Sports: Where Being Right Matters
By 
It’s a trend that has been ongoing for years, but November 5th, 2024 was nitrous oxide injected straight into its engine.
The trend is our ever-polarizing media environment. And election day proved a spark that has since sent an already fractured media into its deepest fissure yet.
Since Americans went to the polls and selected a new president just a few short weeks ago, the makings of an even more divided media landscape are beginning to take shape. Millions have abandoned Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) in what is being dubbed the great ‘Xodus,’ and are seeking refuge on Bluesky — a more establishment-friendly space rid of engagement farmers and porn bots but with decidedly less right-wing presence.
Over on cable news, it’s more of the same. MSNBC’s flagship morning show Morning Joe has seen its left-skewing audience dwindle after co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski visited President-elect Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago resort last week. It’s one data point in an alarming trend that sees left-wing news consumers increasingly flocking to places that more enthusiastically reaffirm their priors, or have them opting out of news consumption entirely.
Right-wing media has undergone similar trends in the past. Following the 2020 election and its aftermath, Fox News viewers turned to networks on Fox’s right flank like Newsmax, where pundits were more willing to adopt positions in line with the median right-wing cable news consumer. And much has already been said about the right’s so-called “podcast bros” that get their news from Ben Shapiro, Joe Rogan, and the like, with little dissent.
OK, roll your eyes at the both sidesism if you want. But the kicker is real enough.
Sports is one of the last remaining institutions in America that is truly bipartisan. As such, figures like Mike Greenberg or Colin Cowherd, or Scott Van Pelt are among some of the only individuals in the entire country that regular people on both sides of the aisle actually listen to together.
And strangely, that means these figures are held to account in ways that partisan media types often aren’t. Let me explain.
News consumers have long revealed their programming preferences that is light on facts and heavy on opinion. Just compare how many people watch the PBS NewsHour on any given night to the audiences that Jesse Watters Primetime or Alex Wagner Tonight pull.
On the contrary, what has the trend been in sports media? More and more, fans are looking towards fact-based analysis, even if it’s packaged in the form of a hot take.
Let’s start with a show like NFL Live. The Orlovsky-Kimes school of hot taking is perhaps one of the best examples of analysis that cooks up broccoli but serves it to you like it’s cake. Take last week, when Dan Orlovsky spent nearly five minutes breaking down every player’s responsibilities on a key play in the Chiefs-Bills game. Sounds pretty dry right? Not what you’d expect in the Stephen A. Smith era of ESPN? Wrong. Orlovsky, in his virtual reality headset, put on a virtuoso performance to explain in detail exactly why the play worked for the Bills. He was widely praised for the segment.
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In today’s news environment — where consumers are sorted into their own silos and have made clear their preference to hear commentary that reinforces their own views — the person delivering those views suffers little consequence whether they are right or wrong about a given opinion. On the other hand, sports media pundits are very much in the right or wrong business. Fans care deeply about whether their favorite (or least favorite) talking heads fall on the right side of any given sports debate. There’s literally an entire community dedicated to clowning Bill Simmons when he spews a bad take and blogs that track every single pick that pundits make during studio shows.
Sports journalism being the only thing in the country that is getting better and where the truth actually matters is not a good sign. But hey, I guess when Stephen A. Smith is the Democratic candidate in 2028, we will all just go with it…….. At the very least, he’s much better at going on Fox and telling people they are idiots than Democratic politicians!