Happy Tuesday, everyone, and welcome to the power rankings.
The author George Saunders gave the commencement speech at my alma mater, Syracuse, back in 2013. Toward the end of that speech, he said: “Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.” This wasn’t my graduating year (I’m old), but I’ve never forgotten that.
I thought about it while reading a follow-up Monday on Lamar Jackson and how he met with John Harbaugh about a crude and offensive response to someone on Twitter following Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars. In short, the person said the Ravens shouldn’t sign Jackson to a long-term deal.
I agree with Harbaugh when he said, “[I] just beg guys to not to get into the Twitter world right after the game, especially after a loss. It’s never going to be positive. It's not going be a nice place, you know?” I would only amend that to say: I beg guys to never go on Twitter. Ever. No matter what.
But I also agree with Saunders, who is asking us to be a little more, a little better. Someone, immediately following a game, decided to send a message to a player voicing his opinion about said player’s replaceability. It’s fine to not condone Jackson’s response while wondering how and why we are using social media on the flip side. We have access to the world’s most famous authors, musicians, athletes, creators and big thinkers, and our reflex always bends toward the negative. To criticize, to cuss out, to threaten, to demean. I’m certainly guilty of it. There is an entrenched hostility we walk into, which makes us feel free to lob whatever comes into our heads at a person, and which fuels the boomerang that comes back to us from a player who is not ready to digest it (and, again, we’re not excusing the contents of Jackson’s tweet). Around and around we go, prompting a negative response, receiving a negative response, criticizing the receipt of the negative response and prompting a new response. It’s like the dulcet tones of silverware in the dryer.
Is that really what we want to be known for, though? If Lamar Jackson was sitting right next to you, wouldn’t you be far more curious about how he does some of the most incredible things we’ve ever seen on a football field? If Lamar Jackson was your friend and you were texting him, would you call him replaceable after a big loss?
Here’s the big question: How do we improve the conversations we’re having in the sports landscape? How do we improve our awareness of another person’s humanness?
Anyway, let’s get to it and try to keep it civil, for the most part. (We're still learning, after all.)
