Shove of the Century: Some thoughts on the incident between Marcus Hayes and Joel Embiid that the investigator is taking “very seriously.”

In case you live under a rock and don’t know, Joel Embiid pushed Marcus Hayes after an argument in the Sixers locker room on Saturday night. Reporters explained it as a hand on the shoulder, something in the push/push/stiff arm family of upper body movements. and the Inquirer described it this way in a Sunday morning article by Sixers beat writer Gina Mizell:

Joel Embiid punched and shoved Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes during a profanity-filled altercation in the 76ers’ locker room after Saturday’s home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Embiid, whose open hand made contact with Hayes’ neck and collarbone area, was angered by the columnist’s recent work criticizing him for missing the start of the 2024-25 season due to a knee ailment following surgery last February.

…

In a statement, Inquirer editor and senior vice president Gabriel Escobar said: “Marcus is a seasoned and experienced columnist who provides sharp and insightful commentary based on his observations. You are free to disagree with what he says, but a physical attack is unwarranted and unsustainable and we take this matter very seriously.”

This case has been litigated to death for the past 72 hours. The original column that upset Embiid included lines about his son and late brother, and Hayes apologized after the Inquirer removed the original passage and replaced it with a new lede. It seems like the majority of people agree that Embiid was justified in feeling the way he did, but that the pushing/shoving/stiff arm was the wrong thing to do because it would lead to a suspension and/or penalty would result.

“Advancing the story,” as they say, the Inquirer’s response is somewhat of an eye-roller. They are the only ones who describe the incident as a combination of ‘hit and pushed’. Kyle Neubeck called it a push. Kevin Cooney said Embiid “pushed Hayes on the shoulder” And Adam Aaronson said Embiid “got physical with Hayes and put his hands on Hayes’ shoulders.‘Keith Pompey of The Inquirer originally called it a punch and used the word “attacked” before changing his wording to “pushed.”When I read everything written about this, I didn’t see the word “strike” or “stuck” used by non-Inquirer media, so interpret that as you wish.

What’s interesting is to think about what the Inquirer thinks about this. For starters, the editors should never have allowed that story to be published with its original title. The column itself was clearly Marcus material, and completely honest, but any editor paying even the slightest attention should have immediately flagged those first two paragraphs. Just leave the son and deceased brother out of it, a common best practice when deciding what’s good for print and what’s not. As a reminder, this is the same newspaper that caused a messy employee uprising as a result of the “Buildings are also important” headline, which resulted in a wave of buyouts from old white men and a seismic DEI pivot following an audit of Temple University. You’d think the leadership would be extra cautious because of the way the last half-decade has gone there.

RE: Marcus himself, Gabe Escobar writes that Hayes “offers sharp and illuminating commentary based on his observations,” I think this is the way he describes writing provocateur columns. Marcus is actually 94 WIP in written form, and sometimes in literal form when he’s on air. That’s not me being a jerk, it’s a statement of the truth. Hayes is going to publish what Angelo Cataldi was to radio, or what a talking head is to popular television shows. You take tough stances and criticize players and teams, resulting in sharp reactions from both sides and generating commitment at the same time. A few years ago someone told me that Marcus columns are doing pretty well for the Inquirer, at least compared to the simpler beat writing, so if they have something that people click on, that gets page views and moves the needle, then yeah, they’re will probably stick to it, and they will defend their employee when things like this happen.

You just wonder if it’s worth it in 2024. This year alone, Marcus has been drafted by AJ Brown and Joel Embiid. The latter culminated in a physical altercation. If Pagan or any of our freelancers were to engage with a player, I would be embarrassed and consider resigning, as a dispute that progressed to that point would indicate an editorial failure on my part. So if you’re the researcher, at what point does this stuff start to influence your approach? How many hate clicks and how much engagement does it take to offset the reaction you get every time a Marcus column upsets an athlete and/or fans? I’m genuinely curious. If I had the Inquirer leadership in front of me, I’d ask them”is this worth it? is this a net positive?“It’s important to hold players accountable, and Marcus is great at what he does, but is this the way we operate in 2024? Tell me.