The view from the cheap seats

Author: brady lang | sports writer

Nothing more unwritten than a rough cuddle in front of the net/ Leoniewise

The really cheap seats

Well, I’m back everyone!

After working for two years at the Carillon, I took a year off and decided to figure out what I wanted to do ultimately, and journalism just brought me back. In that timeframe, the thing I’ve missed the most with the Carillon is the column, “The View from the Cheap Seats,” which you’re reading right now!

Previously in this column, I’ve dissected the world of sports, focusing on themes that piss me off, agitate me, and just interest me, but now that I’m back, have fun listening to me rambling on about the world of sports!

This week, I would like to dive into the world of sports in the sense of unwritten rules.

In journalism, there are many unwritten rules, yet at the same time, all of them focus on the integrity of the journalist. Personally, my first day working with Access Communications really opened up my eyes to the world of journalism.

I was working for Access with the Riders, and what ended up happening was when we broke away from the coach’s press conference, I was thrown into the dressing room. The one thing my cameraman told me was just to make sure that I didn’t step on the logo.

Surprise, surprise, I stepped on it. After being thrown into a room with players such as Weston Dressler, Darian Durant and Chris Getzlaf, just to name a few, you can imagine how star struck I was, and I walked right onto the logo on the floor.

This resulted in being gunned off by an offensive lineman – who I will not name – and it was the biggest wake-up call in my journalism career. As I went through the night, it was eye opening, surely, but at the same time, you need to learn this as a young journalist.

In the sports world, the unwritten rules are limitless. From not hitting a guy in a fight when he’s down, to having repercussions for showing up another team, the average sports fan will never understand the unwritten rules.

When looking at what happened last week with the Rangers and Jays series, two huge unwritten rules were broken. When Jose Bautista sauced his lumber last playoff season, it broke a rule of showing up the other team, but Rougned Odor also turned and threw at his head and that was when it really got ugly.

After many punches being thrown, cooler heads prevailed, yet at the same time suspensions came through and players did miss time. But when it is in the playoffs, does it matter? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Jays fan, but when it comes down to it, the playoffs are different. Odor was out of line and so was Bautista. But at the same time, it’s all about the code of professional sports. It matters when it comes down to integrity.

That’s the biggest thing in professional sports; rather than respect getting shown because of your talent, it comes down to respect you earn with your professionalism. You need to show respect to get it and as long as you respect your league, team, and other players, you will get respect in sports.