Social Media Negativity

Since social media sites have become available, they have both been very successful and popular with athletes. However they have also been very dangerous. Rumors have been spread like wildfire on social media sites that have destroyed reputations of athletes in many different sports. They have consumed many hours of both athletes' and fans' life, and have allowed any subscriber to take whatever "news" they hear and run with it. This has resulted in a negative effect of social media instead of the intended positive effect.

Since the outbreak of Twitter, there have been many situations where there has been backlash from what has been posted. Twitter consists of "status" updates as well as random thoughts, facts, breaking news, and whatever else people feel the need to share. Actor Rob Lowe recently tweeted that Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who did not play a down of football this season was retiring from NFL football. My initial reaction was of course "no way!" I had to look more into it and make sure that this was not true.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000507/

Rob Lowe isn't even related to sports! He is about as far away from NFL football as I am from Hollywood. Since this tweet, I have continued to research if this were true or not, and have yet to come up with anything that declares it right. I think this is one instance where Twitter has been come in handy.

Recently Yuri Wright, the #40 pick on the ESPNU 150, out of Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey was expelled from his high school for tweeting racially and sexually unacceptable comments. He attends a Catholic school where behavior like his is completely inappropriate and not tolerated. Wright was being recruited from many of the top conferences of which included schools such as Michigan, Rutgers, Notre Dame, and Colorado. Because of his disgusting words, Michigan has no longer been recruiting him for the lack of a brain on top of his shoulders. Michigan upholds a certain level of responsibility and maturity in its program so to put a rotten egg in the mix would not do so well at their school.

Per image on right: Four-star cornerback Yuri Wright was expelled from Don Bosco Prep (N.J.) over a series of ill-advised comments on his Twitter feed.

John Albright/Icon SMI

Yuri Wright is not the only unfortunate athlete that has gotten in trouble with his Twitter account. There are many coaches such as Chris Peterson of Boise State football and DeWayne Walker from New Mexico State football among many others, have both set bans against using social media sites while in season. The NCAA leaves it up to the institution to set their own rules about the use of social media sites so many coaches take it into their own hands, making their own rules. 

This issue is not only at the college level. There are many professional athletes who have gotten fined for their comments on Twitter. Rashard Mendenhall of the Pittsburgh Steelers as well as Tony Sanchez were recently criticized for their comments resulting in apologies. Professional athletes seem to be more scrutinized by their fans than college athletes since they are adults and well...professionals. I still find it funny how they can say or do just about anything and then issue an "apology" and pretend like it never happened. Twitter is part of the internet so there is no pretending it didn't happen, it will always be there for others to look up.

Social media sites will more than likely continue to be a problem in the sporting industry. Athletes forget that they represent a party other than themselves and what they say and do make a huge impact on their fans. Hopefully after all these situations, most will try and think twice before they post their thoughts on the internet.

Sporting News Accessibility

Imagine yourself sitting on your own couch in your own living room and all around you is technology. Multiple TV monitors, your computer which has skype, twitter, facebook, IM, ESPN.com, and multiple other news sites all pulled up on separate tabs, possibly on multiple computers. You are getting play by plays by the second from three different games going on all at once. You have the connection to many different sources all at your fingertips.
Now imagine yourself five years ago, when all this social media was either nonexistent or was not at the level it is today. You had to wait for results to come out the next day and only had the option to follow one event or the other. It is almost hard to imagine isn't it?

Sarah Burke, 29, was a four-time X Games champion. Retrieved from Associated Press.

 

Today, ESPN News informed via text that Four time X Games Champion Sarah Burke had died after suffering a cardiac arrest after having an accident on January 10th, all while I was in the middle of listening to a presentation. I had no access to a computer, radio, or television, and a simple text message informed me of the biggest news for freestyle skiing.

Twitter has become one of the biggest unofficial news outlets that is available anytime, anywhere. Many times after hearing a rumor about a certain player retiring or a higher up being fired, I will first go to Twitter and investigate to see if I can find anymore information supporting that idea. Since most people monitor their own accounts, the information that I find on there has been known to be reliable.

During the most recent NDSU v. UND men's basketball game, Facebook was blowing up with status updates and comments between Bison and no-named "Sioux" fans. Students at the game sending photos and status updates to their friends back at home were able to connect and debate over real time plays. This was never a factor even a few years ago.
Times have changed, whether we agree for the better or for the worse. Society has accepted the new technology and new social media by adapting to it and using it to its full potential. Sport enthusiasts have taken advantage of this so that they do not have to wait until tomorrow to hear about something they could have known today.