The story of the week came from ESPN, where a supposed exercise in removing red ink became, for NFL analyst Ryan Clark, more like a Red Wedding.
49ers defensive end Nick Bosa has chosen to chime in.
In his first actual tweet since November 2022 (he’s had a handful of retweets since then without comment), Bosa reposted the original article from The Athletic about Clark’s ouster with an “OK” emoji.
It’s an odd postscript to the (relatively speaking) old news. And while those in the media accept that the public nature of the job will include a public reaction to the job ending, Bosa’s tweet is another example of the notion that someone’s firing is something to be celebrated on social media.
Of course, it happens to players. And while it’s usually fans and not media members who pop a cork publicly when the player is cut from his team, it’s easy to blur the lines. Especially if the media member in question has a reputation for the kind of candor that will ruffle feathers.
There are two general ways to handle these jobs. One, kiss everyone’s ass and say everything is great. Two, consistently share honestly-held opinions and beliefs, even if those opinions and beliefs may at times piss people off.
The consumers have to ask themselves what they want. If it’s incessant, superficial cheerleading, plenty of outlets, shows, and personalities will provide it. There are multiple sports utopias where the approach is to constantly glorify everything (including gambling) and never to directly criticize anyone or anything. There are also platforms where those who spend the bulk of their time focusing on one specific sport share the views they’ve developed without pulling punches or pretending to believe something they don’t.
It’s not as if Clark took a sudden turn in the way he did the job. He’s always been exactly who he is. And that was fine and dandy for ESPN, for more than a decade. Clark didn’t change; ESPN’s attitude toward him did. And now that ESPN has decided to move on (with the bush-league move of pulling the plug while he was on the air), many are doing a victory lap.
It just feels different when a big-name player with no habit of expressing his views on Twitter chooses to fuel the ticker-tape parade. It feels personal. (It may be political.) And while Bosa has every right to do it, it’s worth pointing out that he did — and wondering why he chose to do it.
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