Teams Win Championships

As I listened to the media coverage prior to Super Bowl XLVIII, I could only imagine who or what the media would be talking about if Richard Sherman had given a heartfelt, congratulatory postgame interview with Erin Andrews after winning the NFC Championship game or if Marshawn Lynch had given a “Day in the Life of Beast Mode” media day interview with all the interviewers. Quite frankly, I knew who they would be talking about and they did it during the entire two week build for the Super Bowl, the whole season, and all year. That person was Peyton Manning.

If I had to bet on who the media wanted to win Super Bowl XLVIII it would have been a no-brainer that they wanted Manning to win. All season long they talked about his statistics and all of his accomplishments. Not to say that his accolades were not impressive and well deserved to praise, but the praise went so much as to put an “S” on his chest and a cape on his back and not recognize the talent that surrounded him as well as his coach. Several of the Super Bowl commercials promoted the contest as Manning vs the Seahawks and Manning goes for his second ring and the Seahawks go for their first. Um isn’t this a team sport?

Obviously, the media forgot that it takes a team effort to win a championship, but in their effort to make a larger than life hero out of Manning they forgot that the Seahawks had a beast of a defense and extremely fast, skilled players on offense as well. Not to mention, a second year quarterback that killed teams with his arm, legs, and football IQ the past two seasons. But all the media talked about was Sherman’s interview with Andrews, which was merely his impulsive reaction to Michael Crabtree, San Francisco 49ers receiver, pushing him in the facemask after Sherman tried to congratulate him after the game. All the hate mongers came out on Twitter and other social mediums to express their ignorance and low self- esteem by attempting to degrade Sherman with their ill equipped vocabulary, but all they did was fuel his fire and the teams.

Once that topic ran its’ course the media quickly turned their attention to Marshawn Lynch’s desire to elude the media. He’s never been one that preferred media attention, but due to NFL obligations he fulfilled his duty by attending the media day for seven minutes. This brought about unwarranted controversy from the media by creating a buzz of derelict questions of whether or not this will affect the play of the Seahawks. As everyone found out, it didn’t! The Seahawks were more focused than ever, including Lynch.

So what did I take from this Super Bowl media coverage pre and post? One, ignorance is not always bliss. The hate that spewed over the airwaves about Sherman were far from cool and definitely not warranted, at least to that extreme. But racism is a part of our society and sports are a microcosm of it. Second, the media will do whatever it takes to create a hero that they see fit as well as create the villain. Unfortunately, the colors of the hero and villain often are different which fuels the racism that exists. The media could care less as long as the ratings are high and their agenda is met. Lastly, no matter how much the media attempts to build up their hero and make the game or contest about one person, teamwork or should I say a team that practices teamwork, will beat one person every time.