Jared Goff is the last guy who should be complaining about the Detroit media being too negative.
Many of the people he’s criticizing have been banging the drum for the Lions to give him a long-term contract worth $200 million dollars or more for over a year now.
This is the same media corps that has celebrated Goff’s rise to Detroit stardom. Think of all the attention the papers, TV, and — especially — radio have given him amid his local cult following. All the coverage of his work in the community. Every instance of a Goff chant breaking out anywhere other than Ford Field.
The media here practically sided with Goff in the lead-up and aftermath of the Lions-Rams playoff game, when our ex came to town and made things super awkward.
That ain’t negativity. Not even close. What Goff and others call negativity is better known by its real name — honesty. But in today’s day and age of access journalism, if you put out anything less than the kind of homespun propaganda that would make Vladimir Putin blush, you’re too negative.
Sports media used to be about holding players, coaches, front offices, executives, owners, and entire franchises accountable to the fans who make it possible for them to not only make a career out of playing a literal game, but also to become unfathomably and obscenely wealthy at the same time. Now, the expectation is to carry their water.
But you can’t blame Goff for not knowing what negativity really is. He’s spent his entire professional career in two of the absolute softest sports media markets there are.
Face it, Detroit isn’t exactly known for a brutally tough media. How long do you think an NFL franchise could go between playoff wins in New York or Philadelphia? It sure as hell wouldn’t be 32 years. Sports radio hosts and sportswriters would chase every coach, manager, and executive out of that place on a nearly annual basis until the situation were remedied. And even then, the honeymoon would be over as soon as the next playoff loss.
Part of it is cultural. Midwest values prioritize things like kindness, patience, forgiveness, and, worst of all, loyalty. And for some reason, we allow celebrate these things permeating all facets of life, including business.
That’s how you end up with an NFL franchise that was the laughing stock of the league for 60-plus years.
It’s what leads to the most cartoonish operation in the NBA.
It’s how a billionaire owner gets a pass for investing more in a scoreboard than in his impotent lineup.
It’s why the prodigal son general manager is protected from any criticism, let alone accountability, as his team puts the finishing touches on back-to-back ankle-grabbing choke-jobs in crunch time.
Goff doesn’t know how good he has it here.
His only other experience is in LA, where sports are accouterments to ostentatious sensibilities, just another accessory serving as a status symbol.
Goff’s recent characterization of the Detroit media and its tendency to “relish in negativity” stems from an exchange he had with 97.1’s Wojo in the lead-up to the NFC championship game.
Never mind the fact that the Lions were underdogs in that game, or that the 49ers do have more stars. All the proof you need that the Detroit media isn’t negative is how it responded to Goff’s comments. Beginning and ending with Wojo, the man at the center of Goff’s criticisms.
The same day Goff’s comments blew up, Wojo spent a good amount of airtime on 97.1 defending him.
The Lions quarterback wasn’t being hostile, Wojo said. And that exchange from back in January was good-natured, Wojo said.
That’s not the kind of response a professional athlete would get in a negative media market after accusing the local corps of being unfairly critical. If Aaron Rodgers complained about the writers in New York or Jalen Hurts lamented the harshness of Philly sports radio, it’d be awfully hard to find anyone in those media — let alone one of the most tenured, venerable guys in the business — defending those QBs. No, saying that kind of stuff in those kinds of places would be declaring open season on yourself, practically asking for the vitriol.
(Sidebar: Saying Wojo is too negative is the equivalent of calling Jared Goff overly charismatic.)
Name another big-time sports market where one of the most visible professional athletes could call out the local media for being excessively grim and said local media would respond in defense of said professional athlete.
You can’t.
Just like we say about our NFL team that wandered the desert for more than a half-century and our other three franchises stuck in sports-purgatory.
Only here. Only in Detroit.