As a hockey fan, last week was very fun for me as the NHL draft took place in Florida.
I spent a sickeningly large amount of time perusing websites and publications, drooling at each and every trade rumour. I was fully aware that the vast majority of these rumours would never transpire into reality, and were more often than not planted in the media by an agenda-driven agent or general manager. I am also certain in some cases they are conjured up in the mind of some sad and desperate media types who just want some page views, so I get it.
I used to feel this way about the soccer transfer rumour mill, which will be back in full gear with the summer transfer window set to re-open. I used to genuinely enjoy it; it was all good fun. Sadly it has changed, though. The soccer rumour mill has lost all sense of decency, not to mention reality. It has gone rogue, and I don’t see it returning. It is dead to me.
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Perusing the daily newspapers/blogs/websites, we are subjected to a blitzkrieg of conjecture and rumour and it is now at the point where I just do not bother.
Whereas the NHL rumour mill, for all its misinformation and falsehoods, does generally contain the odd grain of truth, and in many cases does come from something other than some scribe’s ego, the soccer world is so ultra competitive now that lies are fully accepted—the readers know it, the editors know it, yet there they are strewn across the page. There are many more journalists, many more websites and newspapers and teams and leagues and agents and middle-men and criminals and snakes.
The sports section of the newspaper used to be my comfort zone, my little escape first thing in the morning where I might learn something or might be intrigued by a little zinger. But now?
Now we see stories about the possibility of Manchester United acquiring both Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. And how Liverpool was going to line up with Alexandre Lazazette and Marco Reus in its starting 11 to start the season. Good signings, but with Chelsea closing in on a deal for Lionel Messi what was the point? At least Arsenal would make it interesting with Edinson Cavani and Marco Reus… wait, I thought he was a Red?
It is like the sport pages have become the comic books for adults obsessed with football. No longer do we imagine super heroes who can fly or lift buildings; now we imagine fiction like which super star will be arriving at our door.
I grew out of comics many years ago. I think I have grown out of transfer rumours as well.
Journalists, agents, managers, club directors—they are all part of the machine, a sports machine that distances itself from reality more and more every year, be it salaries, aloofness from fans, self-importance or flat out lies. I find it boring. I am bored.
How about some news for once?