Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
John Farrell, the Blue Jays' new manager, said some silly things about Twitter yesterday:
"My own opinion is that for a player to get involved in that, they set themselves up for another distraction," the Toronto Blue Jays manager said Tuesday. "I can’t mandate anything to them, but [would] probably advise them to just let it be."
--snip--
"We’re not going to say they can’t do it. But I think they’ve got to be careful. If they’re going to engage in it, then they really need to be able to follow through on some of the things that might be put out there.
Gee, alarmist much? Aaron Gleeman really nails this one:
He’s right about the impostors, of course, but professional athletes can easily have their accounts verified by Twitter to remove any doubt about their identity. As for needing to be careful what players post on Twitter, that’s certainly true. However, it’s also true about what they say during radio interviews or how they look when fans stop them at a bar to snap a picture, or any number of other situations in which using good judgment is important for a public figure. Twitter is no different, it’s just newer.
Farrell comes across as an old man when he says stuff like this, but that's okay; young players see their managers as old men anyway. But all these young players have grown up with the Internet and social networking, and there's simply no way to put that genie back in the bottle.
8 comments
Comments
GET OFF JOHN FARRELL’S LAWN.
Sports And The City
A Toronto sports blog, where we miss the goddamn playoffs.
Twitter!!!1
by eyebleaf on Feb 23, 2011 2:17 PM EST reply actions
Maybe he’s just not a fan of reading all of Travis Snider’s tweets about bacon wrapped meats.
In Lou We Trust/Twitter
Nothing says "Be Mine" like a pounding heart beneath the floorboards.
by Kevin Sellathamby on Feb 23, 2011 2:20 PM EST reply actions
Does he think Twitter requires a contract to use?
If Derek Jeter clubbed a baby seal on earth day while wearing a mink coat and crocodile skin boots while burning tires on an iceberg, the reaction would be "Its OK Derek, you’re a Yankee." -First mammal to wear pants
by Tonley on Feb 23, 2011 2:33 PM EST reply actions
Wrong criticism
Now if he’d just said “I think Twitter that, for the vast majority of people, is a giant time suck with no redeeming value” then he’d have looked like he knew what he was talking about. :-)
Twitter does have some value in certain specialized use cases; but for every baseball reporter breaking news on Twitter, there are a couple thousand “OMG what my mom just said LOLZ!!!!” and “Twitpic of sandwich I just ate!!!!” tweets.
by Westside guy on Feb 23, 2011 3:59 PM EST reply actions
I’m a young man and I hate that every little thing an athlete tweets is a news story. I agree the genie is out of the bottle and there is no going back. But that doesn’t stop me from wishing it.
by Pflood83 on Feb 23, 2011 4:01 PM EST reply actions
What would you prefer Farrell had said?
“I’m afraid that most of our players are just too stupid to realize the shit-storms they can create by sharing every fleeting moronic thought that passes by their fingertips! Twitter’s great, because it opens the lines of communication directly between players and our fans. Unfortunately, most of our players shouldn’t be allowed to communicate directly with our fans because they’re mostly used to interacting with other over-indulged twenty-something year old men, and don’t realize what a significant portion of the world finds the way those guys interact annoying.”
Look at the ridiculousness that ensued after Cameron Maybin’s important thoughts on Panda Express. It created a headache for him and a variety of other folks, and all it served to demonstrate is that he’s got a grasp on the obvious (that Panda Express is to Chinese food what Taco Bell is to meat), and that he’s less than expert at trying to make amends.
by realitypolice on Feb 23, 2011 5:15 PM EST reply actions
Its a little funny...
given that player accounts are so damn boring. they make their quotes given in post-game recaps look like a victorian novel. seriously, all you ever get is 1) bible quotes 2) random “what’s up guys?” 3) plugs for their foundations and occasionally… occasionally, a short @ reply to a young woman with a private account
no point in following them, no point in teams freaking out
by Freneau on Feb 23, 2011 6:09 PM EST reply actions
You quote some of the article and then say Gleeman counters this. I’m confused because I don’t see anything about impostors in what you quotes Farrell as saying. Maybe there was some of that in the original you linked to, so why didn’t you quote that.
Looking at just what you quote, Farrell may be worried about players public reactions to player tweets and players may “have to follow through” on dealing with things that often tend to blow up based on somewhat innocent comments.
As for Twitter verification per http://support.twitter.com/groups/31-twitter-basics/topics/111-features/articles/119135-about-verified-accounts
Twitter’s public beta version of account verification is no longer available. After a long period of manual testing, we’ve closed public applications. We have removed our public-facing verification request form. In the meantime, we’re still verifying some trusted sources, such as our advertisers and partners. If you’re one of our partners or advertisers, please follow up with your account manager for details.
One of the comments above wonders if “Does he think Twitter requires a contract to use?” Well, there is a terms of service — http://twitter.com/tos — so yes they kinda do.
http://twitter.com/tos
by jesuswtf on Feb 24, 2011 2:51 AM EST reply actions
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