By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette
If you are a football fan, you likely took part in the Wild Card Weekend (emphasis on wild) of NFL playoff games. For fans of teams inside and outside the playoffs, it was one to remember. For the first time in NFL history, three teams won opening playoff games by scoring a touchdown in the final three minutes. The Bills, Bears and Rams all won nailbiters. Memorable comebacks, highlights and lowlights will be remembered from this opening weekend for years. And, one press conference.
First year head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Liam Cohen, unintentionally found himself in one of the most talked about press conferences of the year following his heartbreaking loss to the Bills. Cohen and his Jags took the NFL by storm this season. Through his lead, he flipped the Jags record on its head. 4-13 last year, 13-4 this year.
A clearly dejected Cohen took to the microphones postgame, answering the typical hum-drum questions posed at these press conferences until Lynn Jones Turpin, a 25-year vet of the newspaper world and associate editor of the Jacksonville Free Press, spoke, not asking a question, but offering some encouragement.
“I’m going to tell you, congratulations on your success, young man. You hold your head up. You guys have had a most magnificent season. You did a great job out there today. You just hold your head up, OK? Ladies and gentlemen, Duval (referring to Duval county, a rallying cry for Jags fans), you keep it going,” Turpin said.
I, like many others, truly loved this moment. And, throughout her comments, you can see the light return to Cohen’s eyes and a smile cross his face. However, plenty of reporters took to social media to complain. Phil Lewis did a great job finding some of the tweets and outcry from journalists bemoaning Turpin’s words. I’ll summarize a few here.
“Nothing ‘awesome’ about fans/fake media doing stuff like that,’ Mark Long, Jags reporter for the Associated Press, said. “That person shouldn’t even have a credential,” Mike Harrington from Buffalo News said. “I don’t think people realize… how few chances you have to ask Qs in this specific setting. Reporters get 10-15 minutes with Coen to dissect a playoff loss for stories on deadline. Every Q is valuable,” Jimmy Watkins, Cleavland.com, said.
Some of those groundbreaking questions asked by reporters before Turpin’s comments? Three people asked the same exact question. One asked Cohen about Josh Allen, the Bills quarterback, and wanted him to elaborate on his toughness. Following several seconds of silence, Turpin added her comments, which were, by far, the most memorable and impactful part of an otherwise forgettable press conference.
Now, look, as a reporter, I understand that press conferences are not the place for plaudits and pats on the back. They are meant to ask questions and get insight. Could those comments have come a few minutes later following the press conference? Probably. Would it have meant as much? I don’t think so. One thing these big, oh-so-serious sports writers are forgetting is that sports are inherently emotional. Happiness. Anger. Sadness. Jubilation. It’s part of why people play, and it’s part of why we all watch.
Should something like this happen at every press conference from here until the end of time? No. But, sometimes, even in our oh-so-serious press conferences, human moments are permissible, if not good and necessary. If the reporters in the room did not want someone changing the vibe of the entire press conference, perhaps they should have asked some better questions.
Reach out with comments, complaints, story ideas and more to cyote@dmcityview.com.