Why Do Players Talk Through the Media? - Joe Chacon's Blog

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Joe Chacon's Blog

Why Do Players Talk Through the Media? Stuck

Posted on February 13, 2013 at 04:07 AM.

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The NBA All-Star Break is coming up and I already feel like a beaten mule. Being a Lakers fan will do that to you.

Over the last week I've read about Steve Nash not being happy with Dwight Howard. Kobe Bryant saying Howard needs to suck it up and play through his injury. And the grand-daddy of them all when Howard's Dad told the media that Coach Mike D'Antoni needs to discipline Kobe for talking bad about his son.

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our Lakers.

The Lakers don't need to do anything right now but focus on making the playoffs. The team has won seven of their last 10 and is creeping closer to the eighth seed in the west.

One thing I've never understood in professional sports is the habit of players talking to each other through the media.

The best analogy I can think of with regard to this is Twitter where people talk bad about other people because they know there won't be immediate repercussions. When I hear a player create a stir by saying something negative about a teammate I wonder why they aren't in the locker room discussing the issue with him directly.

Perhaps these athletes are somewhat a version of the "keyboard warrior" in which they will talk crap about another as long as that person isn't standing in front of them.

It just seems to me that a lot more would get done if these guys talked things out with each other instead of putting one on blast publicly.

OS Voice: Why do players choose to talk through the media instead of directly with one another?

Joe Chacon is a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

Comments

# 1 jmik58 @ Feb 13

Ah, the ole passive aggressive routine. Don't say it directly to me, but pretend like things are "good" while throwing up a veiled insult. Even worse when doing it in public through the media.

# 2 CujoMatty @ Feb 13

Your assuming nothing was said behind closed doors. For all we know Kobe couldve told Howard to suck it up and Howard told Kobe to go $#@! himself.

# 3 DJ @ Feb 13

One reason is players are obligated to talk to the media, so stuff will bubble to the surface if you get asked about it enough times. And, yes, it is easier to talk about someone indirectly than directly.

# 4 Jarbeez @ Feb 14

Agree with DJ. The problem in my eyes is not the players in these instances it is the badgering media looking for the meal ticket story and over dramatizing every potential incident they see.