The nature of sports coverage has changed dramatically. TV analysts don’t seem to be experts in the game, but rather larger-than-life personalities that attract viewers with outlandish takes or petty drama. Most basketball fans know this whenever they watch ESPN, TNT, FS1, or any other show that has a non-athlete weighing in. Gilbert Arenas knows this as well. The three-time All-Star probably summarized it better than anyone on the latest edition of his live stream.
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A major topic on this edition of No Chill Gill was the legacy comparisons of Steph Curry and Kobe Bryant. “Kobe fans and Curry fans are going to be fighting if Curry wins another ring,” suggested Gil, who pointed out that if Curry won a fifth championship, he would have the same amount as the Black Mamba. His larger point wasn’t necessarily about either Curry or Kobe, but how big sports media, mainly ESPN, would manipulate that information to tarnish Kobe’s legacy.
And Arenas is right. The dissection of basketball isn’t about. basketball half the time. It’s about who has a more controversial take. “It’s simple. All this bulls*** came from beat writers. Beat writers and radio guys. Guys that had great voices,” stated Gil when speaking about how much it has affected the game. Fortunately, Gil is one of the smarter guys in sports media. So much so that he pulls back the curtain on what’s really going on.
“I see how they do the narrative bulls***,” he claimed. The former Wizards star then broke down how all these media guys, including Stephen A. Smith and Rob Parker, tried to stand out with their writing. “They don’t know basketball. They don’t need to know basketball. They all had to audition. Here are the narratives. Let me see how you all put it together. That’s how they got their jobs.”
Gil used SAS and his popular program First Take as a prime example of why being an analyst just requires you to show up and do little homework. “Let’s say First Take. Stephen is gonna have his producers. Shannon is gonna have his producer. You don’t have to watch the game because the producer is going to give you all the information,” Gil stated.
While Arenas didn’t directly address it, seeing what Stephen A. attempted to do with his war on LeBron James ahead of the NBA Playoffs is a prime example of how far sports media has fallen. Yes, SAS is a public figure, and he was getting yelled at by LBJ in the most public space possible. But a private matter between two men should not become a national media story. Nor should Smith’s producers have pushed for it to become one.
Gil’s criticism wasn’t just aimed at ESPN either. He even called out the NBA’s most notable talk show, Inside the NBA. “How you think they catch them when Charles is sleeping or Shaq is sleeping?” Arenas asked. “If they sleep then how they watching the game? They don’t have to because everything is done for them.”
To be fair, sports media isn’t the only form of media that has taken a nose dive over the last decade. That said, true fans of ball want to watch athletes break it down so they can better understand the game. But those days, aside from a few gems in the industry, are possibly long gone. All that is left is the screaming, shouting, insensitive banter that has dominated the cycle. Hopefully, at some point, it changes.
