Cowherd - Raw : my 100%, Grade-A, unfiltered inside look at sports

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To the mom who taught me right from wrong

O NCE UPON A TIME, you could open a newspaper or watch a television news channel with an open mind. You werent immediately informedby story placement, headline, or tonewhich direction the media outlet in question was leaning politically. Believe it or not, you were trusted to consume the news and reach your own conclusions. If youre in your twenties or early thirties, youre just going to have to trust me on this one.

There was also a time, lo those many years ago, when local sportscasters didnt automatically assume the default position of supporting the local team or the local star on every single controversial issue. Again, you younger people are going to have to take my word for it: local news crews didnt always gear up in the home teams cap and jersey every time the heroes made the postseason.

Opinions have always been part of the sports media, dating back to the days when the big-city columnist was a celebrity on a par with the All-Star centerfielder. Understandably, the volume of opinion has increased, along with the number of outlets. Technology and availability of content have created more informed consumers, and they demand more than a bland regurgitation of how yesterdays runs scored. You know the who and the what , so now you demand the why .

But something important and unfortunate has happened along the way. Im not sure how it came about, or who is to blame, but the media personality who pulls no punches has become an endangered species. Its been a gradual creep for more than a decade, but it hit me directly over the head as I followed the coverage of the Tom Brady/New England Patriots Deflategate story.

Honestly, it was nothing short of jaw-dropping to witness the performance of the Boston media during the entire episode. In one of Americas most educated cities, with perhaps our nations richest sports history, local outlets transformed themselves into pom-pom waving, jersey-wearing, fist-pumping superfans. From the venerable pages of the Boston Globe to the toxic airwaves of WEEI Radio, it was a hazmat spill of homerism.

Where to start? It was juvenile, pandering, and irrationalthe triple crown of awful. I felt like I was reading The Onion , or listening to someone read it to me. But instead of purposefully satirical headlinesCIA Realizes Its Been Using Black Hi-Liters All These Years or Members of Twisted Sister Now Willing to Take Itthe Boston Herald was unintentionally bewildering.

Maybe one of the headline writers was simply overworkedor better yet, drowning in gin-and-tonicswhen he decided to drop Why Do They Hate Us? atop the tabloids front page, hovering menacingly over four Lombardi trophies. For starters, you persecuted souls, hows this for an answer: Because your increasingly greasy football operation tried to convince us that the use of the word deflator in texts was actually used to describe dietary goals.

But is this what we want now? Do we want a media that makes us comfortable by placating and pandering to the dimmest and least discerning? Are we sending messages, through ratings or readership, that were all about the lowest common denominator? Do we really want media that pats us on the head the way Dad did to comfort us after a Little League loss?

Im also sensing a second, equally disturbing trend in the media, but I think Im going to amend that descriptionbecause using the word trend implies that it is temporary. In this case, Im not sure, so I will call the following a disturbing reality: take a side, regardless of evidence to the contrary, and never, ever be willing to budge.

I noticed thisan invasive and destructive algae growing in the media pondwhen Conan OBrien was handed Jay Lenos Tonight Show slot on NBC. The media viewed Leno as a workaholic grinder who politicked his way into the prime slot that was expected to be the domain of David Letterman. Lenos comedy was viewed by coastal elites as less urbane than either Daves or Conans. The problem for the media was this: Leno clobbered both in the ratings, even though the coverage led you to believe the exact opposite.

The media had made up their minds, though, and there was no going back. Leno was not funny, and Conan was seizure-inducing, roll-off-the-couch-and-spit-Mountain-Dew hilarious.

This is the new normal for the media, not just an occasional off-speed pitch meant to keep the audience on its toes. In sports, the latest Leno-level target (threat level: orange) is NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. The son of a senator, a man who captained three high school sports teams as a senior and would later earn a degree in economics from a well-respected private college, is officially the least competent man in professional sports.

Forget everything that came before. Forget that former commissioner Paul Tagliabue, a dry leader but a revered negotiator, offered a young Goodell control of everything from new stadium projects to business operations, and he passed with flying colors. Forget that thirty-two team owners, among the top businessmen in America, voted for Goodell almost unanimously more than a decade ago and handed him one of the most coveted jobs in sports. Despite these facts, according to the media mob, Goodell is now incapable of running anything more complex than a do-it-yourself car wash. Theres no question Goodell is imperfect, but hes far from incompetent.

The root of the criticism is the idea that Goodell is too powerful. So despite record profits, record ratings, and the creation of an undeniably safer game compared with his first day on the job, Goodell is a man who arrives at the office without realizing he forgot to wear pants.

So welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the wonderful world of media. Trustworthiness has plummeted, and for good reason. Opinions from formerly respected sources are now presented either to reaffirm our own opinionscoddling, in essenceor to condemn those in power who dare to hold positions that run counter to our beliefs.

The first sportscaster to make me think was Howard Cosell. Sure, he got bitter at the end, but it was his utter disregard for public approval that still sticks with me today. His philosophy was as direct as one of his on-air sermons: be harsh if its called for, and be prepared to be hated if it unveils an uncomfortable truth.

Dont mollifyever. Crucify with discretion. Understand there is no precise answer to every argument. Fans deserve both nuance and bluntness.

Im ready to deliver all of the above. You with me?

I WAS LIKE MOST KIDS. I woke up on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons. A handful of them couldnt be missed. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was strangely addictive despite featuring a talking dog, four teenagers who never changed their clothes, and the exact same ending to every episode: a thwarted villain saying, I would have pulled this off without you meddling kids! There was also Jonny Quest , an adventure series where two families traveled the globe finding evil, like the one time when they discovered the giant spider whose eye was a camera sending pictures back to the bad guy Dr. Zin. I dont want to go too deeply into the details, but that shit was real.

I followed the path of most boys, seduced into the shows that chronicled the exploits of crime fighters and superheroes. Spider-Man, Batman, the Green Lantern, Plastic Manthey all had a place in my heart. I would try to decipher in my head which one of them I would choose in a battle to the death. I would assess from all angles, analyzing strengths and weaknesses, sort of an early sabermetric version of advanced-metric cartoon analysis.