The media landscape has undeniably evolved.
Gone are the days when a columnist could call an athlete a “punk” in the paper, shaping their reputation as a pariah for the public to chew up and spit.
Today that usually plays out on social media, not print.
Still, you don’t see journalists like Bob Ryan anymore, who would take a player like Antoine Walker to task in such a public, brutal manner. It’s a lost art — if you want to call it that— but it was a reality of the past. But it’s also part of Walker’s past, and he’s had to reckon with those scathing critiques over the years.
Rick Strom of The Rick Strom Show allowed Walker to reflect on the harsh words from Ryan that defined his career, pulling back the curtain on what it was like to be on the receiving end of such ruthless commentary.
“The simple fact of the matter is that Antoine Walker is a punk,” Ryan wrote. “Antoine Walker is such an arrogant, misguided, yes, punk, that there’s nothing either M.L. Carr, Rick Pitino, or The Pope could do with this kid.”
“His juvenile mugging is classless. It irritates opponents – yes, Antoine, people on other clubs really do hate you – and it embarrasses the organization.”
“He is a classic product of the modern basketball system. He is an AAU baby who has never worked at anything other than basketball in his life, and who has only met one coach – Rick Pitino – who has ever told him ‘no’ about anything. He is arrogant and clueless about his profession.”
“He is merely a punk who can play a little basketball. Join me in wishing him well at his next destination.”
Ouch.
“I confronted him and expressed my displeasure in the article,” Walker recalls. “I asked him and basically told him to keep his comments to strictly basketball. [I told him] that I was not appreciative of some of the language that he used, and he’s taking it to a step that it’s going to get bigger than basketball.
“So, we had this conversation, and I basically told him, ‘I’m gonna let you slide, but don’t come around me. You can write what you want to write. If I go 0-for-18, obviously, that’s your job; you’re gonna write it. But, keep any personal attacks of my name out of your mouth. You’re not allowed to have personal attacks of me anymore. If I go 0-for-18, you can write that. If I play bad, do what you need to do. I can’t stop you from that. But, you will never have another personal attack on me either.”
And Walker stuck to that boundary.
According to Walker, Ryan never approached him for an interview again.
“Obviously, when a media session was in the locker room, I’m pretty sure he’d be in the back, surrounded in there, and get comments,” Walker relayed. “We was in the playoffs a couple of years, so he covered us pretty close. I don’t know what he was writing at that point; I just kind of channeled him out.
“But, as long as he didn’t say anything that I felt was taking personal attacks at me, was fine. And if I go 0-for-18, write what you’re supposed to write. I’m not telling you — you gotta do your job, but the personal attacks had to stop.”
Walker is grateful, though, that this all happened in a time before social media took over the NBA.
“There’s no telling what that could have led to,” he explained. “You know what I’m saying? Stuff gets picked up. You start creating rumors and things about players and stuff like that. You don’t know how that could’ve affected me, my marketing opportunities off the court, the way other teams may look at me. I mean, Bob Ryan’s a very respected and legendary reporter, so when those type of guys make those type of comments, people tend to listen. So, you have to be careful in those situations.”
Now? Antoine Walker would speak to Bob Ryan.
He’s on the other side of the fence. He understands the intricacies and the challenges of the job, but he also knows the importance of keeping things professional. He knows that you can be critical of a player’s performance without making it personal.
And that’s not meant as a slight at Bob Ryan, who’s a legend in his own right, but 1998 was a different time. What was acceptable back then — the blunt, often ruthless criticism — doesn’t have the same place in today’s sports media landscape.
The rules have changed, and with them, the way we engage with each other.
The game might stay the same, but how we talk about it — and the players — has to keep up.