Who Cares If Marshawn Lynch Doesn't Talk to the Media?

Marshawn Lynch being interviewed by Deion Sanders. Photo
courtesy of www.businessinsider.com.

I hate weighing in on these sorts of things; those issues that really shouldn't matter to anyone, but for some strange reason, matter to everyone. I feel like they're a product of today's professional sports, and the over-analysis of every single aspect of the game and anything surrounding it. The current non-issue that everyone is blowing out of the water is Marshawn Lynch's engagement, or lack-there-of, with the media.

Earlier in the month, at the end of the NFL regular season, Lynch was fined by the NFL for failing to interact with the media for the entire season. The fine worked out to a grand sum of $50,000, which works out to about 6 offensive snaps for the player referred to as 'Beast Mode' by others and himself. Beast Mode continued his typical media presence on Tuesday in New Jersey, despite being threatened with another similar suspension. Lynch was told that if he didn't speak to the media on the busiest media day of the year for the NFL, he would receive a more hefty fine. The star running back reluctantly did show up in front of the media to say a few words, before exiting his podium session early. Later in the day, former NFL great, Deion Sanders interviewed Lynch about his media habits, as well as his excitement for the upcoming Super Bowl. In his interview, Lynch summed up his attitude pretty well; "I'm all about that action boss". You can watch the full interview here. Despite the fact that Lynch has hardly talked to media all season, many people were outraged and seemed even surprised that the Seattle running back continued to avoid media engagement on Tuesday. 

Now, despite the fact that I want to make a career out of sports journalism, this outrage over the recluse of one player does not make sense to me. Obviously, as a prospective member of sports media, I would never wish that every player responded to media requests the way that Lynch does, but in a way it is refreshing, just like Richard Sherman's outburst on national TV last week was. Rarely do we as writers or fans get to truly see what's going on in the mind of a player; rather, we're usually subjected to the same cliched phrases, game after game, interview after interview. Rather than playing subject to the sports media rituals of providing reporters with statements such as "We really need to up the energy in the second half", or "We're going to come prepared to play", or any other statement that is more obvious than it is interesting, Lynch gives Sanders some straight-up, honest answers. 

Marshawn Lynch is a world-class athlete, one of the best at his position in the NFL, and as he stated in the interview, he's ready and excited to play every week. Lynch's play could not mirror that statement more; his tenacious play makes him one of the most exciting players to watch in all of pro sports. Lynch's talent is undeniable, as is his love for the game; what we're seeing from him is nothing less than a player who loves to play the game, but also loves to keep to himself. The fact is, not everyone can be a media-darling like Peyton Manning, or a media-magnet like Richard Sherman, and some players just want to play football. While it would never be favourable to have a league full of Lynch-esque media hermits, if a man just wants to play the game he loves and wants to speak with his play, I don't see a single thing wrong with it. Lynch states it himself in the interview, "Talk means nothing...I was raised like that", so if Marshawn Lynch, one of the most electric players in the game, who hauls in his fair share of revenue based on the entertainment he provides on the field, feels that he has nothing to add with his words, then so be it. 

The dilemma ultimately comes down to this: Do we, as fans and media, value empty, cliched sound-bytes from players so much that we're going to continually be outraged by players varying from the norm? Last week everyone was upset about Richard Sherman saying too much, too loud; now they're up in arms because a player is too quiet. Until the media begins to be okay with players being themselves and providing genuine representations of themselves to the media, we're bound to see simple repetitions of cliched half-time and post-game interviews that have been replayed for years.