I Don’t Care Charissa Thompson Made Up Midgame Interviews

I was absolutely shocked this past week to learn that people care about the journalistic integrity of halftime reporters. Not to be that guy, but I was under the impression we all just tolerated the midgame interviews. Those midgame interviews never actually say anything of importance. You could argue that injury updates mean something, but no one really needs a sideline reporter for that. It actually seemed like the only ones really dunking on Charissa Thompson were sideline reporters themselves.

Not to shun anyones profession, but sideline reporters are like a solid step above entertainment reporters. Sure, if you’re the person outing Harvey Weinstein you’re an actual journalist doing investigative work. But if you’re on Entertainment Tonight discussing what Addison Rae is eating in some LA restaurant called “Farmer’s Table” you’re contributing less to society than an idiot who blogs.

And it seems like a single person didn’t even listen to the interview. Charissa Thompson genuinely made up something that sounded like coach speak. “We need to do better on third down” is in like 65 percent of the midgame interviews from coaches. There’s very rarely an original thought from a coach for the media in the midst of an actual game. Mike Leach was the exception, but even he was prone to the coach speak. Coach speak is like pilot speak; its a prerequisite for the jon.

I get that her job essentially takes place in what can be considered a meat factory, but this isn’t Upton Sinclair we’re talking about. You know how like half the AP’s just is just regurgitating press releases? That feels exactly like what a midgame reporter is. I saw one guy talking about how this is just contributing to blanket mistrust of the media.

No, Chris, people don’t trust the media because of a 24 hour news cycle focused on blatantly getting information wrong as long as its first. I think Aaron Sorkin’s Newsroom was a masturbatory episode in journalists thinking they are the most important people in the world, but it did a good job of showing how often a news network is trying to get viewers. When a sideline reporter makes up what a coach said, does it even matter if no one in the organization even caught on. Like if she had said the coach went off on his “blind quarterback” who “is playing the level of football that blind little girls in Afghanistan would,” yeah that would cause an issue.

This whole blog is just a hit on sports media thinking they’re covering the White House, when in reality the most the cover on houses in when Lebron buys a new one. It’s just this inherent need to make themselves feel on par with the journalists actually doing work. Like I think the entire Athletic does a great job; I’ve been a subscriber since the first year. But if Ken Rosenthal gets a baseball story wrong, we’re not out here changing public policy. If a real journalist reports about some break ins at a hotel, the President steps down.

I genuinely wish one former sideline reporter (I don’t want someone to gamble their job) would just come out and say the truth. This is a non-story that was really only run on Twitter by people’s whose jobs seems as secure as umpires, even though roboumps exist. Can we just all sit down and agree sideline reporting isn’t that important. It’d really, maybe restore a little bit of sanity to a profession seemingly run by narcissist. There’s something to be said about how journalism has shifted from scrappy underdogs to Columbia-grads whose parents are blue on Wikipedia. But that’s a blog for another day.

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