The Wizardry of Punditry
The Super Bowl has ended; let the punditry begin!
In the aftermath of Super Bowl 50, we have been deluged with spin and more spin, some of the spin clever, insightful, some of it fanciful and too clever by half. Some spin is fascinatingly contradictory, as if the writer had a blind spot.
Blind indeed
Most writers have acknowledged that the defenses on the field were extraordinary. After acknowledging the superior defenses, some then proceeded to diminish the talent and performance of the opposing Quarterbacks. Cam Newton never showed up or quit; the Broncos carried the geriatric Peyton Manning to his second Super Bowl victory. He did nothing… Ok, he did make the two point conversion.
These pundits can’t have it both ways
Often, sports writers seem prejudicial towards offensive power. For those writers the mark of a good game is offensive muscle, a scoring bonanza — Golden State on steroids. They will acknowledge that defense wins championships, but don’t seem capable of celebrating the defense singlely. Following this recent Super Bowl, the apparent ineptitude of offenses was the most prominent talking point, especially the inability of Manning to throw a touchdown pass, and the poor throws and catches by the Panthers.
Defense dominated and this time the Panthers were snake bit by defensive pressure from the beginning of the game, a reversal from the last time Manning was in a Super Bowl.
A Catch-22
Offensive prowess is the mark of a champion, but it takes a defense to win championships. There is a certain Catch-22 quality to this mania. Defense never gets the credit it deserves. The Carolina offensive line could neither get control of the speed coming from the other side of the ball, nor recognize the schemes unleashed by Wade Phillips. The confusion rained upon Brady was repeated for Cam Newton, and neither of these quarterbacks are without physical and mental skill at their positions.
Defensive super power does not produce breathtaking surprise; it produces the appearance of players mired in mud. I get the beauty points for offensive power; but, believe there is, for the nuanced viewer, a special beauty in possessing the abiity to take away an opponents options. Checkmate can appear dull and unexciting; I get that!
I knew Denver possessed a superior defense, but this was just remarkable. They may never play that well again, but those players deserve some acknolwledgement for their stranglehold on the Carolina offensive line. Wade Phillips needs recognition, too. He may not be a head coach, but he is one heck of a defensive coordinator.
Steve Young astutely described the offensive strategy of the Broncos in the second half when he characterized it as smart, suggesting they are doing what got them to this game and are not be distracted. They score just enough and then turn it over to the defense. He suggested that Manning will continue to hand off for a run with no turnovers and then let the defense carry it home.
This was smart accurate reporting with no bias for either side of the ball: a simple recognition of strategy and effectiveness, with the abiity to execute that strategy.
Gotcha!
It also seems that commentary, especially all the follow-up stories, has adopted the tone of our political discourse: Gotcha Politics. Cam Newton failed to fall on a fumble and he’s labeled a quitter, and all the old college stuff is dragged up as evidence he is not as advertised; Superman couldn’t get out of the phone booth. Then, Payton Manning embraces Papa John’s and makes a point of saying he’s going to have a Budweiser; and folks go crazy because he mentioned those two. In reality, Manning owns a number of Papa John’s franchises, and several Budweiser distributorships. What’s the issue here? A friend suggested that kids didn’t need to hear Manning say he was going to drink a beer.
Oh, puhlease…!
We would be shocked to know what young people do know these days. In fact, we would be better off if we fully understood what young people know or don’t know these days… But, that requires communication, observation, and more communication. No spin. No punditry to elevate our own bias.
Good luck with that!
