Everybody tweets, but should pro athletes join in too?
By: Taren Vaughan
Twitter has become one of, if not the most, popular social media networks in today’s society. For those who aren’t members of the “TwitFam”, it is essentially a social platform for people all over the world to keep each other updated on their daily activities. Excessive “tweeting” was once only done amongst the common folks of the world. Now celebrities have taken heed to the Blue Bird addiction, starting up their verified accounts left and right. These superstars have made themselves more available to their fans; some of them even take the time out of their hectic day to tweet their admirers back on occasion.
So being on Twitter allows famous people to become normal again? They can say whatever is on their minds just like every other person on there right? With a number of unfortunate mishaps, that statement is far from true.
One of the most recent incidents involved Denver Nuggets Carmelo Anthony. Anthony, who recently married long time fiancé LaLa Vasquez, is not too fond of the infamous Hip-Hop groupie Kat Stacks. And he made it known to well essentially the whole world. Kat Stacks “tweeted” a sexually charged comment about him that set Mrs. Anthony off. Her hubby followed shortly after with a tweet of his own:
“I got 5k for whoever see @ihatekatstacks and slap the s**t out her pigeon face a**. Real talk. U f****d with the right one now,”
Now come on Melo, did you really have to go there? And let’s not forget that the tweet was threatening Stacks so that could result in a criminal charge. I know Kat Stacks may have gotten under his skin but she, and nobody else for that matter is worth having a record. Anthony claimed his account was hacked but we will probably never know the real truth behind all that.
Carmelo Anthony is not the only pro athlete that has been punished for his “unruly” tweets. New York Jets Antonio Cromartie was fined $2,500 for complaining about camp food via Twitter. Seems silly doesn’t it? I mean if the food is bad, it’s bad. Well as it may seem like no big deal to us, the NFL was surely offended by his comments; enough to make him cough up some cash. Granted, the food may have been horrible, but his thoughts should have never hit the web.
Freedom of speech is supposed to be for all of us. But when you have a household name and make millions of dollars, that part of the constitution doesn’t apply to you, especially if you are making threats over the Internet. No matter how irritated the groupies make you or how awful the camp food is, pro players better learn to keep their thoughts to themselves. At the end of the day, playing a professional sport is a job.
Players receive paychecks, lucrative ones at that, for their performances. So as a representation of your team or organization, it is crucial that you watch your mouth. Now that’s much easier said than done. But when it begins to cost them thousands of dollars, I’ll bet players will learn how to bite their tongues a little more often. Even when you think no one is paying attention to your rants, they indeed are. Tweet with caution or don’t tweet at all.
