The Finger Wag – Athletes using Twitter and Social Media to their Disadvantage

As you probably know by Tiger Woods withdrew from the Players Championship this past weekend.  A few people have speculated that the injury was made up or he withdrew for other reasons than a neck injury.

This reporter however came up with a bran new theroy:

Link

I have been known to have the same problem

Thanks to Easy-E for the story

Santonio Holmes to the Jets for a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Revis24

(Darrelle Revis)

Wow we got holmes this is crazy. We makin big moves this off-season. Putting the pieces together to get closer to that superbowl ring. On 4:24 AM Apr 12th 2010 from UberTwitter

So the Steelers traded their Superbowl MVP Santonio Holmes for a fifth round pick.

The question is why?

A contract year for a player who has been suspended (and according to @ADAM_SCHEFTER will be suspended yet again) for drugs and is currently battling an assault case will be the excuse. They don’t want to bring him back next year due to all this and might as well get something for him now.

Could this be a message to Big Ben?

No comment on twitter from Santonio yet but when he does break the silence we will be there to make fun of him.

As for the Jets, all I can say is this.

I can’t wait to watch Hard Knocks.

NBA/NHL Playoffs

BigMay42

(Sean May)

Huge game on.... Chicago vs Toronto ..... Both fighting for the 8th spot in the east On 10:45 PM Apr 11th 2010 from TweetDeck

jeskeets

(J.E. Skeets)

Goodbye, sweet playoffs. On 12:30 AM Apr 12th 2010 from TweetDeck

J.E. Skeets (@jeskeets) is one of my favorite bloggers to follow on twitter, guy is hilarious. He is also a Raptors fan. I am a huge Chicago Bulls fan so for the next few days we are on opposite sides of this story.

So the East is all setup except for one spot. The Bulls now have a lead on the Raptors but the “magic number” to “mathematically eliminate” the Raptors is still at 2 because they own the tiebreaker over the Bulls.

With the way the Bulls shit the bed versus the Nets on Friday night and Vinnie Del Negro refusing to play Noah even though he is the main hustle guy on the team I wouldn’t count out the Raptors just yet.

The West is still a mess, we know the 8 teams going in but the rankings are still up for grabs. It should be an entertaining few days.

JLupul

(Joffrey Lupul)

Philly vs NYR shootout to get in the playoffs is the situation everyone feared when we adopted the shootout... On 9:45 PM Apr 11th 2010 from web

In the NHL the playoffs are now set. There was a defacto play-in game last night between the Rangers and Flyers, an excellent game by all accounts. That is, except for the ending. The game ended at 2-1 when Claude Giroux scored a goal in an OT shootout to clinch the playoff spot.

The question is though, is that how the playoffs should be decided? This is a relatively new way of ending hockey games and I won’t type here pretending I am a purist for the game; truth is I barely watch until the playoffs. I can’t help but feel like this is ending an NBA game with a free throw contest or a game of horse. I don’t think you should change the game for overtime. I’m looking at you college football.

Phil Mickelson Wins the Masters

The weekend started with Tiger and his story of coming back to golf after his self imposed hiatus and it ended with Phil kissing his wife whom herself was making her return to the golf course after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

From my point of view, both were pretty amazing. I want to be one of those guys who says Tiger’s personal life doesn’t matter to me but I can’t say that in one breath and then talk about what a great story Phil’s personal life is. It would be hypercritical for me to do both. So I will leave it at this, both men hit some amazing shots (Tiger’s shot at 9 on Thursday was probably the best shot I ever seen) and I look forward to these two battling for the coming years.

There also was some good showing by young guys (and older guys – Tom Watson still amazes me). Checking out Twitter this morning I was reminded while even though I make fun of athletes and their use of it, it can be a great medium for reaching out to fans (and vice versa).

Ianjamespoulter

(Ian Poulter)

Morning all, sitting in bed reading emails from last week, a bit disappointed with the result, but I guess you learn from mistakes made. On 1:31 PM Apr 12th 2010 from Twittelator

Here we have Ian Poulter who by all accounts had a great masters tweeting out to his fans and showing his disappointment. You could never have this type of closeness with ESPN or a CBS interview.

Thanks for the good show and reminding us how great golf can be.

Have you seen the new Nike commercial for Tiger at the Master’s?  If you haven’t here it is:

It’s probably the best piece of advertising in a long while.  You may not agree with it but I have seen this commercial around 1,000 times this morning.  It was on Good Morning America, ESPN, CNN, I think I even saw it on youporn.

You may ask why Nike would chance this by getting in bed with Tiger?  Why would Nike worship Tiger?  Why would Nike clean the dung off Tiger’s shoes?!?  THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR THAT’S WHY!!!

Sorry I just broke into the million dollar man there.

Apparently I am not the only one though…

ro72

(Roman Oben)

Finally saw #Nike #Tiger commercial. Too bad Earl can't speak for himself. I guess "everyone has a price"! *Ted Dibiase referece* On 12:15 PM Apr 8th 2010 from UberTwitter

Just for fun here some Million Dollar Man:

Most of you probably heard Tiger Woods is returning to golf this week and that he held a press conference this after.

thurmanthomas

(Thurman Thomas)

God Bless You Tiger Woods and Your Family. Mistakes are part of life, we learn from them... Still A Fan On 6:08 PM Apr 5th 2010 from Echofon

I agree completely with Thurman here. I thought the conference was good and he seemed very open. I just can’t wait to see the guy play some golf again.

And now another perspective,

ShaunPhillips95

(Shaun Phillips)

Tiger woods has a dope ass Nike shirt on during his interview. On 6:12 PM Apr 5th 2010 from UberTwitter

PGA_JohnDaly

(John Daly)

looking to release my album by Christmas---should be a great one too! On 1:43 PM Sep 29th 2009 from web

I forgot that John Daly is a semi-serious musician… and I thought, for one glorious moment, he was putting out a Christmas album.  That would have made my year.

I’ve never heard John Daly’s music.  I likely never will.  But I imaginehis Christmas album would sound just like Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Christmas Time Again”.  (Note: I have never heard that album either)