There is no refuting the tragedy that shook the hills of Western Virginia. To borrow a line from Franklin Deleno Roosevelt it is a day that will live in infamy. I am a major proponent of the social good that can be achieved through sport. You wouldn’t know it by watching sports center but sports do bring out the best in people on a far more consistent basis than it brings out the worst in them. While there is no conclusive evidence to back that statement up it is something that I really buy into. For whatever reason. As, an idea, it can be easily dismissed, and usually is by the main stream media who generally hone in on all negative aspects of sport, such as player arrests, contract disputes, steroid use, ect. Those are the stories that circulate well, and that we as the consuming public eat up with gusto. But there is a thin line that divides stories that are done with tact, and those that aren’t. ESPN is the industry leader and tends to place one foot on each side of that line. That is something that worries me about this up coming season.
Now every once in a while a story in the world of sport comes along that is so irrefutably pure, so positive that major media outlets jump on and ride it to death. The most recent example is an obvious one, the story book season of the 2006 New Orleans Saints. It was easily the story of the year in the NFL. It was as pure a story as you can get in this day and age. The Saints throwing the entirety of the gulf coast on their back and simply allowing them to forget every thing that happened. Watching Monday Night Football when the Saints came back to New Orleans was one of those games where you sit on your couch, watching everything unfold and say that you will remember that night. It was such a great night and it was so memorable. You could tell from that moment on that the Saints were a team that ran on emotion and that emotion that poured out from the crescent city was going to drive that team. Now in the beginning the coverage of the Saints was based cleanly on the tactful side of the line. But was the season wore on the coverage of the Saints began to inch close and closer to that line. The constant talk about how the Saints were the rallying point of an entire region did grow old. The video montages comprised of footage from the Saints season interloped with footage of Katrina and her aftermath became more and more frequent. It begged the question why do it? After all this is the era of 24/7 constant media saturation. Everyone saw what happened when Katrina made landfall, everyone saw what happened when the levees were breached, everyone saw how the rescue effort was horribly mismanaged. Everyone around the world saw what happened. So why rehash those horrific events? It is not like anyone had time to forget what had happened so that we had to be reminded. So why do it? I couldn’t find a reason. That is why I grew tired of the media forcing us to remember once more what happened to New Orleans in order for us to rejoice in the positivity that the Saints had brought that region. It just wasn’t needed.
Now, Virginia Tech. The Hookies will have a very good year. Will probably win the ACC Atlantic Division and be ranked in the top 10 all year. That would put them in the center of the College Football world as is. But given what transpired in April the effect and impact will make it without question going to be the story of the year in College Football even if the Hookies have a bad season. If the Hookies can go into Tiger Stadium (Using the moniker Death Valley would be nothing if not obtuse) and come out with a victory the media storm around the team would be so large, and so out of control that I fear what might happen. I don’t want to figure out what the coverage will degenerate into. College Gameday will be in Blacksburg to start the season. I don’t have an issue with that. Tennessee vs. California will the bigger game with more implications than Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina will have on the season to follow. But Blacksburg is the bigger story. I know that ESPN will do a piece on what happened on April 16th, and that it will be extremely well done and will show a lot of respect for the community. But I do hope that it is as far as they go. Hope that they stay on the right side of the line. We all know what happened we all saw it unfold with our own eyes. I just hope that the sports media as a group shows the respect that the national media didn’t back in April. I hope they repress the urge to show video of the bodies being carried out of Norris Hall on a loop when talking about Virginia Tech Football. That was an urge they couldn’t master with the Saints last year, I hope that the people in charge get it right this year. I hope they stay on the right side of the line.
