OK, I know we know this, but we sometimes don't remember so let me reiterate: journalists are trying to make the big bucks the players make and VERY FEW get into that elite level of Dan Rather-Katie Couric-Lester Holt money - and some get thrown out by their ineptitude.
These folks do this TRYING to stir up controversy so they can make a name for themselves. I realize Clay Travis is pretty successful at his muckraking, and I find myself surprised how often I actually agree with his take on so many things. But he was WAY OVER THE LINE when he asked Tim Tebow about his sex life, and he only did it to play into his narrative, "This guy is a Christian hypocrite" or his twin narrative, "He might be gay!"
It had nothing to do with the damned football game.
Politics has become another realm they're bringing up and here's the thing: the bulk of those reporters asking that DON'T CARE about your political opinion just so long as it's what could be called 'in the liberal' area of advocacy. I watched them chew up Tiger Woods for years and try to pull the old "since you're black and black people were denied entry for so long, you have an obligation to tell the Master's to open themselves up to female membership." Michael Jordan was a well-known Democrat, but he had the wisdom to keep his mouth shut (whether he ever said "Republicans buy sneakers, too" is disputed).
And he should.
DO NOT THE ELECTION RESULTS OF THIS PAST YEAR ALONE PROVE THAT NOBODY GIVES A DAMN WHAT A FAMOUS PERSON THINKS ABOUT FOR WHOM WE SHOULD VOTE????
It seems to me that's an avenue fraught with danger - it's a no-win proposition. If you endorse somebody then you anger the opponent's supporters, who are far more likely to take out their anger with a personal boycott of you than you gain from people who were already going to vote for candidate X.
But back to the point in the OP: not only should athletes have to even answer the question but reporters, who are there to cover a Super Bowl and NOT A POLITICAL CONVENTION have no business asking it.
Btw - reporters don't even get stuff straight anyway. Y'all remember the story - it's even on the NFL Films highlight video of Super Bowl XXII by the late Steve Sabol - that a reporter in San Diego for the game asked Doug Williams, the first-ever black quarterback to start a Super Bowl, "How long have you been a black quarterback?" Sounds funny and good.....
except it never happened. It was a reporter from Mississippi (where I lived at the time) with a roomful of people.....and yet that tale got out there. And you can't blame the Internet in 1988.
I'd channel my Coach Saban or Belichick if I were there and say, "You got any questions about the game?"
And I'd refuse to answer any non-related to the game questions. If I had to, I'd even say, "Look, the league rules (collective bargaining agreement or whatever) say I have to make myself open for questions. That's fine. But I'm not answering any questions unrelated to this game. If I sit here in silence, it will be because you asked about something unrelated to this game. I'll be here ten minutes. I suggest you use your time and questions wisely. Now - first game related question?"
