Lets take a time travel back to the
days of greats like Joe Namath, Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, and Wilt Chamberlin.
Back in their respected days you could have done pretty much anything and
gotten away with it.
For example,
Namath and his drinking, peeing on buildings, and fooling around with multiple
girls a night. Mantle would drink like a fish and was known for sleeping around
with different girls as well. Ruth was an alcoholic, and Chamberlin has said he
had slept with over a million girls in his day, yes a million.
Now imagine those
athletes now with twitter, instagram, snap chat, and Facebook. You think they
would use those social media tools to brag to others on what they did when the
game was over? Would Chamberlin snapchat people in his friend group the ten
different women a night he was sleeping with? Would mantle take an “Insta” of
the twelve pack he scarfed down before a division game against the Red Sox?
The answer we will
never know, but the guess is yes these players would have loved to use these
tools just as much as athletes in todays day love using them and love showing
everyone in the world what they do when the game clock expires.
The culture of the
athlete has always been the same. Now with a few exceptions, most athletes
dating back to the early 1920’s did what they wanted. There views were that
they were the chosen ones so they get to do what they want. The athletes have
always had the impression that they are above the law. With that being said, the
culture of the athlete has always been the same, there just weren’t social
media tools back in the day like twitter, instagram, and snap chat to have
these athletes exposing themselves like the athletes do today.
“ I think the athletes have always
been the same,” Rob Kulish Director of Athletic Communications at Rutgers
Newark said. “ The accessibility of those athletes whether by choice of not is
different due to twitter instagram, or any social context.”
Back in previous
years before any type of social media, athletes would get in trouble if they
were caught in the act. For instance, if a cop or sportswriter saw Joe Namath
peeing on the side of a bar he would either be arrested on the spot, or an
article the next day would show the picture the journalist took. Today though
it’s a different type of exposing the athlete. Today the athlete themselves are
doing the job and making it easier for the journalist. Social media has caused
athletes to really show their true colors by posting the stuff they post.
In 2014 Pablo Sandoval
third baseman for the Boston Red Sox was benched for liking pictures of women
exposing their breasts while he was using the bathroom during the game.
Or when Kenny
Britt Wide Receiver for the St. Louis Rams was suspended and fined for posting
him having sex with his wife on instagram. Yes, athletes are really doing this
stuff. Social media is exposing these athletes in ways no journalist have ever
exposed any athlete in anytime.
Everyday you see a
new athlete get in trouble using social media. Whether it’s a fine for cursing
off a ref because of a bad play, talking bad about the coach or organization
for not playing them enough, or just simply posting pictures or videos of them
doing illegal activities.
These incidents
are not just happening to professional athletes. This issue of social media
exposing the athlete who has always been this way stems from lower schooling.
Middle school, to high school, then on to college, and if these kids are lucky
enough then on to the pros. These kids when they’re younger look up to college
and pro athletes. With that being said, when you are a kid and you emulate athletes
who have made it you feel as if you need to act that way. You need to show
people you are the best, and not only by playing the sport you play but also by
acting and carrying yourself like you are untouchable.
“ From a young age kids are taught
to act a certain way,” Olumide Onajide junior basketball player for the Rutgers
Scarlet Raiders said. “ When your young and you see all these players walking
around wearing nice clothes, rocking all this jewelry, driving in these crazy
sport cars you think to yourself damn I want that life. So you build your
appearance, your way of outlook, and the way you carry yourself around these
guys”.
The culture of the
athlete has always been a villain to society. Social media now has exposed and
continuously exposes athletes to let people know what these athletes really do
behind the scenes. This isn’t the 1960’s anymore, this is 2015. Television,
radio, the Internet, apps, more news publications, twitter, instagram, snap
chat. There are so many more tools for athletes to get busted, but they still
show their ignorance in not caring and posting away.
Is it all about
not caring and thinking they are the best, or is it not enough people in the
teams front office to help guide these athletes in the right direction when
going about social media?
“ The NFL Players Association has
recognized the importance of training top draft picks on social media
etiquette. Throughout the Collegiate Bowl, a week-long event hosted by the
NFLPA in late January, the union have made it a priority to educate top
prospects on the dangers of tweeting their minds” said Jed Hughes Vice Chair of
Korn/Ferry and the leader of executive search firm’s global sports practice.
Teams in every sport are making
strides to help players better grasp a true understanding of what twitter and
other social media tools can do to your brand name.
“ It’s a sense of these players not
caring,” Anthony Ferro Rutgers Newark sophomore said. “ They’re either playing
high D-1 ball or making millions in the pros. Its kind of a bragging right that
these guys hold to other players. Who can get fined more and not have it hurt
their bank account. Some of these players are thinking, “so what I’ll pay this
20,000 fine I make 5 million a year.” It’s a sense of not caring and that is
what social media has done to the athletes. Exposing them to a degree that no
other publication has ever exposed them too.”
“ Scholars have looked at the
effect of the internet and social media on our levels of knowledge and way of
thinking. A growing body of evidence suggests that despite the unprecedented
breadth and depth of information available on the internet, today’s young
people are more ignorant than ever before” John V. Pavlik and Shawn McIntosh
mention in there book Converging Media. Is that an accurate correlation given
the fact that athletes in the past never had the tools to show their ignorance?
If athletes in the past had social media tools to let them express their
opinions and what they do behind the scenes it would be interesting to see how
ignorant they would have been. Many would argue just as much.
“ I feel there are a lot of
athletes that post what they want with the mentality that they have all this
money they can do what they want,” Eli Christian senior at Rutgers Newark said.
“ There’s always going to be athletes like that. For the most part in my
opinion it’s just people being people. Everyone says and does stupid things its
just these famous athletes that get exposed because they get paid for there
skill”.
In many cases
social media can be a great tool to help many different causes. To help raise
money for children’s cancer, hash tagging important things to raise awareness,
or to get people to help look for a missing relative by sharing their picture
on a social media site.
However, the way
the athlete has become since being exposed to social media has only made people
realize the athlete has always been the same, we just see more now because of
the tools to let these athletes expose themselves. Will this epidemic ever
change? Only time will tell, but from the looks of this it’s only the beginning
of a crazy reformation that will likely expand and become more of a problem.
Bibliography
Pavlik,
John V., and Shawn McIntosh. Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass
Communication. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.
Hughes,
Jed. "Bleacher Report." Bleacher Report. N.p., 13 Mar. 2013.
Web. 27 Oct. 2015.
Fittpaldo,
Ray. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [Pittsburgh] 16 Mar. 2011: n. pag. Print.
Foster,
Christine. Athletes Who Tweet:Differences in Audience Perceived Credibility
between Journalist and Athlete's Twitter Accounts. Diss. Rochester School
Of Technology, 2011. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
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