All For The Team

In my time as a sports writer covering basketball and tennis I have heard a lot of athletes talk. It also doesn't hurt that ESPN is on the TV in my living room for most of the day because my roommate and I are crazy. And what really deflates my internal basketball is when athletes give the mind-numbing, "I did it for the team" response and the reporter doesn't prod any further.

Yes, I understand sports and I have played them my entire life so I get it that most of them are based on the output of the team as a unit. But I feel like athletes hide behind the language that they are programed to use. Tell me what you really think AMARE STOUDEMIRE. Yes I know your team is not producing and your coach was fired, but what's actually going on behind the scenes??

And I think the biggest part of this rests on the shoulders of the reporter to get through the programmed athlete language and get at the really good quote hidden underneath it. Reporters can't settle for the programmed response. It's embarrassing. If an athlete credits an individual reward to his or her teammates, you better ask them specifically why or how that's possible. I'm sick of the "goober" quotes I see in print and hear on TV or radio.

However before I sound like the quote police, I will insert one caveat to my rant and rave. There is always the exception. I understand that there are times when a reporter cannot get to an event due to extenuating circumstances. I'll be honest, as a student without a car, there isn't much I can do about getting to Penn State to be part of a press conference. And thus I am thrown on the mercy of my sport information director who gives me the quotes he wants me to have.

But yes I want to call out the average sports reporter and tell them to get through the muck and get at the truth. Don't let an athlete off the hook when an issue comes up. It's easy to take down the first thing an athlete says as your "money" quote, but it's a total other thing to get them to be real with you. Put your reporting hat on and get to it. Don't give those general news people any ounce of fuel to think they are better than us ... because that's just silly.

B