Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes just wants to be loved and he's wondering why that's so wrong.
During a podcast with Dave Dameshek of NFL.com, Holmes made a request to the New York media that will almost surely go unfulfilled. Holmes wants the coverage of the Jets to be a little bit more like the way the North Korean "press" covers the goings-on in that country.
"If the New York media wants to be a part of our team and wants to continue writing about us, write positive things, stay away from the negative because it doesn’t do anything good for our team that you want to report all the negative things that happen and that’s all you want to talk to us players about. We live for one thing and that’s to play football and not to entertain you people in the media."
We'll pause now for a brief moment for each and every one of you to slap your palm to your forehead in disbelief.
It should go without saying that Holmes is severely confused about the way things work if he thinks that media members are angling to be part of the Jets or any other team. They are outside the team, something just about every other player seems to understand, and that means they will report on the good, bad and ugly.
Sportswriters all say that they only root for good stories and games that don't go into overtime although Twitter and the internet have changed that a bit. A writer covering a team that wins a lot or that has a compelling national interest can now be read by everyone, not just the people getting the paper on the front step, and they can use that interest as a stepping stone for their careers.
Brian Windhorst of ESPN is a prime example since he was a beat writer in Akron before LeBron James signed with the Heat and now he's working a high-profile role on TV and the web because he hitched his wagon to James' star. But that motivation is for self-promotion and, a few exceptions aside, most in the media don't really care whether the team wins or loses unless they stand to benefit.
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If Holmes really wants people to lay off the negative stories, he should start by never repeating any of his behavior from last season when he took public shots at Mark Sanchez, the offensive line and his coaches during the season. That came to a head when he was benched during the humiliating season-ending loss to the Dolphins and, well, it's not too hard to guess why the media chose not to put a positive spin on that one.
There can be unfair shots at players, coaches and teams in the press and that's no better than the propaganda world Holmes would like to live in, but the Jets pretty much got the coverage they deserved last season. Rex Ryan set the narrative before the season with his big talk and it shouldn't have been a surprise when their failure was met with people pointing out it was a failure.
Holmes isn't helping this year's narrative stay positive with his belief that there's no way a two-quarterback system can work. Seeing as how the Jets have two quarterbacks in Sanchez and Tim Tebow, it's only natural for that to become a talking point down the road and it will be a negative one in the event that the situation doesn't lead to a better season.
Such is the way life works in the adult world where not everything is all sugar and teddy bears every day of the week. Holmes doesn't have to like it, but he's going to have to live with it.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
