How do we balance entertainment and the product?
“May you live in interesting times.” — Proverb
The above phrase is frequently associated with an old Chinese proverb, but it actually derives its origins from British diplomats in the early 20th century. That phrase has all new meaning today as we embark on the next big story for your Houston Texans. The NFL is a marketing behemoth. You have free agency, the NFL draft, the schedule release, rookie minicamps, OTAs, and team minicamps.
All of these things have been designed to create maximum buzz, but when you step back and look at it, it is usually much ado about not very much. Still, TV talking heads, radio talking heads, and bloggers alike comment on these things as if they are the most important news of the week. People on the NFL flagship stations are often told to spend the majority of their air time talking about the hometown team whether there is something to say or not.
I make no bones about the fact that this has not been a horribly interesting offseason for the Texans up to this point. Sure, there are questions about the team and its players as there always has been and always will be. Will the offensive line be fixed? Will the new offense generate more yards and points than the old one? Will the Texans surround C.J. Stroud with more talent? Will he take the next step as a quarterback? These are all good questions, but we have no more definitive answers today than we had in January. So, I and other writers on this site have struggled to find engaging topics to write about.
As you can see on the site, Jimmie Ward was arrested early Thursday morning with felony charges. This probably is the most interesting story of the offseason for the Texans because it goes right to the heart of sports as an entertainment product itself. Where do the Texans go from here?
Instant gratification
The heart of every story I mentioned above is shot through the prism of the modern journalistic world. I suppose I am a professional commentator in the strictest of senses. I am not highly compensated if barely at all, but any media critique has to be shot through the prism that I am a part of it and not simply standing aside while other folks talk about it. All of these stories have one thing in common: there seems to be an overwhelming desire for folks to come to quick conclusions.
I can’t in this case. We literally just know about the arrest. Arrest does not mean guilty. There are also tons of gray area as to what it could entail. So, no one should be making grand pronouncements about what should happen. All declarations must be qualified based on whether he is in fact guilty of any crime and what exact crime he would be guilty of in that case.
So, anything I say from here on out is purely speculative and theoretical. Anyone making a sweeping statement about what should happen should probably not be trusted unless they have information that we don’t. That is not a satisfactory answer for most people, but it is a honest answer and we need to strive for fairness and balance as much as we possibly can.
The Social Debate
The Jason Tucker situation in Baltimore is a perfect example of this debate. The sad reality is that society is not fair. Often, someone’s culpability and ultimate punishment depends on their perceived value. Sports is not alone in this regard. An average, ordinary citizen can see their life destroyed by such allegations. Someone perceived to be talented or important can be shielded from the negative impacts of such things.
As crass as it sounds, you can almost imagine a sliding scale for these things. A star quarterback is immune. A starter at any other position might be immune depending on how good they are. A backup is probably not immune. At a certain point, we have to ask ourselves if this is really the world we want.
Teams must way the value of the player on the field with their value off the field. How many scumbags can a team have before they lose a significant portion of the fanbase? Make no mistake, there are a number of fans that would root for the hometown team no matter who suits up for them. There are also a number of fans that won’t. The bean counters will go through a cost/benefit analysis that is cold, calculated, and in many instances can seem cruel.
Jimmie Ward? He was a starter the last two years when healthy. The Texans valued his veteran leadership and he did make some key plays while on the field. Due to some of their offseason moves (notably the trade for C.J. Gardner-Johnson) Ward is no longer guaranteed a starting spot. Does this ultimately change the calculus in a situation like this? Should it?
Admittedly, my attitudes on this have evolved as I have gotten older. I used to be able to hold my nose and root for scumbags if they were good enough to help my team win. As I have gotten older and wiser, my attitude has changed. Is Jimmie Ward a scumbag? That’s a complicated and nuanced question even if we assume that all of the allegations are true. Professional sports are entertainment and we have to reckon with how entertaining it is to have to root for people that are bad human beings. Again, we don’t know how bad a human being he is.
Circumstances change and they every situation is different. If someone is a good person for most of their life, does one horrible situation change all of that? That is also a sliding scale. How horrible is the situation? Murder is obviously a deal breaker. There are other crimes that are obvious deal breakers as well. Domestic violence exists within that gray area for many people.
This brings us back to the proverb at the beginning. We live in interesting times and this is an interesting dilemma. I’m not sure there is an elegant solution to this problem. Cutting someone like Ward might be an overreaction if this is a one time thing and if it is relatively minor. Anything short of that might be an under reaction if it is not minor and not a one time thing. Time will usually tell. If the Ray Rice situation has taught us all anything, it is that a rush to judgment almost always produces a bad result. We have to let this thing play out and all facts to come to light. Then, the Texans can reach the wisest decision possible.