Access

Interviewing famous people is cool. I'm not going to deny it. Interviewing famous people and then telling your friends about it gives you a feeling that is undeniably.......cool. It's almost as if you get a certain amount of fame by proxy. I experienced this situation.....once.

When I was on my way to dropping out of the WALTER CRONKITE SCHOOL OF BROADCASTING. I had the chance to interview former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Rodney Rogers after a friend with a couple of connections with the Phoenix Suns helped me set up the interview. My three main priorities were to: A. Get some quotes for my story B. Not have him punch me and C. Possibly get a chance to interview him or other team members at a later date.

After getting my quotes, I asked Rogers if he was happy to be out of the Clippers organization....it was a throwaway question, everybody knew at that time that he hated the Clippers and had burned the franchise in local Los Angeles papers, but I asked anyways. The question got a low laugh and a long drawn out response of......SHIIIIIIIIIIIT. I laughed, he laughed, two or three media guys laughed and that was it. Until the next week when more media guys were asking the same question. For the rest of the year, Rogers got questions about how much better he felt about being with the Suns over the Clippers.

I think we are getting to that point with soccer media in Japan. For the most part, the articles and features are reading more like public relations pieces instead of real journalism. We are getting a ton of video clips and pages on current and future stars that treat them more like pop idols and less like sports figures.

Look at the coverage of Freddie Llungberg. Both weekly soccer tabloids had big features that went into detail on his accomplishments with Sweden and Arsenal. Understandable. He's a big name who made his fame with those teams. However, his last three years in MLS and the SPL (arguably, not bright moments for him) were not mentioned. No mention of anything that could possibly be construed as negative.

How about Yabbechi FC's piece on brilliant talent Genki Haraguchi. A fair question was asked....who is the toughest defender you've faced? If you thought the answer would be Tulio or Komano or Nakazawa you'd be way off. It turns out the question was a setup for Genki to talk about his golden retriever for 5 minutes and how he plays soccer with his dog.

Most interviews are pretty much filled with softball questions like, "Do you want to play in Europe?", "Who is the player you model your game after?", or "What's your best moment?". I get it. They're safe, non-offensive questions that allow the journalists to keep good relations with players and don't alienate them from the teams. Job is done, nobody has to strain or put out any real effort and the publication and team both get publicity. I don't blame them. If I was a player, I wouldn't want to answer intrusive questions. If I was working in media, I'd want to make sure that I don't burn a bridge. I imagine it's difficult to find new angles on the same thing every week. I get it. I understand. I sympathize. Don't jeopardize the access.

Unfortunately, I'm neither a player nor a journalist. I'm a consumer. And I'm not satisfied with the product. I want to learn something new. I want to see how the main stars act under a little bit of pressure. It's like the game itself, interviews aren't interesting if they come too easy.

I'm not sure how many generic articles there have been this year on "young stars". It seems like that is the new De rigueur in journalistic circles. Hype up interchangable guys under 23 with generic plaitudes and bland questions. If you think about it, it's not unlike the AKB 48 phenomena. It's about as interesting as well.

I'd like to see more features on guys who havent had it so good. Or players who are stars but had struggles in their past. Until recently, I didn't realize that Yasuhito Endo was a member of the last Flugels team. I think it would be interesting to see what his thoughts are on the 1998 team. How does he think his career would have gone had the Flugels not disbanded? Does he still have any bitter feeling over Yokohama F Marinos co-opting the name? That would be a great feature. Id also be interested to hear about Endo's time in Kyoto with Kazu. How did it feel to get relegated? Did he have any regrets about leaving after Kyoto claimed the 2002 Emperor's Cup?

There's alot of good stories out there that we aren't getting. My personal choice for a story would be an interview with Naoya Kikuchi. Kikuchi, now a defender for Albirex Niigata, was a very promising National Team candidate who saw his Jubilo Iwata and National Team career go up in flames after a scandal involving an "encounter" with an underaged girl. At the time, I was ready to ban him for life. But, seemingly he kept his nose clean and has somewhat rehabilitated his career. I'm not interested in details about what happened that day (except for why the girl ended up with his wallet). I'm curious however to hear about his experiences after the event. How did he end up in Germany? Why did he choose to come back with Oita? Did he think his career was over after the scandal? How is he treated in Shizuoka? Was there any contact with people in the National Team system after the scandal broke? Is there any chance of him representing Japan in the future? That's a multilayered story which could go a thousand different ways. It's difficult but it would be interesting as hell to read. We won't see it though because there's a risk that it might offend the player and the team. It's easier to ask Gotoku Sakai about whether or not he wants to play in Europe or how excited he is to be on a team with his brother.

I'm not trying to slam on the players or journalists. It's tough to look someone in the face and ask them an uncomfortable question. It's also difficult to answer a question honestly if you think you are going to offend part of your fanbase or employer. My only request is that we get a little more information, a little more creativity. A little more something instead of the same stories about the same people repackaged to lure you in. I value things that I can lean something from and I'm not getting that. I guess what Im ultimately asking for is a little more access.