By Chris Marler
I’ve written and erased this opening sentence roughly 12 times. I love a rant. I don’t love being mean. However, this feels like it needs to be said no matter how harsh it sounds, so gather around.
If you’re mad that a Coastal Carolina baseball player “disrespected” LSU by saying he didn’t care about the Tigers during the CWS player press conference – you’re an idiot.
In case you missed it or have been off social media today, a reporter asked the CCU players what they admired and thought about this LSU team and program. The answer he got was the answer he deserved, and the response from some keyboard warriors is somehow dumber than the original question was.
Imagine being one of those players, taking the podium a day before playing for the national title. That’s the second national title this small program will play for in a decade by the way. You’re also coming into this series on a 27 game winning streak. You haven’t lost since Easter and smoked everyone in your path so far in the NCAA tournament, including a team that swept LSU earlier this season in Auburn.
Now it’s time for questions, which is cool for those players and should be fun for the media and fans, too. After all, the only thing most people know about Coastal Carolina is that they have a teal football field and a mascot that 80 percent of us don’t know how to explain or spell correctly. Could be a fun opportunity to learn about this team, program, and players.
Nah. Let’s make it about anyone but the players on the podium and ask them what they admire about the team they’re playing and how good they are.
This isn’t Murray State. This is a team that has won a national title on this very stage. A stage they got to, by the way, after beating LSU on their home field. This isn’t a Cinderella story or a future Disney movie about lovable underdogs. This is one of the best teams in the country, and they have been all year.
So what are we doing?
I am not a Big J journalist. I’m probably not a small J journalist either. If any of you have read my articles here, that is painstakingly true. I didn’t go to journalism school. I got a degree in liberal studies instead, which is basically just paying $80,000 in student loans to be good at bar room trivia. And my only “writing experience” prior to this job was a decade plus of writing standup comedy.
I say that to say that I don’t know all the rules in journalism and what’s frowned upon by some of the stuffy elite that take themselves too seriously in this job. I do know that one of the unwritten rules probably hovers around not taking away from a 19 year old’s moment so you can stroke your own ego or tell the other team how pretty they are. That’s insane.
To see the backlash of the now viral video clip from some fans isn’t unexpected. After all, there are stupid people reacting stupidly to things all the stupid time. But the idea that a team who is going to war with you tomorrow for a chance at what every little leaguer and competitive athlete dreams of, should be kissing your ring today? That’s about as dumb as it gets.
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