Allan Walsh And 'Twittergate'

“Interesting stat of the night....Price is 10W, 32L in last 42 starts. Hmm.”

NHL player agent Allan Walsh's rather benign "tweet" on Saturday, November 7th has stirred controversy. Canadiens fans are taking offense while radio jocks and pundits are lining up to denounce Walsh (who represents Montreal's other goalie, Jaroslav Halak) for making such an obviously self-serving "public" statement.

Thus far, however, it's been mostly the medium that has been demonized. While Twitter has grown by leaps and bounds since it's inception and is currently employed by a number of journalists, teams and NHL players, it's still frequently viewed with either contempt or suspicion from a number of corners. "If you Twitter, you're a twit" was Sportsnet's Mike Brophy's take on the whole thing. He's not alone in his stance. 

Of course, railing against the vehicle by which the faux pas was delivered (rather than the transgression itself) is rather nonsensical: it misplaces responsibility for the action (that being on the actor, rather than the method by which he acted) and it denigrates a technology which is obviously bringing some kind of value to it's users (thus the rapid rate of growth). I suppose it's natural for a contingent of the MSM to be uncomfortable with social media tearing down previously guarded walls - but it still strikes me as funny to see the faux-rage that's been directed at Walsh for what is a fairly minor misstep. Not because of what he said, but the manner in which he chose to say it.