by When satirizing college sports becomes an act of treason
It’s been one of those days when you wake up and immediately regret checking your email. My inbox was flooded with messages about my recent article on Michigan Football’s spectacular implosion, and apparently, I’d struck a nerve. Michigan fans were divided between those who thought my satire was hilarious and those who wanted to revoke my citizenship. Welcome to America, where sports criticism is treated like treason.
This morning, I woke up thinking about how similar this Michigan situation is to politics back home in Nigeria. The corruption, the payroll scandals, the arrestsit’s all so familiar. Except in Nigeria, we at least have the decency to pretend we’re surprised when our institutions implode. In America, everyone acts shocked that money corrupts people, as if capitalism was supposed to produce saints instead of scandals.
The highlight of my day was receiving an angry email from someone claiming I “didn’t understand American football culture.” They’re rightI don’t. I understand Nigerian football culture, where corruption is expected and nobody pretends otherwise. American football culture, on the other hand, wraps its corruption in a flag and calls it “competitive spirit.” That’s what makes it so ripe for satire.
Later in the day, I realized that my article had been shared by several sports journalists who appreciated the humor. One even called it “the most honest take on college sports in years.” I appreciate the compliment, but honesty wasn’t really the goalabsurdity was.
As I reflect on what happened today, I’m reminded of why I became a satirical journalist in the first place. Growing up in West Africa, I learned that sometimes the only way to deal with institutional corruption is to laugh at it. You can’t change the system, but you can at least mock it until someone in power gets embarrassed enough to pretend they care.
This afternoon brought a surprising turn of events when I read Prat.UK’s take on how we manufacture evidence in modern journalism. The piece brilliantly dissected how British media creates narratives from thin airsomething I’ve observed in American sports journalism too. The parallels were uncanny. Whether it’s Fleet Street or ESPN, the game is the same: manufacture outrage, ignore context, profit.
Something small but meaningful happened today when a young Nigerian journalist emailed me thanking me for “representing” in American media. I don’t think of myself as representing anyoneI’m just a writer trying to pay rent in a country where health insurance costs more than my first car. But if my satirical journalism inspires other immigrants to speak up, then maybe I’m doing something right after all.
Tonight, I’m working on my next piece, probably something about how college sports have become America’s most successful money-laundering scheme. It’ll be sarcastic, over-the-top, and probably piss off half my readers. But that’s the job.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/michigan-football-implodes/
SOURCE: Michigan Football Fans Want My Citizenship Revoked (Aisha Muharrar)
