Media and fans often degrade athletes for clicks or laughs, but this must stop.
Athletes are more than players in a game, they’re humans who deserve far more empathy than they receive. Former New York Knicks guard Allan Houston knows professional athletes’ challenges and believes it’s time for a different approach.
Houston was drafted in the first round by the Detroit Pistons after a successful college career as a Tennessee Volunteer. His early NBA years eventually led him to sign a contract with the Knicks and become a longtime fixture in the rotation for the better part of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Basketball fans are sure to see Houston as the three-point shooting player who was on the 1999 Knicks team that went to the NBA Finals. They also might remember him getting injured late in his career or signing a huge contract with the Knicks. There’s far more to Allan than what meets the eye.
In recent years, the NBA and its players have come under scrutiny for the All-Star Game’s lack of intrigue and overall dullness. The NBA All-Star Game truly is boring and the worst star-studded exhibition game among all major American leagues besides the NFL. Yet, Houston opened my eyes to how players see the often-criticized game.
“All I can tell you is, it is the heart and the desire of the players who want to compete, and that’s it,” Houston said. “There’s no way around that.”
As a former player, Houston also knows what it’s like to be in front of the microphone. He had to accept responsibility after poor performances, stay levelheaded with ridiculous questions and navigate journalists’ inherent interest in finding any angle they can, good or bad. Houston now wants journalists to realize the person on the other end of the question is human too.
“When you’re going into this field, keep in mind that try to try to establish an authentic connection and care, do your research and so that people know that you see them as a person, not just as an athlete or product, because your question will allow that to come off,” Houston said.
Houston has been busy since his playing days. Today, he’s the Knicks’ special assistant to the general manager and serves as the general manager of the Westchester Knicks, the team’s G League affiliate. On the side, Houston’s foundation powers a clothing brand that partners with the NBA to sell officially licensed gear.
The former basketball star’s insight sheds light on the night and day difference between public and private perceptions of athletes. Current NBA players like Joel Embiid and Lonzo Ball are reduced to their notoriety for getting injured and missing games. For one,
Houston can relate to Embiid and Ball after he dealt with injuries in the final years of his career.
“It still bothered me when I’ve always been this type of player and person, and all of a sudden, because of an injury, the perception has changed when I’ve done nothing any different,” Houston said.
While their job titles are different, NBA players aren’t so different from ordinary people. Houston is a loving father and husband who prides himself on his family. He goes home from a day of working in the NBA to spending time with his kids just like anyone else.
Professional athletes are in a uniquely challenging position as their job performance is scrutinized by millions watching on television. A simple missed shot or turnover can send a fanbase into madness and lead to harassment. Athletes then must be the bigger person and keep their composure even after someone threatens them or says horrible things about their spouse or children.
Besides politicians and athletes, it is hard to imagine another career where each action is criticized by people online and in real life. Office workers don’t receive death threats, mailmen don’t get booed and firefighters don’t get cursed out. Yet, some of these ordinary workers in boring jobs take time out of their day to tear down someone else.
These online trolls may be fed up with their monotonous lives and microwave dinners watching regular-season NBA games. Regardless of the motive, the lack of empathy for athletes by both the media and fans is concerning.
Trolls will still be trolls and Stephan A. Smith will still make dumb takes about athletes. However, it’s not too late for the rest of us to do what we can to make the sports world a more empathetic place for those who make the games we love a thing of beauty.
Allan Houston: Press Conference Recap
Media and fans often degrade athletes for clicks or laughs, but this must stop.
Athletes are more than players in a game, they’re humans who deserve far more empathy than they receive. Former New York Knicks guard Allan Houston knows professional athletes’ challenges and believes it’s time for a different approach.
Houston was drafted in the first round by the Detroit Pistons after a successful college career as a Tennessee Volunteer. His early NBA years eventually led him to sign a contract with the Knicks and become a longtime fixture in the rotation for the better part of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Basketball fans are sure to see Houston as the three-point shooting player who was on the 1999 Knicks team that went to the NBA Finals. They also might remember him getting injured late in his career or signing a huge contract with the Knicks. There’s far more to Allan than what meets the eye.
In recent years, the NBA and its players have come under scrutiny for the All-Star Game’s lack of intrigue and overall dullness. The NBA All-Star Game truly is boring and the worst star-studded exhibition game among all major American leagues besides the NFL. Yet, Houston opened my eyes to how players see the often-criticized game.
“All I can tell you is, it is the heart and the desire of the players who want to compete, and that’s it,” Houston said. “There’s no way around that.”
As a former player, Houston also knows what it’s like to be in front of the microphone. He had to accept responsibility after poor performances, stay levelheaded with ridiculous questions and navigate journalists’ inherent interest in finding any angle they can, good or bad. Houston now wants journalists to realize the person on the other end of the question is human too.
“When you’re going into this field, keep in mind that try to try to establish an authentic connection and care, do your research and so that people know that you see them as a person, not just as an athlete or product, because your question will allow that to come off,” Houston said.
Houston has been busy since his playing days. Today, he’s the Knicks’ special assistant to the general manager and serves as the general manager of the Westchester Knicks, the team’s G League affiliate. On the side, Houston’s foundation powers a clothing brand that partners with the NBA to sell officially licensed gear.
The former basketball star’s insight sheds light on the night and day difference between public and private perceptions of athletes. Current NBA players like Joel Embiid and Lonzo Ball are reduced to their notoriety for getting injured and missing games. For one,
Houston can relate to Embiid and Ball after he dealt with injuries in the final years of his career.
“It still bothered me when I’ve always been this type of player and person, and all of a sudden, because of an injury, the perception has changed when I’ve done nothing any different,” Houston said.
While their job titles are different, NBA players aren’t so different from ordinary people. Houston is a loving father and husband who prides himself on his family. He goes home from a day of working in the NBA to spending time with his kids just like anyone else.
Professional athletes are in a uniquely challenging position as their job performance is scrutinized by millions watching on television. A simple missed shot or turnover can send a fanbase into madness and lead to harassment. Athletes then must be the bigger person and keep their composure even after someone threatens them or says horrible things about their spouse or children.
Besides politicians and athletes, it is hard to imagine another career where each action is criticized by people online and in real life. Office workers don’t receive death threats, mailmen don’t get booed and firefighters don’t get cursed out. Yet, some of these ordinary workers in boring jobs take time out of their day to tear down someone else.
These online trolls may be fed up with their monotonous lives and microwave dinners watching regular-season NBA games. Regardless of the motive, the lack of empathy for athletes by both the media and fans is concerning.
Trolls will still be trolls and Stephan A. Smith will still make dumb takes about athletes. However, it’s not too late for the rest of us to do what we can to make the sports world a more empathetic place for those who make the games we love a thing of beauty.
Jack Barron