Pat Mahomes is perfect for today's media, the kind of athlete that lights up videos and spikes click-through volumes. His imposing size, dramatic hair and unique voice make him like a video game character and that means he's the ideal candidate for snippets that excite commuters staring into smartphones.
This is no mean feat, gang. Most quarterbacks these days manage games, dink and dunk, and play percentages. They maintain sharp crops of hair, are often of mild stature - compared to Mahomes - and talk in rehearsed soundbites. Even when they get a little loose it tends to be within tight parameters of their coach's game plan.
Not Mahomes. He's a highlight waiting to happen, and even the center of attention when nothing all that much happens.
Case in point: NFL.com recently reported Mahomes had thrown a football out of Arrowhead Stadium. This wasn't from behind the line of scrimmage but rather a staged event in which he pegged it up and over the bowl-like seating of the arena. The act was even filmed by an NBC News affiliate and then promptly shared by the likes HuffPo, Sports Illustrated and Fox News. It was then posted across other social media channels, as these types of things events usually are.
This is where we are folks, in a world where the pressing need for content - absolutely any content - is required to fill up bottomless media channels.
But that's just par for the course these days. The real study is in dissecting the headlines used to promote such frivolous content. For example, for this little video nugget, a tenuous association to Bill Belichick was even made, as NFL.com noted the great coach had predicted Mahomes ability to toss a ball out of a stadium. With all due respect Coach, it's not really surprising that the Chiefs QB can launch a football like a bottle rocket. I tend to think most pro quarterbacks could clear the last row. And with all due respect to NFL.com, if you’re going to report this, you might as well tell us how much toilet paper the Chiefs O-line gets through in a week. I predict two dozen. Unless it's a home game and they're having barbecue.
