Brian Urlacher: A Case Study on Athletes & Media Training

Yesterday, Brian Urlacher rejected an ultimatum of an offer from the Chicago Bears. After spending his entire, 13-year career with the Bears, along with winning NFL Rookie of the Year, 8 Pro Bowl appearances and acting captain, Urlacher is now a free agent.
Why? The Bears simply did not offer him anywhere close to his expected contract.

Whether or not he deserves the money, what's interesting is Urlacher's quiet response to the press release the Bears sent out about not signing him. An obviously personal issue, Urlacher has clearly held back his feelings [with this great and practiced response on 'M&M in the Morning']: 

From a PR view; B.U. dealt with this maturely and responsibly. Boring in entertainment standards but this all begs a bigger question:

What happened to big personalities in sports?

No emotion, no curse-words, no overreactions, no Mohammad Ali-moments.
My hunch says that teams of PR pros have 'dumbed' them down over the years. As much as I like to see athletes speak perfectly, it's nice to see their true emotions. Sports are emotional, after all. Let the wild rumpus start!

 

All this training is turning athletes into robots.