As the news of yesterday’s tragedy involving Cory Lidle began to flood the media, I was astonished at both the depth of coverage on the plane crash as well as the length of coverage on the major sports networks. One could hear the news on the radio, read about it on the internet, or watch ESPN coverage which lasted for hours.
My heart is truly saddened for the Lidle family. When you are a dad, you know how much your kids and your wife depend upon you to take care of them. Not just to take care of physical needs, but the emotional needs that a young child and a wife grow used to having. So what can we do as fans to help make this situation better?
While prayer is a mainstay for those that believe in God, one of the biggest things we can do to help in these situations is to stop being so enraptured with the death of a celebrity. Since when does the death of any athlete demand twenty-four hours of news coverage. It is a sad and tragic event, but people die daily around the world and it does not mean we must stop the "presses" and change all of the headlines. Cory Lidle may have been a fine man, husband, father, and an athlete, but Jesus Christ he was not. By the way, this applies to all athletes and celebrities not just Mr. Lidle. I felt the same way about this as I did when Princess Diana died in that terrible car accident or more recently when Steve Irwin died in the bizarre stingray accident.
We, as human beings, have a morbid obsession with death. The family of Cory Lidle does not need to see his name or the images of a burning high rise on TV all day, and yet, there it is plastered on every news source available to mankind. Mind you, some reporter is scouring the neighborhood looking for video footage of the plane actually hitting the building. Better yet, some guys is going to try and sell his homemade video of the accident to a major news agency or publication. That just disgusts me!
When Steve Irwin died, there were those who wanted his best friend and cameraman to actually release the footage of Irwin getting stabbed by the sting ray. How insensitive is that to his wife and kids? How disturbed are those people?
I may not have all of the answers about how to mourn for a lost loved one. For me and my family we seek comfort in prayer and in the belief that the Creator of this universe has a higher purpose for Cory Lidle. For those who do not believe in a God, I don’t have an answer about the proper way to mourn. But I can say that I believe the right thing to do is to let this family grieve in their own way without the intense scrutiny of the media.
I don't know what is happening with this post and the margins, but it seems ever since FOX made some changes, I can't seem to get a paragraph to hold the indent in the same place. Maybe someone else knows what I am doing wrong. I have edited this 5 times, and the margins will just have to do this time.
Last edited by socalsportsfan on October 12th at 1:55 PM.
Personally, I think people are too uptight about death.
TravisDW has an excellent blog that pokes fun at Lidle's unfortunate situation, and I think that's great.
If you can't laugh at death, you fear it too much.
On a side note, I think a good portion of the media coverage had to do with the fact that it was a plane crash in New York. The fact that they could relate it at all to terrorism was reason enough to tie up a quarter of the programming schedule to cover this story.
FOX News said Bobby Abreu and Joe Torre were on the plane with Lidle. They'll do anything for ratings.
Socal, regarding your margins, try this. Adjust the "-5" value as necessary.
Last edited by UltraMegaOK1988 on October 12th at 1:40 PM.
As far as I am concerned, your post presentation is excellent.If you could explain to me a third of what you do to get this, I would be grateful. Other blogmates have tried to help me in vain..
Do me a favor! Check my blog out and You will see what I am talking about...
Couldn't have been spoken better, SoCal. I am amazed at the wall to wall coverage, and saddened for Lidle's family who can't possibly grieve in their own way until this thing dies down a bit.
Sure, we all grieve differently, but we should at least be allowed to grieve privately if we so choose.
I am not saying it is not newsworthy, especially in light of what happened on 9-11, but I do think once confirmation is made on what happened, say this player died, we mourn the loss, and then move on. Death is a natural part of life. I don't fear death, nor do I look forward to it, but with the Halloween season approaching we need look no further than Party City to see that we have become a macabre society.
Born, thanks for reading.
Mean, I agree. Move on let them mourn in peace.
Pap, I will look later on tonight. Better yet, email me at teachhre@yahoo.com for help.
Last edited by socalsportsfan on October 12th at 2:00 PM.
You put it on paper nicely. I was stunned that ESPN had wall-wall-coverage. Telling us a hotel room in Tennessee sat empty last night was way over the top.
My deepest condolences to Lidle's Family and Friends. Few people in this world die in the midsts of doing what they loved.
"Since when does the death of any athlete demand twenty-four hours of news coverage. It is a sad and tragic event, but people die daily around the world and it does not mean we must stop the "presses" and change all of the headlines."
i've always felt this way about celebrity deaths...they're really no more important to your sister or cousin dying, but because its a sports figure or some other celebrity, we as a society are expected to go the extra mile in mourning his loss.
what about his friend and flight instructor? he's important too...isnt he?
what about the people inside the apartment that the plane hit? they're important too...arent they?
i agree 100% with ultra in that the fact that it happened in NYC made it an even bigger story. had it happened in a field in the middle of iowa, the story would have gotten significantly less airtime, but the 1 thing that wouldnt change is that 2 people died, and 2 families lost loved ones....it's time to let them deal with their losses on their terms, without the rest of us shoving more images of the tragedy down their throats.
Cuz, his death is no more important than the death of a cousin or sister or other family member. Also, the death of the flight instructor can not be overlooked. I wish I had thought of including that in my post. HOw must his family feel every time Cory Lidle is mentioned as dying, but nothing tangible about him. It's as if he was a nobody. His life was important too.
I do agree that being in NY it got extra coverage, but after it was ruled that it was not a terrorist threat, (It was a small plane people!) then they should have moved on.
I feel for the family and friends of CL as I would for a death that leaves any family without a husband, father, son, friend. You are right that the media seems to over-hype a celebrity tragedy.
Yes, this can be seen as insensitive towards the Lidle family. However, it happened in the very city where two buildings were demolished only five years ago. They had no business flying in the airspace they were in and the specifics regarding the crash are hazy at best. I think devoting a day of news coverage is permissable.
May God be with the Lidle family.
Last edited by IrishNut on October 12th at 5:30 PM.
As for Steve Irwin, his wife wants to release the video. According to the media reports, Steve wanted his demise, if animal caused and filmed, to be aired.
Baf, thanks for pointing out the drudge report. As to Irwin, I have not heard that he wanted his demise aired or not. I have watched the interview with his cameraman and Terri where they said it would not be shown. So I can't imagine if she wanted it released that it would be. That would be a direct contradiction of what I heard said on TV. Now in 6 months, maybe she will change her mind.
I might add that I think it would be very insensitive to show it considering he has children. I don't think Terri will do it any time soon.
Last edited by socalsportsfan on October 12th at 7:14 PM.
Socal: I have to agree with you, as I have dealt directly with the death of a loved one more than once, and respect for my privacy was what I most appreciated. I do respect the Lidle family, as they are from Lakeland which isn't far from here, and although there are certain friends we had in common, I did not know them personally. But I would never think to intrude on their grief. Very nice post Socal. :-)
"My number one rule is to keep that camera rolling. Even if it's shaky or slightly out of focus, I don't give a rip. "Even if a big old alligator is chewing me up I want to go down and go, 'Crikey!' just before I die. That would be the ultimate for me."
An insider tells British newspaper the Daily Star, "This is exactly what Steve would have wanted. He knew the dangers and was totally up for the cameras to get everything."
Nicely done.
I made a comment about his death and celebrities yesterday on my latest post---I was away from here for about 3 weeks---so this was part of my welcome back to the blogosphere...
Baf, I think you are taking that quote out of context as do most tabloids. The fact that he wanted to keep the cameras rolling is a tribute to what he was doing. Did anyone ever ask him how he would feel about his 8 year old daughter watching him die in an alligator's jaws? Or was he asked about how his son or wife would feel reliving that moment over and over again? I doubt it and I doubt he thought of it when he made that quote. Was that quote before he was married and had kids? If you can answer yes to all three of those questions then maybe he did want it, but I doubt that is true.
Well stated, socal. I think respect for the family should be the most important thing. I think in the case of celebrity deaths, lots want to send out there thoughts and prayers...which is fine. But I don't think that the media needs to turn such things into a circus.
Shooter, I think people can send out their thoughts and prayers and still respect privacy. I think it is completely appropriate for ESPN to run a story saying Cory Lidle crashed his plane today and died. It is when they run hours upon hours on this guy that it borders on insanity. Buck Oneal dies and hardly a mention. I would give more air time to when Harry Carey died than Cory Lidle.
At any rate, it seems the media frenzy is subsiding.
Well said Socal. Not to make light of any death, but I remember when JFK, Jr's plane was missing. I got up early in the morning to watch the British Open that day. A half hour or an hour of coverage on JFK, Jr. would have been plenty. But they kept rehashing the same things over and over that had already been said several times. Even though they soon moved the British Open coverage from ABC to ESPN, we had just moved and didn't have cable yet, so I couldn't see it. I remember thinking over and over, 'enough already!'
Nothing like beatin' a dead horse, I guess. No pun intended.
What is so mysterious about a crashing into a high rise? Also, that is not what the coverage was about for five hours. Espn said little about why it crashed because no one knows. They went on and on interviewing anyone who had ever known Cory Lidle. I am sure he is a great guy, but 5 hours on Lidle? Not to mention they hardly mentioned the flight instructor's name. To this day, we don't know his name. Let's give this dead guy his fame too if its all about hitting a high rise in NY.
Ricko, I forgot about JFK Jr. You are right, but I do think they gave Lidle even more coverage than JFK, although his death sparked numerous tabloid stories on conspiracies.
24 hours news creates overly drawn out coverage of stories. The time is there and something is going to fill it. Plane crashes and breaking events will always get out of proportion coverage in that environment. I don't think the coverage was this pronounced because it was Cory Lidle, more that it was a plane crash into a tall building in New York. Put another way, if the B-25 that hit the Empire State building in 1945 had done so in today's news environment it would get the same coverage.
News isn't just news anymore, it's the ultimate reality show. If you just went by journalistic standards you'd drop alot of stories long before the media actually does. I'm still amazed that the press covers dirty e-mails to pages with greater intensity than when a Congressman was caught on film taking bribes, but hey, that's show business, or the news (I get those confused). By the way, how about that spunky little Katie Couric?
Irish, you must not live in the big city. Planes run into buildings often and there are random crashes often. The reason this was no mystery is because we immediately knew who hit the building, that it was not a terrorist, and it was an athlete's private plane. Had it been an unknown plane, unknown pilate, and the building of a dignitary it would be different. This was just an accident plain and simple.
Dudski, media has changed and with it we live in reality TV daily, but still I think ESPN could have used their time more wisely.
Point taken. However, don't you consider the circumstances surrounding the incident su####ious? You yourself pointed out how we've heard nothing about the instructor? Why was there no mayday or distress call?
And, no, not many single-engines toppling downtown skyscrapers in southeastern Wisconsin.
I don't think the accident is very su####ious at all. From news reports, Lidle and the instructor planned to go up the East River and make a U-turn short of LaGuardia airspace. If you look at the river (over which they were required to be flying) at the point of the turnaround it isn't very wide (especially at 112 miles an hour). Visibility was OK, but not great, the instructor had only been that route once, and Lidle wasn't an experienced pilot. All those factors, plus any kind of mechanical failure, made an accident not probable, but possible.
Fine. Well, in retrospect, perhaps a novice pilot should not have been navigating a flying machine at impressive speeds in less than stellar weather patterns in and out of large architectural structures.
Dudksi, you are correct. Then Lidle planned on flying his plane back to CA to meet his family.
Irish, I agree that he should not have been trying to fly in NYC with so few flight hours, but he did have an instructor in the plane with him. Even seasoned pilots make mistakes. By the way, they have released his name as well now. I never thought that was su####ious either, just insenstive to carry on about Lidle's death because he was an athlete and to ignore the other guy. That was the main point to this whole post.
As the news of yesterday’s tragedy involving Cory Lidle began to flood the media, I was astonished at both the depth of coverage on the plane crash as well as the length of coverage on the major sports networks. One could hear the news on the radio, read about it on the internet, or watch ESPN coverage which lasted for hours.
While prayer is a mainstay for those that believe in God, one of the biggest things we can do to help in these situations is to stop being so enraptured with the death of a celebrity. Since when does the death of any athlete demand twenty-four hours of news coverage. It is a sad and tragic event, but people die daily around the world and it does not mean we must stop the "presses" and change all of the headlines. Cory Lidle may have been a fine man, husband, father, and an athlete, but Jesus Christ he was not. By the way, this applies to all athletes and celebrities not just Mr. Lidle. I felt the same way about this as I did when Princess Diana died in that terrible car accident or more recently when Steve Irwin died in the bizarre stingray accident.
