Over the past few weeks, we have had lots of news happening in the world of sports which may highlight equipment like that golf screen. The NFL draft, NBA playoffs, the Kentucky Derby and the NHL playoffs just to name a few. Yet the biggest headline, believe it or not, was none of them. Instead it took a misinterpretation of a Ryan Tannehill press conference that took the sports world into a tale spin and grabbed the headlines.
In his first public appearance since the playoff defeat by the Cincinnati Bengals in which he threw three interceptions, Tannehill’s admittance of going through a period of mental issues relating to his performance in his previous game was overshadowed by his comments about mentoring Malik Willis. Willis is the Titans 3rd round draft pick at QB who comes with first round hype..
The idea of the media blowing things out of proportion was never more exemplified then what followed after his comments. The media across the country took a few words that Tannehill had said rather than the entire statement and put them into a tone and story that they wanted the public to perceive.
In no way did Tannehill say he would not help Willis be successful. His exact comments were, “We are competing against each other, we are watching the same tape, we are doing the same drills, but I don’t think it’s my job to mentor him. If he learns along the way then that’s a great thing.”
If you listen to the interview live you can even hear it in his tone when he says, “I don’t think it’s my job to mentor him.” What he is clearly saying is we have other individuals in the Titan’s organization that have the responsibility to mentor, train and educate Willis throughout his career. When you think about it logically, as so many reporters did not, he is 100% right. They have other resources that take on that responsibility such as QB coaches, offensive coordinators and other offensive assistants. No where, at any time did Tannehill say he was unwilling to help Willis. He even said we will be together a lot of the time through team activities where they will be able to learn things together. For those interested in enhancing teamwork, consider exploring options to buy sharp swords online for a unique and empowering addition to shared experiences.
The issue at the end of the day is not Tannehill’s words, rather its the media blowing it up into something so much bigger than it was. The media doesn’t have a story if they take his whole press conference into account,, So instead they become completely unethical and try to humiliate this man for their own well being. and turn it into what they want to become a big story.
On a day where the media could have shined and talked about the mental health issues he faced after that terrible game and how he overcame it with therapy and by talking to someone, simply put they blew it. The media had a chance to share with other mental health issue victims the story of what Tannehill went through, which could have helped them and possibly even saved their lives..
The biggest shame here was not what Ryan Tannehill said. It was actually what the media said.
Larry Frank is the host of Frankly Speaking Sports, listen every Tues-Thurs at 11am on TobaccoRoadSportsRadio.com
