I'm not exactly sure who to blame for the reality craze that we're living in, but here lately damn near everybody has a reality show. There's a show for traveling the world, being a hoarder, dancing, singing, balancing twenty plates on your head, finding a husband, finding a wife, finding a ghost. You name it there's a show for it. Even NFL players have stepped into the reality realm. Terrell Owens, Miles Austin, Ochocinco, Michael Vick, Deion Sanders, Reggie Bush to name a few. I'm not gonna lie, I watched a lot of the reality shows they were featured in, and some of them made me appreciate the player even more. For example, a friend of mine met Terrell Owens in a club in Birmingham, AL and said he was a complete asshole. Ever since then, I've had the perception that he was arrogant, conceited and cocky. Watching his reality show, however, I've seen a side of him that I never knew existed. He opened himself up and showed the world his pains, getting cut from a team, getting picked back up, getting dumped by a girl, traveling the world, even modeling. No matter how entertaining it is to watch our favorite players off the field, there is a good, bad and ugly side to all of this.
The good: Reality shows take up about 85% of network programming. Strategically and from a marketing angle a football player exposing his personal life is pretty smart. They open themselves up to more fans, more fans means more popularity, popularity means endorsements and more seats being filled at the games, which in turn means more money in their pockets. Think about it, no one even really thought twice about Dhani Jones and now we can see him travel all over the globe and play the most popular sport from each country he visits (with his shirt off). Most people probably didn't even know who Hank Baskett was until he was featured as Kendra's husband on The Girls Next Door. Let's not forget the Midas touch Kim Kardashian seems to have when it comes to men. Miles Austin's jersey is now the seventh most popular jersey bought by female football fans. Now come on, let's be honest, did anybody know who these boys were before their reality stardom?
The bad: Shows like Real Housewives of Atlanta and Football wives make it seem like football players don't have the sense God gave them when it comes to picking a mate. Without having to watch an entire season, I can tell that most of them married women who had nothing really extravagant going for them besides their looks, and now with the help of a nicely padded football player bank account are now able to start their own business and act like they're better than everyone else who actually worked hard for what they have. Most of the relationships on the show either altogether don't exist, or are continuously on the rocks.
The ugly: The teams with the best records in the NFL do not have any players on reality shows. The Packers don't, the Steelers don't, the Falcons don't, the Patriots don't. The teams with some of the worst records do. As a matter of fact, the Bengals have more players on reality shows than any other NFL team, and let's be honest, the Bengals just really ain't that great. Maybe they need a reality show where they practice some damn more. It seems like the players are chasing attention instead of a ring. Granted Ochocinco and Terrell Owens are great, and its not all their fault that they don't win a lot of games, but I gotta believe if they looked for love a little less and looked for the ball a little more, they could make the playoffs. Make the playoffs, get the ring, the ladies will come.
I must admit, reality tv is fun to watch. So with that said, there are a few players I wouldn't mind seeing with a reality show. I don't really care about their love lives, but if I have to listen to them whine about sleeping alone (yeah right) then so be it. Here's my reality wish list: DeSean Jackson, Tim Tebow, Troy Palomalu, Clay Matthews, Roddy White, and Cortland Finnegan.
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