When NBA star Draymond Green launched an NFL podcast last year, even he knew it was a bit out there.
So much so that he named the show Why Is Draymond Green Talking About Football? in a nod to the fact that he was going outside his lane. In fact, it was a fairly smart career move as Green nears the end of his playing days and looks to pursue a career in media. Knowing football is a prerequisite for any career in American sports media.
But it seems that, in talking about a sport he did not play and does not cover in detail, Green is having a hard time sticking to the incisive, authentic analysis he promised when he coined the term “New Media” once upon a time.
After a rant on the latest episode of WIDGTAF, Green broke down a bad Dallas Cowboys loss on Monday Night Football by calling Dak Prescott a bum so many times that the audience likely lost track. The four-time NBA champion sounded not unlike the exact talking heads he supposedly despised when he got into the game.
And on Thursday, on First Things First, host Nick Wright was right there to call him out for it this week.
“Has it turned out that when you’re not podcasting about an NBA Finals that you’re playing in, but the light turns on and the takes are demanded that … have you become what you hate, my friend?” Wright laughed. “We’re all kind of drinking from the same poisonous [well], the content gods demand more and more. But that sure does feel like the type of commentary that, if you watched on television, an older journalist gives, you might say, ‘That’s the problem with the media.'”
While it would be lazy to give old-school sports a pass for the regressive, boring takes they gave in newspaper columns, radio broadcasts, and debate shows before the athletes came around, Wright has a point that the job is creatively difficult. Sometimes, the most genuine reaction we have when watching sports is that someone isn’t trying or isn’t bringing energy.
Getting closer to the truth requires reporting, film analysis, or some other form of breakdown that not everyone can pull off.
“It feels like maybe the ‘New Media’ is becoming a bit of the old media,” Wright said.
Touché.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.