Random Moosings - Let the Hype Begin!

Here we go again. 

Anyone who knows me knows I love a good argument.  They also know that I can be a bit stubborn and argue a point to death.  There have been epic arguments in chat over baseball – one in particular was where Pedro Martinez ranked among the all-time great pitchers.  Some said he was the best, but I argue that he is second behind Walter Johnson.  I am not discounting Pedro’s numbers, they were amazing, but Johnson’s numbers were off the charts.

The thing with an argument like that is you have numbers and history to back them up.  You can hype Pedro or Walter Johnson, or any other baseball great, and no one is really going to look at you odd because they ARE legends.  They ARE great, they have the history to back that up; it is pretty much indisputable that they ARE great, the fun is debating where they rank among the other all-time greats.

It seems like the media (I am looking at you especially espn) doesn’t much care about letting a player actually build a resume before they are content to call them OMG LEGENDS anymore.

I had a real problem with the media hype of Tim Tebow.  The guy is an average QB who had a hot streak against mediocre teams and led his team to the playoffs at 9-7.  That is all well and good, he had a nice run.  To hear espn talk, he was the second coming of Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas and Bart Starr all rolled into one.  What made it even worse about pointing out that Tebow was, at best, a below average quarterback, is that people just jumped to the conclusion that you hated him because of his religion (which I do, but that is not the point).  The media completely glossed over the fact that he was not a good quarterback and chose instead to point out that “hey, all he does is win games.”  Well, Trent Dilfer won a Superbowl, and no one is arguing that he was a great quarterback.  Instead, the media just leached onto this guy and drove him down everyone’s throats.

Now, there is a counter to this argument, since he won another Superbowl (somehow) people are getting on the Eli Manning bandwagon.  Now, in this case, you can make the argument.  Eli has a body of work that you can look at and argue logically.  He has been the starting QB for the Giants for years and has built enough of a body of work that you can compare him to the all-time greats.  For the record, I don’t think he is an elite QB, I think he is in the top 5-10 quarterbacks in the game right now, I think he had a great year.  I think it was also not very long ago people wanted to run him out of New York and questioned if he even understood what a quarterback was.  You can make the argument that he is elite because you have the numbers, Tebow has played, what, about eight games?  Half a season and the media has him in the hall of fame.  Ridiculous.

Football is not the only sport that falls prey to media hype.  The NBA currently has its own OMG HE IS GREAT! player.  I don’t follow basketball all that much, quite honestly I find it pretty boring, but I do know that this kid has played something like four games, and people already have him as the next great thing.  I know his story, he is an undrafted kid from Harvard that has stuck around and clawed his way to the show, playing for the Knicks.  He has had four very good games and good for him.  This is a great story.  But saying he is the next great player just seems absurd.  Can’t we just enjoy an average player having a nice run before he comes crashing back to earth without putting him in the hall of fame?  Maybe he won’t come crashing back to earth, maybe he is legit, but there is probably a reason he was undrafted.  How bout we give him more than four games before we call him the next anybody?

And again, there is a counter to this argument.  I am no fan of LeBron James.  I think his whole Decision thing completely lacked class and was the ultimate HEY LOOK AT ME! move.  That is not the point though, there are some that say he is among the all-time greats in the NBA, and that is a valid argument because he has a body of work that you can compare with the all-time greats and make that argument.  Of course, some people were saying that about him straight out of high school, and in this case, hell they might have been right, but I have to think that is a one-in-a-million kind of thing.  For every LeBron James who lives up to his hype (sort of, the “experts” also said he would have multiple championships by now, last I checked, he has none) there are plenty of guys who are complete busts (anyone remember Greg Oden?  Didn’t think so).  For the record, I think LeBron is among the all time greats, maybe somewhere in the top 10-15.  I would not put him in the same category as Jordan, Bird, Magic, Kareem or even Kobe.  He could very well end up there, but not yet.

I mentioned baseball, and I am not sure the media usually goes crazy over players as much.  Maybe it’s because the long season generally weeds out the pretenders.  Stephen Strasburg was the closest thing to the ridiculous media hype as he was burning through the minor leagues.  His injury derailed that, but he should be back this year, it will be interesting to see if he returns to OMG AMAZING status.  If he doesn’t, there is a good chance that his teammate Bryce Harper will.  They both look like legit future stars, but they have not done a thing so far.  How bout we give them some time to develop and put up some numbers before we deem them the next greatest thing ever?

So that is my dilemma.  The media overhypes players to the point of ridiculousness, taking what should be a feel good story and beating it into the ground until you (well, me) starts hating the player instead of respecting what they are doing.  I realize that is not fair, Time Tebow appears to be a genuinely good guy.  Jeremy Lin is probably a good kid.  Stephen Strasburg appears to be a good kid and Bryce Harper…..well he is kind of a dick, but in a good way.  Other than Our Lord and Savior Timmy being a little too preachy, they have not done a thing hate worthy, but yet, there they are, on my TV screen making me want to turn the channel.  All the while I can watch Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger and Ray Lewis – guys who have earned hate – and think nothing of it because the media generally does not hype them through the roof.

Is it fair? No.  Is it rational? No.  Is it the way this angry moose feels?  Hell yes.