“Three seconds until sack…”
“Two seconds until sack…”
“One second until sack…”

Most of you have probably heard these phrases in sequence before and no, it’s not the Bears
announcers talking about Rex Grossman or Brian Griese. It’s part of a Sprint commercial with
Peyton Manning where Sprint claims that “as soon as Manning thinks it, you see it.”

Peyton Manning is perhaps the most visible athlete on the planet. In addition to being featured in commercials for Sprint, he is also in advertisements for Gatorade, Direct-TV and Mastercard. He hosted Saturday Night Live, and if that wasn’t enough, his team won the last Super Bowl. He seems to be everywhere-and rightfully so. Brett Favre may be setting all the quarterback records now, but Manning will be the one holding them in 10 years.

Unlike Manning, there are many athletes who gain fame and recognition without ever proving themselves on the field. A few years ago, tennis player Anna Kournikova got all the attention. Everyone knew who she was despite the fact that she never won a major tennis tournament. Now the dominant Russian tennis star is Maria Sharapova, who is equally attractive and as publicized as Kournikova was, but manages to win and earn respect in the tennis world.

Athletes in every sport get attention they don’t deserve. Kevin Durant, who was National Player of the Year while in college, was in NBA Live 2008 commercials with Gilbert Arenas despite having never played in a professional game. An unproven rookie doesn’t deserve to be in a commercial over a more established All-Star just because he has more mass appeal. No matter where you look, it’s all about the image.

Reggie Bush is as explosive as running backs come in the NFL, but his performance on the field hasn’t stood out enough to make him worthy of being in numerous Subway and Diet Pepsi commercials. He wasn’t even the best rookie on his own team last year, let alone the best in the NFL. Yet, he appeared with soccer star David Beckham, the poster boy for athletes whose images are greater than their athletic abilities, in an Adidas commercial. There are dozens of players who are better than Beckham in the MLS, yet he will get $250 million over five years, mostly because of the hype he’ll bring to the league.

Professional sports are entertainment, and just like the film and TV industries, they treasure
celebrities. An athlete’s image off the field is almost as important, if not more so, than their performance on it. Players don’t become household names by staying quiet and just playing. They need to appear on TV, show up at movie premieres, and find a way to be visible to fans. Whether it’s doing commercials like Manning, being on the cover of a video game like Vince
Young or doing crazy touchdown celebrations like Chad Johnson, athletes must work to get attention and recognition.

Athletes need to focus more on earning recognition on the field rather than getting noticed because of their antics off it. At Northwestern, for example, our football players don’t go running their mouths, guaranteeing victories (as if we were in any position to) like Mike Hart from Michigan.
They simply go out onto the field and play football. It’s better to have a respectable team that loses than an arrogant and conceited team that wins.

Although winning doesn’t hurt either. See Peyton Manning from above.