A PLAYER'S INJURIES SHOULD NEVER BE A PUNCHLINE

I am new to the writing game, and aside from a few checks from he generous Clay Travis over at Outkick the Coverage, nobody has ever felt the need to pay me for my services. By the way, I owe my entire writing career -if you can call it that- to Mr. Travis, the first guy who ever published one of my stories on his website and continues to do so today so Thank You Buddy.
          Back to my point, although I may be stepping on the toes of people that are far more accomplished in this field, there is something that some sports writers, particularly football writers do that drives me crazy. They question the toughness of players who live through pain on a daily basis and worse yet, as Peter King did this week, they use a player's propensity to get hurt as an opportunity for a snarky punch line.
          Do they have a right to do this? Of course. But do I have an equal right to call them out for being wrong for doing so? Absolutely.
         I enjoy King's work as a writer, even when he delves into the judgmental prose that I am sure drives pro athletes insane. "You're going to have to make better throws than that to play quarterback in this league Mr. Manziel!"
         Stuff like that.
         For the record that is not a direct quote form King but trust me, it isn't far off from others he has made in the past.
          Look, I understand that any type of journalism that covers a field of entertainment, whether it be movies, sports, or literature, is going to be dominated by a group of writers critiquing the exploits of men and woman who have reached the very pinnacle of a field that they likely failed in -I am convinced that every movie writer is a failed director, every, one. Great journalism wouldn't exist if we only let those who have thrived in a particular field to write about it, I get that.
          King never came across that way, I should add. I never read his stuff and got the feeling that this is just some failed athlete. In fact, it is the opposite, he has always seemed like a guy that has always wanted to be a writer, and his resume proves that.
          But even if they aren't truly jealous, as many pro athletes believe, there is a line that many sports writers cross, when legitimate criticism devolves into snarky, arrogant barbs that just make me cringe.
          Which brings me back to King. This week, in his Monday column, he listed the recent injury history of former Bills and Chiefs tight end Tony Moeaki. King wrote: "Tight end Tony Moeaki IR Kansas City, 2011. IR in Kansas City 2013.Waived in an injury settlement with Kansas City 2013. IR in Buffalo 2014, I sense a trend."

          I know that this was a short "throw in" line of a 15 page article on the NFL, but it is the "I sense a trend," that aggravates the hell out of me.
          First of all, Moeaki's career could be over, and as far as I know, he never said a cross word about King. Is it really necessary to take an awful moment in his kid's life and try to make  a clever little joke about it?
          How about crediting him for coming back a number of times after sustaining serious injuries to his knee and shoulder. Moeaki also got hurt a bunch of times when he was at Iowa and still managed to work his way back to becoming a 3rd Round pick and eventually became a starter in KC after his first serious injury back in 2011.
         What trend are you sensing Peter? That football is a vicious, brutal game and some guys, sadly, will get hurt due to nothing more than just bad luck?
          Yes, Moeaki gets hurt a lot, but he has also come back, every, single, time. He could have walked away after he tore his knee up in 2011, but he came back. Then he hurt his shoulder, came back again. Do you have any idea how hard it is to Rehab a torn ACL, and then to get back to the level of being a Pro Tight End in the process?
          I am not saying that writers need to constantly praise athletes or place them on a pedestal, but what I am saying is that when they see a guy who is contantly getting hurt yet finds a way to come back every time, that it is something to admire, not to turn into a lame one liner like "I sense a trend."
          The daily aches that a healthy NFL player deals with are enough to keep the average office worker home and taking a sick day, laying in bed with some chicken soup and Advil to soothe his pain.
         If people read this and think, what right does a nobody blogger like Craig Hayes have to criticize the most popular football writer on the planet? Well, I guess that I am following King's lead; getting judgmental about he work of a person that is far more accomplished than I am.
          I sense a trend.
         
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