The invention, development and maintenance of social media may be one of the biggest technological advancements in the world of sports.
These platforms allow fans to get closer to the game, with highlights and analysis down to the very second, helping the fans to grasp an even deeper understanding of the game— or games— going on around them.
Social media also gives way for fans to communicate with athletes and reporters, whether it be by seeing what their idols are thinking or even straight up conversing with them.
Sometimes though, the latter is not always a good thing.
Since social media gives people power to communicate with professional athletes— or professionals from other industries who the public would not usually have direct contact with— some people use the platform to berate someone for their performance or any other reason, while sitting behind their computer screen or on their cell phone.
For example, as the fantasy sports industry has grown over the past decade or so, some fans have taken to their phones to attack a player for a bad game.
While a lot of players let it roll off their back and down their notification feed, some have voiced their displeasure with hecklers. For instance, when fans attacked Odell Beckham Jr. for not playing due to an early season injury, Beckham responded back, “No offense. I could care less about your fantasy teams. This is my real life.”
This is amplified in a time where politics are so pulverizing.
Tony DeAngelo, a defenseman on the New York Rangers, quoted a retweet about taxes by saying how he would rather pay less taxes than more taxes. Somebody quoted that tweet, saying “funny cause this guy is paid to play hockey, not be a politician and he isn’t so good at the hockey part.”
DeAngelo, 21-years-old at the time and coming off a rough game earlier that night, responded to the criticism. saying, “I’m [definitely] not a politician. I also don’t chirp people behind a iPhone.” The insignificant Twitter user, right smack dab in the middle of his 15 minutes of Twitter fame, went on to question his maturity level for retaliating.
21 years-old, how can we blame him?
The fact of the matter is, these incidents are embarrassing.
At the end of the day, these athletes are human beings and we need to keep that in mind. And whether it is an athlete, actor or whoever it may be, to sit behind a screen and berate them for their opinion, beliefs or a bad performance is the epitome of cowardliness.
Regardless of their status, it is bullying and there is no place for that in this world.
