Social Media and College Athletes

Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban went on a tirade during a media press conference following the Tide’s win over Michigan. The subject: do not put down other teams or make early predictions because it takes away the players motivation.

While it is understandable that after a great game or an exceptional performance a college athletes’ ego can become swollen due to the praise they get from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. While sports journalism give fans a look into the players abilities on the field, social media is allowing fans to get closer to their favorite players than ever before.

Coach Saban was not mistaken in being frustrated with the media jumping the gun on Alabama’s success however; players being able to log onto a social media site and having hundreds even thousands of fans admiring them right on their cell phones isn’t helping either.

These sites are also giving players an outlet to speak their minds and, this isn’t always for the better. After some of his player tweeted inappropriate song lyrics about law enforcement, Florida State Coach Jimbo Fisher issued a Twitter ban for the rest of the year. Some might say that a total ban from social media for college athletes is taking it a little far but with thousands of followers these sites become bigger than the player.

For you or me Twitter and Facebook are ways to communicate with our friends but for college athletes they have become just another mistake waiting to happen. Whether it be fans influencing the players or, the players forgetting that what they say is being broadcast worldwide, the only sure thing is, we didn’t have these problems in the age of the Bear.