Information, sanctions and lessons. News that has arrived from the United States in recent days could be an opportunity to compare ourselves with what we ask of journalism and with what is believed to be the unsurpassable limit for an athlete.Joel Embiidstar of the Philadelphia 76ers, is one of the most important players in the NBA. Of Cameroonian origin, last summer he was co-opted into the US national team which won the Olympic gold in basketball. The thirty-year-old Sixers center – 213 centimeters tall and weighing 120 kilograms – who in his career has been seven times “all star” and in 2023 he won the award as the best player of the League, in September he renewed his contract until 2029, receiving a total of 300 million dollars in salary for the entire period, of which 69 million only in the last season of the duration of the relationship. Figures that would make all the footballers of the Old Continent pale. To be clear, in the entire history of the NBA only four players have earned more than him in their careers so far: LeBron James, Steph Curry e Paul George.Well, in the wonderful world of total information such as that of US basketballwhere it is possible go into the locker room and talk to the players both before and after each match, an episode happened in the last week that makes us understand the different approach that there is in the USA with the media. Net of earnings, Embiid’s talent is indisputableas is his fragility (last tournament he played only 39 games out of 82 in the regular season) and sometimes his professionalismgiven that this year too – it was written – he showed up at the retreat twelve kilos overweight and obviously bruised. It’s no surprise, therefore, that in the new season so far hasn’t taken the field yet. And without him the team loses a lot. For this reason Marcus Hayesjournalist of the “Philadelphia Inquirer”, in an ironic article proposed that the Sixers they should refund the viewers for every match not played by the center. The attack of the piece was formulated as follows: “Joel Embiid continually references the birth of his son Arthur as the turning point of his basketball career. He often says he wants to be great for leave a legacy for the child named after his younger brother, who tragically died in a car accident when Embiid was in his first year with the Sixers”. The meaning of the sequel, then, explained, however, how the player had to show more professionalism if he really has the goal of winning something in his career with the club, which he has never achieved so far. Enough so that after the match of the match lost by the Sixers against Memphis the Cameroonian approached the journalist in a threatening manner. “Next time you talk about my dead brother or my son, you’ll see what I do to you and I’ll be the one to pay the consequences,” Embiid said, according to what was written by ESPN. After several more swear words by Philadelphia superstar Hayes he offered his apologies to the player (also made publicly on X) which however were not accepted. Subsequently, Embiid’s tone became even more heated shove Hayes on the shoulderwhile members of the club’s communications team intervened to separate them, with one of them asking journalists not to report what happened. The player then raised his voice further to make himself heard by everyone: “They can do whatever they want, I don’t give a damn…”.Result: the same day an investigation has started both by the club and the NBA, which led to Embiid’s three-match suspension with related salary suspension. A deadweight loss of about a million dollars. “We understand that Joel felt offended by the personal nature of the article – said the league’s vice president of Basketball Operations – but it is essential that exchanges always remain professional and never degenerate into violence“.Stop. Let’s take a deep breath and reflect. Imagine what would have happened to our latitudes if the Sports Judge had disqualified Lautaro, Lukaku, Vlahovic, Dybala or whoever for them because of an argument of that kind with a journalist. Do you think the media or fans would have accepted such a decision with fair play? Do you think that there wouldn’t have been any shouting about conspiracy or conspiracy “provocative” journalist? Do you think that the closure of all relations between the media and the team would not have been called for? Given the precedents, we would not even rule out parliamentary questions on the case. We confess: in our career we have witnessed lots of fights between players (but also coaches) famous with journalists guilty of writing unwelcome things. We struggle to remember the support not of public opinion (impossible), not of the club to which the player belonged, but also of the same colleaguesperhaps even within the same newspaper. Any media professional dealing with football found himself dealing with a case similar to the Embiid-Hayes one, we believe he would come out devastated, or at least overwhelmed by a wave of mud on social media that would make his life difficult and his work impossible. .How do you explain so much difference between two sports systems which, ultimately, pursue the same objective, that is, enjoyment and profit? It is possible that everything depends on sociological-cultural system of reference. The stars of our favorite team are part of us, they represent us. Whoever touches them, touches us. Only we are authorized to vilify them and sometimes even threaten them, if it seems to us that they are not doing their duty well. We are divided between the desire to know everything that happens to our team (and journalists would be useful for that) and the desire that nothing can disturb our stars, running the risk of affecting their performances. freedom of reporting, opinion or criticism it must not exist if it conflicts with our needs as fans. Never mind if Serie A is far from the level of wealth, professionalism and media coverage that the NBA is able to generate. We want ugly, dirty and bad champions and journalists, who resemble our way of supporting and sometimes of being. Provided obviously that the team wins, otherwise it will be up to us to do justice or what we believe is justice.Everything clear, everything consequential. Yet a question is legitimate: do you think that someone like Embiid – publicly punished in the pockets as in the image – prefers to belong to a system like his or ours?
