The Animated Life of Sports

Cartoons about sports offer great opportunities for us to see how sports are a reflection of society.

Here's a September 12, 2012 cartoon that was posted in the morning on WEEI.com.  WEEI is a sports-themed talk radio channel which is supported by its website, and some of its programming is simulcast on the New England Sports Network (NESN) television channel.  NESN is owned by the Boston Red Sox group.

WEEI weekday sports talk hosts, Glenn Ordway and Michael Holley (featured) announce the Big Show from 2-6 p.m.  Depending on the season, managers/ head coaches of the local professional sports teams are weekly guests on the Big Show.  Bobby Valentine, the manager of the 2012 Boston Red Sox, had a recent series of heated interviews when this cartoon, composed by Larry Johnson, was published.  During the previous week's interview, Valentine was so angered by the questions posed that he said, “If I were there right now, I'd punch you right in the mouth. Ha, ha. How's that sound? " to Ordway.

This cartoon foreshadows the tone of the interview that was scheduled to take place later that afternoon.  Holley, positioned to the left, massages Ordway's shoulders.  He says, "Dance like a butterfly, sting like a bee," which is an allusion to the champion heavyweight boxing champion, Mohammed Ali.   When Johnson invoked Ali, he creates the impression that Holley is analogous to Ali.  However, Holley is not cast as the fighter in the cartoon.  The only real association, then, between Holley and Ali is their African-American race.  Thus, Johnson categories blacks together, regardless of their active or passive role in sports.

The Muhammad Ali quote has two dimensions to it.  Ordway is coached by Holley in imperative tense to "dance like a butterfly."  Ordway is to be gentle, subtle, and easy as he questions Valentine.  But  the directive is two-fold:  Orway must also be the dominator in order to "sting like a bee."  He must exert control and influence so that the interview produces the intended results, which are not only to persuade Valentine to divulge hidden truths about the inner workings of the the Red Sox organization but, also, to continue to sustain the Big Show as a media sensation around which other media analysts focus their scrutiny and commentary.

Holley props up Ordway in the cartoon, which metaphorically parallels his role on the Big Show.  Holley is the intellectual heavyweight on the Show, while Ordway is the adversarial combatant. Thus, Ordway wears the boxer's uniform.  He is depicted as sweating, overweight, and needing Holley's assistance.  His bluster is superficial.

On this day, as the caption states, "Bobby Valentine will be on the Big Show today live from Fenway Park."  Ironically, the caption implies that Bobby Valentine will be the focus of the cartoon, but the cartoon does not include any caricature of him.  Although Valentine holds the rare position of leader of a big market professional sports team, it is the med personalities who take on the prominent focus.

As a result, we deduce that the media in the Boston sports market take precedence over the actual team constituents.  Holley and Ordway will continue to broadcast well after the baseball season ends, and WEEI needs to position itself prominently so as to capture the highest possible listener market share.  Less than two years earlier, the Big Show was reconfigured to offset media share losses, largely due to the introduction of a competing sports talk radio channel owned by CBS--- 98.5, the Sports Hub.

The composer of the cartoon, Larry Johnson, is an employee of WEEI in another capacity to that of cartoonist: he is a Saturday midday analyst.  Part of his on-air comments include references to the comments, antics, and editorializing of other WEEI announcers.

Marshall McLuhan said famously, "The media is the message."  This Larry Johnson cartoon illuminates the new levels to which the media has been elevated since McLuhan wrote.  Today, the media makes itself the message, to the degree that the topics on which the media composers comment become secondary to their own presentation of those topics.

While the tense Bobby Valentine interviews were taking place on WEEI, the Red Sox were experiencing its most losing season in decades.  Boston in known nationally as a difficult media market for athletes due to high levels of media scrutiny.  To what degree did the Big Show contribute to the team's malaise with its constant running commentary about players', owners', and Valentines' poor performances?

After all, the media today makes itself the message.