As a big sports fan, last week I saw a video that had me thinking of boycotting baseball for awhile. Young baseball star, Bryce Harper, who signed with the Washington Nationals as an 18 year old prodigy, certainly lived up to his "rockstar" persona. After hitting a homerun in a minor league game, Harper not only stood at home plate and admired his hit for a few seconds, but then proceeded to blow a kiss to the pitcher. Completely inapprorpiate, unsportsman-like conduct.
The video went viral immediately. (You can watch the shame fest here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/07/bryce-harper-kiss-home-run-video_n_872400.html)
While at first I wanted to punch Harper through the TV screen, I started to think: did the media turn him into this pompous athlete?
Over a year ago I remember hearing about Harper for the first time. ESPN did a 60 second story on Harper's successful high school career and how he was already being considered for the major leagues. They interviewed a young Harper and he talked about training hard, being a student and dreaming of playing in the big leagues.
Then the media - and social media - storm hit. It was MLB draft time. For a kid entering the draft at just 17, he was called a "star", a "phenomenon", the next legendary player. You name it, the media wrote it at some point. Harper was a Facebook star, a Twitter hot topic and a presence on most sports blogs.
How can a 17-year old who has never proved anything have such a legendary status in the sports media world? Because the media needs to mold stories in order to create a storybook scenerio for the audience. There needs to be a hero (Harper) and some amazing feat (young star in the MLB). And now with social media, the hero is more accessible than ever. Harper fans could take part in his rise to baseball greatness and participate in his transformation from high school ball player to major league prodigy and legend. How could the kid not have a big ego after all the media hype and story shaping?
Why do we see so many athletes today "working it" for the crowd? Because they have a certain character role to fill thanks to the media. LeBron is "King James", David Ortiz is "Big Papi": they have a certain persona now to live up to. The social media effect allows them to know what their fans think and want.
I firmly believe there was a time that we shaped the media. People were rewarded in the media for their achievements and scorned for their failures. Today, thanks to social media and its ability to involve everyone in the public sphere of communication, media shapes the main characters in media storylines.
As I read the media firestorm after the Harper kiss, will the media work to humble him now? The headlines of the last week use expressions like "frowed upon", "a monster in the making", "learn a lesson", "a teaching moment". Or is this just part of the plot line for the media story surrounding Harper? Is this the part of the story where the hero overcomes an obstacle, finds himself humbled (by the media) and lives happily ever after as the baseball prodigy we all expected him to become?
The bottom line is that media has changed. Media is influenced by the public sphere of communication and people want heros and villans, storybook endings and drama. Social media has allowed the public's opinions to be heard so the media can shape the characters and story lines we want to hear.