I’m not a big “stick to sports” guy. I have written before that I don’t think people talk about sports in their real lives in a way that is laser-focused on the players and games. I think there is room in sports radio for irreverence and room for tough conversations.
There is room to be whatever you want, but let’s not lose sight of something. The world sucks right now. The Uvalde shooting is too much to bear for some of our listeners, and I will admit that I am right there among them. And the timing of when it happened – just over a week after the mass shooting in Buffalo – I have never quite felt as lost for hope for the world my kids are inheriting as I do right now.
The Uvalde story has been particularly hard to swallow. Another school shooting. Another debate about whether your right to own an AK47 is more important than every school not being a potential war zone. The revelation that the cops did nothing about the shooting for over an hour and arrested parents that couldn’t stand for that. And worst of all, because we live in a truly awful age, all of these grieving parents have to live knowing that there is a subsection of assholes that will make it their mission to shout from any rooftop they can find that this event didn’t really happen and their kid was never real to begin with.
Maybe, there has never been a more important time for us to stick to sports.
I don’t mean we eliminate fun and stick detailed breakdowns of who will be in each team’s third line in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There will still be room for fun. But for a lot of our listeners, things feel heavy right now. The world makes no sense. They are rightfully looking for a distraction.
For a lot of people, sports will always be their distraction of choice. Right now though, it’s more than that. Sports and sports talk radio are safe havens.
Between 24-hour cable news and Twitter, we are force fed details about tragedies that we do not need or want. I do not mean this disrespectfully to survivors and those left behind in moments like this, but it is very possible for people at home to be overcome by grief and even trauma from the media overload.
I live in Raleigh, NC. I should not know the names Topps Supermarket and Robb Elementary, and yet both can make me feel sick now. I hear them and all I can think about his the horror the people inside those buildings must have felt. It is too much.
The world isn’t a newspaper with sections separated to keep every story in its proper silo. Tragedy and politics and society’s ills will cross over into sports. When they do, we have to decide how or if we are going to talk about them.
In a month like May 2022, it would be nice if sports radio existed in a vacuum. It just doesn’t. That doesn’t mean you have to be on top of every update. Maybe Gabe Kapler’s protest isn’t worth diving into right now. His cause is noble, but even if you agree with him whole-heartedly, it is okay to ask if there is a win in it for either you or the audience.
Are the Warriors’ core three too old to hang with the Celtics? How big of a bust are the Phillies? Just how soon are we going to get that sixteen-team SEC? Is Russell Wilson really rejuvenated, or have the Broncos just forgotten what competent quarterback play looks like?
Those conversations are pretty unimportant. At this moment in time though, that is exactly why they are so important for a lot of listeners.
In the past, I admit that I have been guilty of mixing sports and politics in shows I have hosted. I admit that I am attracted to sports stories that say something larger about us as a society. I can also acknowledge that I have grown and evolved and know better now how to read a proverbial room.
Big conversations, tough conversations don’t have to be third rails for us, but right now, that isn’t what listeners are looking for. In fact, it is the opposite of what so many of them need from us in a moment like this.
The term “distraction” gets thrown around in the entertainment world like it is an insult. Frankly, given every single story you see on a newscast these days, “distraction” may be the highest compliment some listeners can give you. There are plenty of them that need you more right now than they ever have before.
You don’t have to dumb your show down or be inauthentic. You just have to be able to provide them with what they need to get through another day on the darkest timeline.
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.
