Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals as NBC set an Olympic record for Most times Camera Cut to An Athlete’s Mom. We get it. Mom’s proud of her son, the Olympic champion. In other news, the water in the pool is wet.
OK, I have legitimately enjoyed Phelps’ dominance, and him staking a claim for Greatest Olympian Ever*. But that has not been the reason to watch the Olympics. No, the real reason has been to catch a glimpse of the barely intelligible rantings of Bela Karolyi.
*The Unofficial Rankings:
1. Carl Lewis – gold medals in four consecutive Olympics
2. Jesse Owens – made Hitler look dumber than usual
3. Bjorn Daehlie – cross country skier with 8 golds, 12 total medals, and his name is Bjorn.
4. Ray Ewry – 10 events, 10 golds. Suck on that. And his Olympic record for standing broad jump still stands, maybe because the event was discontinued in 1930.
5. Larissa Latynina – 18 medals, 9 of them gold. The Soviets could do some gymnastics
Anyway, some people have criticized Bela for, how shall we put this, openly rooting for the US team. It’s not so much commentary as some crazy guy cheering. He’s like an out of control Little League parent, only on the Olympic level.
What’s great about this is that it exposes the central lie in all sports broadcasting and most news broadcasting: the myth of objectivity. OF COURSE the NBC announcers are rooting for the Americans. We’re American and our rooting interest is in our fellow countrymen. Why else would they show us the US men’s solo all-around in gymnastics when they never even cracked the top 10? Any semblance of objectivity would have cut the Americans so fast it would make your head spin. But NBC stuck with them, not because they are evil or bad, but because, get this, Americans like watching Americans.
OK, I did watch the Italy-Netherlands water polo match this morning, but I’m a freak. Most people don’t care.
It’s the same with local sports. That old adage “There’s no cheering in the press box” is simply ridiculous. The only reason the Dallas Morning News reporter is in the box is to cover the Cowboys. And get this, he’s a fan of the Cowboys and wants them to do well. Why pretend that he’s not? It’s silly. And it means it’s all based on a lie. If a guy can’t even be honest enough to say he’s a Cowboys fan, why should I trust him at all?
News reporting is the same thing. We know the reporters have their own opinion. We know some of them prefer one candidate over another. And for a reporter to come out and claim they are 100% objective is insulting to all of our intelligence. Of course they have bias. Everyone has bias. But the way to deal with this bias is not to pretend it doesn’t exist, but to admit it and confront it.
There’s a reason FOX News is popular. It’s because they are so ridiculously biased and so refreshingly honest about it, that it seems much more honest. I think they take the model too far and allow themselves to simply mouth talking points, but nobody’s perfect. Being honest about your bias doesn’t mean you also have to give up critical thinking.
The news media wonders why we don’t trust them. It’s hard to trust someone whose entire business model is based on a lie. And not even a good one.
So you go, Bela. Root your ass off. Who would have thought it? You’re the most honest guy on TV.
3 comments:
The best Bela Karolyi moment was when he railed on the Chinese women's gymnastics team for competing with underaged girls. After a commercial break, he back-tracked extremely quickly try to be pollitically correct about everything. Bob Costa's facial expression was priceless, also.
Thank you, sir, for your cogent analysis. I hated last spring how all the "unbiased" commentators pulled against the Spurs at every step, especially in the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers. (Kobe's free throws weren't that amazing.) I understand why they were rooting for the Lakers, but I hated how they pretended to be unbiased.
I wonder how it would have worked if there had been an unabashedly pro-Lakers commentator and an unabashedly pro-Spurs commentator in the pressbox?
Considering Bela is famous for pushing 14 year olds to their breaking point, I like that he isn't outraged that the Chinese are breaking the rules. He's pissed that his wife (the US coach) isn't allowed to use 14 year olds as well.
And Jeremy, rooting against the Spurs is something all right thinking people do. Though rooting against the Lakers is easy as well. It was quite a conundrum.
Though I sort of enjoy Dick vitale openly rooting for Duke. It's fun.
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