Freezing Cold Takes has taken on a life of its own. What started as a fun Twitter account that put the spotlight on haters and naysayers in a team or athlete’s moment of glory is now a must-follow for people in sports media.
It’s a fun idea. After all, the surest path to a laugh is unshakable confidence combined with an absolute lack of knowledge. Fred Segal, the creator of the account, will tell you that he never meant for it to be gotcha journalism. It was an alternate way of contextualizing a result.
For all of Fred’s good intentions though, I don’t think he could have ever anticipated Freezing Cold Takes becoming a problem for our industry, but I say it has.
We’ve all heard Colin Cowherd’s theory, right? I know I’ve been in rooms and on Zoom calls where I can remember him saying it on three occasions. If you walk into a bar and on one end there’s a guy telling great stories and making people laugh and on the other is a guy who is right all the time, you’re choosing a stool next to the entertainer ten times out of ten. Being entertaining makes you friends and fans. Being right just makes you feel good.
The theory is dead on. It’s a more illustrative way to get the same message across that I have been asking broadcasters to consider for years: would you rather be in a classroom or at a party?
There’s a correct answer and it should be obvious. I worry that social media has blinded broadcasters to that though.
Let me be clear. The real culprits in the decline of creative risk-taking on sports radio and podcasts are fear and self-obsession. Freezing Cold Takes is just the manifestation.
I’m shocked by the number of people who are convinced that being spotlighted by a Twitter account is the absolute worst thing in the world. No matter how many times consultants and programmers remind them that less than two percent of the world has a Twitter account, those people are convinced that if it’s on Twitter, it must be worldwide. To be clowned by a Twitter account is akin to being the laughingstock of the entire world.
Social media and platforms like Spotify, YouTube and others have made it easy for young people to just start creating content and putting it out. Unfortunately, those same tools have also made it easy to anonymously be cruel and over the top in criticism of those creators. If you “live in the comments,” as the kids say, it can be discouraging.
The problem isn’t limited to the younger generation though. Every contrarian is labeled a hot-take artist now. Local sports radio, in a lot of places, has become less interesting because hosts take the most obvious positions on every topic rather than challenge themselves and their audience to think differently.
No one is suggesting that these hosts make stuff up or that factually incorrect information is somehow valuable, but consensus opinion is now treated as gospel.
Look at the way Caitlin Clark was covered in the NCAA Tournament. She is an incredible shooter and passer, very much a generational prospect, and the fact that she captured attention at a level previously unseen in women’s college basketball is worth noting and celebrating. That doesn’t mean everyone is obligated to root for her. West Virginia coach Mark Kellog was treated like he had crossed some boundary by saying that his team would beat Clark and Iowa.
In sports, the results are the results. How we get there and what they mean are less certain. There’s room for debate and discussion. If there isn’t, then sports media is screwed.
Freezing Cold Takes is not alone in creating fear and hesitancy. Social media puts the audience closer to the people delivering the takes and the people delivering the takes than they have ever been before. That has emboldened some and panicked others.
This week, the NFL will welcome a new class of pros to the league. In the lead-up to the draft, there are all kinds of opinions being thrown around. Some of them really are nuts and guided by outdated thinking about the sport. Some of them are simply the result of looking at a prospect and saying “I think other guys are a lot better.”
Fred Segal may not even have to catalog takes on quarterbacks or receivers anymore. I am sure an army of followers is ready to save screenshots and tweets featuring people questioning Caleb Williams’s toughness and will tag Fred the second Williams takes a hit and pops back up.
All of those saved tweets and “I thought you said…” comments are meaningless. They are now. They will be then. There is no prize for being right all the time. Your ratings bonuses are not tied to a percentage of opinions proven correct.
Back in December, I spoke with Evan Cohen of ESPN Radio about the idea of being labeled a “hater” by fans of certain teams and players. While he didn’t necessarily see it as a bad thing, he did note that “Our goal is to always be as memorable as possible and to make sure our opinions are conveyed in a way that the fan listening fully understands our intentions and conversations.”
While I agree with Evan, I would point out that some fans don’t have any interest in understanding our intentions or appreciating the nuance and circumstances that lead to our opinions. They are the ones treating Freezing Cold Takes like a value judgment instead of entertainment.
Too many broadcasters, both novices and talented veterans, are paying attention to that segment. They are more concerned with not being social media’s whipping boy than they are with creating something interesting and engaging. It’s a waste of their talent and their audience’s time and our business is in a worse place because of it.
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.
