So initially this was going to be a blog about May being mental health awareness month. But instead, I heard of interaction on Twitter I'd like to discuss instead. So next week look forward to a blog on mental health awareness and why it's so important. But for this week let's talk about the state of sports media today and hockey culture.
If you haven't noticed by now I'm a pretty big sports person. And not so much as just a fan, but I consider myself a sports journalist as well. While that may not be my full-time job at the moment, it's something I've been actively working towards and engaging in since I was in college. Which means I spend quite a bit of my time on social media looking at sports content and the work of other sports journalists.
Which meant that right after I got up on Thursday morning/afternoon (I overslept my alarms that day, whoops) I saw about what happened on WBZ-FM's morning radio show. If you aren't a radio person, WBZ-FM is a large sports station in Boston owned by Beasley Media, a major name in radio broadcasting. They've had the same morning show for well over a decade now called Toucher and Rich.
If you don't know much about Boston sports media let me say they've got a reputation. And it's not a positive reputation either. There have been numerous incidents of Boston sports hosts being rude to a guest or having a really poor hot take about the opponent of whatever Boston team is playing. And that's exactly what happened at WBZ last week on their morning show.
Right now the two Boston teams currently in action are the Red Sox as it's early baseball season so that one's a bit of a duh. And the Bruins are in the Eastern Conference Finals for the Stanley Cup. The ECF started this past Friday, so in previewing the conference matchup, Toucher and Rich on WBZ interviewed a Carolina media member who reports on the Hurricanes.
That media member was reporter Chip Alexander, who writes for the Raleigh News & Observer. I've followed Chip for a while and really have enjoyed his work during the playoffs. So it's not surprising that he was called to talk about the Bruins and Canes match up with the guys at WBZ. Especially since beat reporters are the most in tuned to a team from traveling with them consistently.
And here is where things get messy and aggravating. Apparently Fred Toettcher the show co-host hung up on Alexander in the middle of the interview. And get this, it's because he, "just can't listen to a guy with a southern accent talk hockey." Yeah, frustrating right?
There are a few reasons this instance, in particular, rubbed me the wrong way even though I have no dog in the fight on the matter of Boston vs. Carolina. The first is something that seems to be a problem across the NHL, and that's the discounting of teams in non-traditional hockey markets. Or just the outright dislike of them.
I feel like I hear people all the time complaining about how teams in the sunbelt are taking up space in the league. Traditional hockey fans seem to look down on teams that haven't been around for 50 years. Or hockey in places where outdoor play doesn't happen because it's warmer year round, like Carolina.
But did you know that right now Texas is one of the fastest growing states for youth hockey? And that Florida isn't too far behind them? Or that the Tampa Bay Lightning have one of the Top 10 attendance rates in the NHL as of this past season?
There's an explosion for hockey in the so-called non-traditional markets right now. I mean look at how much the city of Las Vegas rallied behind the Knights last season when they went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first year. It's incredible to see what teams in non-traditional markets are doing to appeal to fans everywhere. Which absolutely includes Carolina.
Now I know that doesn't have much to do with the people involved in this incident. But at the same time, it kind of does. Chip Alexander is probably not someone you envision when you think a hockey reporter. Usually, you think an older white guy from the North East or the Midwest who's been around the sport their entire life.
As far as I know, Mr. Alexander was raised in South Carolina and probably grew up spending more time knowing and hearing about football than hockey. But that doesn't mean he isn't perfectly capable of reporting on hockey. You don't have to have played the game to know the game and report on it.
Talk to any woman covering men's sports right now about that issue. For some reason, sports media is afraid of having people from different backgrounds and different perspectives reporting. Whether that be a born and raised Southerner covering hockey to a person of color covering a sport that's traditionally white. They all should be welcome to bring their experience and knowledge to the world of sports reporting.
Actually, I'll go out on a bit of a limb here and say those from different backgrounds than the sport they cover are the ones who get the better stories. When you have no real expectation about a sport maybe your the person willing to dig deeper and find the stuff that really matters. Or uncover the topic that others may be too afraid to touch.
Which is something that Chip Alexander does well. He's an A+ reporter and arguably is the expert on Carolina Hurricanes hockey. So the situation that happened with him and the Toucher and Rich show just goes to show you that no matter how intelligent you are, or how much you know about a situation, someone will try and blow you off or push you aside because you're "different".
Something like this also goes to show that shock sports journalism really needs to go. I'm sick of guys like this or Colin Cowherd who just try to push the envelope, but don't actually talk about anything really happening in sports. Stop it with the hot takes and instead go out and cover a real story.
Put some thought into what you're doing instead of just going with the craziest take possible. Watch games, dig into stats, notice trends. Actually, report and talk about what's happening within games and series with something to back your opinion up. Don't just throw out an opinion and then try to shut down anyone that comes for you. It's easy, it's low-hanging fruit, and at this point just plain damn annoying.
Also, can I add something a little petty to this? How can someone from Boston complain about a Southern accent? Southern accents sound awesome, whereas Boston ones are grating and easy to mock. And yes I know Toettcher isn't originally from Boston, (he's a Detroit person, which in my Chicago eyes makes him even worse), but you pick up on that kind of stuff when you've lived somewhere for over a decade.
Anyway like I said there are a few reasons that incident rubbed me the wrong way. I really think people in sports media and especially sports radio should be rethinking how they work in this industry. Maybe instead of promoting sheer shock value we focus on the games and the athletes and talk about the real issues. Not hanging up on a qualified reporter because he doesn't sound the way you want him to.
It's time to get away from the hot takes approach and get back to real sports journalism. We need people that know what they're talking about to be in these roles. Not older white men with ego's so large they won't consider other perspectives or other sides of stories. Follow and promote the Chip Alexander's of the sports media world, not the Fred Toettcher's.