“Ted Lasso,” which returns for a second season on Apple TV+ next month, finds rich comedic tension in the relationship between a team and the media that covers it. Jason Sudeikis stars as an eternally upbeat American managing an English football (soccer) team — a sport he’s never coached! at any level! — and the show mines all kinds of humor from these press events. James Lance plays reporter Trent Crimm, and if his urbane swoop of hair didn’t immediately peg him at Ted’s kind-sorta nemesis, his introduction does, as he stands up and lists the many reasons Ted is unqualified for the job. “Is there a question in there?” Ted gently asks. Yeah, comes the response: “Is this a (blanking) joke?” In the pub, fans are watching this unfold on TV, and one bloke turns to his friends: “I love journalists.” Back in the press room, it’s pandemonium: “Can you even name any footballers?!” a reporter asks. “Who won the league last year?” says another. Ted’s ears are ringing and finally the team’s owner (played by the great Hannah Waddingham) steps in: “You must forgive my fellow countrymen,” she says. “Somewhere over the last few years we seem to have abandoned all sense of manners and hospitality.” Turning to the assembled media: “My, my, aren’t you a salty bunch.”
Column: Naomi Osaka, sports journalism and portrayals of sports writers on the big and small screen
