NBA abuses 3rd person pronoun

The NBA playoffs have arrived, and with them the possible abuse of Grammatical Person in the use of personal pronouns; that is, how certain players will refer to themselves in the post-game interview. Too many players will refer to themselves by using the third person pronoun--"he," instead of "I." They may also refer to themselves by using their own name. These choices seem to be made by design possibly to deflect negative attributes mentioned by the interviewer, but also to merely appear humble depending upon the nature of the question or observation. One may only guess. Nevertheless, the switching of pronouns from speaker referring to oneself as the speaker, to speaker talking about oneself seems quite odd and falls under the category of rhetoric (the art of speaking or writing to make some effect) rather than solecism (improper grammatical usage, incorrect speech).

Note: In using the 3rd person pronoun, these athletes seem to stick to the Nominative Case (Subjective Case) when talking about themselves; that is, they do not say "him" in self-reference, using the Accusative Case (Objective Case) 3rd person pronoun. That would appear exotically distant even for an exalted modern athlete.

A review: "Person" identifies who is speaking, who is spoken to, and who is spoken about when two or more people speak to each other or among one another. click here for personal pronouns

The reporters themselves might be responsible for this rhetorical aberration from normal pronoun usage and self-reference.

Some are found asking, "How did Kobe Bryant ("he") feel out there today?" Instead of, "How did you feel out there?"

The second person pronoun is required (unless speaking rhetorically) when addressing an individual, even sports heroes.

Sometimes it's the sports figure who, I suppose, wishes to take the spotlight off himself by using the third person pronoun, talking about himself in the third person. However, imagine the following silly exchange--just to demonstrate how fast language can deteriorate:

Sports reporter: "How are you feeling today?"

Athlete: "He's well, thank you."