“It’s just sports” - How the Shanahan Conspiracy Disproves That
It took 11 days for the 49ers and their 1/320th business partner, ESPN, to report on the Kyle Shanahan car accident that landed him in a hospital bed. What some very fair minded people (like me) are calling a conspiracy, has uncovered several things the 49ers, ESPN, beat writers and the Palo Alto Police Department would surely have preferred remain hidden.
The NFL’s partnership with ESPN means the network will serve more as a PR firm for the league, than actual journalists
Beat writers will do anything to protect their access to the team they “cover”
If the police make a “clerical error” that benefits the team, don’t expect the beat writers or ESPN to ask any critical questions (Even the people who caught the “error” are accepting the police’s explanation)
That last point is what makes this situation more important than “just sports.” Without ESPN or the beat writers putting real journalism into these stories, it’s easy for mistakes to happen. It’s easy for police departments to accidentally file the wrong name, if they don’t think anyone’s ever going to look into it.
A more suspicious person might say it’s easy for police departments to cover up truths and abuse their power, if they don’t think anyone’s ever going to look into it. But hey, that’s for a more suspicious person to say.
In the Kyle Shanahan case, the “clerical error” had the 21-year-old victim of the coach’s car crash listed as the person at fault. Without sports writers turning over rocks to find all the details they can on this story, that “error” goes unnoticed. Maybe that’s never a legitimate issue. Afterall, there wasn’t a citation issued.
Or maybe someday, when that 21-year-old is now a 25-year-old applying for car insurance that requires a more thorough check, this comes back up. Now what? Does anybody believe her that this prominent Head Coach was actually the one at fault?
If that’s true, how come nobody reported that?
Maybe it’s not insurance, maybe they need a background check for a job, or a humanitarian effort, or even just something fun they want to do.
Without this detail being caught, word never gets back to Shanahan that there was a “clerical error,” and he never sets the record straight.
Maybe this particular situation proves to be irrelevant. I certainly see that as a possibility. This time it’s a “clerical error” in a public database that nobody puts any stock into. But what is it next time? Without journalists asking questions, where does it end? Certainly nowhere good.
Why do you think a free press was so important to our forefathers in the first place?
No, they weren’t thinking about Monday Night Football, but they were thinking about holding powerful people accountable. In America in 2026, there are very few forces more powerful than the NFL. Possibly none more powerful than their sponsors.
That’s why it’s not just sports.
Obviously your takeaway from this post should be this; the content I make is way more important than anything else you read or watch. Subscribe to @RealSeattleMike on X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Substack, and probably one or two places I’m forgetting.
-Written by Seattle Mike