The Parker Question
Posted: December 23rd, 2008 | Filed under: Other Sports | 67 Comments »
So, I’ve been thinking a little bit about this Rob Parker-Rod Marinelli question. I’m sure you have heard about this. Sunday, after the Detroit Lions lost for the 15th straight time this season — this time 42-7 to the New Orleans Saints — Parker, a columnist for the Detroit News, asked Marinelli, the coach of the Lions, this question:
“On a lighter note, do you wish your daughter would have married a better defensive coordinator?â€
Marinelli’s son-in-law, Joe Barry, is the defensive coordinator of the Lions. This has (of course) been an ongoing joke in Detroit for months now; I suspect that many people in bars and living rooms and press boxes throughout the greater metro area have come up with all sorts of fun, high concept gags built around a coach who hires his son-in-law to run the team’s defense and then watches the team go winless, in large part because the defense has allowed more points and more first downs than any team in the NFL*
*And the combined passer rating against the Lions is 106.6. This is simply remarkable. Apparently every quarterback who faces the Detroit Lions is Joe Montana.
Still there’s a pretty wide gulf between what’s funny in a bar or a living room or a press box and what’s funny right there in the moment, under the lights, with the father-in-law behind a microphone and still smarting a from a five-touchdown pounding that put him on the doorstep of the worst season in NFL history. I know Rob a little bit as a press-box acquaintance — and from what I know about him he’s a very nice guy — but, honestly, you need to have a little bully in you to ask that kind of kick-the-dog question at that particular moment. It didn’t make any of us look very good.
Then, the reaction has been about as silly and overblown as the question: Marinelli, I guess, merely looked stern when the question was asked — he can look stern, it’s a talent. The next day, though, he was very angry about it. As coaches do, Marinelli probably went back and looked at the film, and in retrospect he decided to take it very personally. You couldn’t blame him, I guess, though I suspect he has bigger problems. Rob apologized in various media formats — Rob said he meant no harm, he was just trying to bring a little levity into the situation. Marinelli then said he did not accept the apology, and said it wasn’t funny. And Terry Bradshaw somehow worked his way into the middle of it by tactfully calling Rob Parker “a total idiot.†It has been a classy affair.
What interests me here though is not so much the question itself or the reaction to it but, instead, how different sports press conferences in America tend to be from sports press conferences in other countries. I’m not saying we do it better or worse, but we are definitely different.
In many other countries (maybe even all other countries), for instance, the winner of an event is applauded by reporters as he/she enters the room. It’s a small thing, but this simply doesn’t happen in America except after certain college football games where half the booster club is given prime seats to make the coach feel good. In many other countries (all?), reporters routinely cheer and boo during games — both for remarkable plays and for the local athletes. This not only doesn’t happen much in America*, it’s explicitly against the rules. I have talked to reporters who find the American rule “No cheering in the press box,†to be more than strange; they find it sad. “Don’t you Americans ENJOY the sports you are writing about?†one asked me.
*Of course cheering in the press box DOES happen in America, though the culprits are usually the sorts of people that everyone else in the business calls “foofs.†I would say “foof†is a difficult word to define precisely — it has a multitude of meanings and shades. I’ve been reading Budd Schulberg’s book “Run Sammy Run†“What Makes Sammy Run,” and in it he gives a great definition for the word “nebbish†— he wrote “A nebbish person is not exactly an incompetent, a dope or a weakling. He is simply the one in the crowd that you always forget to introduce.†In that same vein, a foof person is not exactly a bad reporter or a clueless homer or someone who asks players for autographs on the field. A foof is the person who everyone sees in a press box and wonders, “How the heck did he/she get in here?â€
More to the point, the press conference questions in other countries seem entirely more direct and pointed and chummy than you will hear in America. At the Olympics, for example, you will often hear international reporters ask the old Chris Farley “How did you get to be so awesome?†questions. Yet at the same time, I believe I have mentioned two of the more remarkable questions I ever heard at the Olympics. One was directed toward a weightlifter, I believe — a few of us actually have been arguing whether it was a weightlifter or a water polo goalie — but either way the question was translated like so: “You are a national disgrace. Please respond.†The other question was definitely directed toward the great Moroccan runner Hiram El Guerrouj, and it came shortly after he only won silver in the 1,500 meter men when everyone expected two gold medals. The question was, and I’m paraphrasing here, “How does it feel to let down 30 million people?â€
I don’t know if these harsh or soft questions are truly representative of international media-athlete relationships — I would guess it’s not quite that black and white — but I do sense that there is a different sort of give and take between reporters and coaches/atheltes on the international stage, it’s a little bit more informal and a little bit more confrontational too. I’m not trying to give Rob’s question a worldliness it doesn’t deserve — it was clearly a bad idea, poorly executed — but I do suspect that if the Detroit Lions were somehow being covered by the London press, the “Do you wish your daughter would have married a better defensive coordinator?†question might have been asked long before now.
In America, many press conference questions — except those on the Coors commercials — tend to be deferential, sometimes to the point of absurdity: “Coach, you guys lost 42-7, but you only committed two penalties, do you think that’s a sign that a young team is developing?†Or: “What does it say about your team that they didn’t quit in the fourth quarter?†Stuff like that. And while these questions sound absurd, are absurd, the thing to remember is that most reporters, almost all reporters, are not asking questions to make a show. This is the game. Reporters are asking questions that will stir a response, a quote, a reaction, something that will help do our stories. And it’s important to remember: That’s the point of all this. The tough and direct questions that so many people want to hear asked very often are the WORST questions because they inspire the no-comment or a flat cliche that are of no use to ayone. And the bland questions that may sound ridiculous on television or on radio are often the BEST questions because they inspire good quotes, interesting details, insider information.
People say there is no such thing as a stupid question, but that’s not true at all — there are PLENTY of stupid questions. What I have found to be true is more like this: The only stupid questions are the kind that get no answer.
That in the end was the biggest failure of Rob’s question: He had absolutely no chance of getting Rod Marinelli to answer that question in any way that would have helped his story. Yes, he might have baited Marinelli into reacting angrily, but from reading Rob’s quotes afterward and knowing him a bit I honestly don’t believe that was his goal. He could (and did) get some national publicity for the question, but (and I could be wrong) I don’t believe that was his goal either. I think he wanted Marinelli to play along a little bit. But considering Marinelli is a serious and steely type coming off an embarrassing loss, it was a dreadful miscalculation — there was absolutely no chance of that.
I’m not sure how the Parker question would have been taken in Germany or Italy or Brazil — where a winless football coach with his son-in-law as defensive coordinator might be seen as fair game for any sort of question at any time. It doesn’t really play here, though, where nobody likes a bully, and losing is no joking matter, and even winless coaches are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are is the right to lose with some dignity.
Loading ...
“No cheering in the press box.”
Apparently you didn’t watch any election coverage on MSNBC this fall…
It reminded me of roughly a decade ago, when the Chicago Bulls were facing the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. Chicago was up 2-0 in a five game series, and Mike North asked Pat Riley, “If God came down and said that you’d win this series if you shaved your head, would you do it?” (I’m paraphrasing and I might be wrong on the details, but that was the gist of it.)
Riley stared back icily and asked, “who are you, what’s your credentials, what station do you work for?” I think it went on for another minute or two, but that was the end of that.
Not defending North, but it was basically the same thing. A guy trying to make a name for himself get a reaction from an extremely pissed off coach.
Or, for that matter, the early weeks of the Iraq war coverage on FOX.
Guided by Voices is a good band.
People say there is no such thing as a stupid question, but that’s not true at all — there are PLENTY of stupid questions. What I have found to be true is more like this: The only stupid questions are the kind that get no answer.
This is the most profound statement I’ve read in a long long time.
I feel a little bad for Parker. Over the course of one’s sports writer/broadcaster/reporter career, you’re bound to say something stupid or offensive at some point. You ask 5000 questions over the years and one is in bad taste… it’s gonna happen. Was he wrong for asking that question at that point in time? Yeah, but it’s ridiculous for him to get so much negative attention. He apologized and he meant it. In these situations, I always find myself siding with the guilty party, except perhaps in the Jim Gray/Pete Rose interview.
Simply an extension of the idea that most in the world, and everyone in the world of sport, take themselves far too seriously.
soooo you’re saying throwing a shoe at marinelli wouldnt have received a response from him?
I think that it’s an okay question to ask. It was funny (I’m from Detroit, if that means anything) and it had a point. If he’s going to hire his son in law to be defensive coordinator, and then stick with the guy all season long when he’s clearly terrible, I think its okay to bring up. If it wasn’t his son in law, would the guy still have a job?
Joe: I guess NYC is more boring than you had hoped if you are still pumping out these lengthy blogs – and this one is not one of your best – but I love it all the same. Perhaps the girls are skating at Rockefeller Center with Mom and Dad just had 30 minutes of free time?
Probably in a few months Marinelli will look back on this weekend and not be as angry plus he might admit to a close friend that having a son-in-law on staff as his def coordinator was not the wisest of choices….I hope Detroit wins this coming weekend and I haven’t rooted for them since Lem Barney retired!
“I’m not going to talk about football today. I’m not going to take a question about the game. I’m going to talk about this press conference question right here. Anybody hasn’t read this question — I don’t read it, but it was brought to me by a daughter with a husband. Think this is worth reading.
I want to talk about this question. It’s fiction and this question embarrasses me to be involved with athletics tremendously. That question had to have been asked by a person that doesn’t have a son-in-law on his coaching staff and has never had a son-in-law that’s had their heart broken and come home upset! And had to deal with the son-in-law when he is upset! And kick a person when he’s down!
Here’s all that kid did! He runs the worst defense in the league. He is respectful to the media! He’s respectful to the public! He runs the worst defense in the league. And he’s a good son-in-law, and he’s not a professional athlete and he doesn’t deserve to be kicked when he’s down. And he runs the worst defense in the league.
If you have a son-in-law someday, you’ll understand how it feels. But you obviously don’t have a son-in-law. I do. If your son-in-law goes down the street and somebody makes fun of him because his defense gives up 300 yards/game, or says he’s FAT, and he comes home crying to his father-in-law, you’d understand. But you haven’t had that.
Someday you will and when your son-in-law comes home, you’ll understand. If you want to go after a coach — one of my coaches — you go after one who doesn’t do the right things! You don’t downgrade him because he does everything right and may not coach worth a crap on Sunday! And you let us make that decision!
That’s why I don’t read the newspaper! Because it’s garbage! And the editor who let it come out is garbage! Attacking a professional D-Coordinator doing everything right! At least we have more sacks than the Chiefs!
Are you kidding me? Where are we at in society today? Come after me! I’M A MAN! I’M 40! I’m not a kid! Write something about me! Don’t write a coach that does everything right, that’s heart is broken, and then say the coaches say he was scared! That ain’t true!
So get your facts straight! And I hope someday you have a son-in-law and somebody downgrades them and belittles them and you have to look them in the eye and say, ‘You know what? It’s OK. They are supposed to be mature adults but they’re really not.’ Who’s the kid here? Who’s the kid here? Are you kidding me? That’s all I’ve got to say. It makes me want to puke.”
I think he was trying to bait Marinelli into flying off the handle. If you watch the whole video the daughter question was something like the 5th question he asked on the subject. He kept going on and on about the D coordinator and his decisions and if he should be fired etc etc. After Marinelli didn’t give him the quote he was looking for, after badgering the man after a loss he dropped the daughter comment. Had it been his first question it might have gotten a laugh. Had he not said it in such a hostile attacking tone it might have gotten a laugh. Obviously I don’t know Parker and have only seen a little bit of his writing, but I find him to be arrogant, incitfull, and misinformed.
While I will admit to not seeing the video, the remark comes across to me as being well into the smartass, snide comments category that seems too typical of many press conferences; both in politics and in sports.
To see how different the press/coach relationship is in other countries, check out this press conference transcript from Joe Kinnear (manager of the Newcastle in England)
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=578459&sec=england&cc=5901
Personally, I find the Belichick press conferences in New England to be horrible. I like Belichick, but the press corps is so deferential it’s embarrassing.
More great insight for an aspiring journalist like myself. The trickiest thing that I’ve always fought with is whether to ask a great question, or to ask the question that will give you the best quote. Sometimes, during pressers, there seems to be a question that NO ONE wants to ask, for fear that the PR people will just cut off the conference immediately thereafter.
I dunno…I feel that, in a sense, athletes and coaches in the NFL are overprotected by their organization’s PR depts. So what many journalists do, much to my annoyance, is preface a tough question with endless drivel. Then it turns out to be a statement rather than a question, followed by a “can you respond to that?” Like my news writing textbook advised – “JUST ASK THE QUESTION ALREADY!”
Was Parker’s question out of line? I think so, yes. There’s a time and place for everything, and that was neither the time, nor the place.
GATE,
Couldn’t agree more with your assessment of Belichick’s pressers. Believe me when I say that it’s NOT the reporters’ faults. The Kraft organization keeps a tight lid on the press – even when it comes to soccer (which I cover).
I don’t think the reaction is over the question so much as how it was asked. Offensively worded, with an aggressive tone. And the reaction the last 24 hours is also about Parker’s ‘apology.’ It read like “I’m sorry you people who aren’t from Detroit don’t get my joke, don’t know that Rod and I have fun times when I question him.”
First, the guy is delusional. Coaches barely like interacting with the media to begin with; it’s an hour a day they could have been coaching, or with their families. And this guy thinks Marinelli enjoys the give-and-take? He was pretty clearly proven wrong later Monday.
I saw a freep.com commenter echo Parker’s defense, that those of us outside Detroit just don’t get the running shtick. I suspect he and Parker have got it wrong.
The thing about this is that Parker has been absolutely KILLING Marinelli in the paper all year long, so naturally the question was going to go over like a fart in church. This isn’t brain science or rocket surgery, people. There’s a time and place for certain questions, and there are certain questions that can be asked only by people with a ceratin kind of relationship. Based on what Parker has been putting in print throughout the year, I’m guessing that Marinelli and Parker DO NOT have such a relationship, and for Parker, in one of his various, morphing “apologies,to suggest otherwise indicates that some of this over-the-top criticism being directed at him is, maybe, not so over-the-top.
I disagree with the two commenters on Belichick’s press conferences. He doesn’t joke like other coaches, and the media dislike him for that (and for other things). But what he does is force them to ask better questions. The Globe’s Mike Reiss gets it — an enormous improvement over Ron Borges — and he turns out terrific work.
Reminds me of a coach I used to drive crazy by constantly asking him to gauge the mood of the team. He would tell me he wasn’t a psychologist. He was right. Reporters don’t have to ask good questions, but coaches and players are free to hold them to a standard if they want.
Finally, I have a word for that person who everyone wonders, “how did he/she get in here?” I work with a foof, have lived with foofs, foofs are pretty much everywhere. The more you know, I suppose…
All,
This isn’t exactly the first time this hack Parker has done something questionable even in the last few months:
http://www.freep.com/article/20081028/SPORTS07/81028096/1055/SPORTS07
Basically Parker falsely accused the MSU quarterback of being involved in a campus brawl. Parker was punished.
As a former aspiring newspaper man (and how happy am I in the present environment to have found a different calling btw), my pet peeve is reporters who don’t ask questions, but just say “Talk about (x)…”
That is not a question. Whenever I hear it, I visualize the reporter writing his/her story with some empty quotation marks, then approaching the subject with a pen and saying, “Please fill something in here, here, and here.”
I lived in Norway for 23 years, a small summer sporting nation that perhaps spits out one sports star at a time, maybe one chance of a gold medal per summer Olympics (if you remove sailing and clay pigeon shooting).
Just as in America there are, proportionately, as many sports writers and they’ve got to fill column space everyday. So, said one athlete carries the whole bloody nation on their shoulders, and believe me the Norwegian press play the “David against Goliath” card to the fullest extent, and when said athlete doesn’t quite measure up, as were the odds anyway, then there is disapointment.
Certain countries that dominate, for example, middle distance running and are used to spitting one lightning fast batamnweight after another and grown to believe that certain events belong to them and I’ve seen press confereances that have reduced athletes to tears, not losing but getting questions that would make me bound over the table and beat the shit out of the turd who asked it.
There are, in my mind, too many press conferences, what good could ever have come out of making Marinelli stand there? In my mind if he doesn’t want to talk to the press he shouldn’t be made to, but I’m a nice guy.
No cheering in the press box is new to me, never heard that before,don’t you cheer when your team pulls out a play or win tat makes your heart flutter Joe??
First of all, Parker is an idiot, and has been an idiot for quite some time.
I’m with Rich on this one…it is a question that EVERY SINGLE Lions fan has asked themselves in one form or another over the last 2 seasons. It’s also a legitimate question that demands a legitimate answer, and I think Parker’s insinuations are 100% correct. That being said, there is a better way and a better time to ask that question. I give Parker credit for asking it, though, and further sour on Marinelli for acting like a statement founded 100% in fact is some kind of affront to him. It demands an explanation.
trying watching an Andy Reid press conference. its the same everrrytime.
it seems to me journalisticly, the line is drawn in professionalism. he does have the right to ask: have personal relationships clouded you hiring process? but not: your daughter couldnt have found anyone better, ‘ey?
the time is yours.
maybe Parker shouldn’t have said “on a lighter note…”, instead, he could have prefaced the insulting question with “With all due respect…” Seemed to work for Ricky Bobby.
Bellweather, that was awesome. I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t recognize the homage until the third paragraph, but in a way, that’s what makes it so awesome.
When I first heard of this story, I laughed. If there was a Daily Show for sports, that’s the kind of joke they would make, except I doubt Jon Stewart has the stones to make the joke directly to the subject. My guess is that Parker has wanted to ask that question for a while, and he finally couldn’t hold it in. Joe is right, though – why ask the question if you know you won’t get an answer?
I always used to joke that there was no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid people who ask questions.
But we all do things in one moment that are cosmically stupid and that we know as soon as it is over that it is not going to fly. So I want to have some sense of compassion for the reporter and not conclude that he is just a jerk. At the same time, when you are a reporter, and when your job is to ask questions, then you need to be held to a higher standard of accountability than some clown calling in to a radio show. Much like the tax advice you get from a CPA is more accountable than the tax advice that you get from your father-in-law.
On a relatively unrelated note, I love Popovich’s interviews after Spurs games.
Nick Saban pressers are a hoot. No one takes themselves as seriously as big time football coaches … not even world leaders.
I think the press conference, for many reporters, has become the story itself. If you can get a Bob Knight or a Denny Green or Jim Mora all fired up, isn’t that the story? Most press conferences are boring and seldom shed light to a topic that has been beaten to death by millions of reporters and bloggers.
I’m not excusing Parker’s question, if anything the timing was off, but I think that many reporters want to break a story, many are tired of the humdrum responses, or of the 0-15 angles that are taken, and by shaking up a press conference, and making THAT the story, there is something new to write about.
I don’t think the majority of writers are like this, but there are enough of them (Jay Marrioiti, Dan Shaughnessey-hell half of the Boston reporters), that think they are as much a part of the story as the athletes, coaches, or the sporting event itself.
I was going to bring up the Joe Kinnear press conference too.
Who wouldn’t want to see Lupica or Mariotti or any other loathsome sports reporter (sorry if they are friends of yours Joe) a “See You Next Tuesday?”
I actually think there’s a time and place for a reporter to question the whole “nepotism in coaching” issue. However, asking it, Stuttering John style in a post game presser, isn’t it.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081222/OPINION03/812220369/1126/SPORTS0101
I can’t find an apology in here…all I see is “Marinelli didn’t crack a joke and no one is smart enough to know how clever I was being”
If I had to watch the worst football team in history lose fifteen games in a row, I might ask a somewhat humorous somewhat touchy question to the coach that was in charge of it.
In regards to your SI column on your favorite sports moments, Joe, I enjoyed it. As great as that Chalmers shot was (it was my computer wallpaper for months), I think Sherron Collins steal of the inbounds pass a minute earlier, throwing it into the lane in mid-air, getting the pass back and nailing the three was just as big and as amazing a play. I think both of those plays, Chalmers and Collins, should be spoke about with the same wonderment. What Collins did was Bird-like. It represented the guts that Collins brought to that team. He ripped the ball out of an opponents hand in mid-air and willed that victory and national championship for the Jayhawks. It was unbelievable. I’ll never forget it.
New Word!
“foof”
What is silly about this is Marinelli’s reaction to it the day after. He didn’t seem embarrassed or defensive of his family when the question was asked. He’s angry and embarrassed the day after when it has garnered so much national attention.
Marinelli siezed the opportunity to be a simpathetic figure and deflect criticism from himself and that godawful tea
There seems to be a pretty simple line here and Parker crossed it. Had the question in question simply mentioned the son in law, then it wasn’t over the line.
However, Parker mentioned a female relative of the coach and the son-in-law, who doesn’t play, coach or have any involvement in football, and that is, in America, where we still believe in gentlemanly behavior (at times), crossing the line.
End of story.
Rob Parker has not exactly distinguished himself as a sports reporter. People have been all over him every step of his career – Cincinnati, New York, and now Detroit – about what a hack he is. He’s one of those names that, if you worked with him, you remember when you hear it and roll your eyes and say, “ugh, not him again.”
(I think he was in Cincinnati after you’d left Joe, but he was the Reds beat writer for the Enquirer and was just putrid)
Joe may have written a great blog post…but Bellweather Johnson’s an artist.
Fantastic.
No one says the defensive coordinator is out of bounds, or that hiring your son-in-law is out of bounds. But to bring the daughter into it, and suggest, however much tongue-in-cheek, that she is to blame, is simply inexcusable.
Can you imagine Parker having the cojones to ask a similar question to Bill Parcells about his son-in-law Scott Pioli? Please. He’s a hack and a bully and realizes that newspapers will soon be dead in Detroit and wants his name out there so he can get a job.
Wait…is this the same Rob Parker who moonlights on 1st and 10 on ESPN’s Cold Pizza – ERRR – First Take?!?
How dare you talk down to Rob Parker!! He’s distinguished!! How can you say this about a man so obviously the equal of Skip Bayliss!!
First and Pizza is the benchmark of sports journalism in this day and age.
I will not stand by and watch my fellow commentors trash the man hand-picked to replace Woody Paige…(when Jamelle Hill and The Two Live Stews aren’t available)…
This man thrills tens…of unemployed people each morning. How else do you expect them to fill the time between P90-X infomercials and The Price is Right if not to watch Parker and Bayliss go Mano-A-Mano on topics as relevant as Kyle Bush’s Pit Crew and The Madonna/Guy Ritchie divorce.
In the anals of history people are going to be talking about three things: The discovery of fire, invention of the submarine, and First and Pizza with Rob Parker.
i thought the parker question was pretty damn funny and absolutely appropriate in light of the complete joke of a season to which the lions and marinelli just subjected their fans.
Belichick gives bland answers to bland questions. But if you ask him a situation-specific question or an in-depth strategy question, he’ll fill up a reporter’s notebook. He’s also been known to treat the media to film sessions of former greats on occasion.
Hey Joe,
I’m wondering what you think about the disparity between coverage of American sports and American politics. It seems to me that we’re much tougher on losing coaches, underperforming players, and teams that overspend on useless free agents than we are on political leaders who implement bad policies (like, oh I don’t know, torture). I’m curious what this looks like from your vantage point and what differences you see in the coverage in other countries (which you touched on a bit here). I’ve seen the British press corps, and I wish we could hire them for some press conferences over here!
I’ve been on both sides of the notebook — as a reporter and as a public official. And I’m a huge fan of the media, usually.
But there’s a significant difference between being a lapdog and being respectful. That was a disrespectful question designed to get a headline, and to get a coach to fly off the handle after a difficult loss. It wasn’t meant to show insight, but to be a bully and earn points with his colleagues in the press box. It sure didn’t cast any new light.
The media gets castigated too often in this country, and usually it’s misplaced anger. But in this case, the reporter was just headhunting. As far as I’m concerned, Marinelli can be as angry as he wants to be, because he was treated badly and unfairly.
Parker’s the same moron that called Hank Aaron a coward. He should be fired.
http://media.www.thetowerlight.com/media/storage/paper957/news/2007/04/26/Sports/Hot-Corner.Hank.Owes.Nothing.To.Cowardly.Columnist-2881079.shtml
“First and Pizza” awesome. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. What a stupid show.
FWIW, I think Marinelli being angrier the following day is a perfectly natural reaction, and had nothing to do with the fact that the controversy went national. You can’t expect such a bozo question on the spot, but you sure as hell can stew about it afterwards. That’s not “Detroit Lions head coach Rod Marinelli” — it’s “husband and father Rod Marinelli”. Big diff.
Rob Parker is one of the only guys on sports radio who I can listen to. He’s original and he provides an important perspective on race.
And as a long-suffering Leos fan, I thought the question was hilarious.
Joe,
While reading “Run, Sammy, Run” did you find out “What Makes Sammy Run?”
To answer the foreign reporters who wonder if American reporters enjoy the sports they cover:
Yes, American reporters, and Americans in general, do enjoy sports. More than that, however, Americans enjoy feeling superior.
This explains not just American reporter/jock/coach etiquette, but also the behavior of fans on call-in shows (X is either a brilliant genius and my adoration of him reflects some of this glory upon me, or he’s a total bum and I could do his job better), and the general American apathy toward sports not already dominated by American athletes.
Obviously not every American sports fan acts this way, but for the most part it seems a strong working hypothesis.
>>>>and the general American apathy toward sports not already dominated by American athletes.
As opposed to all of the openminded Euros who have embraced baseball and American football.
I love the Prime Minister’s questions in Great Britain (televised on C-SPAN at some god-awful hour, once a week or so). Gordon Brown has to stand up before a hostile rabble of representatives and answer for any questionable, corrupt, idiotic, decisions. Sure he has some supporters in Parliament, but the members of minority parties skewer him mercilessly with caustic, antagonistic inquiries.
Tony Blair was especially fun to watch. With a handful of notes, no teleprompter, and without the power to filter most questions, he consistently displayed admirable intelligence, a quick wit, and considerable argumentative skill.
I encourage everyone to watch the Prime Minister’s questions, then imagine our current Prez in that environment– a situation not unlike a Premier League post-match presser, but without the riot gear. This will give you a better understanding of just how impossible it has been for the international community to view the USA as a beacon of democracy in recent years.
How can I feel sorry for Marinelli? Parker may very well be a blowhard, but someone has to answer for these nepotistic shenanigans. Subjecting oneself to regular, irreverent interrogation, while maintaining mental alacrity and resiliency, engenders confidence and trust among your fan base and/or constituency.
I’ve always enjoyed Scott Adams’ (the Dilbert guy) take on the ‘there’s no such thing as a stupid question’ issue:
“What kinds of questions do stupid people ask?”
Stupid questions are the ones that you ought to know better than to ask.
One category is what Joe mentioned, one that will get no answer.
Another category covers those that you’d have had the answer if you’d been paying attention 2 seconds ago. (For example, a repreition of the previous question that you missed because you were dazing out.)
If you don’t like questions about family members, don’t hire them. How much better would Marty Schottenheimer have been without all the baggage (family members) he carried around with him? If you’re a football coach making millions of dollars do your job and hire the best people to work with you. I’m guessing the best person usually isn’t sleeping in your basement shacking up with your daughter. Of course, in Detroit they are just happy when their assistants don’t drive naked through drive thrus.
Joe,
You need a seperate comment section for the polls. I only say that because I hate to be off topic but must comment on your “Least Favorite Task” poll.
Obviously, 80% of your poll contributors are under 40.
I think that 3rd Period points is right. We don’t subject anyone to hard questions. It is the system we have set up: Gaffs=News. So avoiding a gaff is the height of success. Imagining our president being grilled by opposition leaders is unfathomable (Although, it would have been a great boon to the Bushism book publishers). During the VP debates all Biden had to do was not curse or call Palin cute. That is not a high standard.
Coaches and players are so beyond reproach that to ask anything that is direct, that might be uncomfortable or interfere with the marketing image will cause you to lose access. It is why all sports press conferences are identical. Periodically, someone one “snaps” and YAY!
Parker crossed the unwritten rule that we don’t embarrass the mighty coach, even though his performance is one of the worst of all times. This question should be asked everyday, every week until a justification for the coordinator keeping his job is something other than an awkward Christmas dinner. Although he should probable leave out the daughter.
So who are you, Bellweather Johnson? Perhaps you need to start your own sports blog and then I can read Joe’s and yours and then really not get ANYTHING done @ work!!
Any/all embarrassing questions from Detroit sportswriters should be required to include the name ‘Matt Millen’.
The other thing about this is that the Lions are completely non-responsive to the media and their fans. Matt Millen was fired and there was no press conference and we have heard nothing at all from him. Previous to that he had spoken once in two years and told us how great the team was practicing. William Clay Ford Sr. (Fredo or George W. Bush, whichever idiot son you wish to compare him to) rarely speaks, and when he does says something stupid like he’s going to keep the front-office intact after an 0-16 season. Marinelli’s press conferences are sureal and have spawned several drinking games. I think you have to think about the Parker episode in that context and realize that fans here in Detroit don’t care as much about bruising Marinelli’s feelings as the FOX NFL crew.
Joe,
Love your work, but I think your introduction to this column mischaracterized the Parker-Marinelli exchange leading up to his final question. As another poster noted, Parker had been pestering Marinelli the whole session with questions about the coordinator; when he didn’t get the reaction/answer he wanted, he went for the jugular and crossed the line.
Beyond that, it’s important to note exactly which question was asked — if he simply said “if he wasn’t you son-in-law would he still have a job”, to me that’s a legitimate and fair (if pointed) question. But to phrase it the way he did was nothing more than a cheap shot intended to pique Marinelli into exploding on national TV.
He deserves whatever criticism he gets, and then some.
Funny that you mentioned passer rating. It’s quoted so often by fans and commentators, yet I guarantee NONE of them could tell you the formula offf the top of their heads. Yet these same people refuse to embrace advanced metrics in baseball, calling them “nerdy.” I just don’t get it.
I changed my handle from Mark to MarkW to MarkIDX because we seem to be proliferating.
“Over the course of one’s sports writer/broadcaster/reporter career, you’re bound to say something stupid or offensive at some point. You ask 5000 questions over the years and one is in bad taste… it’s gonna happen. ”
– absolutely true, and one reason my teaching career had its ups and downs…
However, there’s no way in the world he just pulled that line out of the air. He had that one in the holster ready to go, so while I can allow some slack for a Crime of Passion, this was clearly Premeditated Sniping.
Unfortunately I’m not sure the Geneva Convention permits a punishment more severe than watching the Lions year after year, so I’m guessing he’ll get off with time served.
I remember back in the 70’s when ASU was having a miserable season and a reporter asked Frank Kush after a particularly rough loss: “Coach, what do you think of your team’s execution?” Kush replied “I’m in favor of it.” Maybe if Marinelli had played it a little lighter there would be no controversy.
JJ, Parker wrote: “My attempt (at humor) failed.
And because of that, my attempt at humor may have seemed slighted, cruel, and even insensitive.
For that, I apologize. ”
It seems clear to me. Parker thought he was asking a funny question. He never considered what would happen if some folks didn’t get the joke. Once he considered how easy it was not to get the joke, he realized his attempt at humor may have seemed slighted etc., and apologized.
Lots of comedians have written jokes they thought were funny, only to see them bomb and then engender controversy. I think this is one of those cases. I see nothing wrong with Parker’s apology. I see plenty wrong with Marinelli’s nepotism. I mean, give that these are the Detroit Lions here, it was foreseeable that they would not be a good team even if the coaches were good. And there’s no way to objectively rate quality coaching without quality results: victories on the field. So I think Marinelli *should* have seen the probability that at some point this year, he might be put in the terrible position of appearing not to fire his son-in-law because of his daughter, or the terrible position of having to fire his son-in-law to protect his own job.
So IMO Marinelli, as soon as it became clear that a wedding was in the offing, should have told the son-in-law to find another job ASAP, given him a letter of recommendation, and sent him packing. It would have protected both of them. Yes, maybe the son-in-law is the best defensive coach in football, and Marinelli was right to want to keep him. But given that front office, what are the chances that even the best coach in football might be hamstrung by the players he had to work with?
no cheering in the press?
someone forgot to give that memo to the mainstream media in regards to obama
[...] the best policy.Official Mainstream Newspaper Columnist of AG.com Joe Posnanski recently posted an interesting blog entry about the questions asked by reporters and included this amusing aside:Of course cheering in the [...]