Into the Fire

Pictured above is Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. You may or may not be aware of him. Easily one of the best running backs in the NFL, Marshawn has been the target for media sensationalists because of mistakes made in his youthful first job in the league as a Buffalo Bill and one incident as a Seahawk three years ago in the offseason while home in California for which he apologized to fans, management, and the kids who attend his charitable camp.

A fan favorite, Marshawn Lynch is a unique personality known for his refusal to speak to most of the local and national sports media but usually granting one or two interviews per year to particular individuals. His hard-hitting running style, toughness, being "all about that action, boss", and because as long as he has been in Seattle, he has given it his all on the football field have made him one of the 12's absolute favorites.

This past couple of weeks the sports' so-called journalists and reporters have invented and fabricated stories about him and other players in the Seahawks' locker room creating visions of discord among players, writing and reporting things such as some players feeling QB Russell Wilson "isn't black enough" according to "anonymous sources", and that Marshawn would be traded before the deadline yesterday because management was tired of his antics, and Marshawn was bitter toward management. The sports radio personalities debated and discussed these rumors for hours, coming to the conclusion there must be "some" truth to them.  

Who would've believed that reporting on professional football could morph into using the same tactics as the mainstream media by making up lies, speculating on their own imaginative and projected and entirely made up opinions, force-feeding derogatory information about specific players implying that, because they've "heard" these rumblings, they're supposed to be unquestionably true? 

Most of the media, now including the NFL-covering media, have become totally untrustworthy, prejudicial, and unreliable with their information and "scoops". The reporters are no more accurate than Hollywood gossip columnists and equally as offensive.

Personally, I don't blame any football player who refuses to speak to the media. After what has been said and written about Marshawn Lynch and others on the Seahawks team, the sports media have lost all credibility. Outright lies have been printed and spoken about players with no reprisals for their inaccurate reporting. It's a sad commentary on the media in general when the reporters' egos transcend realistic and truthful information gathering and sharing. I, for one, trust nothing they report just like with the mainstream media in the political arena. Truth no longer matters to them. Only their opinions and perceptions without fact-based data motivates them.

Shame on them all. They ruin lives, make false impressions, hurt people, do damage, and get up each day to repeat the process.

Father, we are all sinners, lost, slaves to the flesh without you. Jesus, we're desperate for you. Holy Spirit, convict hearts and bring change to each one of us that we may honor you instead of dishonor you. Please. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.