Two years ago, ESPN’s coverage of the NFL became so overwhelmingly macabre that we assumed their on-air pick biography formula simply had to include the worst moment in a prospect’s life.
Graphics included players whose mothers had survived West Nile virus, battled drug addiction or died prematurely in some heart-wrenching way. The network defended the approach by saying that they aimed to tell a prospect’s stories on and off the field, “including the obstacles their families have overcome as part of the journey to the NFL.” Some players, like Broncos defensive end Bradley Chubb, openly criticized ESPN on Twitter. Others referred to their content strategy as tragedy porn or flat-out exploitation.
But it also shined a light on how numb we’ve become to the absolutely incredible and beyond heroic life journeys of so many NFL prospects and current players. When personal hardship is distilled and poured down our throats at mach speed during a televised event with wanton disregard for context and the proper breathing room someone’s life story commands, we begin to lose our grip on how amazing each and every person is on an individual level. We forget how to digest the totality of someone’s journey and give proper respect and admiration. Two hundred and sixty-three people are going to be drafted from Thursday to Saturday, and if any of us knew 80% of these players personally, what they traversed to arrive at this moment, we’d lionize them relentlessly. We’d bring them up to strangers. We’d tell our kids about them at night.
