Adam Schefter in 2020.
ESPNNFLTwitterBy Andrew Bucholtz on

A problem in sports media is the urge many personalities seem to have to make whatever’s currently happening either the most unique event ever or comparable to past incredibly unique events. In most cases, that just doesn’t add up: history is long, so Ben Simmons probably isn’t “the most pathetic excuse for a professional athlete we have ever seen,”  LaVar Ball probably isn’t “the worst sports parent ever,” Joel Embiid did not have the most 40/10 games ever, Antonio Brown did not commit “the most unprofessional act” in sports, the NBA in 2016 was not the “worst it’s ever been,” and Team USA’s preliminary-round Olympic hockey win over Canada was not comparable to the Miracle on Ice. But where this gets really funny is when it comes to overexaggerated quotes promoting upcoming events your network is airing, such as ESPN’s Adam Schefter relaying a NFL executive’s comment that this year’s NFL Draft is the “craziest draft in 30 years”:

As many noted, there seem to be similar lines around the NFL Draft most years. Here are a few that came up from a quick Twitter search:

A couple things that stand out there are Schein using literally the same “craziest draft ever” language two years in a row, and Siskey’s “I’ve heard from multiple teams” in that last tweet, which is the most directly analogous to Schefter’s tweet this year. And it makes some sense that executives make these comments; it’s unlikely they’d say “Yeah, I think this year’s draft is going to be boring” (and it’s also unlikely that that would be reported). It also makes sense that media members in the moment of a draft find that draft particularly remarkable, and maybe especially if they have a show of draft reaction to promote.

But it is funny to see Schefter using his platform to pass along an anonymous comment that could be (and is often) made in advance of the draft in any particular year, a comment whose main value appears to be “Watch this draft!”, and to see how many people noted that they hear similar things every year. A few of the many examples of that:

https://twitter.com/BlaineDabbert/status/1519686185953730562

And sure, this isn’t anywhere near the most questionable thing Schefter has done in the last six months alone. And it doesn’t deserve serious outrage. But it certainly caused some chuckles around here to see Schefter relay this and then get immediately and repeatedly quote-tweeted with “We hear this every year.”

 

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

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