by Rex Robinson
EDITORIAL
opinions
Former Players Must Remain Mum?
May 21st
A truly hot topic today is the brewing verbal sparring match between former Chicago Bears greats, Gale Sayers and Mike Ditka and present day stand-out Brian Urlacher. Sayers was speaking to a group in Nebraska earlier this month, and pointed out some question marks for the Bear’s 2010 season. Namely Jay Cutler’s sub-par year and Urlacher’s return from off-season surgery on his wrist. Urlacher took exception(click here).
Instead of answering the specific questions Sayers posed, Urlacher went on the offensive. “How many championships has he won?”, speaking of Sayer’s career, etc, etc. If you listen to the video or read the article linked, you will probably understand that Sayers was not taking cheap shots at his old team, but based on last year’s performance, speaking the truth. But does speaking the truth even matter in this situation?
Many of you realize that I got into some hot water last season by choosing my words carelessly in some blog posts. In my situation as well, I felt strongly that some of the negatives I pointed out were true, but many Georgia fans feel I as a former player should never, ever speak ill of the program. I don’t think that’s fair. As long as the statements are based in reality and are not some inflammatory position taken just to recieve page-views as some bloggers are wont to do, then it’s all good.
I have learned a lot in my year of blogging, but I will always try to be honest. I may lose some fans, but maybe I will gain a few in the process as well.
At the risk of opening old wounds, what say you Dawg fan?
Roethlisberger at Scene of the Slime
Mar 11th
It remains to be seen if Ben Roethlisberger is guilty of sexual assault, but one verdict is in. He’s a schmuck. Sure he’s only 28, but to resort to hanging out in a small college town such as Milledgeville and Georgia College with 18-21 year old GIRLS is unseemly. Now he has admitted to sexual “contact” with the girl in question.
I talked to my youngest son, who is a senior at GCSU and usually goes to Capital City, the “scene of the slime”. He usually goes on Thursdays, but didn’t go last week. He has plenty of friends that did though. What he described to me was like any scene from your favorite movie depicting a King sending out his guards to bring in an endless procession of young maidens. Once in the inner sanctum(VIP Room), he was able to check them out and grab some ass. Not just one, but many. Schmuck.
Schmuck is most often used in American English as a pejorative or insult, meaning an obnoxious or contemptible person; one who is stupid, foolish, or detestable.
Now, their is no law against being a schmuck, but Ben has put himself in a bad situation for a second time and has created the perception that he has issues with women. At the very least he has proven that he sees them as playthings here to do his bidding. It may come out that it’s much worse than that.
Ben in better times. Not last week.
Am I missing something? Am I just an old fart? What say you?
College Football and Social Media
Feb 24th
There are quite a few Georgia Bulldogs who jumped in the deep end of social media in 2009. From Facebook to Twitter, and probably some Myspace thrown in for good measure, being “social” with friends we don’t know has become all the rage. Although, I can see some positive aspects to this phenomenon, the negatives keep piling up in my mind’s eye.
Going back to last year when I jumped in the pool myself, it was interesting to connect with so many Dawg fans of all ages. As a former player, it was fun and a little bit of an ego boost to be perfectly honest. I can’t even imagine how crazy it could get for a present day player….wait, yes I can.
I have followed Jeff Owens and Mike Moore from the beginning of the 2009 season. I added Darryl Gamble, Tavarres King, Neland Ball, Bacarri Rambo, Drew Butler and AJ Green. Along the way I picked up on some players from other teams as well. I’m going to hold off on their names, you’ll understand shortly.
On the surface one would think it would be great to follow and understand the day to day routine of a college football player. At times it was true, but there were other times it was disappointing. When the season did not go according to plan, it gave over zealous fans the ammo they needed to criticize some players. It was ugly.
One in particular was Jeff Owens, who tweeted early and often about his daily grind, never missing an opportunity to let his followers know when he got his grub on. Jeff received some some serious heat after the Florida game, I believe it was. In addition, none other than David Pollack was relentless in in the fall, telling #95 to try a salad from time to time. Sometimes brutal, sometimes funny, but #47 was really just trying to help I think.
This has been a bad week for college players and social media. Elijay Fields of the Pitt Panthers was dismissed for pictures he posted on Twitter (click and also see picture below). If thats not enough, try Oregon’s Jamere Holland, upset because he thought,(mistakenly) that one of his boys had been kicked off the team for a DUI. He let loose on Facebook and now he’s the goner(click).
Like I mentioned earlier, I have been following some players from other schools besides Georgia and I have seen Tweets about partying, getting high and even one guy watching his room mate having sex in the room. It’s crazy. It’s like these kids think the only ones reading it are their friends and or team mates.
Another example is the fan pressure exerted on Facebook pages during recruiting season. Da’Rick Rogers was supposedly bombarded by Georgia and Tennessee fans. Now Rogers and Baccari Rambo have had a verbal sparring match online. It seems to have subsided for now, but I have a feeling it’s not over(click).
All in all, as a fan I think social media is cool. It gives you an unequaled access to players and their thoughts day to day. But the abuses are so numerous, if I were a coach, I would want my players to steer clear. I think any player willing to risk exposing himself to the fringe that exists out there, better be thicked skinned, because people will put you on blast in a hurry. And by all means watch the “Twitpics” and keep your mouth shut!
My own personal time on Twitter and Facebook has been dwindling because of having to devote more time to my business, but I feel sure when the season gets here, I will be among those barking…
Gooo #Dawgs!
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