Joel Embiid altercation reminds us sports journalism needs help

Sports journalism needs a reboot. Zach Lowe, one of my absolute favorite podcasters and columnists was let go by ESPN, and the networks have more and more former players who possess an axe to grind or some self-serving agenda to push. It’s dumb and makes us actively dumber.

And now this?

Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer has been just about as “anti-Process” as any voice on the beat for a long, long time. Locals know that. The Crown Jewel of The Process, as Brett Brown used to refer to Joel Embiid, has been an absolute lightning rod for criticism over his career. It’s hard to think of a player who gets ripped more than he does; which is pretty odd given that he’s a super likable personality, a husband, a father, and truly a special player to watch and cover.

Marcus Hayes is one of those journalists who has an unbearable time simply saying “I was wrong.” His coverage of Embiid and the Sixers has reflected this over the years and it’s super annoying at best and detrimental to sports coverage at worst, when you consider how many other knowledgable and well-written people there are who’d love the chance to cover this unique player and wackadoo team. It’s not like there is any paucity of content to skewer even without any weird axes to grind, right? We here at LB crush the Sixers all the time in good faith, lol. But like… we talk about pick-and-rolls and bad shooting.

Everyone who passionately follows the Sixers knows Hayes has been trying to take these ill-fitting victory laps that the “Process was dumb” or whatever for years since, hoping to blur lines that simply aren’t blurry. I think we all kind of just roll our eyes and know it’s his thing. You were wrong, you can’t admit it, and now all your articles forever somehow seek to prove somehow you were right, or whatever… zzzz.

In a recent, shameful article that reminds all of us how far sports journalism has declined over the years, well, here’s a snippet of some stuff The Philadelphia Inquirer actually published. Hayes has since apologized. But dude… are you kidding me?

To invoke the name of Joel Embiid’s son, and late brother, in the same breath that you’re trying to say he hasn’t lived up to his potential, that he owes more to his family and this city? I’d laugh at how preposterous this was if it wasn’t a real thing published in a real, prestigious newspaper.

But here we are. Shortly after the incident, a fellow Inquirer reporter, Keith Pompey, inaccurately tweeted out that Embiid “punched” Hayes in retaliation for the public insult.

Pompey has since corrected that to “shoved” but how are these mistakes happening? Can you imagine tweeting that Joel Embiid just punched a reporter if that was not the case? I know I can’t.

It’s recently been reported that Embiid is dealing with “instability” in his knee, making it more understandable why he hasn’t suited up yet. Both Joel, and the 76ers it seems, are finally hellbent on doing all they can to improve his odds to be healthy for the playoffs. I get that people are frustrated he’s not healthy again and not playing. We here are also. But like… dude…. reign it in.

Probably no single outlet has covered the subject of Embiid’s injuries more than we have at Liberty Ballers. The guy had meniscus surgery back in February, and his knee isn’t well enough to play at this point. It’s not that confusing.

Some things are simply out of everyone’s control. And talking about a player disappointing his son, or the legacy of a late brother, invoking an actual traumatizing event in this person’s life? How dare you.

I’m too disgusted to keep going here. Sure, Embiiid should’t have pushed a reporter. He needs to be better. He knows better. It was a very relatable reaction that many of us might have had. Some of us would have reacted even worse. If a reporter asked Michael Jordan about disappointing his late father, shortly after he was eliminated from the playoffs by the Orlando Magic in 1995, and a shove or a punch was thrown, how would we view it? More folklore to the GOAT’s legacy?

But this is a story in Philly and now this is something else for the team’s PR group to handle. It’s another distraction in an already rough beginning to the season. But I’m struggling to find another player who has been pilloried much more than one of the greatest international superstars in league history.

Everyone has to simply do better. I’ve personally been disappointed with local and national Sixers coverage for a long time. I fear we may have reached a new low here. Embiid is so fun to cover and watch play. I feel awful for him when he’s not healthy.

But there’s something about this guy in particular that seems to give everyone a license to take some pretty ruthless shots. Maybe Joel truly regrets pushing this reporter. And maybe I would have done the same thing too if someone with an axe to grind took a cheap shot at a family member I tragically lost as well.

Hopefully, we get some more wins and some better Sixers coverage so we can forget this disgusting nonsense.