Twitter: Taking over the sports world

July 13, 2009 by Sage Sammons 

Between professional athletes and the mass media, everyone is tweeting

Have you, the fan, ever wondered what goes through the mind of an athlete as he has just scored a game changing touchdown? We might find out soon.

Chad Ocho Cinco has promised the world that he will be tweeting from the sidelines during the games this fall— which makes me think: is Twitter becoming too much?

It is one thing to be a fan and see what goes through Steve Nash’s mind every few weeks. Or read what Shaquille O’Neal is making fun of next. But after every time you come to the sidelines, you’re going to tweet? That is just a little over the top, but that’s Chad Ocho Cinco for you.

In the sporting world, Twitter has become extremely popular within the last six months. Everyone from professional athletes to media outlets all find time to tweet and its becoming a little ridiculous. Media outlets use it to get fan’s input. Athletes use it to show fans what they are thinking, even if we do not care.

Twitter is supposed to bring the fan closer to the athlete. I do not feel any closer to Shawne Merriman now than I did two months ago. Yes I might know what is going through his mind every 15 seconds, but I find that a little unnecessary.

And it’s even starting to hit closer to home. Lon Kruger recently signed up for Twitter. He has posted a few things about summer league basketball, but nothing really big. At least he doesn’t update every 20 minutes.

Twitter developed from a social network site to keep people updated on what friends or other people are doing to a media hot bed where fans chime in every so often on a topic. It is also a place where athletes share their thoughts, no matter how useless they may be.

From a fan’s perspective, you get to see how your favorite player feels about a certain game or anything else, really. And that part of it is cool. It’s the constant updates that are extremely annoying.

Yes, I may dislike it, but some good has come from Twitter. I now know that Steve Nash will cameo sometime this season on Entourage.

Maybe the games have become more personable for fans with Twitter. I just find it a little ridiculous that a player is going to mentally leave the game to tweet. You’re a player; you have the rest of your life to play on Twitter. Right now, just play the game.