This all started four years ago with the video above.
According to Tramel, he doesn’t have any idea why Westbrook doesn’t like him.
So none of this is personal. When Westbrook famously said he didn’t like me four years ago, I didn’t take offense. He has no idea if he likes me. He doesn’t know me. This is just Westbrook marking his territory. And me marking mine.
Some believe it traces back not to anything Tramel has said about Westbrook, but what he wrote about Kevin Durant.
Do you remember this?
While Tramel doesn’t make the headlines, he did write the article. No one can say for sure if that is when Westbrook stopped liking him or was it something random that Tramel wrote about him, but from that point on he won’t answer his questions.
Since this is local media, it is something that hasn’t been talked about on national scene, but when it is the playoffs the press conferences are shown to a national audience, and the reporter’s name and affiliation are heard.
Which led people to wonder why Paul George and Westbrook wouldn’t answer Tramel’s questions.
Tramel wrote an article about his theory on why Westbrook won’t speak to him, but why they won’t stop him from asking.
Russell Westbrook doesn’t answer my questions, hasn’t for the better part of the season, and some people want to know why I keep asking.
I keep asking, with no hope of getting an answer, because the media shouldn’t give in to Westbrook’s desire to control everything.
That’s the seed of Westbrook’s frustration with me in particular and the media in general. Control. He is frustrated that the media is out of his control. That was manifested during the 2017 playoffs, when he intercepted my question to Steven Adams about why the Thunder collapsed so much during the minutes when Westbrook sat. Westbrook wouldn’t allow Adams to answer; he tried to commandeer the press conference and basically succeeded, despite my repeated attempts to point out that I wasn’t asking Westbrook, I was asking Adams.
Here is the exchange in question.
Tramel goes on to say the Thunder are partly to blame and speaks more of Westbrook’s treatment of the media.
The idea that Westbrook has some personal issue with me is misguided. That’s not true. Westbrook’s issue is with media in general. I don’t know from where his original distrust came, but I know he’s allowed it to fester over the years, with no guidance from Thunder officials. It’s too late – far too late – to do anything about it now. But Westbrook has been disrespectful to the Oklahoma City media going back almost a decade. And the OKC media has not been disrespectful back. Westbrook has been treated well by the people who cover the Thunder, both in personal deportment and in the content they produce.
Yet Westbrook for a decade has shown disdain for even the media he considers friendly. Westbrook occasionally can be cooperative and engaged during on-court, on-air interviews. But in the locker room, the internal Thunder media gets no better answers to questions than does the external Thunder media. The internal Thunder media gets treated the same in interview gatherings as the external Thunder media — no personal interaction, no eye contact, no calling anyone by name.
Giving in to Westbrook’s “next question” by going quiet in the Thunder locker room just empowers Westbrook to see how much more he can get away with. Standing up to his intimidation doesn’t really change anything – the guy is too mentally tough to surrender; he’s not giving in – but it keeps him from encroaching even more on the already tepid media/Thunder relationship.
There are a few things as a reporter who has covered many sports over the past 15 years that I can give you some insight on.
In general, athletes don’t like the media. It isn’t surprising, because they find it offensive that people who could never do what they can are the ones who are critiquing them. Many don’t respect the profession and wish the media wasn’t around even though without the media it wouldn’t be possible for them to be as big of stars as they are. Athletes can be very sensitive and have very thin skin, also if they sense any weakness in a media member they will try to bully them.
Some things you need to know about the media. There are some that are jealous and envious of players and that cause biases when they are reporting on them. There are some that are massive groupies who are more like “Fans” than journalists. There are others who are scared of athletes. That fear can come from losing their jobs if the player doesn’t like them or just being intimidated by then. Others might be good writers, radio guys or TV personalities, but have terrible social skills. Don’t believe me, watch any press conference or locker room interaction and see how horrible they are at asking just simple questions. Tramel seems to be an old school newspaper guy, with a little bit of that get off my lawn mentality that can rub players the wrong way.
I have had the opportunity to observe Russell Westbrook in these environments. He doesn’t like the media, that is very clear. He has little respect for them and often is rude. The difference between him and a lot of other athletes is he doesn’t fake his disdain. Most athletes just fake it, give generic answers and go about their day. Westbrook is the type of person is if he doesn’t like something or someone, he is going to tell you he doesn’t like it and try his best not to interact with you. His whole personality changes as soon as the cameras and media are off him. After the all-star game, I watch him do about five minutes of media in the most subdued way possible and soon as it was over suddenly start hugging and high fiving people he liked in the room. It is just the way he is.
I have covered a lot of athletes, and a lot of them are terrible people. I can say that Russell is a good man, that happens to have an absolute disgust for the media and doesn’t hide it. The Thunder because Russ stayed and KD left has enabled him, so instead of encouraging Russ to at least answer the question even if it is short answer, they shrug. I do blame OKC for a lot of this, their job is to help smooth things over and they had done nothing. Russ runs the Thunder and while there is something to be said for players having as much power as they possibly can, the team if they see an embarrassing situation, should at least try to correct it.
With that being said I went back and read some of Tramel’s work before I wrote this post and frankly some of it is very suspect but mostly about the Oklahoma football team.
We can’t ignore there is a racial element involved when talking about the media. You have mostly older white men reporting on young black males; in some cases, those older white men do have certain ingrained biases and stereotypes against young black men. For example, Tramel was speaking on an OU player trash talking on snapchat.
Striker was busting me about my wardrobe the other day, which is really funny. Not because I belong on the cover of GQ, necessarily, but because I’m usually well ahead of the curve when it comes to press corps attire. Then Striker, apparently intent on making sure I remembered I was 54, asked me if I had seen “Straight Outta Compton,” the new movie about rap group N.W.A. Asked me if I liked rap.
Hey, Eric, do I look like I like rap?
Anyway, Striker’s and Byrd’s generation grew up with that kind of language. Grew up with confrontations and the concept of “disrespect” as an everyday part of life. So when Striker challenges the manhood of the SEC, then backs it up in Knoxville, it just seemed natural to gloat like he was straight out of Compton.
Doesn’t he know any better? Maybe not.
That is very uncomfortable language coming from a white reporter.
I could see why some players might not be a fan of Tramel with that being said I agree with him that he has every right to ask questions; that is his job. I don’t know him, so I can’t speak to what is in his heart, but a job of a journalist is not to be liked by the players it is to report on the team fairly.
I respect Westbrook for telling him up front he doesn’t like him instead of being fake about it, but he should be a professional and answer the questions. By not answering the questions it isn’t hurting Tramel, it is only making him look like a sympathetic figure. If he truly has an issue with Tramel, they should speak about it man to man and at least come to some middle ground so both of them can do their jobs. It isn’t a good look for Westbrook regardless if his reasons are valid or not.
Flip the page for the tweets from social media who are split on the issue.