Everyone knows the saying: ‘A picture speaks a thousand words’. It’s a cliche that has been beaten to death over the years, yes, but it’s also true. However, what’s often not considered is that not everyone hears the same thousand words. The story that one person takes from an image can be entirely separate from that of everyone else. For example, take the following image:
If you ask ten different people about what that image is, you would get ten different answers. Granted, they may have similarities, but they will for the most part have separate views. Ask someone who knows nothing about baseball, and they’ll tell you it’s a guy trying to catch a ball. Ask an MLB fan, and they’ll tell you it is an infamous moment in baseball history. Ask a Miami Marlins fan, it will be one of their favourite sporting memories. Ask a Chicago Cubs fan, it’ll be one of their worst. Ask my mum, and she’ll say “Jed I’m trying to get ready for work I don’t have time for this right now”. If you ask Steve Bartman what that image is of, he will most likely tell you it is of the worst moment of his life.
Bartman is the man who can be seen in the photo trying to catch the ball. No, not the guy in the Chicago Cubs uniform, that’s Moisés Alou. THIS is Steve Bartman.
He’s the Cubs fan in black, knocking away what was potentially a game changing catch for his team. If Alou had made that catch, the Cubs would only need four more outs to win the game (3-0), and the series (4-2). But Bartman knocked it away, he himself trying to catch the foul ball. The Marlins went on to score 8 runs, winning the game 8-3. The next game, they won the series, 4-3.
So when Bartman looks at the image, it tells the story of himself, ruining his own teams championship aspirations, and forever changing his own life. Chicago sports fans might be inclined to agree with him. Miami supporters might consider it divine intervention, paving the way for their 2003 World Series win. Some people might consider it an all time sporting moment, capturing the moment things go wrong, and the fickle nature of competitive sports. Some will just see a man trying to catch a ball.
What can be drawn from all of this? Who you are as a person determines how you look at an image, and determines exactly what you see.
20Three 
First of all, you’re hilarious.
Second of all, I genuinely had no idea about this moment in sport so feeling crazy educated right now. You’ve really shone the light on the effect of moments in sport and how different audiences relate. It really can be the complete opposite reaction depending on your background and interest but nonetheless it’s still a shared experience.
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I am obsessed with your blog.
Being the person that I am, I lose interest in things within an instant but the way that you wrote this blog kept me interested and I even laughed out loud. I loved how you interpreted the weeks topic and explained it in an entertaining way. I really enjoyed reading this blog and am so glad to see that there are people adding humour to weekly topics as it keeps things really entertaining and an easy read!
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You present the concept of encoding and decoding in a very straightforward way, that makes it super easy to understand whilst also linking straight back to the example you’re using. your constant use of baseball as a theme, but changing up the discussion point makes for an interesting read, littered with your humour (i enjoyed reading it and I’m not a sports person). You’ve filled this post with information about the topic you’ve chosen in a way that’s not overwhelming, and the use of multi-media makes it both visually appealing and interesting. You should definitely keep up this distinct style of blogging – it works really well.
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