The death of Dan Wheldon is certainly a tragedy. As a person who doesn't really care for NASCAR or IndyCar, watching a successful young man, with a wife and kid die prematurely in a largely preventable manner is heartbreaking regardless.
Not that it changes anything about the death, really, the fact that he won the Indianapolis 500 back in May certainly leaves an even greater bitter taste in the mouth.
And I am okay with the amount of coverage that his death has received. Obviously, for a sport that is as popular as IndyCar, it should be expected. But my problem is what some media outlets are choosing to cover in this tragic incident.
The day after Wheldon's death, it was widely circulated that just the night before he died, he and his wife were tattooing the other's initials on their body as a sign of their love and dedication. A personal decision, done for personal reasons, because of personal feelings for their love.
So tell me why that story deserves a segment on Sportscenter? Not just a story about the death, but specifically about the tattoos. Why does there need to be an AP recap of that? Why should that story appear on Deadspin? A personal moment and gesture, made public to turn this hardship into a tear-jerking, sob story.
The nature of the sporting world has removed the privacy once protected for intimate moments such as Wheldon and his wife's. The media searches for every angle of a story to capture readers and viewers, exploiting the indelible pain that Wheldon's wife experiences.
Facts are what should be reported. And the public certainly receives the facts. But intimate anecdotes like this should remain private. No parties, particularly Wheldon's wife and family, benefits from it.
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