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Drew Allen
001601856
A Devastating Tear
In an article posted to Entertainment and Sports Programming Network's (ESPN)
website, writer Ben Goessling writes about an injury Teddy Bridgewater, quarterback for the
Minnesota Vikings, sustained at practice. This article has many multimodal elements that make it
a quality piece of writing to analyze. The rhetorical situation of this article as well as the article
itself come together to create a quality piece of writing. Goessling writes this article in order to
inform audiences about a tragic event and does so successfully.
The piece by Goessling tells the story of what happened at a Viking's practice on August
thirtieth. The Vikings were believed by many to be one of the better teams in the National
Football League and thought to have a considerable chance to win the Super Bowl. However,
"when [Bridgewater] went down during a noncontact drill" (Goessling 1) he "suffered a complete
tear to his ACL and other structural damage" (Vikings qtd. in Goessling 2). The fact that this loss
is so huge helps to explain the exigency of this article. It was written about a massive sports
news story and ESPN makes money by announcing sports news before any other publication
companies do. Because of this, the article had to be written and published at the time it was.
Goessling was answering the call of a pressing news story and answered in a way that makes
sense based on everything that exists outside of the article. Losing a starting quarterback is
detrimental to any team at any level, especially at the highest level of football and this hindrance
is well understood by the target audience of the article.
When the rhetorical situation is analyzed, the article can be examined deeper than the
words. The primary intended audience of this article is middle aged male Vikings fans. This is

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clear because ESPN is a source most often visited by men in this age group. Being a source that
solely writes about sports, ESPN thrives on middle ages males for most of their business. The
secondary intended audience is any football fan. Football fans like to keep up to date on all
football related news regardless of which team they cheer for. The audience ESPN caters to has a
very high knowledge base in matters of sports. ESPN has weekly newsletters as well as apps and
other ways to stay connected that all ensure their audience does not miss a single sports news
story. Because of this, their audience is very well versed in all things sports and expects to be
written to as an equal. Goessling does this well by assuming that his audience knows quite a bit
about football and in his writing is not condescending. He also leaves pieces of information out
that someone not familiar with football would not know. For example he does not explain why
tearing an ACL is horrific news and also does not give context of why a quarterback is so crucial
to a football team. This is appealing to readers interests. Readers of ESPN want to spend their
days engrossed in the world of professional sports and love their teams. They fear missing out on
any huge sports news. Being the obsessive sports fans they are, the target audience of this article
is well aware of the context of issues surrounding this article and the conversation that what
happening before this article was written.
The existing conversation before this article was written, was about whether or not the
Vikings had a chance to win the Super Bowl. Many sports sources were predicting them to do
well this season, while many others were saying they would lose early in the playoffs. In a
separate article posted to ESPN, the Vikings were going off at 20-1 at the Westgate Las Vegas
SuperBook ("Every team's odds"). In a separate publication, Goessling said that these odds
"look[ed] like a steal" because of the talent of the team (Goessling qtd. in "Every"). The other
part of the existing conversation is something that is talked about every season of every sport.

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This is the injury report. By writing this article, Goessling is also entering the conversation of the
notable injuries in professional football. This is a conversation that is best talked about with a
huge logical appeal.
Now that the rhetorical situation has been looked at, it is possible to delve into the
constraints of the document. This article is classified as journalism and is written to inform.
Goessling is successful in explaining to the public what happened and does so with a heavy use
of logos. Due to the fact that this is a journalistic piece of writing, almost every sentence is a fact
of what happened or a quote from Viking's personal. Goessling also includes statistics relating to
Bridgewater's career and to the Viking's previous seasons. Pathos is also unintentionally used
mostly because of the multimodal elements of the article. 'Tweets' from other prominent players
in the NFL are included in the article to show the sympathy that Bridgewater has received. One
of these players, Robert Griffin III former quarterback of the Washington Redskins, says "prayers
up" (Griffin qtd. in Goessling). Goessling uses these examples in an attempt to further show the
severity of this issue, but the examples also invoke sympathy from the reader. Emotions are also
invoked when it is stated that "several players threw their helmets and shouted expletives ... and
many simultaneously dropped to one knee in prayer" (Goessling 4). This is another instance of
logos that doubles as pathos because of the emotions the statement invokes. This statement is
made in order to make sure it is known that this is a critical event and readers need to understand
the severity of what happened, but it also makes readers sympathize with the players on the team.
Ethos is the only tool not used intentionally or as a latent tool of this article. Goessling does not
establish himself as a credible source because there is no need for him to do so. Goessling is still
respected as a credible source, even without establishing his credentials, because he is a well

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known staff writer for ESPN. The rhetorical appeals used in the essay are also reinforce by the
authors stylistic choices.
The very short paragraphs in the article aid the authors use of rhetorical tools. Each
paragraph consists of no more than three sentences. This allows Goessling to pack each
paragraph with as much logos as possible. The fact that every paragraph is almost entirely logos
definitely aids Goessling in the creation of his article and helps him to be successful in informing
his readers about the event.
Furthermore, the aesthetic design of the article aids in Goessling pushing his point. The
article contains a video explaining the severity of the injury as well as the next steps for the team.
The video is from ESPN's broadcast television station and has a very somber tone. The video,
paired with the 'tweets' from other well known athletes, gives the readers a break from the text as
well as spreading out the article. The multimodal elements also add to the article and give
information that could not have been gathered from reading the article on its own. The entire
design of the article is important in adding to the quality of the article.
The quality of the article is also improved by the persona Goessling uses. Goessling
creates a close rhetorical distance by opting to not be overly formal. There words used are all
fairly basic vocabulary words thus helping to not distance the reader. He is also attempting to
connect to the reader and make them sympathize with the players throughout the article by
stressing the atmosphere at the practice. The tone is very candid as Goessling is fairly reporting
the facts about what happened and abstains from giving his opinion on the matter. This is
common because as a reporter, Goessling is supposed to remain unbiased on the issue. The
article opens with the statement " Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater suffered a
dislocated knee and a torn ACL when he went down during a noncontact drill at practice

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Tuesday, ending his 2016 season" (Goessling). This statement perfectly encompasses the candid
tone of the article. The rest of the article sounds very much alike this statement. Goessling also
uses very short paragraphs and includes a quote in nearly every paragraph. This helps him stay
impartial while also improving the article. Readers would prefer hearing sources close to the
team over hearing the writer's opinion.
All of the elements come together to form an easily read and understood article.
Goessling combines many textual and visual elements that blend very well together and fit
perfectly into the existing rhetorical situation. After analyzing the document carefully, it can
determined that this is a well written article and Goessling's reason for writing this article is
clear. Goessling does an excellent job at relaying only the facts and aids the readers in
understanding the severity of the event. Readers of this article can have full faith that they have
the complete picture of what happened.

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Works Cited
"Every Team's Odds to Win the Super Bowl next Year." ESPN Internet Ventures. Entertainment
and Sports Programming Network, 2 February 2016. Web. 19 September 2016.
Goessling, Ben. "Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater dislocates knee, tears ACL in drill." ESPN
Internet Ventures. Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, 31 August 2016.
Web. 19 September 2016.