So as the 2009 NFL season begins to circle the drain in several NFL cities, one prominent player on one of the struggling teams has taken a page from T.O. — and has taken shots at the media.
Buccaneers cornerback Ronde Barber, in a Tuesday appearance on WDAE radio in Tampa, openly questioned whether the writers covering the team are rooting against the franchise.
Said Barber, via JoeBucsFan.com: “To our beat guys, ‘Do you just want us to fail?'”
Wow.
Look, here’s the reality. The media is supposed to be objective. In some cities, some writers and other reporters abandon objectivity in order to secure and/or to preserve access. In other cities, some writers and other reporters go in the other direction in the hopes of generating interest via controversy.
But when writers point out the things that make a bad team bad, we’re not sure how it constitutes negativity and/or a desire to see a team fail.
Bottom line for the Bucs? The team is failing, regardless of the local media’s preferences in this regard. And the best way to get something positive about the team in print or on the air or glowing from a computer monitor is to do something positive on the field of play.