I know exaclty what you need.

Is it just me or does anyone else see the irony in fans supplying professional athletes with advice on how to train, play, or rehab from injuries? Let me first state that there are a few coaches out there who never played the sport that they coach. Mike Leach being a great example of one who has achieved a modicum of success. Additionally many athletic trainers or rehab specialists could probably offer some good advice but most professional athletes are surrounded with the best medical advice around. Having said that I somehow doubt that anything John Q. Public has to offer in the way of game strategy to his favorite player will make a difference in the next game.

I liken this to the mentality that surrounds Mormon Basketball leagues. Each congregation in a geographical area puts together a team of men from 18 to 98 to compete in a short season and tournament. For the most part there is a lot of sportsmanship and goodwill and not a lot of good basketball. It seems that every team however has one or two players who feel the eyes of the NBA scouts on them and who act like the NBA championship is on the line. Their play is sometimes skilled but usually more like they just had a hip replaced and their eyeglasses prescription needs adjusting (both are fairly likely).

People who love sports passionately will often act in utterly irrational ways because they've somehow tied their sense of identity and self esteem to their prowess on the court or their attachment to a team or player. Dodgers fans hospitalizing a Giants fan. Detroit Pistons fans assaulting Indiana Pacers players and the Pacer players reciprocating. Eagles fans raining snowballs down on the Jolly Old Elf himself. Fifty year old ecclesiastical leaders duking it out over contested shots on the basketball court. What in the world is wrong with people?

Emotion. I think that during our participation in sports as children and on up through adulthood our experiences are often closely tied to profound emotion. We played catch with dad in the backyard. We experienced "the Catch" on our living room floors with the family gathered around the TV. We "caught the fever" of whatever sports franchise was currently using that slogan. Those emotions bind us to our teams and sports and some people can't handle any form of attack on the institutions that they love and that love them in return. It boils down to "just a game" but it takes on a whole new meaning when that game involves a game that you or I have a vested interest in. 

Say it ain't so, Joe!!

I recently read a Facebook post by one of my high school buddies who is an avid member of Red Sox Nation.

"I feel like a part of me has died today! 7 Players from the 2013 World Champion Red Sox, were traded this week, 5 of them today. It doesn't feel right. I think that I will be watching a bunch of Red Sox in the World Series in October, except they will be playing for other teams. — feeling pained."

As social media has opened up more direct communication between fans and players, it seems that more traditional fans are having a harder time dealing with the comodification of their favorite athletes. As youth, they idolized their favorite players with full sized posters on bedroom walls and binders full of trading cards. Now fans can get "close"to their idols through twitter, Facebook and individual blogs like Kurt Schilling's 38pitches.wordpress.com. Para-social interaction is defined as one sided social relationships from fans directed towards celebrities. These relationships tend to create stronger bonds between the fans and the players they cheer for. 

That attachment comes with some challenges however. For a more in depth look at the rules for becoming a "true" fan check here. Players who go from team to team create fans who are either tied to the player and the fan ends up with a closet full of jerseys or the fan is tied to their team which constitutes a rotating cast of characters. Just like the mythological boy who reached out to Shoeless Joe Jackson fans want to feel a connection with their idols. But when the idol's value has reached its peak the fan finds himself torn between his love of the player whom he admires and the logo on his hat. 

Just ask Harvey Langi's fans.

It's not all bad...

I recently had the opportunity to speak to Jared Youngman the Vice President of the Utah Grizzles hockey team about the teams' social media practices. During that conversation I asked him what direction they gave players in regards to social media use.  This isn't a verbatim quote because I was standing on a ladder when he called me and had no way of writing it down but this is what he told me in a nutshell.

We don't necessarily tell them what they can and can't do, but they know that they represent the team and we certainly encourage them to be positive in promoting the team when they can. One of our players is very proactive with his twitter account and will reach out to fans and give out tickets when he can.

When I asked him about steps they take to ensure negative social media use doesn't occur he said;

Other than emphasizing that the players are the face of the franchise and that what they do reflects on the brand, we really don't have to worry too much about that. As a minor league franchise our players don't have millions of people following them on social media. If something bad did happen it wouldn't go viral at the same rate as someone with millions of followers would.

When I think about this conversation I feel like the gotcha culture pushed by thedirty.com and TMZ Sports are ruining sports media consumption. Fans tune in for the scores, and the highlights, and the dirt. Johnny Manziel's antics are bigger stories than anything about athletes who are actually starters and have played in actual professional games. There are likely hundreds of positive athlete stories that could not only help fans relate to athletes but possibly create fans from those who dislike sports for whatever reason. Instead of a story about Adam "Pacman" Jones "making it rain" in a strip club lets focus more on achievements on the field and the positive things many of these guys are doing in the communities they live in.

For instance Hines Ward has created Positive Athlete Pittsburgh Facebook page which highlights the good things athletes are doing, beginning with the little leagues on up to to the professional athletes in the Pittsburgh area. I really like the way Mr. Ward thinks. The more we, as media consumers, focus on the good things athletes are doing and the less we care about their drunken debauchery the more positive role models we see and they get a greater opportunity to influence our kids and grand kids. "

See kids it's cool to (insert good deed here)."
 

@AndyDPhillips kicked a 54 and 52 yard field goal in @Utah_Football scrimmage. Afterwards, he was fixing a flat tire pic.twitter.com/mi2ApEqFjo
— Brandon Scott Barlow (@brandonbarlow64) April 5, 2014

"Don't ever take sides with anyone against the family"

In an oft quoted line from the 1972 motion picture The Godfather, Mike Corleone lets his older brother know that dissent from the "family" carries severe consequences. He underscores the notion that family is family and business is business but that the business ultimately comes first. Now, I will not go so far as to say that sports organizations are run like the mafioso, but Chris Kluwe might.

Post by Chris Kluwe.

Kluwe punted for the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL for 8 years. He was a decent punter on the field and a determined social activist off the field. His support for same sex marriage and for other athletes  for supporting same sex marriage put him at odds with the Vikings organization. The full story is told here by Kluwe on deadspin.com. His documentation of his perception of events helps to cast him in a sympathetic light and his seeming interest in using his influence for a cause he believes in is admirable. He even identifies Vikings owner Zygi Wilf as encouraging his advocacy for same sex marriage. However, according to Kluwe, the Vikings organization saw his repeated attempts to speak out on social issues as insubordinate and damaging to the Vikings brand. They repeatedly advised him to stop and when he didn't, again according to Kluwe, they began distancing themselves from him and eventually released him from his contract.

Hypothetically speaking if I am a garbage man and I have a twitter account from which I support a controversial subject like same sex marriage nobody outside my circle of social media followers is likely to care. The only way my employer is likely to care is if their personal beliefs conflict with mine but since my ranting and raving is not likely to affect the company there is little he or she can do to silence me. If however I am a part of a large prominent sports organization who butters its bread by being in the national spotlight, and I now have relevance because of my association with that organization, and I use that relevance to speak my mind about controversial subjects or advocate causes of my choosing I have to navigate carefully to avoid "going against the family." What I do and say has the potential to hurt ticket and merchandise sales. If I hurt the bottom line I may not be sent to "sleep with the fishes" but I'll have plenty of time to sleep while fishing.

I absolutely agree with Chris Kluwe's right to speak his mind and use his position as an NFL player to advocate for whatever cause he wants. I also agree that if his depiction of events is accurate, that the Vikings organization has a long way to go as far as tolerance is concerned. One of problems here is the lack of a specific policy for social media use and more specifically a policy outlining the appropriate use of social media to support causes. This policy should be explicitly understood by both coaches and players. If Coach Priefer knew what Kluwe was given permission to do it may have made a difference in how Kluwe was treated or at least given him some recourse for grievances. Instead Kluwe opted to take the team  to the mattresses.

Even if you're bad at it, you can still be good

It is obvious to most people that skill and discretion are not prerequisite for using social media. From college athletes tattling on their own inappropriate actions to the adult equivalent of schoolyard name calling, social media users are quite adept at putting their cyber feet in their cyber voice hole. Just recently NBA rookie Joel Embiid made quite a gaff when attempting to smooth talk none other than Kim Kardashian. It wasn't until one of his followers alerted him to the fact that Kim is actually Mrs. Kanye West that Embiid realized his mistake.

Oh I didn't know you were married sorry @KimKardashian just saw it from the fan's tweet... have a nice day
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 16, 2014

The platform available for athletes to connect with their fans is more like a balance beam. It takes skill and restraint to use facebook, twitter, and even blogs to engage with fans and followers without looking like a doofus.

Unless your name happens to be Johnny Football. Mr. Manziel seems to be impervious to the effect social media abuse or over exposure has on most professional athletes other than being annoyed by the negative attention. He attends training camp during the week and then hops a plane to Las Vegas for a weekend of debauchery. He takes selfies with scantily clad party goers, flaunts his wealth, and displays his drunken revelry for all to see. All without the slightest care about who will see it or what they might say. I have no problem with this. Live la vida loca. If you are in your fifteen minutes of fame you'd better make the most of them. The thing that confuses me is that he hasn't played a down of professional football or even earned the starting spot on his team. He is likely the second most covered professional athlete on ESPN, all for his antics and yet we don't know if he can even play football at the professional level.

It would seem that all this attention and hype will amount to nothing if Manziel's football skill turns out to be similar to Tim Tebow's. Everybody loved Tebow untill they discovered that his abilities as a college quarterback didn't match his skill as an NFL quarterback. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Manziel might be the reincarnation of John Elway or Dan Marino. He may be this decade's Ryan Leaf. Despite his unproven gridiron abilities he's nailed the social media thing because we are all talking about him for it. 

The "Emperors" new prose.

The timing of this weeks discussion about athlete media use couldn't have been planned any better. On Friday July 11th Lebron "King" James announced through an essay co-authored by Lee Jenkins that he was returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the article he states "I’m doing this essay because I want an opportunity to explain myself uninterrupted." Way to take control of the message Lebron! Lebron's announcement shows a seemingly matured, media savvy approach to his brand. A bright contrast to "The Decision" of four years earlier, which came off as arrogant and contrived. After his announcement to "take his talents to Miami" in 2010 Cleveland fans were burning his jersey in the streets and Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert shot off a vitriolic letter criticizing James and calling him a traitor. Fast forward to 2014 and the announcement of the return of the King caused grown men to shed tears and the break out of spontaneous celebrations.

What was the difference? Aside from Cleveland's dearth of championships since the beginning of the Superbowl era I believe that the message James sent was framed properly and was what Cleveland area residents wanted to hear. That the best player in a sport had chosen to come to Cleveland because he wanted to. Framing was crucial in this case. Reporters may have told the story correctly but then attempted to place the decision to return within their idea of the appropriate context which may not have agreed with Lebron's motives. For example one might say that the only reason he chose to come back to Northeast Ohio was to make as much money as possible. While that may or may not be true, its not the way any athlete wants to be perceived (it's never about the money, right?). By addressing the fans directly in a close approximation of his own voice, James owned the message and delivered it well. Kill the fatted calf, the prodigal son has returned!      

Downtown soaking it all in and ran into other LeBron revelers! #TheKingIsBack #GoCavs #CavsGoodKarma pic.twitter.com/SHcBBBazlE
— Roel Seballos (@DoUKnoTheRealTP) July 11, 2014

I'd rather be impaled by a unicorn than play fantasy sports.

Don't get me wrong, I am a sports fan. I have been a University of Utah football season ticket holder for the past 8 years. I love baseball, I watch the Olympics, and I have even stopped to watch a soccer match or two. I yell and scream and cheer when the game is exciting but I am not a trash talker. In fact I'm almost relieved that the BYU vs. Utah rivalry (scroll down three spots) is taking a break for a few years because in past years I would sometimes dread going to church and hearing the lip from all the diehard Cougars. As I stated earlier I am a Utah fan but I don't have any hard feelings toward BYU. I want to see all of Utah's colleges do well. I hate idiotic Utah fans just as much as I hate idiotic BYU and Utah State fans. That may be what makes me a poor fantasy sports player.

At least compared to the players I know. They seem to take great pride in winning but even greater pride in rubbing their victories in each others faces. The amount of trash talk that goes on within the couple leagues I have friends in is a major portion of the game for them. ESPN.com even has a couple articles committed to supplying fantasy sports trash talkers with "shut down lines." That just doesn't fit with my personality. I am more of a "let the outcome speak for itself" kind of guy. And because the outcome of my attempts to play fantasy sports have not been anything to write home about, there isn't much gratification for participating.  

Given my many time restraints I would just rather watch the game than try to figure out which players I should "play," which of my running backs is facing the weakest defense, or who has a "bye week." To spend even just a few minutes a day looking at a roster of athletes who I may or may not know anything about (likely the later) and try to predict their impact in an upcoming game is just not worth it to me. My buddies say that their appreciation of the game and their enjoyment of the sport has increased but they also drop $150.00 every year to participate and reap large payouts if they make the playoffs. If you read my earlier post on gambling you'll know where I stand on that issue.

When I was eight or nine, I remember watching my cousin Chad and one of his friends playing a fantasy baseball game that involved baseball cards and dodecahedron dice. It WAS like Dungeons and Dragons for sports fans (and I wrote this post before I found the meme). Not surprisingly I am not a big fan of role playing games either. Granted the stats were from the previous season but the idea was similar. They were playing a game using real players statistics and introducing an element of chance. I get the entertainment value in the processes of fantasy sports and I can see the enjoyment many people derive from participating, but it's just not for me. Bring on the unicorn.