With Great Fame Comes Great Susceptibility to Speculation
Do professional athletes have a legitimate plight when it comes to their frustration with members of the media speculating on the reasoning of their intentions and actions?
Boston Celtics star shooting/point guard Kyrie Irving recently voiced is displeasure with members of the media for conjuring and disseminating their speculation that a conversation that he and his close friend in Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant had in a hallway during NBA All-Star weekend that was caught on camera.
In an interview following the video going viral, Irving was visibly annoyed and became indignant with reporters when they began inquiring about the widespread rumors that were circulating that the two superstars, who are both impending free agents, possibly discussing plots to play together in the near future.
“It’s a video of me and one of my best friends talking, and then it turns out to be a dissection of a free agency meeting? Do you get that? Like, do you get that? And then I’m asked questions about that? That’s what disconnects me from all that s***” said Irving.
Many athletes share his sentiments and are in accord with him when it comes to his disdain for members of the media who have a platform of influence to dissect his personal life.
“It’s my life, right? It’s two people talking, having a conversation. If this was the real world, would it be anybody else’s business? It’s a video of somebody assuming what we’re talking about, making an opinion about it, right? So, why would I care about it? Why does it have an impact on my life? Why are you asking me those type of questions?” said Irving.
A wise man once said, “With great power, comes great responsibility”. While professional athletes appear to have superhuman abilities in the eyes of us common folk, they view themselves as ordinary people worthy of privacy and respect of that privacy.
However, they inadvertently surrendered most of that right to privacy away from media speculation and criticism in the court of public perception and opinion when they chose to play a sport at the highest level and become a professional athlete.
Is this reality a reasonable one? Probably not, but this comes with the territory of being among the best. Their actions and intentions will be speculated upon and prodded by members of the media until they retire or fade into obscurity, and maybe not even then.
