For an NFL Athlete, Is Social Networking "The Wrong Move"?

Haha no

It is a generalization, maybe even a stereotype. But like most stereotypes, it is based in some percentage of truth.

Athletics may help the actual STUDENT-ATHLETE attain better grades, but it does not help the individual who knew he would be a lottery pick since he was a junior in high school. Also, I am not talking about grades…I am talking about EDUCATION. There is a HUGE difference between the two. And sorry, but if you think that over 75% of professional athletes are of above-average intellect, forgive me for saying that you are quite naive.

Now that I addressed the first paragraph of your comment, I will get into the final three, which all basically agree with what I said in my comment.

The problem isn’t intelligence, it’s a lack of common sense.

You are partially right…but the real problem is BOTH. Common sense can keep you from saying the obvious stuff like the racially insensitive or politically incorrect things. But intelligence is what keeps you from saying things that can be twisted into something insensitive. Take the Terrell Owens comments about Brett Favre for an example of that:

Asked for his thoughts on Irvin’s comment, Owens said: "That’s a good assessment, I would agree with that, just with what [Favre] brings to the table.
“A number of commentators will say he’s a warrior, he’s played with injuries. I feel like him being knowledgeable about the quarterback position, I feel like we’d probably be in a better situation.

Now, this is an issue with intelligence, not common sense. Whether or not you feel Favre would put you in a better situation or not, YOU JUST DON’T SAY IT AS LONG AS YOU ARE PART OF THAT TEAM. He was so clearly baited with the question that anyone of average intelligence would have sidestepped the question faster than Barry Sanders. But he didn’t…and not because of common sense, which he seems to have. Rather because of the intelligence he seems to lack.

Back to your quotes:

Plenty of NFL players are very intelligent individuals, but their athletic prowess has left them socially stunted, because through their lives, authority figures and, particularly, peers are far less prone to correcting them or telling them to check themselves than people are of the general population.

Their athletic prowess doesn’t leave them socially stunted. Quite the contrary…their athletic prowess makes them social magnets with people itching to be around them and offering them entrance to places otherwise blocked. The problem is that the authority figures will not only be less prone to correct them, they are more willing to look the other way on the fundamentals they require out of other students. They get a pass in the classroom because the teachers don’t want to be the one to flunk the next Micheal Jordan OR, and possibly worse, the teachers themselves look up to the player or want to leech off of them going forward.

This, in turn, causes a lack of a filter, and a lesser ability to understand what’s appropriate and what isn’t in particular social situations. Because of ‘social’ media, social situations can be initialized at any time, from anywhere.

Again, you pretty much agree with what I said. However, you fail to equate the lack of a filter to a lack of intelligence. There are only two things that can cause someone to have that “filter”. The first are experiences but, due to the nature of being a professional athlete, there is very little that they can do to get that experience prior to becoming one…in other words, by the time they get it, it’s usually too late and they are branded a loose cannon. The second that can cause you to get that filter is intelligence/education. Being smart enough to play chess…not just checkers. To be able to forecast the consequences of consequences from actions…three moves ahead.

It’s just the average fan getting a more honest look at the individuality of the professional athlete. Which isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Here is the third place you agree with me. I agree that it is INSANELY more entertaining to give someone a chance to blow up and have them, at times, actually do it. But, for the professional athlete, it can be career suicide. The reason? Even someone with the filter, with the education, and with the intellect, will mess up eventually when giving 24/7 access to the ability to instantly broadcast a thought or feeling. It’s just too easy to do to always get it right.

In conclusion, I am not being pessimistic. I am being honest. I have been around professional athletes before they were professionals, while they were professionals, and even after they were professionals and it isn’t their fault. However, the fact that a huge majority of the population of athletes in professional sports barely made a 700 on their SAT (many opting to forgo college in situations when they could just because they couldn’t), should tell you that my opinion is closer to the truth than yours.

The ever-looming caveat is the grand, grand majority who use ‘social’ media are not in it for journalistic or promotional purposes.

This is a blog about the Eagles, so I’m not going to go into detail about my personal loathing of ‘social’ media – but suffice it to say it’s replacing far more face-to-face interpersonal camaraderie than it ever should have, because people are more comfortable behind their computer screens (anonymous or not) then they are being around actual people.

Your capacity to not even consider else’s viewpoint other than your own is astounding.

Most athletes can’t think ahead that far. Media people know what their doing when they post on twitter. When an NFL Player posts , he is announcing that his named is being changed to 85 in Spanish. The bungles are a broke ass team , so how is twatter working out for them?