Young Men Let A Lot Of People Down
Young men let a lot of people down. This is not to disparage youth, rather it is a fact of life. The getting of wisdom is no low hanging fruit. In a high-performance industry, like AFL football, the expectations of the media and therefore the fans are unrealistic. This niche media is jam packed with ex-footballers who have become talking heads as a second career. These relentless and loud voices demanding perfection are an unhealthy fourth estate in the sporting celebrity sphere. The AFL footy media are high voltage opinion makers in an increasingly crowded space. Mega paying professionalism has turned a game into an elite sporting contest, where young gods are supposed to strut their stuff. It seems, there is no room for failure of any kind, whether temporary or casual or not. Young Indigenous men are banked upon by clubs and supporters to deliver unceasing success in their football endeavours. Any deviation from this pathway is more than frowned upon. Being paid the big bucks should always be more than enough to deliver exceptional results, in the minds of the media and the fans. We all get passionate about our footy.
Youthful AFL Players Under The Gun Of Great Expectations
Watching the footy now, involves being exposed to short lectures by ex-players throughout games, as to why teams are losing plays. Calling matches, back in the day, was a shared process of unfolding accounts of the on-field action. Games were more exciting because there weren’t a raft of commentators pretending that they know the answers to everything happening on the ground. In truth, much of what these expert announcers put forward as gospel is pure speculation. Yes, they are trying to justify their pay packets, but it is tiresome in the extreme. Explanations for every play detracts from the exiting spectacle of the game. Imagine if you were having passionate sex with an intimate and half a dozen experts were describing and analysing every move you made – would this make for great drama? I don’t think so. Sometimes you just want to admire the magic without having the trick deconstructed for you.
“Footy great Patrick Dangerfield to QUIT top AFL job after making a very controversial call he knew would outrage fans.”
Young Blokes & The Boof Heads Commentating
The ex-footballer’s approach to TV commentary is to speak louder when making a point. It is like they are adapting years of going hard at the ball to the art of being a talking head. Ramming down sentences, paragraphs, exclamations, and not letting grammar get too much in the way. It must be a big change, however, after years of letting their actions speak for them. Talking up a storm becomes their new raison d’etre. Young men let a lot of people down, especially when expectations are too high. Are these ex-players turned experts going too hard at their more highly renumerated descendants within the game? Every night of the week, we see another loud mouthed opinion maker with thinning hair on our screens. The name of their game is to be as shocking with revelations about a club or player or coach as they can. Kane Cornes, Matthew Lloyd, David King and the list goes on.
“Kane Cornes has turned a blowtorch on Eagles rising star Harley Reid after his nightmare season-opening performance.”
Gotta say yes to another excess of allegations of shirking or scandal. The market is the millions of us living small lives chock full of ordinary behaviour. Brimming with resentment barely beneath the surface and cherry ripe for outrage at examples of young fellas not ecstatically making every post a winner. How dare any young bloke being paid millions have any bloody problems to boot. In the modern temple of materialism, a shit load of money is everything. No matter the pressure these young guys are under, which we have no conception of. The media tells us that these boys should perform, day in and day out, at the highest level. That these young men get all sorts of special treatment at their clubs. I mean, they are living the dream. The sport’s media preys on this dynamic between fans and the young gods on the pitch. Listening to these hot air merchants berate young men letting down their clubs and members it is like pantomime with stock descriptions and pejoratives expressed to the gallery. Young men behaving badly. Young fellas going missing and walkabout. OMG. Take a breath Mister Footy presenter. Perhaps, take a good hard look at yourself in the greater scheme of things. Every now and then, do us all a favour, and STFU.
RSH
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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