The ugly side of sports: Social Media

Everyday, millions of people turn on their TV's, tune their radios, stream live feeds online or follow their social media feeds to access their favorite teams or big games. Fans are obsessed, I won't be a hypocrite, I am obsessed with my teams and want to see them win, they love the game, sit on the edge of their seats waiting for something amazing to happen while they drink beer, eat fried food, and go crazy when a big play happens or complain when someone messes up. At the end of the day, they are either filled with the joy of victory or the remorse of a loss. That is sports, there is always going to be a winner and a loser (unless its soccer or the stupid NFL rule).

Social media gives a person to say whatever they want behind a phone, or a computer screen and that is great, people have every right to do that. However, that is where the ugly side comes in. The biggest problem people have is forgetting that the players, those highly skilled, remarkably athletic athletes are people too. They seem to forget the fact that those athletes have given their life, made sacrifices, worked their butts off to get to where they are. Yes, there are those athletes like Michael Jordan who are the Greatest to ever do it, but most will always be marked as "average". Lets get one thing straight, they may be "average" or "bad" at the professional level, but by no means are they an average athlete. They are playing the game at literally the highest level possible with the greatest athletes in the world, compare that athlete to the average "Twitter sports guru", well there is no comparison. Going back to the point of people forgetting these athletes are, at the end of the day real life people and not just robots who play once a week or every other day. Every day, you see these people hidden behind their screens, judge, hate, disrespect and sometimes even say raciest comments towards a player or a coach. It is absolutely disgusting to see some of the things that are said to these athletes. Now not everyone uses social media for this, because they understand the basic concept of respect. The area that bothers me the most, College athletics. Professionals, for the most part, have learned to avoid or ignore social media. However, in college athletics, people seem to forget that those athletes, those people, are college students who are playing a game that they love at a high level, not for money, but for the love of the game. They do their absolute best, to do something that not everyone can say they did. Yet they have people who are their own age, younger and even older than them, hating on them, telling them they suck or they are worthless. Where is the humanity? that is someones son or daughter, who has watched them, helped them, did everything they could for them to reach that level. Imagine if it was your kid, your brother or sister, or even you, how would that make you feel? Yes, most people realize that people who troll social media are low life's or jealous, but not everyone does, especially athletes of different races. Sometimes things are hard to ignore, especially when you go after a person of a different race, religion or gender. That is the reason why racism is still alive in this country, in this world. But that is a subject for another day.

I mentioned earlier those people who are "twitter sports gurus" those who claim everything they say is fact. Those people to me, are the most annoying, dumbest people on twitter or facebook. Don't get me wrong, there are some highly educated, sports minded people out there who actually understand what sports are all about because they have either played it at the highest level or been around it long enough, they may not always be right, but they give great analysis on the games and such. Yet there are people out there, uneducated, bias, and ignorant who thinks they are always right. Living in Chicago, I experience this first hand, with every sport, every year. It drives me nuts. I believe, that Chicago sports fans are the best fans in the world, when the teams are winning. Start losing, it is a very different story. I understand first hand how frustrating it is, I hate seeing my teams lose. I also understand that whining or complaining to the local sports radio saying stuff on the radio, for example, "Fire everyone, cut everyone, start from scratch, theses bums suck." or my personal favorite, "I wish I was a packers fan." (for all you non bears fans or those who don't understand the Bears-Packer rivalry, its like getting stabbed in the back, with a 20 inch knife, its basically a sin. Not that I feel that way but you get the picture.) What fans forget to realize is that they aren't going out and intentionally trying to lose the game. Heck sometimes they forget that losing ACTUALLY HAPPENS in sports. It's crazy, my friends actually WANT the bears to lose. These "die hard" fans actually want their team to lose, that just doesn't add up in my mind. Another things that fans everywhere also need to realize, all these "game changing" adjustments that their team "NEEDS" to make are usually wrong. Newsflash people, you may think you are a sports genius and know everything, but there is a reason why you are sitting in front of your TV or in the stands and the players and coaches are on the sidelines. Do the coaches make the right calls or right adjustments all the time? No, of course not. But that adjustment that they are to "stupid" or "need" to make, is not being made for a reason. Don't you think if they saw something in the game or in the hours of film they have watched or in the years of experience they personally have from understanding the game. Being a former athlete and current coach, has helped me understand how much time and effort goes into making a game plan. It has also helped me realize how ignorant most fans are. Loses happen, yes it hurts sometimes, but once it is over, you cannot change it as bad as you want too, you have to move on. That is a message that is not understood by the average fan, move on, spending every day of the week complaining and ranting on why your team didn't win isn't healthy and downright pointless. Fans have a right to be upset after losses, but trashing the coach or the players is pointless. Root your teams on, celebrate victories, enjoy the beauty of the game, consider yourself lucky to watch the most athletic people in the world play a game they love and understand that there is a reason you are a fan and not a player or a coach.


Side note: Fans are always going to trash talk with one another. and the argument of "MY TEAM IS BETTER THAN YOUR TEAM, I DONT CARE WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE WRONG AND I AM RIGHT" Is not a valid argument and you look really, really stupid, its actually comical and assures the person you are arguing with that they won.

I'm thinking about posting other topics like this, because I feel the beauty of sport has been lost in society, money, and so on.

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed, Have a great day.

they are not real people, just pixels on a screen...

a reply to: IShotMyLastMuse

I see what you did there....

a reply to: solemind4

You've made some great points....I would like to take this a bit farther by saying maybe it's time for a moratorium on all sports...these "gifted athletes" can go try to find a real job and the rest of us turn ourselves inward to get involved with this dying country and try to turn us around before we go down the drain. There are so many similarities with past empires that fell inward to the excesses of its disconnected people who became more obsessed with sports, games, toys, etc. than paying attention to the huns knocking at then down our gates. I don't care who wins the next Stupor Bowl or whatever or self - proclaimed WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP.... Its meaningless!! Remember the earthquake in San Fran during the world series? How even the players were saying the game meant nothing during and right after the ground shook? Whats gonna happen when our ground shakes again, from pipe bombs and other acts of terrorism.
America....time to stop playing games and wake up!.... Mow the grass, paint the house, fix the roads and bridges, build the fences to keep the hoards away a bit longer....

Try facebook on a little league!
I'm vice president of a girls softball league with about 200 girls and damn the dirty laundry.
people bitch about everything. Apparently we use the wrong brand of hotdogs in the concession stand.
I had one lady bitching about getting her windshield busted at our park.the funny thing is that we didn't even have games that day. Didn't matter. Our fault.

a reply to: nomickeyshere


You are completely wrong.
The country needs distractions from the daily grind. A person that is focused on the negatives 24/7 will end up with depression and a gun in their mouth. Some choose books or movies for this distraction others choose sports.

a reply to: nomickeyshere


I understand where you are coming form, I really do. I agree that most athletes are quite over paid, especially today, however The reason they are overpaid is because the business side of sport is all the corporations and their "well where is the money in that" attitude. I could go on and on about my hatred for the business side of sport because it is something that I want to change. However, you said they should get "real jobs" is this not a real job? Yes they get paid to play a simple game, but it is a job, a demanding job. The amount of work that goes into being a athlete is just as hard as any other job and in some cases harder. On top of it they are doing something that they love, at one point in time, they never got paid for this, most of them probably had those "real jobs" you are talking about.

As for societies roll, I agree, I wish people understood how much we have been lied to, manipulated and all that stuff, but I need to be honest, without sports, Football in particular, because I am currently coaching. I would lose what is left of my mind.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

oh gosh..... best of luck with that, seriously. Parents are crazy, especially if their kid doesn't play or get a trophy.

Sorry, but I see no reason in spending any time watching other people play sports.

That would be the same as myself, as a reader, watching someone write a book. Perhaps fascinating for a few minutes, and the correct amount of respect given for the work involved, but at some point, pointless.

If sports are so much fun, why aren't you out there doing the sport yourself? Or is that too much like work?

a reply to: signalfire


Are you seriously asking why a 43 year old man (me) doesn't still play tackle football?

I like sports but can't understand how anybody can watch soccer or nascar. So i can understand what your saying. I just disagree. ..

a reply to: solemind4

Sports are a further burden on our controlled society.
The fact a man can make more than a teacher or EMT by doing absolutley nothing for humantiy sickens me. Take the millions their paid and send it towards something benificial.
Stomp out the MINIMUM wage, Create a MAXIMUM wage.

a reply to: signalfire

I understand why you feel that way. but to answer your question, I have played sports, at the collegiate level and it was fun, some of the best moments in my life. And I am currently coaching at the collegiate level, I enjoy it a lot.

With that said, sports are not for everyone and I respect that. some people take lessons differently, and honestly if it werent for sports, I probably would be as open minded as i am.

originally posted by: MGaddafi
a reply to: solemind4

Sports are a further burden on our controlled society.
The fact a man can make more than a teacher or EMT by doing absolutley nothing for humantiy sickens me. Take the millions their paid and send it towards something benificial.
Stomp out the MINIMUM wage, Create a MAXIMUM wage.

I don't think I ever said anything about me agreeing with the wages they earn. I dont think you understand what my article was about. I was talking about social media, the fans and how they approach sports the wrong way. My greatest traits came from sports.

While I do believe that they get over paid, a lot. You are overlooking the fact on how much they give. most athletes have charities that they put millions of $ into every year. most of them focus on schools and keeping kids off the street and safe. So to say theyre doing nothing for humanity is a little extreme.


before you go blaming the athletes for playing a game they love, take a look at why they get paid that much and who pays them that much, not just the Organizations, but the corporate sponsors who support the leagues.

sport also helps kids get into college, because not all of them play in the pros. Sports are the reason they have a chance to be a teacher or an emt or anything they want.

Reading these responses makes me think you all played without sufficient head protection.

Go read about concussions and micro-neuronal shear injuries; maybe many young boys and men crap at spelling and reading skills because they've spent their childhoods and young adulthoods crashing into each other and things.

Or, maybe this is just the result of the testosterone effect and the planet is doomed. Between all your fake wars (Go Patriots!) and real wars (go Patriots!) you're covering the planet with dead bodies and depleted uranium.

a reply to: IShotMyLastMuse

My team is the best no matter what, is of course silly and the whole idea of this is so flash by..its social media here today , gone in 3 seconds , any real fan knows how debate his or her strehgths and weakness and make a valid arguement