Death of the Superstar
By Andre Manzo
In Feb. 2025, Nina Westbrook shared an email directed towards her and Russel Westbrook that read:
“S–t husband sucks so f–n bad. Can’t even get ten points is pathetic. I hope you both die in a car crash.”
Vile, yet normalized, the media chooses to sit back in shock that this generation’s greatest athletes are being harassed for human error. The age of the superstar that existed just two decades ago is dead.
Long gone is the heroism of a figure like Derek Jeter -- the player that captained the New York Yankees’ final dynasty -- who became the consensus standard of a world class baseball player. Long gone is the celebrated “Chosen One” that could be drafted straight from high school to be the NBA’s new obsession. Long gone is the golden boy that fronts every major American sport.
Now, the reigns are up for grabs by a multitude of players. However, that stardom is less based on success, and more based on who can stay excused from error most consistently. Westbrook is the career leader in triple doubles with 209 and is arguably a top five point guard in NBA history. Despite this, the death threat is something the Westbrooks “consider routine.”
Success is not the direct requirement for respect anymore. Especially not when a random bettor can email an anonymous death threat from a blank account on multiple occasions.
In 2025, 17% of U.S. adults under 30 have gambled on sports. This is up from 7% in 2022 and has been plaguing the enjoyment of sports, as gamblers view player production as risk assets rather than displays of the best athletes in the world.
Thus, numbers have never meant more than in the current sports landscape. Gambling has led to box score watching, which has led to desensitized assumptions of players that are not actually watched, but monitored in the final stat sheets. Even worse, most major leagues in the country have prioritized profit over product, contracting multiple streaming platforms for a single season, which confuses dedicated fans and prices them out.
The death of the superstar is not a black and white thing, as are most things. It is a long-developing phenomenon consisting of multiple factors that have diluted the importance of the individual, thus making it impossible to name a player as the current pinnacle without them being torn down by animosity from the fans.
For years, the NBA has had a marketing issue over which player will take over once LeBron James retires. Having been in the NBA for 23 years and counting, the league has milked him dry for marketing, and will lose a great deal of identity once he steps off the hardwood for good.
The NBA is undoubtedly in good hands talent wise -- Jayson Tatum, Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham to name a few. Despite this, there is an uneasiness about the ability to put one above the rest. A unanimous best player, the standard and the superstar is a lost concept.
This can also be tied back to the consequences of social media. Everyone has a voice, instantly. Narratives set social media platforms like X and Instagram on fire, and once viewers have the dirt on a player, no personal relations team can stuff the critiques.
For example, Shohei Ohtani should be the face of baseball. The golden boy. Pitching at a Cy Young level and hitting at a rate that Barry Bonds needed steroids to achieve. On top of that, he is a back-to-back World Series Champion on baseball’s largest market, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
20 years ago, nothing could have dissolved the image.
While he does have the headlines, the murals and the billboards, there is a dedicated hate campaign against baseball’s best. In 2024, Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara was found guilty for stealing over $16 million from Ohtani for illegal gambling. Despite league and federal investigations finding no evidence of wrongdoing, Ohtani’s image will consistently be stained by a controversy that he had no control over. Any comment section in a post regarding the man, it will follow.
Now, food for thought -- a speed round of the easy narratives used to kick the shins of America’s greatest athletes:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the flop king that is nothing without his sensitive whistle.
Patrick Mahomes, the NFL’s main character in their secret script, manipulated by players and referees alike.
Aaron Judge, amazing offensive output but the Yankees have not won it all since 2009.
Lastly, Russel Westbrook, the top five point guard that nobody can gauge the correct over/under on.
Maybe this all just adds fire to the narratives. But, perhaps satirizing these common takes can shed light on the ridiculousness of them. Hate narratives suck; they reduce the game to an unethical watch party for who can satisfy the critics first.
To appreciate the talent, athleticism and stardom, fight to appreciate human error. Watch and love the modern product, which is undoubtedly the best it has ever been.
But damn the sports-books, the networks and the twitter fingers for killing the superstar.