are endorsed by celebrities. This is to gain support for that product. People will be more inclined to buy something if their favorite athlete is seen using it. This doesn’t mean that “whatever they say is right” and that we should “emulate” them in every respect. Yes Megan Fox is hott, but that doesn’t mean that if I see her sponsoring makeup or beauty products that I’m going to go buy them.

I would ask that for the sake of the class you keep your posts limited to issues related to legality and stop attacking others.