Comparative Rhetorical Analysis In the wake of Denver s crushing defeat in Super Bowl XLVIII, Broncos fans were reeling with shock and dismay. The Seattle Seahawks and their defensive Legion of Boom, had cruised to a 43-8 win over the Broncos in a game littered with cringe-worthy mistakes on Denver s part. As the dust settled, Broncos fans everywhere begin to ask themselves, How did this happen? Into this opening stepped Benjamin Hochman and Mark Kiszla, both writers for the Denver Post. Kiszla s column, Broncos Embarrass Themselves in Super Bowl Rout, tackles Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning like an angry linebacker, focusing on him as the problem. Hochman s article, Broncos Undone in 24 Seconds by Seahawks, is more somber, focusing on the Bronco s lack of readiness as a team. Of the two columns, Hochman s is the more rhetorically effective because he expresses frustration without ranting and breaks down the two most game-changing plays to show how they demonstrated that the Broncos weren t ready for the game. Hochman s ethos is subtle but established through his insider status, commiserating tone, and reasoned explanation of how the Broncos fumbled the Super Bowl. He is a sports writer for the Denver Post, giving him the status of one of them, and not affiliated with an uninterested party or rival team. Hochman s frustration throughout the column is understated, mostly expressed through somber, sympathetic vignettes, as when he opens by describing The large, sad man ambl[ing] down a drab hallway that would never end.... Finally, he entered the back door of the media center, and a Seahawks-type blitz of reporters shoved recorders toward his face and asked him about his failure. Later, he works through the two most critical plays, explains what went wrong, and connects it to a rapidly-falling morale that made recovering even harder, showing himself as someone capable of rationally analyzing a progression of events.
Kiszla, on the other hand, though also an insider, rants through his column giving full vent to his frustration while failing to make clear why the blame should descend on Manning. While his language is charged throughout the text, Kiszla oversteps in the tenth paragraph. Before moving into a discussion of the catastrophic first snap, Kiszla writes, Manning is known for having all the answers. He walked into MetLife Stadium for the big test. The first thing Manning did? Misspell his name on the paper. The following paragraph, however, describes the communication breakdown that occurred, and if Kiszla believes the blame for that falls squarely on Manning s shoulders, the connection isn t clear, damaging his perception as someone capable of reasoning rationally and clearly. Hochman s column uses pathos through evocative language to highlight the unreadiness of the Broncos and the cloud that will hang over them for months. He writes that the two plays he will talk about set the tone for this clown show that was the Broncos performance, and that they now have 12 months of what-ifs to follow. Later he adds that the Seahawk s early score was more than a two-point gain: It was Mike Tyson coming out of the corner and punching Michael Spinks in the mouth. It was a statement that Denver wasn t ready to play. These statements invoke the audience s frustration with the team s performance and bring up dread of the inevitable replays and analysis sure to plague the Broncos for months. A team that wasn t ready went to the Super Bowl, and now fans are going to see clips of the football flying past Manning s head whenever they turn on ESPN. Hochman lets his readers vent, but he keeps from drifting too far into a tirade. Kiszla, like Hochman, uses pathos through highly charged language to emphasize the poor performance of the Broncos, but unlike Hochman his venting gives way to ranting. He writes, The Broncos were so bad Sunday, the sun might be embarrassed to show its face in
Colorado. And later, Rout is not a strong enough four-letter word to describe how poorly the Broncos played. He also reminds fans that the failed first snap is destined to go down as the most embarrassing play in Super Bowl history, a harsh prediction with a painful ring of truth. His column is full of harsh declamations likely to get a rise out of his readers, but perhaps not the rise he intended. Though his ranting may be therapeutic for some readers, for others it devolves into nothing more than a raving tirade. Both columnists attempt to use logos to support their assertions but Hochman is far more successful. He analyzes the plays not just for what happened but what they meant and what they led to. Of the Seahawks scoring two points within the first twelve seconds he explains that it was more potent than those two paltry points.... It was a statement that Denver wasn t ready to play. After summarizing the second of the two plays he considers game-changing, Hochman writes, Asked about the momentum from those two plays, Denver executive John Elway said, I don t have all the answers, but I ve got to imagine that would have something to do with it. We couldn t get it in the end zone, we couldn t get it going. Through these comments, Hochman follows a string from cause to effect: the Bronco s poor performance meant that they were not ready for the game, and the mental weight of those mistakes made it harder to gain momentum by contributing to more mistakes in a vicious cycle. Kiszla makes a similar connection in his column, but his reasoning is harder to follow. He spends most of his column talking about Peyton Manning and how he will be blamed for the loss because he is the quarterback, but in the middle of the column he zooms out somewhat to the entire team. He quotes Broncos receiver Eric Decker explaining that when you re trying to battle back, it s really hard. I think you could definitely feel the momentum of the game snowball on us. From there he declares that Athletes stay. Losers walk, and argues that no
amount of intelligence or creativity can overcome a clear and decisive difference in speed and strength. The Seahawks were physically prepared. The Broncos were not. Kiszla ends, however, by returning to Manning, speculating that the quarterback would trade his five MVP trophies for just one more championship ring. At age 37, Manning is running out of time to go jewelry shopping. Kiszla heaps abuse on Manning throughout the column but never backs it up concretely. He quotes defensive tackle Terrance Knighton that it was a team loss, not Peyton Manning s loss, but does so without comment, further confusing his purpose. The scattered reasoning that litters Kiszla s article makes it difficult to follow and impairs his entire argument. Only one team can win the Super Bowl. This fact makes defeat no easier, but fans are usually not braced for such a crushing defeat as the one suffered by the Denver Broncos, and such a game can cause emotions to run high. Kiszla lets his emotions carry him away, losing his grip on his argument and undermining his ethos by turning his column into a public rant. Hochman, however, while giving vent to his frustrations keeps them under control and takes a calm look at just what went wrong. This combination of shared disappointment and cool-headed analysis gives Hochman s text greater rhetorical weight than Kiszla s.
Works Cited Hochman, Benjamin. Broncos Undone in 24 Seconds by Seahawks. Denver Post [Denver] 3 Feb. 2014. Web. 12 February 2014. Kiszla, Mark. Broncos Embarrass Themselves in Super Bowl Rout. Denver Post [Denver] 3 Feb. 2014. Web. 12 February 2014.