The Twitter Effect

There are so many things which change in sports as time goes on, rules change, players come and go and the game evolves.  One of the things which has truly changed the way the game is played and it is the social phenomenon of Twitter.

Twitter has allowed everyone in the sports world to get their opinion out there instantaneously to whomever wants to read it.  It allows you to communicate with basically the whole world in 140 characters.  Who would have thought that simply 140 letters would change so much?  

Twitter has received a lot of publicity from athletes using it during games and then getting fined.  Most professional sports have outlawed Twitter during games, but now you are having to hire people to educate your players on how to not make themselves look like idiots.  It is unfortunately the one form of communication the team can't control, especially how fast it gets around with one-button re-twitting.  One example is this article on ESPN about Kendrick Perkins, the center for the Oklahoma City Thunder who was posterized by Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers (if you haven't seen the video click here and come out from underneath your rock!), calling out Lebron James for twitting about Griffin's dunk.  Perkins has a point, because in the article he talks about how none of the greats ever talked to the media or twitted about dunks on other people.  They didn't care.  Michael Jordan would posterize someone and not say a thing because he knew that you knew he owned you.  He said James needs to focus on winning basketball games.

Perkins is correct, players need to focus on winning games instead of the mindless trash talk a lot of them engage in against one another.  Settle your battles on the court or the field for crying out loud!  Measure your greatness by NBA titles, not by how many followers you have on Twitter or friends you have on Facebook.  Since when did social media take over our lives and keep us from actually being social?  I don't mind Twitter and Facebook, but when it is the sole form of communication, there is something wrong.  I mean they even set up designated Twitter spots at the Pro Bowl for players to use.  

In closing, Lebron I don't mind you twitting, but twitting about someone else's dunk over another, you should probably cool it until you win a championship, or two, or three, or four.....ok, just win one and then you can Tweet about it.  Until then keep the Twitter feed about you and your team and leave other players out of it.