In the sports world Tom Brady is one of the most popular/glorified players so anytime he is mentioned there usually is something positive behind it. Those who have negative things to say are usually fans of the opposing teams that The Patriots and Tom Brady ran through on their way to a Super Bowl. Rhetoric is everywhere and it is saturated sports too, and I want to focus on the rhetoric in the sports world, more specifically the use of rhetoric when talking about Tom Brady. Bill Belichick is a revered coach in football and when speaks highly of someone it automatically means that whatever player he is talking about is good. Since he coached Tom Brady that makes Tom even more great in everyone’s eyes. In Aristotle's model of rhetoric public opinion is mutable, in flux contingent and a culture bond. The articles and statements throughout the sports world are usually contingent on how a specific player is doing on the field/court and what they do outside of their respective sports. Tom Brady is seemingly unstoppable on the field and even more unstoppable off the field because he does so many good things for people in need. For example, Bill Belichick said, “I think Tom is one of the most consistent players that I've ever coached. He works hard every week. There are no ups and downs with him”. On the surface this is just a normal statement but as Aristotle’s method states, culture bond is important and in sports culture, a simple compliment from Belichick means way more. A lot of the things said about Brady are opinionated which appeals to Ethos but depending on who is saying it, Pathos, whatever is being said means more. When an opposing teams fan complains about Brady it doesn’t seem important because if we pay attention to Pathos, who’s saying it, then it just seems very biased. When a person of power or a more important figure in an opposing team’s organization says something, it will be taken more seriously. Overall opinions are always changing but the value/importance depends on who the rhetor is in each situation Rhetoric is everywhere but Tom Brady may be so popular, hated and loved, that the rhetoric surrounding him may morph into its own style of “Brady Rhetoric”. You can’t just love him or hate him because the opinions surrounding him are always in flux, I think I’m going to patent the term “Brady Rhetoric” what do you think?
1 Comment
Erik M
4/6/2020 06:45:37 pm
I had not considered that there was much rhetoric in sports. However I think you could have looked at a different area of sports, perhaps sports reporting? You don't have that much here. What you do have is well written.
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AuthorHello, my name is Jeremy Chenault. I'm an English major at Wright State University, I love to stay active, write poetry and most importantly learn. A more in depth idea about me can be found here, A Little More. |