Thoughts on Tiger and Coach Kelly

I may be on the road with the Oregon Duck baseball team, but I’m not under a rock.
Even if I do feel like throwing one.
I watched Tiger Woods’ first careful toe-test of public waters live on a web stream Friday morning and a few hours later, watched Oregon football coach Chip Kelly explain, re-explain and re-explain again about how he’s handling the LaMichael James situation.
In both cases, I was thankful that 1) I am not in the opinion business and 2) I wasn’t in the audience at either press conference.
Say what you want about the intentions of both men in their attempt to be transparent amid nationwide, non-stop speculation from so-called experts and the lunatics who call sports talk radio shows. Tiger was contrived and well coached, but not very smooth or believable. Coach Kelly was as honest as he could be, despite the limits of the legal situation James is in.
Eventually, both men chastised the media. Tiger was angry over the claim that his wife had physically attacked him before the famous Thanksgiving morning slice into a fire hydrant. Coach Kelly went after those who claimed his program was out of control.
Both cases bring accountability to the fuzzy picture that developed while both men waited for the right time to respond. I think the message from both Woods and Kelly were aimed at the same target: irresponsible people who drive phone calls on radio and tv shows and sell papers by drawing conclusions that may not be true, and many times potentially harm the reputation of the targeted person.
You can do that job without breaking out the sledge hammer, but few can withstand the temptation when they hold the pen or microphone.
Accountability is the great equalizer in the media these days. Accountability is the difference between Bob in Junction City’s take on the topic when he calls the radio talk show and a credentialed member of the media who puts their name on the column or program at the end.
In Tiger’s case, he’s firing a pop gun at a really big beehive when he sternly tells the paparazzi to leave his family alone. But when Chip Kelly can look right in the eyes of the people who do sign their name to their work, the message hits home.
I doubt that everyone who claimed Chip Kelly’s program is out of control was there this morning, but for the ones who were, it may have been a learning moment for them.
This little schpiel is exactly why I am glad I don’t make my living driving phone calls on the radio. In order to make a splash and be known, talk show hosts open the lines to fickle fans who would be fired in minutes as a general manager or athletic department administrator for making quick (and unfair) judgments in situations like these. Judgments that affect the futures of a lot of people, I might add.
Writing the column or sitting on the air and talking big is a huge power trip. I’ve been there.
But the reality of the conclusion we come to hits home when the target of the opinion is sitting in front of you, well aware of what you wrote or said about him.
I know, because I’ve also been there.
That’s accountability.
I think if every single person who comes down with a hard-line-overly-harsh conclusion about another person’s ability to coach or manage their private lives had to sit down with the person they are judging, the world would be a very different place.
So would newspapers and radio talk shows.
They wouldn’t survive.
I do agree that sports columnists and radio talk shows can do or say what they want and the freedom to criticize someone’s ability to do their job is in bounds.
But living off of speculation – and creating more – is a crappy way to make a living. The people of live off that speculation and draw conclusions before they know all the facts are a step below that.
Often, all the facts are not shared with the public. So what then?
Someday I may have to host a sports talk radio program again. If I do, I will remember that at some point, I may have to explain my words to the person who was being talked about.
Because I want to be able to look guys in the eye at the end of the day, instead of sitting back, closing my eyes and pushing the button for the caller on line three.