As originally aired on the Rochester Press Box
I had a conversation with Soccer Sam, the Salvatore’s Pizza entrepreneur just a few days back. And he said, “It’s really sad what’s happened to the media these days.” Sam is old school. He remembers when local news really mattered. News was the cash cow of the three major television stations in town. It called all the shots. Those working in local news were important people. Mark Wolfe, Wanda Miller, Gabe Dalmath. Janet Lomax, Rich Funke. Don Alhart, Dick Burt. Mike Catalana. Think the movie Anchorman with Will Ferrell. As silly as it was, it was kinda close to reality. Sorta.
I don’t bemoan the fact that the business isn’t what it once was. I was happy to have been a small part of it all. Those working the gig now have no idea what it was like. These days you’re doing more for less for fewer. Replaced by influencers. I’d rather take advice from a cat. It’s just the way of the world. Progress. It stops for no one.
That’s what running backs in the NFL are dealing with these days. Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith. Those guys dominated the league. Not so much these days. Which is why the likes of Jonathon Taylor, Josh Jacobs and Austin Eckler are being marginalized. To the point where these marquee names are being grouped with guards and safeties on the league’s ladder of significance. Greater football and media minds than mine are without solutions. Progress is not a victimless crime. It never has been. It’s like a freight train. The only way to survive an inevitable defeat at the point of impact, is to either stay out of its way. Or climb on board.
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