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Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera is once again in the news for alcohol-related problems. The Tigers’ perennial MVP candidate was arrested last week for drunk driving, and sports writers across America have opined about what it means for him and the Tigers.
Yet again, pages are being filled at the expense of a player’s personal life. The exploitation of this incident can be seen by simply going to the MLB section on ESPN’s website. Every pundit from Buster Olney to Jayson Stark has weighed in on the incident.
How much is there to really say about it? The dude got a DUI; he has a history of alcohol use. What does this have to do with the baseball season that fans eagerly await the arrival of in a few weeks?
Nothing.
Don’t get it twisted — I understand his actions have implications to the team. They will undoubtedly have to address the issue in the media, and Cabrera is currently absent from training.
But if I had to guess, the guy will still hit .320 this year, he will still club 30-35 homeruns and he will drive in over 115 runs. The bottom line is, from a baseball standpoint, he will live up to the $20 million Detroit is paying him this year.
Whenever a story like this breaks, ESPN — and I use the ESPN reference so frequently due to the seeming monopoly and influence they have on the sports media — is always there to shove a microphone in the face of whomever feels like talking about it.
The issues get trivialized and overexposed to the point that whatever happened in the first place is almost forgotten. The spotlight shifts from the incident itself to optimal face time for the “analysts” that are so “qualified” to speak on the issues.
In all honestly, what sports fan actually enjoys hearing about this sort of thing? Yes, it is important to know for the sole reason that you remain aware of what is happening, but speculating about whether Cabrera’s life is in order is pure balderdash.
It is none of our business and never has been.
Yet, this trend continues and rather than hearing about scores and transactions, we get a TMZ-esque version of the sports world force-fed ad nauseam. If they took the time to gauge the interest of their audience, I think sports writers would find most people frankly don’t give a damn.
We all have skeletons lurking in our closets. To talk about somebody else’s means you are neglecting to address your own.
All I’m saying is that the manner with which our nation’s media capitalizes on these sorts of events is more tragic than the actual events themselves. It is disgusting, primitive and regressive how much the media feasts on other people’s faults.
Rare athletic ability does not translate to inhuman actions. Let’s stop pretending that’s the case and leave the insincere sense of shock to the tabloid
Bangor Daily News