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Why do the AFL media insist on calling every player a star?

Pickett2Jackson
in Melbourne Demons

Featured Replies

Posted

I am a star.  You are a star.  Everyone is a star.  Hell even Zak Jones and Luke Dalhaus are stars.    

 

 

 

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Edited by Pickett2Jackson

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    But sadly not everyone is a star.  This young Collingwood player who has never stepped on to the field is only a future star.   :(

     

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    Spot on.  
     

    The other hyperbolic favourite is “this player is elite” at whatever performance measurement the gushing commentators can grasp at, often a measurement that’s not terribly relevant to a players ability to get ball/dispose of ball effectively. Particularly overdone in AFLW, where it seems every player is elite at something. 

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    Whoever isn't a star is either a legend or a champion. Many of our game's commentators have small vocabularies unfortunately and think hyperbole can fill in the gaps. I'm sure I can actually feel my brain cells dying just listening to some of them. 

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    Well I reckon what word should we use?

    Port are in the hunt for Nong free agent

    Port are in the hunt for anonymous free agent

    Don't have a good ring to it.

    And future star - well that is hot gas (hydrogen and helium) and the hot gas I know is

    Pies to unleash future fart....

    Anyway the good news is that I have decided to celebrate each win with a bottle of sherry and the bad? news is I have got ahead of  myself, currently drinking bottle Nos 9.

     

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    I totally agree that the use of the word star is way overused by the AFL media. I think it's for a couple of reasons:

    Firstly as pointed out by others the vocabulary available to a lot for the personalities is not very big, and star is a very easy word to remember and use. It also adds a little bit of meat to the story, instead of the pies giving a first year player a debut they're "unleashing future star". It's basically to create clickbait.

    The other reason I think is because these people are put up in front of the spotlight the are entertainers, and when pushing a product are you going to pump the product up or keep it real. Naturally they're going to pump them up.

    Ideally the use of the word "star" would be for those in the elite category.

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    Same reason tabloid headlines love to use the words "fury", "mum" "tots" ... it's practically in the journalistic code of ethics to overcook things.

    "AFL STAR FURY"

    "MUM FURY IN AFL HORROR"

    "AFL FATCAT IN TOT TRAGEDY"

    "AFL TOT FURY AT MUM"

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    taking a leaf from Vince McMahons book where wrestlers aren’t wrestlers they are “superstars”

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    I did laugh when @binman called Luke Jackson a star in this weeks podcast. He will be but not quite yet.

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    42 minutes ago, Clintosaurus said:

    I did laugh when @binman called Luke Jackson a star in this weeks podcast. He will be but not quite yet.

    Luke Jackson is a star because he allows Gawn to be even more of a star.

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    What I find even more offensive is the use of the word “hero” especially on ANZAC Day.   
    Likening cushioned safe-at-home footballers, (sure, many are great athletes and show courage on the field),  to even the lowliest of our serving military facing artillery, bayonets, gunshot and years of deprivation in the trenches or POW camps is just so disrespectful and lacking in any perspective.   

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    23 minutes ago, monoccular said:

    What I find even more offensive is the use of the word “hero” especially on ANZAC Day.   
    Likening cushioned safe-at-home footballers, (sure, many are great athletes and show courage on the field),  to even the lowliest of our serving military facing artillery, bayonets, gunshot and years of deprivation in the trenches or POW camps is just so disrespectful and lacking in any perspective.   

    To clarify, I assume when you say "especially on ANZAC Day" you are referring to the footballers who play on that day, not our servicemen and women. I agree that no sports person (star, superstar, or future star) should be called a hero for what they do on any sporting field. 

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    14 hours ago, daisycutter said:

    because everyone in afl media is w___er

    You have 100%  correct DC. I might add that most of them are not that bright. 

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    Luke Darcy is one that is shocking at this. He will call any player a star. It is a over used word. 

    I think a few weeks ago someone came out and said stop calling everyone a  star or champion. Dustin Martin is the one player you could really call a champion. 

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    14 hours ago, Jontee said:

    Well I reckon what word should we use?

     

     

    It wasnt so much the use of the word star I have issue with, its calling players like Dalhaus, Cuynnington,  Rowan M arshall, Zak Jones etc etc a star.

    But seeing the word star in 95% of headlines is also absurd.

     

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    In general discourse there is inflation in hyperbole.

    Labelling an opponent as "worse than Hitler" or saying a policy is "like Nazi Germany" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-39266863

    ...has become commonplace.

    Things cant be just better they are a "game changer".

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    24 minutes ago, dino rover said:

    In general discourse there is inflation in hyperbole.

    Labelling an opponent as "worse than Hitler" or saying a policy is "like Nazi Germany" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-39266863

    ...has become commonplace.

    Things cant be just better they are a "game changer".

    "Inflation in hyperbole" sounds like the title of a terrible song from the late 1970s.

    Or maybe I'm just thinking of Skyhooks'  "Jukebox in Siberia"

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    20 minutes ago, dino rover said:

    In general discourse there is inflation in hyperbole.

    Labelling an opponent as "worse than Hitler" or saying a policy is "like Nazi Germany" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-39266863

    ...has become commonplace.

    Things cant be just better they are a "game changer".

    Three things Orwell most hated in language were cliches, hyperbole and obfuscation.  So imagine how enraged his ghost must be that his own name has been turned into a wildly exaggerated cliche designed to distract people from serious thought.

    Hyperbole inflation is a definite pattern, with the power behind it being the terrifying rationalisation that is coming from all sides; "I feel strongly about this therefore it is offensive to disagree with me."

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    •  

    Because too many humans have to have somehing to look up to. A star is something they can look up to and is short enough for a filth supporter to understand.

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