Why I Hate Social Media In Sports

Every winter through summer I forget about the effects social media has on modern sports reporting. No one cares enough about Baseball and Hockey to report on tweets sent out by those athletes — and I don’t care enough about the NBA to care what any of those players tweet out — but when football rolls around, holy shit to I hate Twitter and Facebook. Not instagram though, I only follow hot chicks on there, so instagram is still cool in the fall. No quoting Keith Olbermann here because I legitimately Hate Social Media in Sports.

Social media has nearly destroyed sports reporting, I mean legitimate sports reporting, not the shit that goes on over at second-rate websites where most of their clicks come from articles “Sexiest Sports Wives” and shit like that, I should know I used to write for those ass-clowns (Side note, ass-clowns is a word coined by former WWE Champion Chris Jericho…the more you know). Now with Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, and all the other stupidly named social media sites out there, people are more worried about being “first” than actually, you know, doing due-diligence and finding these things called facts. Nope, they now all have to be the first to report something which is why fake Twitter accounts seemingly fool them on a weekly basis.

Journalistic integrity was heading out the door anyways, but fuck did Twitter and Facebook not help speed up the process. I can’t check either (and I down right loathe Twitter) without some piece of shit click bait popping up in my feed, and if sadly I’m too dumb and I click it, I’m treated to a poorly written and researched article about absolute shit. Fuck you people who share and re-tweet that shit, there is a special place in hell for you.

The worst and yet best part about Twitter is that it only allows for 140 characters. This is the best because it won’t allow some dip shit to go on a 20 paragraph rant on why their political views are right (chances are they aren’t), it’s the worst because there is only so much you can say with 140 characters if you’re not particularly smart (most Twitter users) so when an athlete says something it gets tweeted out as 140 characters, which a lot of the time can be quite misleading.

For instance Robert Griffin III was quoted as saying “I feel like I’m the best quarterback in the league…” That quote right there is 90 characters, so naturally the other 50 you’d need would be to identify Robert and probably say he’s a dip-shit. But here is the whole quote;

“I feel like I’m the best quarterback in the league. I have to go out and show that. Any athlete at any level, if they concede to someone else, they’re not a top competitor, they’re not trying to be the best that they can be. There’s guys in this league that have done way more than me. But I still view myself as the best because that’s what I work toward every single day.”

That isn’t nearly as bad as what got tweeted by every dip-shit out there, and I’ll admit at first I was too lazy to read the whole quote and just went by the tweets. I can’t help this stupid fucking franchise has jaded me so if I’m told one of the players or the owner has said something idiotic, I’m more incline to believe that’s what actually happened.

Social media also gives every athlete a voice and we can get closer to them — more than ever. Sadly most athletes aren’t that bright, not saying their stupid books wise, though if they went to FSU or Miami (or any Florida school) they probably can’t read that well (which explains their tweets). What I mean is, they’ve been sheltered since high school and don’t realize the world is a tough and cruel place, they just say whatever and then when they get backlash for saying dumb shit, they think they can just delete and everything will be okay.

Guys like Johnny Manziel, Josh Robinson, Darnell Dockett, and Marcus Vick, just to name a few, all have tweeted out some stupid and reprehensible shit, and the thing is, there is no excuse for it. It’s not like a hot mic from a reporter or camera caught it. These men typed this shit out, maybe read it, and then had to hit send. You must really want to let the world know you’re an idiot considering you have so many outs before you actually send a tweet, facebook post, or a text (side note that’s why I love texting over having to actually speak to another human, I can look at my text and think, “nope, they’re going to take that the wrong way” and just delete and send out “lol”).

However, what trumps all of the bullshit above is what happens Sundays on Twitter and Facebook, and I mean when fans start letting their anger boil over. Holy shit. For the most part I make it a point not to Tweet or get on Facebook during Redskins games. Not that I fear that I’m going to do something stupid (I lost faith in my team a long time ago), but if they manage to win a game, first off I’m surprised, secondly I’m happy, but when they lose I shrug and go about my daily life. No I stay away from social media during Redskins games because it’s toxic. I’m sure other fan bases are the same (I bet the Browns are the worst) but I don’t follow nearly as many other fans from other teams as I do Redskins fans and reporters, who by the way are almost as bad as normal fans when it comes to tweeting.

Also if the Skins lose (especially if it’s a bad loss) I need to avoid social media almost all together during the week just because every Tweet will be more toxic than the previous one. They’ll call players out, or the coaches, or the owner, and blah blah blah. Fans who think they know more than people actually running teams are the worst people ever (and they’re all on Twitter). For every Bill James (look him up) there are million upon millions of people who couldn’t run a franchise in Madden 16 on “easy”.

So there it is folks, that’s why I hate social media in sports, you can disagree with me all you want but I assure you, you’re wrong and I hate you. However, if you’d like to know more about me, and why wouldn’t you, you can follow me on the Twitter @jomac006, if you’re a fine lady you should swipe right on Tinder.

Is it hypocritical that I just ranted about social media yet I’m using it to pimp myself? Maybe, but who the fuck asked you?

Also, one last note, for those of you with a life outside of degenerate sports gambling, hop on over to my newly launched site www.clashofthenerds.com for your geeky goodness.

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