Twitter Psychosis Strikes Again, Affects Chattanooga Mocs @ Kentucky Wildcats [Updated]
by Glenn Logan on Dec 16, 2011 7:32 PM EST
in Kentucky Wildcats Basketball
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You've probably all seen this by now, but earlier today, Drew Franklin of KSR put up this post about a player on the Chris Early of the Chattanooga Mocs (stats from Statsheet.com). These Twitter comments were made about a month ago by Early, and apparently, it came as unpleasant news to the Mocs head coach, John Shulman. From the Chattanooga blog Mocs Mania!:
Chris Early has been suspended indefinitely for his Twitter comments regarding the year and Coach Shulman.
Honestly, this whole thing frustrates me quite a bit. I'm beginning to really hate Twitter.
When I first read Drew's story, I feared this might happen. I really don't know how to feel about this. On the one hand, there is no doubt that Drew was within his rights as a blogger to reveal this information -- it is public and has been out there a while. Not only that, the comments Early made about the head coach are absolutely unethical and indicative of a serious attitude problem that could legitimately be affecting the Mocs team in a negative way.
There is the other side, though -- the potential to get a kid kicked off the basketball team and affect his future. I have a feeling that doesn't feel all that great to Drew right now, and I confess, it makes me uncomfortable as well. At the same time, if this had come from Andy Katz or some Chattanooga reporter, would we even care?
Unfortunately, Twitter is both a boon and a nightmare to athletes. It is like a driver's license -- on the upside, you can go places and do things. On the downside, if you are irresponsible, it can damage and even take your life. At least Twitter has never taken a life that I know of, but it sure has impacted some college careers both positively, negatively, and in the case of Josh Harrellson, both at the same time.
This reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite movies, The Last Boy Scout: "Ain't life a bitch?"
[UPDATE] Ouch. Stay away from Twitter when you're angry. Lesson for the day.
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Well...
It’s definitely irresponsible of the kid to tweet something like that. But I don’t really have a problem with Drew posting it because we all know that if this was a top level player, these tweets would be on sportscenter almost as much as Tim Tebow.
In the end, if the kid was this unhappy he should be talking to family about transferring. Not dragging his coach through the mud on twitter.
As annoying as Dew Franklin can be sometimes, this isn't his fault
Like you said Glen, had it been Andy Katz, Gregg Doyel, or Jeff Goodman, etc. then it wouldn’t be viewed as negative on the reporter.
Bottom line is what you write on twitter is public, regardless if you protect your tweets. Dont’ say something you will regret.
Dayman, Fighter of the Nightman, Champion of the Sun
Yeah.
:With that said …
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
by Glenn Logan on Dec 16, 2011 10:56 PM EST up reply actions
Glenn, I don't remember any flashback ...
… toward any of the Kentucky media from any blogger/media member when Harrellson’s tweet’s became public despite Cal saying he came ‘that’ close to dismissing him from the team. Mostly, I remember comments criticizing Harrellson as a knucklehead lucky to still be on the team. While I understand the urge to avoid getting a kid in trouble, looking at those tweets is sort of like going to a NASCAR race – you know there’s going to be a wreck sooner or later. Anyway, Drew Franklin shouldn’t receive even the least flack for publishing those tweets, imo.
I'm not giving him any.
Still doesn’t give me a good feeling.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
Now they have an excuse for not beating us tomorrow. :(
I am all for people expressing their opinions, as long as they back them up with facts.
If I were a college head coach
I would ban my players’ use of social media during the season and maybe during the entire time with my program.
I think this is a "buy" statement!
And I’d vote for “entire time with my program”. People can whine about 1st Amendment all they want, and whine about “suppression of individuality” all they want, but hey, whatever… Many jobs come with Social Media requirements, and the folks that have said jobs don’t complain about it. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the Coach to say “Hey, we’re giving you a free ride for playing hoops, here’s the rules…” And a Social Media ban could be a reasonable part of that. No different than a curfew, really, and you don’t hear anyone complaining about that, do you?
My current job requires a no-Twitter/Facebook/Linked-In/MySpace no-play clause, and you know what, I’m OK with that. I like getting paid! Same with the wife… But, on the other hand, we’re “needy”! Need to make the house payment, need to put gas in the cars, etc, etc. You do what’cha gotta in the end.
If your wings don't sweep....
the Moc's policy is pretty straight forward...
The UTC social media policy reads in part: "Inappropriate comments or criticism of any fellow student-athletes, coaches or athletics department staff and inappropriate pictures or other content will be subject to discipline and could lead to dismissal from the team."
[http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/dec/16/utc-basketballs-chris-early-suspended-indefinitely/?breakingnews]
As I said pretty straight forward, basically a call for respect of the people you play with and those who coach and support the program.
And the texts are way beyond what Jorts posted, IMHO. For the full texts go to:
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_215671.asp
As my Dad told me (on more than one occasion): “Son, even a fish wouldn’t get caught if he kept his mouth shut.”
"Inappropriate comments or criticism"
As opposed to what? Is there an appropriate way for a player to criticize his coach? I’d like to hear what the authors of UTC’s social media policy had in mind when they wrote that.
It seems like we haven't beaten anybody in two weeks.
Maybe we need every advantage we can get.
Kentucky Basketball - The Reason for Living
Why now?
The tweets were made about a month ago – was Shulman unaware of them until Drew posted them yesterday? It almost seems like UTC was willing to ignore them, but once it became ‘big news’ they decided to take action. Can’t blame Franklin for that.
I don't really think so.
You can’t ignore that kind of stuff once it’s out there.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
by Glenn Logan on Dec 17, 2011 11:32 AM EST up reply actions
I do beg to differ - and I'm talking more about social media in general.
Social media like Facebook and Twitter and others are mechanisms for not only social “bullying” which can lead to very negative consequences (such as suicide), but they also portray a view of the world that is not reality. For very young people – middle school and high school age kids – this is a real problem. Kids interact more with each other through Facebook, Twitter, texts, etc that they do in person in a lot of ways. Take this scenario – you are a young kid and all you read on your “friends” accounts are all of the good things that happen to them, because people don’t typically Tweet the bad things that happen. So in your young mind you compare you life with everyone else’s – and your life really sucks in comparison. It can lead a normal young person to have problems with self-confidence, depression and worse. This kind of thing was always an issue in the past without social media – but social media is making the problem much, much worse. Anyway – I have kids ranging from 5 to 13 – so maybe that causes me to be a little more tuned to these issues than most folks.
I am not saying there are not good things about social media, because there certainly are many positives. But we can’t ignore the negatives; we have to find ways to lessen the impact of the negative consequences. You have to be aware. It’s like water – we need it to survive, but you can drown in too much.
Kentucky Basketball - The Reason for Living
Well - it's not really a difference.
I was sort of responding to your statement that “Twitter has never taken a life that I know of” which of course is aperfectly accurate statement on your part. It just set me off on a rant, there. Poor coice of a headline to my post but that was before my first cup of coffee.
Kentucky Basketball - The Reason for Living
Gotcha.
I’ve done that before, so I know just what you mean.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
by Glenn Logan on Dec 17, 2011 11:30 AM EST up reply actions
Not sure how social media is any in form like water
Many of us survive just fine without it.
I agree.
But a large percentage of 15 year olds in this country really believe they need this stuff to survive. It doesn’t make any sense to us, but to their not-fully-developed minds it does. It is a tough problem that we first need to be aware of to address. We can hope it is never a problem for the kids in our lives, but hope is not a method. Parents have to stay a part of their kids lives so they know what is going on. There are way too many issues that crop up where the parents just “had no idea.” And it is not just the parents – they need help wherever they can get it. Parents don’t understand social media.
Kentucky Basketball - The Reason for Living
Call me out-of-touch or out-of-date or old fashion or just way too old
But I have never seen any reason or could comprehend any reason for being on either Twitter or Facebook.
A man is nothing more than a summation of his scars!
Okay, you're out of touch.
Do you feel better now? :-)
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
by Glenn Logan on Dec 17, 2011 11:31 AM EST up reply actions
Facebook as a community bulletin board
is a very effective way to get info out quickly to a lot of people. I can see and appreciate that. Twitter I am not so sure about. Whether you like them or not they are a product of a free society and as such should be protected.
I am all for people expressing their opinions, as long as they back them up with facts.
I wish i had a dollar for every person who has said that to me only to become a big fan of Facebook
It is a fantastic way of reconnecting with people that you haven’t seen or heard from in years. I graduated HS in 1989 and hadn’t seen or heard from so many of classmates. Facebook is the only reason I am now in contact with many of them.
Slower Traffic Keep Right!
Facebook is very useful for a number of things.
It took me a while to figure it out, but I’m a fan of it now.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
The kid wasn't dumb enough to think his tweets wouldn't be noticed by someone.
Looks to me like this is working out just the way he knew it had to end. If by any chance he is dumb enough to think he could tweet all that junk and it not be discovered, he has bigger issues than being suspended from the Chatt Mocs.
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