Thoughts on the Celebration of Failure in Sports

Tweet I, like many of you (hopefully) reading this article am at work right now and the constant repetitive tasks i am assigned to do bring with them a time to reflect on what is happening in the world today. As I am a die-hard NBA fan, only one thing comes to mind; the NBA Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat. But more specifically the way that this great series is being discussed in the media, on twitter, Facebook, and among my friends. In today's world of information where immediacy is the most important thing when it comes to reporting on anything, one spin on the NBA Finals and sports in general seems to be the most popular, "Athlete Fails" instead of "Athlete Succeeds" has become the go to story for any sporting event in the last year. After game 4 of the Finals, one in which Dirk (battling a three digit fever and cough) willed his way to a good not great performance to win the game and even the series at 2 games apiece, little was written about Dirk channeling his inner Jordan in the 4th quarter or Dwyane Wade throwing up a 32 point, 6 rebound performance on disgusting ( in a good way) 13/20 shooting. No, rather all the conversation after the game was Lebron's "passive" (Since Wade was feeling it, he was getting most of the ball and therefore taking away from lebrons offensive output. Not making excuses for 'Bron but if Miami had won the game this wouldn't have been as big of a deal) game.

The aftermath of game 4 is just one example of how we as a public crave stories about how world-class athletes fail and not how they succeed. Recently, this is most evident in the team everyone loves to hate (due to a poorly thought out decision by a 26 year old and his childhood friends...if some people say that they've never made a bad decision growing up, they're just lying. Only difference with Lebron and the decision is that it was televised for the world to see) the Miami Heat. People have written about the Miami Heat's failures this year with an almost manic glee as if Chris Bosh shooting 1/17 somehow made their lives better. Although Miami has been the center of this trend to acknowledge the failures and not the accomplishments of athletes, it has not been the only one. To bring it back to the finals, after game 1 where the Heat turned up their much talked about defense in the fourth to shut down Dirk (not really) and the rest of the mavericks (absolutely) people chose to write and talk about the failings of the Mavs' supporting cast and not how the big 3 (or 2.5 depending on how you feel about CB4), Mike Miller (playing with no thumbs), Mike Bibby (he's still playing?!?!?), Juwan Howard (ditto) and the rest of the squad shut down a Mavs team that scored so easily and efficiently on the defending champs that Bynum and Gasol still probably have nightmares of a 5'8 man from Puerto Rico.

I guess what I am trying to figure out (and a better writer would have done it much more eloquently) is why we, as a society enjoy tearing down public figures ( in this case athletes) more than building them up. I won't pretend to tell you when this shift in mentality happened (maybe after the steroids scandal in baseball where we learned that our heroes weren't so squeaky clean as we had imagined them to be) but only that it isn't for the best. I'm not saying to blindly accept everything athletes do and not hold them accountable for the stupid things they do (Plaxico, why do you need a gun in a club, and better question, who wears sweatpants to a club?) but the level at which they are being scrutinized for every little thing they do doesn't feel right. Let me put it this way, when you see the words Michael Jordan you think winning, greatness, shoes, and an inability to keep ones tongue in ones mouth yet Jordan was a compulsive gambler, a terrible teammate (punched lovable announcer Steve Kerr in a practice, Scottie Pippen never really bonded with MJ even though they played and won most of their careers together as evident by his Lebron comments right before the Finals started), and by all accounts from people who've met him, an all-around asshole but because back in the 90's, sports coverage was different, we never hear of Jordan's failures, only of his successes.

In my opinion we do this to make ourselves feel better. After all, no one wants to see LBJ, D-Wade, and CB4 keep winning (side-note: how fast and far did Charlie Sheen drop off?) so easily in life so we try and celebrate their failures because we think that'll make ourselves feel better. But in reality, unless you're a Dallas Mavericks fan or anyone from Cleveland, you shouldn't be cheering for Lebron to fail because him failing at his job wont make yours any more entertaining or wont make that exam you're studying for that much easier or that girl you've been wheeling that more in to you so that's why on Sunday I won't be rooting for Lebron and the Heatles to fail, i'll be cheering for Dirk and the Mavs to succeed. After all, seeing someone win and feeling happy is much better than seeing someone lose and getting a kick out of it.

Luka Milanovic
@Luka_M91 on twitter