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

So it’s a Sunday in April. Baseball season is in full swing but even better than that the NBA and NHL playoffs are on! Its the first round of both series so the games aren’t the most compelling (especially the NBA thusfar), but it is the playoffs. Let’s see what some of the athletes are watching tonight.

ChrisJohnson28

(Chris Johnson)

Just chillin watchin cops On 12:55 AM Apr 19th 2010 from UberTwitter

QuentinGroves54

(Q)

Wife: why are u sweating??? Me: I was watching Cops!!! On 1:01 AM Apr 19th 2010 from Twittelator

Hmm… fair enough, I caught up on Modern Family during the horrible afternoon NBA games.

Happy Sunday everyone, see you in the morning.

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.