You’ve heard Andy Reid say after wins and losses that “you’re not as good as you think you are when you win and you’re not as bad as you think you are when you lose”.
What he says is oh so true and it’s the reason I think that we in the sports media wind up with too much power.
We can praise a player for what he did well and ignore what he did wrong. Then with another player we can criticize him for a play and ignore all the good plays he made.
A great example of this is Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown. Brown played against the Bears despite having a strained hamstring.
I agree he was valiant in his efforts and I wrote about them, but he also nearly cost the Birds the game when he let Johnny Knox get behind him on a deep pass in the fourth quarter.
Would we be singling him out if Jay Cutler had laid the ball in there to Knox and the wide out had taken the ball into the end zone to win the game?
No we wouldn’t be praising him. We would probably be ripping into him.
Why are we praising him if he had nothing to do with stopping that play? We in the media made that decision.
Wasn’t a hero during that key play but we made him a hero.
I’ll also tell you that Brown is loved by most of the local media because he’s always available to talk and he gives clear, usable quotes on a daily basis.
I don’t rely on himm because my writings are mainly based on my opinion. Still I respect Brown for being a true professional, but I try not to let it shape my opinion.
This is the quandary I sometimes find myself in. This is what Reid was talking about with that initial statement.
Most of the time when you look at the video of the game, you see a lot of good and bad plays from each player. Many times the hero is decided in the press box and not on the field.
For example, everyone praises Eli Manning for that last minute drive in the Super Bowl against the Patriots, but he didn’t have anything to do with making Asante Samuel drop that interception.
I think he was more fortunate than good.
He was named the game’s MVP eventhough the most amazing performance was put in by the Giant’s defense. I think Manning got the award because he’s a member of the NFL’s number one family.
We in the sports media have the power to make one guy a hero and another guy a goat regardless of the evidence.
On another play in the Chicago game, I saw Sheldon limping after Bears halfback Kahlil Bell as he ran for 75 yards to set up a Chicago score. Looking at Brown out there, it was as if the Eagles were playing with 10 men.
Foolishly the Bears didn’t target Brown as they saw him out there unable to sprint to the ball.
I think he was more fortunate than good on Sunday night.
Still I applaud Brown for his willingness to play hurt, but I hope Sean McDermott realizes that Brown might cost the Birds the Redskin’s game if he goes out there this week with that same strained hamstring.
