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Sports take: Media's obsession with USC's Barkley overbearing

Sept. 15, 2009

In America, we love young phenoms. We've had a 2-year-old Tiger Woods on the Mike Douglas show and child prodigies on Oprah. ABC televises the Little League World Series each year. People pay Rivals.com to get every morsel of information they can on the nation's best high school athletes.

So it's no surprise that when USC quarterback Matt Barkley became the first freshman to start an opening game as the university's quarterback, the media outlets salivated over the coverage opportunity.

But the way they devoured Barkley, both before the game and during the broadcast, was unfair and indicative of our unhealthy obsession with anticipation.

Leading up to game time, everything targeted toward him asked the same question, the answer to which all college football fans were waiting to see. Would Barkley succumb to the pressure of 100,000 screaming fans wanting to see him fail or would he remain composed and lead his team to victory?

The media demanded a response from Barkley prior to kickoff. His options were limited to, a: Yes, I have confidence in myself and the team, or, b: I think the pressure is going to get to me.

Of course option B goes out the window in the masculine world of college football that prohibits admitting fear.

And the public perception of option A? He's cocky. He's ignorant. He is too young to know what he's talking about.

Take the interview after USC's blowout of San Jose State, for example. A NBC Los Angeles story referenced his comments when asked what he learned about himself as a quarterback, including, "That this is fun. This is easy. This is what I was made to do."

It also mentioned him stating that no crowd would faze him.

I can understand if the public finds him cocky after these responses, but what should Barkley have said otherwise? That he hates football and that he was not made to win? That the crowd would be too much for him to handle?

The questions may have put Barkley in a no-win situation, but they couldn't stop at pregame coverage. The obsession with Barkley continued all the way through the game.

I do not remember the Trojans starting a drive without hearing, "The young Barkley takes over," "Let's see how the freshman commands his team," or some other variation.

Even after USC broke into Ohio State territory on its winning drive and the Trojans primarily ran the ball to reach the endzone, there was only praise for Barkley's efforts and leadership.

Barkley did provide two huge passes of 21 and 26 yards early in that possession, but Joe McKnight rushing for 32 of the drive's final 37 yards went without mention. USC's defense, whose goal line stand held the Buckeyes to a field goal in the first half, got no attention.

All the commentators' energy went toward congratulating Matt Barkley and his 15-31, 195-yard and one-interception effort.

According to the media, Matt Barkley is the reason for USC's successes or failures.

Before anybody calls me a hypocrite, I realize that I am a member of the media (a very, very small part, but included nonetheless), which means I am a part of the industry I just criticized.

As the media (newspapers, in particular) struggle to turn profit in a world that has 24-7 news availability, there is more and more emphasis on covering whatever sells.

Regardless, there is a responsibility to keep readers informed with the truth. It is wrong and insulting to readers' intelligence to deem worthless material newsworthy enough to offer in a finished product.

With Barkley and other highly anticipated figures, however, we often angle questions to stir controversy, to produce responses that generate strong feelings in readers. It's all done so that readers keep coming back for more.

That's what really matters, isn't it?

Chris Derrett is a journalism major from Katy and a sports writer for the Lariat.

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