FanShot

Deadspin Article on a Sports PR Guru

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Here's the money quote: "What no one really knew was how little this client actually cared about the community. Getting him to visit a school or children's hospital was like pulling teeth. I would have to provide him with a full list of reasons why he needed to do this. Of course, in all of his interviews, he would talk about his social responsibility to give back and how he wished he had an answer as to why other athletes in his sport weren't as caring as he was. He had a charity, too, which was simply a front to pay his family members (as most athlete charities are)." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My thoughts on that quote? Duh! This is no curveball, folks. Above all else, I'm disappointed pro athletes are pressured to put up a façade for a hysterical, overwrought consumer base (i.e., sports fans) by doing tedious charity work. In truth, their lone task is to produce on the court, on the field, on the diamond, on the ice, on the pitch, or wherever it may be that they perform on-the-job duties. All of that non-essential charity work is burdensome -- as is unfairly and unjustly being labeled role models by overbearing fans, militant media members, et al. -- thus, as far as I'm concerned, pro athletes should not feel forced into wasting precious hours (if not days) of their lives on such time-consuming bunk.