Sideline Scoop: The Power of Twitter

Today, the Sideline Scoop takes a look at the power of Twitter in particular as a social media, as we learn how the site gets athletes and fans in trouble and how athletes are now asking to be released via tweets.

Carlos Martinez pitches during the playoffs last season.

1. Cardinals' prospect learns tweeting isn't Twitter's only danger

Carlos Martinez, a 22-year-old pitcher hoping to make the Cardinals' roster this year, found himself in hot water recently thanks to his Twitter account. It was not because of anything he tweeted though - it was because it was discovered that he had 'favorited' (Twitter's equivalent of a Facebook 'like') pornographic photos and links.

2. Knicks fan arrested for making death threats to owner via Twitter

Knicks fans have reason to be frustrated - the team has failed to reach the success of the '90s and has become more a joke lately. This caused a 19-year-old fan to vent his frustration to Knicks owner James Dolan via his Twitter by tweeting things like "James Dolan, it's officially time to die" while pointing a gun to the camera and holding a sharp object to his neck.

3. UFC fighter tweets boss, asks to be released

Many people today are not happy at their job, but how many are willing to tweet to their boss and employer to ask to be let go? That is exactly what UFC lightweight fighter Nate Diaz did.
As of this writing, neither UFC nor Diaz's representatives have commented on the situation. Regardless, welcome to the world of Twitter, where one can just ask to be let go at any point in time. Why bother with the face-to-face talk?

Sideline Scoop: Embracing Social Media

There are always those who embrace change and those who fear it, looking to avoid it at all costs. Today's Sideline Scoop will take a look at two coaches representing both views and adding a new dimension to an already classic rivalry, how the NCAA is adapting to new developments in technology and social media, and some interesting stats from social media around the world.

1. Pitino, Calipari on opposite ends of social media spectrum

Louisville and Kentucky is one of the best rivalries in all of college basketball, pitting two of the more successful teams in college basketball history against each other as they share a state. So it only make sense that coaches from both teams take completely opposite views of social media. Louisville's Rick Pitino (on the left in the above photo), who could be seen as the "old school" coach, has actually banned his players from using Twitter and says that social media "poisons their minds." Meanwhile, Kentucky's John Calipari (on the right in the above photo), the most "new school" of the two coaches, openly embraces social media and wants to teach his players how to "use it as a positive."

2. NCAA to allow coaches to use SnapChat for recruiting

SnapChat is one of the biggest up-and-coming apps on smartphones today, allowing users to "take photos or videos and add text or drawing, then set an expiration for the message once it is opened." SnapChat now has a new use: As of Aug. 1, college coaches will be able to use it for recruiting purposes.

3. Who are the ultimate social media winners and losers?

Judging from social media, soccer/fútbol and basketball are the two most popular sports in the world and two retired basketball players remain among the most popular in the world. Find out more - including how local and club teams use social media and who has the most retweeted sports tweet - in this infographic.

Think Before You Tweet: Athletes learning lessons the hard way

When an NFL team drafts a player in the first round, they are making a multi-million dollar investment into that player. It would make sense that a business would want to know as much as possible about their investment beforehand, and the Minnesota Vikings are no different.

Thanks to some research, the Vikings have already red flagged eight draft prospects for this year's draft because of dumb tweets the athletes have made.

To be 'red flagged' by an NFL team usually means that they will avoid drafting you at nearly all costs. So prospects are already losing out on potential jobs before they even set foot in Indianapolis for the Combine.

“There were guys I found on Twitter this year that I can’t believe they would post and re-Tweet some of the stuff they were saying,” Rick Spielman, general manager for the Vikings, told USA Today recently. “We wrote a report just on their Twitter accounts.

“I won’t say the names. But out of the 60 that we did, there are eight guys that we have concerns about their Twitter feeds that we will address here.”

Spielman mentioned tweets about partying and doing illegal drugs as some of the one that caught his attention. And this is far from the first instance of Twitter getting athletes in trouble.

 The New York Daily Times put together a gallery of such instances, ranging from international soccer star Wayne Rooney challenging someone to a fight to WNBA player Cappie Pondexter commenting on the tsunami in Japan, saying that God "makes no mistakes" and "They did pearl harbor."


Five years ago, when social media was still relatively new, an athlete may have been able to get away with tweeting something like that. But today, the majority of people know (or at least should know) that nothing you say on social media is private. Social media is available for the whole world to see and you need to have your guard up 24/7 to protect your brand and image.

We need to start teaching athletes as early as possible - possibly even freshman year of high school - to think before they tweet and that something they now could hurt them even two-three years in the future.

Given the immense scrutiny athletes on social media sites face on a daily basis, it could be one of the best moves for their careers.

Sideline Scoop: Infidelity and Beyond

Welcome to take two of the Sideline Scoop. Today, we will be taking a look at an interesting Twitter confession and two articles from the website Sports Networker.

1. Oliver Giroud admits infidelity...via Twitter

Oliver Giroud was best known for being the best goal-scoring threat on Arsenal FC. Then came Feb. 16, 2014, when, hours before a key match, he posted on his Twitter account that he had cheated on his wife. Not only was the timing of the announcement odd, but so was the medium by which he choose to relay his message that made it so unique. This article, posted on Bleacher Report, shows one of the dangers of Twitter: instant reaction from others.

2. The Social Media Engagement Guide

The first of two articles from Sports Networker, Lewis Howes takes a look at guidelines for teams and athletes, as well as businesses in general, to follow. It is a solid list that everyone should read and consider before they take part in social media.

3. Social Media and Sports Contracts

This article looks at extreme sports athletes (Tony Hawk, Shaun White and company) and how companies signed these athletes to contracts to promote their contract via social media, and where things will go from here.

Sideline Scoop: First Take

So begins the first of a new installment called the 'Sideline Scoop,' highlighting multiple stories, graphics and everything in between from all corners of the Internet.

This week, we'll be taking a look at a previously mentioned article on fans' influence on the college recruiting process, athletes taking to social media to make major announcements and a look at how fans engage in social media.

1. Social distortion: Twitter has given fans direct access to recruits, for better or worse

 ESPN.com posted this article around a month ago, which talks about what athletes on Twitter currently deal when Signing Day approaches. The article gives readers a good idea of what it is like to be a recruit today and how they deal with all of the voices they hear on social media sites such as Twitter.

2. Richie Incognito returns to Twitter/Jeter announces retirement on Facebook

Two of the bigger stories in sports recently have been the Wells report on the interactions between Miami Dolphins teammates Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin and Yankees captain and shortstop Derek Jeter announcing his retirement. The ESPN article looks at Incognito's final tweets before he quit the social media site and his first tweets when he returned to the site three days later. Meanwhile, Jeter's retirement alone would be a big story, but it became a big social media story when he made the announcement via his Facebook page. Who needs journalists to tell a story when you can do it yourself?

3. How Sports Fans Engage With Social Media

A PR firm called Catalyst put together an infographic on how sports fan engage with social media, showing that Google+ and YouTube are the fastest-growing social medias for sports fans. Find out more in this infographic via Mashable.

Twitter Bringing Fans into the Recruiting Process

Social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter are marvelous creations, giving people unprecedented access to their favorite celebrities, teams and athletes. Unfortunately, this means that fans now risk getting too close to athletes, to the point that it may become detrimental to their favorite collegiate team.

Above, we see a screenshot of a tweet sent by Courtney Pastner, the sister of the University of Memphis head coach Josh Pastner, to Rodney Purvis, who at the time was being recruited by the Tigers. As innocent and harmless as the tweet seems, it could actually be considered an NCAA recruiting violation.

As Yahoo! Sports blog Prep Rally wrote, "there is no doubt that the younger Pastner is making public, direct contact with a recruit via social media, something which would be a clear violation if Pastner was doing so himself. The question is whether Courtney Pastner is 'someone affiliated with the Memphis institution.' Considering her relationship with her brother and her understandably open pro-Memphis bent (see her Twitter background above, for instance), Prep Rally is inclined to say that she should be tabbed as someone connected with the Tigers."

On Twitter, fans do not seem to know where the fine line between appropriate and inappropriate lies, and will often cross the line in an attempt to attract an athlete to their favorite school. ESPN highlighted Tyler Luatua, the No. 3tight end prospect in the Class of 2013, in a recent article, who had a Twitter user tell him, "Come to (Southern California), or I will kill myself."
"He eventually said he was just kidding," Luatua said. "He said he's got kids at home and would never do that, but I thought he was serious at first. That really freaked me out."

"Twitter is the Wild West of recruiting," Adoree' Jackson, a recruit out of California, told ESPN in the article. "I've had some weird things tweeted at me, crazy things. Some I can't say. It does get to the point where fans will tell you, 'If you come to my school, I'll give you this.' 'I'll throw a party for you.' 'I'll name my kid after you,' and stuff like that."

Coaches had enough to worry about before when it came to recruiting just from opposing teams' coaches. Today, they also have to worry about fans from their own school (or even another school) saying something that could influence a recruit's opinion and the possible NCAA sanctions that could come from such an action.

Worst of all for fans, their words often fall upon deaf ears.

"This is my life and not theirs," recruit Cameron Robinson out of Louisiana told ESPN. "I would be a fool to listen to what some person I never met before says, especially some crazy fan on Twitter."
The lesson to be learned from all this? Fans should leave the recruiting to the coaches.