Haven't Seen Quite Enough of the World

The good folks over at Deadspin had a post on Wednesday regarding Sports Illustrated's rather frequent use of the moniker "Chosen One" when describing various athletic prodigies. In fact, SI has used the term in reference to no less than 52 different athletes since 1982.

Some of those who have received the SI anointing fared quite well after being bestowed with such a lofty title (LeBron, Tim Tebow, and Tiger Woods among others), but others have not exactly lived up to their advance billing. I consider myself a pretty devoted sports fan, but even I have absolutlely no idea who Jack Keefe, Livingston Bramble, and Kyle Macy are.

The latest SI Golden Child is a 16 year old baseball player from Las Vegas High named Bryce Harper. Much like other adolescent wunderkinds, Harper's legend is supplemented by tales of mammoth home-runs, carefully crafted YouTube highlight videos, and an already adoring fanbase eager to spread his gospel. From everything I've read and seen, it looks like the kid is going to be a phenomenal player, but even in the midst of its desire to mock SI, I think Deadspin stumbled on to something that is worth discussing.

In the age of the internet, speed is king. Sure, accuracy is valued, but if you're the first person out with a story, you can afford to play a little faster and looser with the facts than other folks, because as I learned in Practice Court, the concepts of primacy and recency matter. Human beings take stock in things that they hear first and things that they hear last. Everything in the middle may be one giant blur, but if you leave people with a memorable opening and closing, you have a much better chance of having your information stick in the minds of your listeners than if you were only able to speak second or in the penultimate slot.

In the rush to annoint the next "Chosen One", the next big thing, or the next big band, prognosticators often fall prey to the same dangerous allure of speed. It's always a fickle proposition predicting the future, but I do wonder if we've lost something important when we value primacy over depth of analysis, potential over production, and hype over substance.