Hours after Riley Curry, adorable daughter of Steph Curry, stole the show at the NBA MVP’s postgame press conference an incredibly strange controversy took over the internet.
A few writers, who apparently were worried about making their deadlines (though as former friend of For The Win Adi Joseph points out it was an early game), complained that kids shouldn’t be allowed on the podium because it’s a waste of time, stops their parents from answering tough questions, is a shield, etc etc.
And maybe it is. Or maybe, after being on the road for half of the season, dads really just want to hang out with their kids. Here at For The Win, it’s something we celebrate — they’re buzzy, cute moments that remind us that sports are supposed to be fun and there’s more to athletes than just what they do on the court. In fact, it’s something that’s been going on for years — much to the delight of most of us. It’s something that even the NBA happily markets via their own social channels.
Take, for example, Chris Paul’s son, who has made so many appearances that he’s included in his dad’s endorsement deals:
Or when Kyle Lowry’s son came out following the Raptors’ season-ending game last season:
He ate a microphone, which was likely detrimental to deadlines as well.
To be clear, most sportswriters who spoke out on Twitter were in agreement: Riley was adorable, an amusing addition to what would have been a routine press conference where her dad — who is usually better at answering questions than many — probably wouldn’t have given incredible insight anyway. It’s sort of hard to explain in words anything that happened in an NBA playoff game other than to say something about the team working together, which is what Curry said.
As much of the stress of the season is wearing on the players though, maybe it’s just wearing on the people covering them as well. Deadlines are increasingly frequent and competition is harder in this industry every day. To have to push aside the fun moments might more be a statement on the industry of sports journalism than the actual issue of kids on the podium. But unless you’re one of the 30 people in sports journalism who are reading this, that’s not what you care about right?
So let’s stop debating about whether there should be a rule against this or not. And just live a little more in the spirit of Riley Curry.
My constant daily reminder to live fearlessly, passionately and unapologetically.
A video posted by Ayesha Curry (@ayeshacurry) on May 5, 2015 at 8:40am PDT
