Are you familiar with the term Trump Derangement Syndrome? It is a term/theory levied by the right against the left, but it isn’t just some talking point. The idea behind it is very real.
The idea is that you can hate Donald Trump so much that you are blinded to reality. You start looking for his screw-ups in everything. You try to will evidence of his wrongdoing into existence. It can be exacerbated by too much exposure to your own bubble and sometimes can get so out of control that it is all you think about.
Trump Derangement Syndrome is not a phenomenon that sprung up in the last four years. Before now we called it Obama Derangement Syndrome. Before that it was Bush Derangement Syndrome. It doesn’t matter who your culprit is. That kind of singular obsession can create a sort of tunnel vision that opens the door to delusion and fantasy.
Last week, we watched two of college football’s Power 5 conferences choose to forego a fall football season. As a result, we watched the sports media flip out.
Now, it didn’t matter where you came down. Both sides got unreasonable. Barrett Sallee, Joel Klatt, Clay Travis, and Danny Kannell were among the biggest names saying that the leaders of the two conferences were gutless morons. On the other side, you had Booger McFarland threatening to fight people that were demanding kids play without any of their own skin in the game.
There was also this dipshit, who is so dumb that I don’t want to do the Sallee, Klatt, Travis, and Kannell group the disservice of claiming they are saying the same thing.
My point is the derangement syndrome has come to the sports world. It makes sense that college football talk took over our shows last week. I cannot fault you for devoting time to the biggest story in our universe. I do hope that it didn’t blind you to great stories that could resonate across the country.
Last week, we had possibly the two funniest stories break in the sports world since the Pandemic began to dictate our day-to-day lives.
First, Zach Plesac was suspended by the Cleveland Indians for going out to a bar and breaking his team’s Covid-19 protocols. He took to Instagram to address the report in a video saying that the media is evil and made up lies about him and he would set the record straight. He then proceeded to admit to everything in The Athletic’s report about his night out.
Next, and certainly funnier than the Plesac story, is the story of how rookie defensive back Kemah Siverand came to lose his spot on the Seahawks’ roster. The team announced that the undrafted free agent had been cut on Thursday. On Friday we found out why.
The Seahawks are doing their best to isolate their players from any unnecessary exposure to Covid-19 during training camp. That means no guests at the team hotel. Siverand got caught not only trying to sneak a girl in, but by trying to disguise her as a teammate BY DRESSING HER IN A SEAHAWKS UNIFORM!
Why do I bring these things up? They aren’t necessarily A-block stories outside of Cleveland and Seattle respectively. Maybe markets in Oklahoma would put an emphasis on the Siverand story, since he played for Oklahoma State.
The debate around college football has become loud and angry. Look, passion is undeniably good for our shows, and there is passion around this issue. The problem is that things have gotten so loud around the sport that anything you say on your show will fall into one of two extremes. It is either preaching to the converted or it is falling on deaf ears.
Welcome to the United States of America, land of the free, home of College Football Derangement Syndrome!
Is this topic engaging your audience at all anymore? Maybe in the South, where the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 still have decisions to make, it is possible to add something new to the conversation. What’s the good in focusing on the Big Ten and PAC-12 though? Those conferences have made their decisions. Is it fun or even interesting to keep talking about it when the conversation has nowhere it can go?
You have to find a way to steer out of the anger at some point. The whole “stick to sports” thing is constantly used as a barb at hosts that don’t spend their entire show breaking down games second-by-second. Yet, the same listeners and hosts that are quick to point out that they want to hear sports on sports talk radio are now breaking down medical charts they found in a reddit chat. It’s not because they think they are doing good radio. They are so dug in that they have lost sight of whether the audience even cares.
America is passionate about football. That passion has gotten away from us on radio and online though. We are choosing to spin our wheels in mud instead of finding ways to keep this car moving forward. We are choosing a road we know dead ends at the same place every time instead of trying a new path.
The metaphors are piling up here, so let me cut to the point. This is a fun job. Your listeners choose you because you make their workday or time in traffic a little bit better. Don’t miss the stories that can create fun, funny moments on air because you have to hammer home a single point.
College football’s immediate future is still unfolding. As long as you have a new angle to explore and new thoughts to share, keep at it. If all you are doing is repeating the same talking points from whichever side you’re on, you’re wasting everyone’s time and entertaining no one.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
