I’ve been battling my myself back and forth about the line between media personality and fan. It’s a fine line that I believe has been crossed over and over again time after time.
There are different levels of a fan’s personalities dipping into the media. There are lots of people that watch ESPN, CBS, FOX, NBC, what-have-you, with the sole goal of listening to play-by-play announcers to find biases. Forget about that. You’ll drive yourself crazy chasing the conspiracy theories.
What I am talking about though is outspoken fans on radio and television and I’ve got two examples for you in the Baltimore area.
What if a certain radio personality was so outspoken about being a good fan that he wore his Ravens jersey into the locker room during interviews? Is that hardcore fandome, or inappropriate behavior as a member of the media? My fan side of me thinks it’s awesome that Nestor Aparicio doesn’t care what everyone else thinks. But then I also wonder if he’s crossing the line.
Here’s another example though. The facebook craze has begun to blur the line between fan and media too. This personality is a sidekick to my favorite show on 105.7 The Fan, he’s out spoken about his support of the Baltimore teams, but after the Ravens 21-13 victory over Oakland blasted some unradio language about his feelings on the game.
I’m talking about Damon “The Bulldog” Yaffe, who through up an F-Bomb under the official “Mark Viviano Show facebook page. Too much or great fan?
What do you think?
I guess I look at it like this: if you are a member of the media, you cannot root openly for any team, even if it's your hometown team. However, that line has been blurred as you said more and more in recent years. Wearing the jersey of your favorite team to press conferences is a bit much though…you are supposed to represent impartiality or at least give the impression of it in my opinion. These guys are making their shtick by being representative of the fan, and I think they believe that acting and doing the things they've done is part of the process of doing that. I don't think that it is necessary. And of course, using foul language is fine for the fan, but not necessarily what we should expect or accept by a media personality in any form, particularly if he is working as a media member when doing so.
i see the swearing as tacky, but it doesn't bother me.
I think the lines should be blurred more. it's not about the facts anymore. I want opinions. I was passion. That is what is exciting to read.