There's No Room For Personality in Today's Sports

Every time I see a post-game interview about to start, I’m eager to change the channel, knowing that more than likely this is what I’ll hear: If the player’s team has lost he will say, “I played bad. We played bad as a team. I need to work harder and we’ve got to correct some things. We faced a quality opponent tonight, but that’s not an excuse. We’ve got to get better as a team.” If the player’s team won he’ll say, “It was a good team win today. My teammates played great. Obviously we had a few plays we’d like to get back, but I can’t complain. We’ve just got to keep working and continue to build on this win.” These dry, standard statements are what we as sports fans are forced to deal with every single day, no matter how much we know the players don’t mean them.

But, don’t think I’m blaming the players for this, I’m blaming the culture. Because if they aren't boring and have a little bit of personality, he makes headline news. Take the controversy surrounding Aaron Rodgers because of the recent things said by former Packers Donald Driver and Greg Jennings. Jennings started it off with several barbs at Rodgers; in one of which he said, “It's hard for someone to see that [you've got to hold yourself accountable] because all they've heard is I'm doing it the right way. I'm perfect. In actuality, we all have flaws.” Driver was later asked his opinion of Rodgers being that he had worked with him for so many years and had this to say, “We've always said that the quarterback is the one that needs to take the pressure off everyone else. If a guy runs the wrong route, it's easy for the quarterback to say, 'Hey, I told him to run that route' than for the guy to be like, 'Well, I ran the wrong route.' Sometimes you ask Aaron to take the pressure off the guys so we won't look bad, but he didn't want to do that. He felt like if you did something bad, you do it.” Now I know it may be hypocritical of me to bash these guys for speaking up because that’s what I want them to do, so let’s be clear I’m not bashing them for that. I’m bashing them for buying in to the notion that a quarterback has to have no personality and always say the “right” thing to the media. I’m bashing them because they think that the quarterback should take the fall for other players mistakes. This is all because of the culture that players aren’t allowed to say what they think. Driver and Jennings are evidence that they have bought in and believe that Rodgers should always say the “best for team” thing. I, on the other hand, love what Rodgers does. For one, I’m sure he doesn’t think he’s perfect. He knows he has practice and improve because otherwise he’d have a 100 QBR and 3 Super bowl trophies. But, for Jennings and Driver to say that Rodgers is a bad leader because he thinks people should own up to their own mistakes is ridiculous and actually disgusts me. What kind of lesson does it send to others that you should let your “leader” take the fall for you and be mad at him if he doesn’t? Rodgers is a real human being and someone who’s personality I wish we saw more in sports.

Here’s a fresh personality that just made his debut on Monday: Jameis Winston. Take the time and watch his press conference following his redshirt debut in which he went 25-27 for 356 yards and 5 total TDs. He is just a refreshing character to see. He looks like a kid in the candy store. He is truly excited and loves what he’s doing. He gives credit to his teammates but he genuinely means it and you can tell how much he loves those guys. At one point he is asked, “did you have any nerves, this is the last game of the week, it’s on Monday night?” Winston responds, “No nerves, more anxious. You should have seen our team, we were like ‘when are we gone play?’ Back home I called my little brother before the game and he was like when is J-Boo gonna get out there and play? I mean everyone was excited. I mean its Monday night football. I mean we’re in college and playing Monday night football in a pro stadium. I was so pumped for that.” 

You can just tell how much he loves the football and how honored he is to play, because after all this is a game. Sports are just games. We as a culture take them really serious but at the end of the day, the athletes aren’t robots. They’re humans just like me and you. They should be allowed to give their honest opinions and not be chastised for it by other teammates or by the media. I want to hear Mark Cuban complain about the refs and not get fined. I want to hear RGIII be honest and say that he wants to play and a fictitious controversy not be invented in our Nation’s capital. I even want Johnny Football to be able to trash talk without 50 year old men calling a 20 year old a child. You might not agree with him miming a signature against Rice, but you can’t debate his talent and skill. And if a Heisman trophy winner wants to trash talk, then I think he’s earned that right. I want Serena to show emotion and yell at the line judge. I want to throw his club in disgust. I want Yasiel Puig to hotdog and slide into home plate after a walk-off homerun. I want Lee Westwood to battle his twitter trollers. I want Allen Iverson to question why we’re talking about practice. Because this is sports. They are supposed to fun and the people that play them should be passionate and be allowed to show. They should never have to apologize for playing too hard.