COLUMN: Be careful what you tweet out
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 5, 2018 3:07 AM
My first attempt to send a social media post was awkward, to say the least.
At that time, characters were limited.
Abbreviations were the norm.
Short, sweet, to the point.
And right when I tapped "tweet" on my phone, I missed the next play.
OK.
I had to regroup, think of another strategy.
Once I got the hang of tweeting, it became a snap ... er ... a tap.
Since the introduction of Twitter, Snapchat and Pinterest, folks worldwide have been posting whatever they like. Some are pretty good, entertaining in fact. Others, you just want to find the person and ask them "what were they thinking?"
Unfortunately, a handbook explaining the "dos" and "don'ts" of tweeting has not been written.
Honestly, it's a matter of common sense.
In just the last couple of weeks, several Major League players have been called out for insensitive tweets they posted when they were foolish, brash teen-agers who just wanted to spout off about what was bothering them at the time.
Now, they're all taking sensitivity training.
Some days I'll scan my personal account and either smile, laugh or scratch my head in disbelief.
One recent tweet left me dumbfounded.
A young man proudly proclaimed that he had accepted a Division I football offer through that school's Twitter account. The assistant coach, in a wise move, decided to follow him.
A few days later, the player used some offensive language in a post that caused the coach to re-evaluate the recruit's character. He wrote a short note expressing his disappointment in the four-star player who had interest from other Division I schools.
The coach rescinded the scholarship offer.
I decided to call a college recruiter that I know.
He said he's experienced the same thing on numerous occasions and added that he didn't "hesitate" to pull a few scholarships off of the table. The decision upset those involved, but they also understood why it was done.
It's become a hard lesson for athletes to learn.
Words matter and have power when you send out a tweet or post on Instagram.
Carefully consider what you say and use the words for good, rather than harm.
Once they are out, you can't take them back.