This story about Fox Sports sideline reporter Charissa Thompson cracks me up:
“I’ve said this before, so I haven’t been fired for saying it, but I’ll say it again. I would make up the report sometimes,” Thompson said in a recent interview.... Thompson, 41, added that she assumed that “no coach is going to get mad” if she misled viewers into thinking they had simply voiced some well-worn clichés, such as, “Hey, we need to stop hurting ourselves, we need to be better on third down, we need to stop turning the ball over and do a better job of getting off the field.”
Thompson is naturally getting some blowback for this, but let's be honest: she's right. Coaches never say anything at halftime worth listening to, so why not just randomly pick from a bingo card of cliches and go with it? It saves time for everyone.
Needless to say, it's telling that she's said this before and didn't get fired for it. It's also telling that apparently no coach has ever complained.
Bingo card of cliches describes every interview I've ever heard with any athlete or sports personality.
A bit more than some. The problem is then it spreads to more consequential reporting.
But really it just bolsters the belief these sideline reporters are just thots.
Thots? Careful, your misogyny is showing.
Nah because I don't think that. But it feeds perfectly into the belief.
Prime example of how misogyny leads to lazy, stupid thinking.
You think there is really any gendered difference between reporters? That male ones are any less vapid or more truth-seeking?
But you won't see this, because you already know what you expect to see. So you'll continue to be suckered throughout your life, falling for stupid tricks that cater to your bias.
Have a good one.
There is in that the female ones get casually harassed by the coaches. Not really any others, guys are also definitely thots. Anyhow I triggered you which was pretty funny, especially the "stupid tricks" line
Most athletes who get quoted are well-honed cliche machines by the time they're in high school. College and pro athletes and coaches have had years, even decades, to perfect the art. Sports reporters eat these cliches for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime snacks. In fact, they probably give the hairy eyeball to any athlete or coach who won't feed them choice ones. So it's all the same if she repeats them faithfully, substitutes others for what a coach told her, or just makes up a quote. Which may be why some networks have their sideline reporters do the drive-by coach quickie on camera, come to think of it.
Fun fact: The earliest known (to me) discussion of athletes spewing cliches to reporters dates from the 1870s.
Well, it's Fox, isn't it? Making it up is almost the company motto.
I wonder what an interview with losing coach Trump would be like:
“A lot of people are saying we won. Smart, smart people. We were ahead for three quarters and suddenly in the 4th quarter they score three times? They should have ended the game after the third quarter. We were way ahead and suddenly our great great victory was taken from us. Some people are saying they got into the scoreboard computer. And the refs were biased, so biased. The line judge’s wife bet on our opponent. You can look it up. A lot of smart people are saying that.”
Etc.
Yeah, that sounds like him.
True fact: Trump once tried to buy the Buffalo Bills. The team that lost the Super Bowl four times. Imagine how much he'd have had to complain about then.
she's well paid to make stuff up, while actual reporters who work hard to get at the truth are paid far, far, far less. hilarious.
It's not just her and it's not just sports.
Take anything that gets news coverage. Sports, entertainment, business & finance, and especially politics & government. There is in all of them a wide gap between the myth (the "narrative") and the reality. The myth gets repeated over and over and takes on a life of its own. When it comes to explanations (why X happened) and predictions (X is going to happen), the honest and true answer is usually "I don't know." But all the incentives are to say "I know!" So the journo comes up with some b.s. story and everyone nods along and nobody pays a price when they're wrong.
And in other news, LA will not collapse.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/us/10-freeway-los-angeles-reopen.html?unlocked_article_code=1._Ew.2stz.yAkWcHo0RLpU&smid=url-share
Perhaps this is the reason why they've moved to on-screen interviews with coaches between quarters, at the half, and after the game, instead of just after the game.
TV person makes up stories? Say it ain’t so, Charissa.
But orange you glad she did, though?
That's probably why he got blown out in Super Bowl XLVIII
🟦🟧 8 - 43 🟩🟦
That game was over in the first quarter.
I defy anyone to find a story about a cat doing this.
Dog survives 10 weeks in Colorado mountains beside dead owner
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67437835?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
lol!! Good one!
Hero cat apparently dials 911 to help owner,
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10663270
Okay, this beats "hunting small mammals to survive" rather than eating his deceased owner.
I wasnt going to go there…
Pretty much all sport interviews are worthless because there is really nothing to say on the subject.
Dan Le Batard's radio show has an occasional item called the Useless Sound Montage, where they string together meaningless soundbites from the weekend from coach and player interviews. (You can find some examples on YouTube.) It is what it is.
I recall hearing a radio interview with a sports writer many years ago and he related how his mentor told him "Every sports story should start with the phrase 'Not that it really matters but …'"
What a coach says at halftime is a variation on a theme. The theme is, does the coach know his job?
It's very much analogous to the knowledge test you have to pass to get a learner's license to drive a car. If you don't know the rules of the road, then you don't get to take the road test. Your "road test" score determines whether your behavior is a reflection of your knowledge, which is an entirely different question.
So, if a coach fails the road test, it's natural for fans to ask if he can still pass the knowledge test.
Sports commentary is stultifying. After all, comments come from people who spent their entire lives getting hit in the head.
I hope to die without ever hearing the word threepeat again.