Medrick Burnett Jr.’s Media Silence

From the pod to this blog, it’s no secret that I think sports journalism is dead. The environment has been that way for a while, stemming from a few factors. The modern news and social media metagame, coupled with the rise of short-form video, has created an environment where ESPN, Fox, and others need clicks. And clicks are driven by locking into the social media sports bubbles that give the most views and ten-second video hits. Why is ESPN so belligerent on its SEC praise? It must appease the block of respondents who love the SEC and who get angry if media figures don’t kiss the Southeastern ring. Which is why the Medrick Burnett Jr. situation isn’t surprising.

Maybe it is my own ignorance, and it realistically is, but the first time I heard of Medrick Burnett Jr. was the fake death announcement and retraction. He’s only been mentioned on The Moon Stamp Cast because of this blog. Other than that, my life has been mostly devoid of mention of Medrick Burnett Jr. Again, this may be completely due to my own ignorance and my media bubble, but I feel like I’m not the outlier here. My experience is the median.

And for that I am annoyed. Annoyed at myself. Annoyed at the lack of complete and utter sadness from the college football community as a whole. But most of all, I am annoyed at ESPN, the major sports media outlets, and the Power conferences for the complete silence.

I think there is an argument in here that the major conferences shouldn’t need to say anything, because Medrick Burnett Jr. was in the SWAC. But I cannot accept that as an answer. Conferences are not insularly. If this was a P4 player, then every game would have a moment of silence dedicated to the player. Instead, life completely moved by the man and his grieving family. Sure, there was some talk of his hospitalization and death, but in truth, it felt like complete silence.

Silence in Death

My favorite Scorcese film is Silence. There’s just something about the film that really shatters my soul. The immense sadness and despair that comes with silence, whether from God or from a much more identifiable source.

Silence can and will kill in the end. I had mentioned in a previous blog the two deaths “proverb” (which I still hate because of its adoption by pseudo-intellectuals). But what happens when even in death there is complete silence surrounding your name, even when your death is noteworthy. In the case of Medrick Burnett Jr., his death was noteworthy. His death was a spurring ground for a discussion on his death and the factors that led to it. Instead, a wayward tweet and a ESPN graphic is the most he is allowed to receive by the purveyors of sports journalism excellence.

I was going to be way more critical of the role that college football played in this. As the SEC teams rally behind each other to create a power monopoly in a rankings vortex, not a single mention from Alabama or Auburn. A selfish conference focused so completely inwards not a mention of something that happened in their backyard. That was the plan. Until I saw this article from the New York Post.

An incredibly sad story, but the real lede was buried in the post itself. A much sadder look into postmortem silence.

I don’t expect a corporation to be a family. Everyone should fully understand that the day you die, your company will already be searching for new employees. But something about this feels needlessly cruel. A man who had been at ESPN since 1991, who had given much of his professional life to the founding and upkeep of the company. And all that meant nothing. I didn’t expect Bob Iger to be there, but I would expect some outpouring of support and farewell.

Yet, I shouldn’t be surprised. The network that spent weeks on the Cover 2 debate and whatever Kendrick Perkins is on that week, sits on mere mentions of a man who died playing a sport. The moral posturing by talking heads over the Ohio State and Michigan fight was just that – posturing. Side note: Gus Johnson during the fight was nauseating as he did nothing but create self-masturbatory moments for himself that he can play back and tell himself he is a good person.

It’s all so sad.

Reasonable Silence

I don’t really know what I want from this blog or this situation. I’m not asking anyone to be accountable nor am I asking for any sort of identifiable change. There is this deep sadness at the way this young man died on the football field, from an injury that the NFL is actively trying to prevent with the new kickoff rule. And the sports journalism world isn’t even talking about him; two safeties’ positioning generated more talk and controversy than changing the NCAA kickoff (which I’m not calling for here).

But I think I just expected more from everyone in this situation. Weeks after the Tua situation, where half the internet was calling for him to retire, while the other half was calling him irresponsible, there is an actual debate to be had. Actual talk to engage in about safety. Youth football rates are dropping year after year as parents become more aware of the dangers of football on the brain. Key example: this story.

I cannot memorialize him, because I did not know of Medrick Burnett Jr.’s existence until this situation. There are thousands of college football players I will never know. And their names will never be spoken by a national media source. It does make me wonder if I’m any better. Am I just capitalizing on the death of someone I wasn’t even aware of until he died? Maybe that was the reason for ESPN’s silence. But it was still silence. And even reasonable silence can be so loud.

Which makes me wonder what is a reasonable response to a situation like this. Would it be condescending for the SEC and the other conferences to hold a minute of silence in memoriam, as would happen if the player was from a well-known conference?

But there hasn’t been any sort of discussion. There has been no one asking the question what the right response is. It has been silence. Reasonable or not, the silence has hung there, just like a well-placed kickoff.

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