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Who should you trust?
Colin Cowherd, Draymond Green and the strange world of “new” media
Colin Cowherd, the sports talk TV and radio star turned entrepreneur and owner of the podcasting network, The Volume, posted a fascinating appeal to his listeners.
Take it easy on Draymond Green.
“I know Draymond,” Cowherd told his podcast audience. “He's a terrific employee. He's a hard worker. He's an excellent podcaster. He's thoughtful and very, very reflective. I've never thought he mails it in.“
He’s right. Over the decades, we've seen worse than green in sports in the NBA.
“My feeling is, when you have perspective and you've watched (Bill) Laimbeer,” continued Cowherd. “And you've watched Dennis Rodman and you see Draymond and Laimbeer and Draymond are more talented, better offensive players, obviously, than Dennis Rodman. But it's just perspective. You know, he's not let's take a deep breath here. He's not selling drugs to kids. He's not a shady politician. He's not selling weapons to inappropriate people. It's a sports suspension based on a very physical player.”
Much like those athletes, Green's temperamental nature was intertwined with winning.
The future basketball Hall of Famer was a key component of one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history.
His Golden State Warriors won four titles, appeared in six NBA titles, and won more games in a single season than any other team in history, all in a 10-year span.
Green isn't a typical, bombastic, demonstrative, fire-breathing physical player known for doing all the little things, the dirty work.
The team needed this to allow its style to succeed.
In many ways, he was the team's heartbeat.
Today, as I record this, he's also a big reason why they're in 11th place.
Green is an atypical, bombastic, demonstrative, fire breathing, physical player, known for doing all the little things, the dirty work, the team needed to allow its style to succeed. In many ways, he was the team’s heartbeat.
Today, as I record this, he’s also a big reason why they’re in 11th place.
As his physical talents have declined, he’s escalated one of his worst habits: lashing out during games. Last year, he punched a teammate and this year he’s repeatedly got himself thrown out of games for his conduct including for choking an opponent. Just a few days ago, he was suspended indefinitely for hitting another opponent in the head.
What made Cowherd’s comments fascinating is their business relationship. Green’s podcast is produced by, empowered by, enabled by Colin Cowherd’s network. A year and half ago he described his work as “new” media.
“It's a mindset.” Green said. “It’s how you go about your business.”
No doubt what Green is doing is “new.” He has been in the vanguard of a new phenomenon in the sports media world: active players covering their own leagues on podcasts, and major networks. Green also has a deal with NBA partner TNT. In recent years, a growing sect of active athletes has ventured into this space. Green’s recently retired teammate Andre Iguodala, New Orleans Pelicans star CJ McCullum and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and his brother Jason Kelce of Philadelphia Eagles to name a few. LeBron James has a different but similarly influential relationship with ESPN, his production company Uninterrupted has produced series for ESPN’s streaming network, ESPN+ for years.
These relationships beg the question: if the media and those they cover are financially entangled, how can we believe what they have say about them? The truth is we shouldn’t.
This is the latest byproduct of the weird world of media or “new” media. “New” media allows any dedicated person to seize the means of production, even myself. “New” media allows those who are covered by traditional media to set the terms. It's a “new” landscape, where the lines on the road are as clear as a Western New York snowstorm.
Share All of the Above with James Brown
These “new” truths are another reason why I’m wary of media literacy classes and tools. These programs tend to teach us when, who, what and how we should trust the media. They take a static approach to a living, breathing, evolving organism, full of flaws, driven by people making constant conscious choices based on incentives.
When I consume media, I think about the person who made it and I ask myself two questions: who made this and what do they want?
In this case, it's in Cowherd’s best interest to protect his company’s investment in Green because Cowherd sees himself as an entertainer who thinks he's a mogul in the making.
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