While Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill is an MVP candidate and could break the league’s single-season receiving record this year for a team with Super Bowl aspirations, Dan Le Batard believes we’re still missing the big picture with Hill. And Le Batard believes HBO’s Hard Knocks is helping Hill keep it that way.
On Thursday’s episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, Le Batard addressed how Hill has used his time in Miami to embellish his image and “sportswash” his own public persona. And how this year’s in-season Hard Knocks is the next step in Hill’s designs on ironing out how NFL fans view him.
“Tyreek Hill came here to get stardom and to ‘sportswash’ some of his past, and he’s largely done that,” Le Batard said. “He is a star, talking about him for MVP, and very few people bring up horrifying details of his domestic abuse past. It seems like sports has moved on to celebrate Tyreek Hill for being super fast. And we moved on, like him, fast.”
In 2014, Hill pled guilty to domestic violence charges and was dismissed from Oklahoma State. In 2019, officials in Kansas and Missouri investigated Hill over child abuse allegations involving his young son despite a shocking and explicit audio recording detailing some of Hill’s actions. Hill was not suspended by the NFL.
The Kansas City Chiefs traded Hill to Miami in March 2022. Hill then signed a four-year, $120 million contract with the Dolphins. He has said he will retire when that contract ends, at age 31.
This week, details on two paternity lawsuits against Hill surfaced after Hill married his second wife, Keeta Vaccaro, last month.
Hard Knocks has documented Hill’s relationship with Vaccaro throughout the season. They wed during Miami’s bye week.
“The optics were chef’s kiss,” Le Batard said of those scenes. “If I were his agent or anyone who cared about Tyreek Hill, that’s what I would want. Go into his living room, watch him connecting with his new bride… And don’t touch too much on anything from that past.”
Le Batard presumes this was part of the arrangement between Hill, the Dolphins, and HBO. Any coverage of Hill likely had to be on Hill’s terms.
“What you get in exchange for Tyreek Hill and access to him is you’re going to tell the story the way he wants it told,” Le Batard added. “The way the NFL wants it told.”
Hill “sportswashing” his own image as an athlete in Miami is up for discussion. He hasn’t been able to avoid trouble since joining the Dolphins, so it’s not as if his off-field issues are ancient history.
But it’s hard to argue with Le Batard’s view of HBO. The debate over how to cover an athlete’s off-field impropriety has no clear answer, but HBO probably hasn’t nailed it (yet).
[The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on YouTube]
