The Cardinals Fall Victim To The Sports Media Trap
Well, at least the Cardinals are sort of in the news? That’s progress.
I touched on this last year when the OBJ trade rumors were in full effect (funny how those are back in force too) but the sports media content machine is the worst part of this year. This is the time of year when the Rumor Cycle kicks in. The rumor cycle is basically this:
-A reporter or media personality trying to fill space pulls a story completely out of their ass. This story could be based off of a deliberately twisted interpretation of a fairly nothing statement made by a coach. It could be based off a weird tweet. It could be invented, straight out of thin air, just because. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk made a frigg’n media empire out of this shit. For our real-life example here, let’s use the one I drew above. Cardinals Coach Kliff Kingsbury once stated that if he was an NFL coach he’d trade everything for the 1st pick and Kyler Murray. Now that he is an NFL coach with the first pick…well does that mean he will draft Kyler Murray?
-The interpretation/speculation is then reported on. Tweeted about. Schefter might say something. You might see the word “sources” pop up with nothing substantial to back it up. “Kliff Kingsbury once said he’d pick Kyler Murray. Could he do it?”
-The reaction content mill takes hold. Pieces fly up on B/R, SI, Deadspin, SBN, ESPN, discussing the news that this thing could be happened. The stories at this point are still mostly just “this is a thing that could happen”. Kliff Kingsbury could trade Josh Rosen for extra picks. But they just picked Josh Rosen! This is shocking!
-Speculation on the impact of the initial story begins to drive the content mill. Pieces on why a team might do a thing appear. Speculation on who else is involved appear. Who would the Cardinals trade Rosen to? What would they get for him? Where does he fit? Is this the right move?
-The initial speculative rumor has now taken a deep enough hold on the discourse that people stop asking “why” and start taking what was originally a load of bullshit as fact. Writers (even ones I respect) will tweet about who the Cardinals should aim for. This is the worst part of the entire thing, when people seem to forget that none of this has been remotely confirmed in the first place, but is now being treated like it’s actually happening. So many people seemed to easily just assume Rosen was gone.
-The rumor finally gets back to the source. Kliff Kingsbury and the GM Steve Keim now have to answer stupid questions from reporters about a story that was based on basically nothing to begin with.
-The content mill now turns to trying to second guess or over-interpret the statements made by the sources. Steve Keim said Josh Rosen is the QB right now. Why say “right now?” That opens a door! It’s happening people get your Rosen signals up!
-Eventually the content mill runs out of stories to run because nothing is actually happening. It finds a new rumor or actual news to report and the cycle begins anew. All of the nonsense is forgotten. In a week it is very likely no one will be talking about Josh Rosen being traded or even remember that at one point they were convinced it was happening. This particular story will pop up a few more times in the next month as we start the draft process. It will only truly die after the Cardinals don’t draft Kyler Murray.
You can apply this cycle to almost all offseason stories. OBJ last year was for sure getting traded until…he didn’t. No matter how many times Gettleman told the media to buzz off, the story didn’t die and people, even Giants fans, were convinced it was happening and were trying to figure out what they would get. It’s absurd. That’s the part about this I really hate. I have no problem with speculation; speculation is fun! But it’s fun in a thought experiment/what if kind of way. When you start treating these rumors as fact, that’s when you are the problem.
This time of year is full of complete bullshit because the content must be generated. It feels like most of these trade rumors always end up as garbage falsehoods. The real news always comes as a surprise, like Jason Witten unretiring, or the news is extremely heavily telegraphed with confirmed reports out the ass, like whatever will eventually happen with Antonio Brown. Please, my fellow sports fans, do not engage with the bullshit as if it is fact. Confirm the rumors. Remind people that none of this is real…yet. Be vigilant and do not let the bullshit win.
I feel like the Cards are letting this rumor stand on purpose. They want to convince teams that they’re interested in Murray to see if there’s a team dumb enough to believe them that wants him and is willing to trade up for #1 to get him.
If your guy is slated to go later, then drum up interest in your current pick. That’s what the Cards are doing I think. Then again, Kingsbury is a wild card as an NFL coach. Murray going #1 to me is laughable. He’s not sold out on the NFL. He doesn’t want to answer questions or throw. I’ve never seen someone do more to fall in the draft without doing something incredibly stupid. Dude played in a college system that highlighted his skills. Part of his throwing success came because he can run. If he tries that in NFL, he may die. He’s going from a conference that doesn’t know what defense is to a league where defense just won a Super Bowl (bad offense helped).
“Dude played in a college system that highlighted his skills.”
You just described 99% of college quarterbacks. Was the system at USC not beneficial to Darnold? The system at Texas Tech, that worked out pretty swell for Patrick Mahomes, did it not? All successful quarterbacks, college or pro, have systems in place that play to their strengths. Look at what Baker Mayfield was able to do once he had a coach that wasn’t a complete retard.
That’s the idea in all of sports. Remember, Murray played at Texas A&M too and he was up and down there. Then, he played against defense. At Oklahoma, he didn’t really. To compare him to other QB’s is to lump them in together. Mahomes wowed people by doing something Murray doesn’t seem interested in doing like throwing. Darnold had the size that scouts love. Mayfield had that it factor about him. Murray doesn’t seem to stand out when compared to any of those guys. Go watch his interview with Dan Patrick and tell me if you would want him as your franchise QB. I don’t like Josh Rosen personally, but I would take him over Murray.
so when will OBJ Cardinals jerseys be ready to purchase on NFL shop?
Tomorrow
Sounds like we got a f a k e n e w s issue
My other favorite alternative storyline is NO trading Sean Payton for a first round pick to Dallas. All over Dallas sports news websites becauze of some ambiguous thing Jerry said about. Jason Garrett.
Also ever notice how ESPN sometime reports headlines because a players name matches (sometimes just rhimes with) a popular player? Article today “WR Thomas arrested for vehicular assault”. Has given me a heart attack at least 3 times. And sure Beybey is famous, but they know keeping in open gets them more clicks.
This has become the NFL’s version of Nick Saban going to Texas I think
If that’s true it’s as transparent as a glass window. They have the number one overall pick. If they like Murray enough that they would give up on Rosen one year after drafting him they aren’t giving him up dfor a few picks.
No, I don’t think Rosen was a very good example because there is something there. If there wasn’t Klein would’ve categorically denied it: see Grier on Xavien Howard or Gettleman on OBJ. Even Mayock gave a stronger denial to qb trade rumours.
Meant as a reply to the first comment. Posting from a phone is a pain
I’m glad to see you did a comic on this Dave. It’s the worst part of following football for me and drives me crazy. I remember during the OBJ nonsense last year people were convincing themselves that OBJ is locker room cancer to help justify the Giants trading him because people were so sure it was going to happen due to all the BS you outlined in your comic.
Unfortunately it will never stop. We just need to do our best to ignore it and get others to do the same. Now time to check out what Cowheard is reporting /s
I like the “for now” quote, it’s like the Weird Al country song on his mid-1980s “Polka Party” album that few people bought.
In traditional journalism it is important to be allowed to protect sources with anonymity.
In sports journalism citing an unnamed source should be immediate grounds for execution.
Oh you’ve heard ‘reports’ that so-and-so is getting packaged for picks and cap relief? Yeah, from whom? If you can’t say, then you might as well sit on that little secret. That’s right: zip it, lock it, and put it in your pocket. When the alleged juicy trade actually comes to fruition you can just sit there all smug as an inside knower that already knew this was going to happen. Write a report about how this move has been inevitable since March.
Or in the more likely scenario that nothing comes to pass, you don’t look like an asshole and you save the rest of us the consternation of having to hear your nonsense repeated in good faith.
My personal favorite version of this is when a channel or website manages to do this to themselves in just a day or two. Some person on an early-morning show idly speculates on “what if Team A were to sign/trade for/draft Player B”. The next show picks it up as “This was something interesting that was suggested elsewhere.”
Know-it-all pundit tweets out “Rumor: Team A might be thinking about Player B”, which is then used by someone on another show as proof that this is something which definitely could possibly maybe be in consideration. The shows *after that* then report it as “pretty substantial rumors from highly-connected sources”.
By nighttime, it’s being said as actual fact. And then the next morning, the guy who actually did the original idle speculation is now boasting about how right he was, at least until the afternoon shows, when it starts being a “this rumor has been denied by Team A”. Which of course is then replaced by “Well, okay, but what if Team A *actually* was looking at Player C instead?”
Also, if you want a prime example of this, look no further than literally everything written about Bryce Harper in the past month.
Same thing with Odell. The GM keeps saying he won’t be traded and the Giants don’t seem interested in shopping him, yet ever sports journalist and their mothers keep insisting he will be traded to someone for a king’s ransom. They need some way to draw in views/clicks even though they know it’s mostly garbage.
Why people like Pat Leonard are still taken seriously is beyond me.
this is about ethics in sports journalism
Forget Murray. I’m counting down the days until Dwayne Haskins is a Giant.
Apparently Josh Rosen’s instagram “got hacked” and all his Cardinals pictures disappeared. Funny timing, that.
All of the media nonsense aside, I feel like the Cardinals drafting Murray would be a damn good way to ruin Murray’s career.
Every Browns QB of the past 60 years could suggest a better way.
Yeah, no matter who is under center next year they will have no help on offense unless David Johnson proves that last year was a fluke. Won’t matter how much talent they have, if your o-line is bad, your only reciever is an older than time Larry Fitzgerald, and you have a bad run game you can’t be a productive QB.
Not to mention, should people really give up on Rosen after just one freaking year? It seems like in this day and age, QBs are expected to be an instant success or bust. I wonder how they would feel about past QBs who had taken few years to become good.
As a Cards fan, I love that logo.
And yet the sports media wonders why people have gotten less trusting towards them over the years.
This is also exactly how science journalism works.
“A reporter or media personality trying to fill space pulls a story completely out of their ass. This story could be based off of a deliberately twisted interpretation of a fairly nothing statement made by a coach. It could be based off a weird tweet. It could be invented, straight out of thin air, just because.” This right here, this statement is exactly what the corporate media does. Always do your own research, don’t just believe what the media feeds you.