Media Blames Fans for Tebow-Hate, Not the People Writing the Stories

Gregg Doyel, now infamous for his verbal beat-down from Lebron James "did you even watch the game" interview, wrote an article about how there is no one to blame for the Tebow hate but the Tebow fanatics themselves...the problem is he forgot about a portion of the whole story...a large portion...the media's portion... read the article below and then my response below-er
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/15959762/tebow-can-thank-his-selfrighteous-fans-for-heat-hes-taking

The chanting, demanding, billboards and emails pushed fans that were on the bubble to move against him, and the media to counter their overzealous support. But, he seems to push all blame from the media itself. It was not the fans who wrote the story, not the fans who bashed Tebow in every aspect of the game, article after identical article. And it's not the fans who said to themselves "you know, I think it's worth it and necessary to write another article about how bad Tebow played."

I can understand that its frustrating to get emails saying how dumb you are for criticizing Tebow, how the Broncos are idiots, and how Tebow is the best , but frustration, in my book, does not give you permission to throw self-control to the wind and pile on a guy...especially in a professional setting. Doyel waves his finger at Tebow fans saying "control yourselves, you are to blame" and says nothing about the thousands of sports writers who could have easily come to same conclusions about themselves and their articles. Doyel says the fans were being ridiculous, yet does not call out his own writing brethren for being equally overzealous in the opposite direction.

As much as Tebow's fans need to realize that they have put far more pressure on him than anyone else by calling all this attention, sports writers need to realize that they also have a responsibility to be professional, separate themselves from the emotion, and write unbiased, intelligent and interesting articles. The writers also need to see that no matter how fanatical the supporters were, the writers themselves have been equally 'chomping at the bit' to get any story bashing Tebow onto a front page. Fans are supposed to be fanatical...professional writers are supposed to be impartial.

It's not that Doyel's wrong at all...in fact he's right. There wouldn't be nearly this much attention paid if the fans weren't so steadfast in their support. However, he fails to acknowledge the last link in the chain where the writers of the media are the ones actually reacting to the fanbase and producing the negative stories.

In a fight, the person who throws the retaliating punch almost always is the one caught, but Doyel and all these other writers seem to be oblivious to the fact that, while they may not have started it, they definitely threw the last punch. They are the player that every analyst sympathizes with, but criticizes. Yes you got hit first, but you need to have the self-control to hold back.