This Week in the Twitterverse Comment Count

BiSB

So Brian talked to me about potentially posting some front page stuff from time to time, but format, style, content, and side dishes are yet to be set in stone. If anyone has thoughts, I'm all ears. In the meantime, I present some of the relevent happenings on the Twitters from the last week or so. Enjoy.

People Weren't Hypersensitive about Derrick Green or Anything

As you may have heard, Derrick Green is a rather talented running back-type creature from Virginia who held an announcement on Saturday. And with all signs pointing toward Michigan, It would clearly take a lot to shake Michigan fans' collective confidence and get other schools' fans' hopes up.

Nope, never mind, that'll do it. Faced with two possible interpretations ("everything you have heard from dozens of insiders and paid professionals is wrong," or "I'd like to leave some suspense in this inevitable announcement"), a number of fans told Occam to take a coffee break:

As you know, Green proceeded to shock the world by doing what everyone pretty much expected him to do. And while Michigan rejoiced with Green's selection, several Auburn and Tennessee fans (and at least one State fan) took things less than in stride. The Big House Report chronicles a few people who should maybe sit the next round out. PROTIP: if you are thinking about taking to social media to wish spinal damage upon someone for choosing a college that displeases you... maybe don't? 

Confessions of a Derperous Mind  

You know how Bond villains always explain their diabolical plan to 007, thereby ultimately spoiling their chances to pull off the caper? Twitter has become the modern-day real-world slow moving groin laser thingy. A couple of players at Florida International decided to take a recruit to a strip club, and then to tweet that they had taken a recruit to a strip club. What say you, FIU defensive back Demarkus Perkins?

Look, I get it. College guys tend to like women. Recruits tend to like women. Strip clubs have women. And sure, recruiting trips probably involve women more often than not. But DEAR LORD dude. 

Seems Legit

For a few hours last weekend, Michigan looked like it had FINALLY secured the commitment of 2014 WR Rodney Davis. Davis tweeted (since deleted) that he had committed to Michigan, and exchanged tweets with Michael Ferns and David Dawson. There was only one catch: no one had ever heard of Rodney Davis. Neither Rivals, Scout, 247, nor ESPN had profiles for him. In fact, "one catch" barely overstates the case; Davis only had 8 catches for 118 yards and a TD for his entire junior year. Some folks laughed, some fretted, and some, predictably, hit the roof/bottle. And sure enough, the next day Davis tweeted:

@DreamTeam_RoRo1: Sorry For The Misunderstanding I Was Only On A MLK Trip And Did NOT Commit To University Of Michigan

Yeah, okay. Davis' argument is that when he meant he had committed to play football at Michigan, he really meant that he was spending a day in Ann Arbor. It's like that time you were playing Monopoly, and tried to bump your piece from "In Jail" to "Just Visiting." Or that time you were just "asking that hooker for directions." But who really deserves the blame here: the uncle who claims to have stolen your nose, or the entire fanbase who flips out because "HOLY CRAP, MY NOSE"?

But as strange as the Davis Incident was, it actually trumped in weirdness by Stanley Williams, a 2014 Georgia commit, giving an interview about how well his visit to Notre Dame went... when he didn't actually end up making the visit. It's one thing for a random high school kid to have some kicks by throwing Michigan blog circles into a tizzy over the alleged Snow White of all sleeper commits, but for a relatively highly-regarded recruit to do this is just odd.

I fear we have entered into the Lennay Kekua Era* of social media, in which people don't feel bound by "reality" or "things what had happened." Buckle up, folks, because this is going to get worse before it gets better.

[*PLZ NOTE: The Te'o jokes are approaching the shark with great speed. They've surpassed That's What She Said, and are quickly gaining ground on "Wasssaaaaap." YOLO status might be obtained within the week.]

Ron English Lives on Prey 

Former Michigan DC and current EMU head coach Ron English wins the "Succinct Yet awesome Twitter Profile of the Year" award:

I don't know what kind of Angry Bird the Rapacious Bird would be, but I'm guessing the game would be a heck of a lot easier (H/T @Nastinchka)

Attn: Mark Hollis

Kolton Parker (@koltonparker) authored this interesting piece about the Texas legislature attempting to prohibit its universities from requiring its student athletes to submit all their login information to a monitoring service that examines their social media contributions for inappropriate content. Apparently Texas and Texas Tech already require their athletes to submit to the service, which combs Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace (yep, MySpace, because why not) for such risque words as "Xploshun," "Muertoing," and "Bud Lite." Hooligans, I tell you. Ruffians.

There are a couple of problems with this proposal. They can try to prohibit the mandatory use of these services, but after the Freep Incident, we all know the phrase "practice is optional, but so is playing time." Coaches can be very persuasive, even in the absence of official rules. Moreover, I have it on good authority that many schools already have people who spend much of their day examining athlete social media for improper content (albeit primarily in the public domain).

But more to the point, if you think these companies can come up with an algorithm that can track inappropriate content, I scoff. My son is 9 weeks old, and he already knows slang that makes me cock my head. Besides, a tweet doesn't have to have "inappropriate words," to be embarrassing as hell to a University. Follow ur OWN social media policy.

Unrelated Tweet Of The Week

The Dallas Police Department has issued a look-how-many-points bulletin:

 

Comments

Noleverine

January 31st, 2013 at 2:48 PM ^

Love the idea as a regular feature, if you were up to it. Not sure how easy it would be to find enough stuff for a weekly edition, but if it were to encompass all of NCAA, I think there are enough stupid people out there to give you plenty of material.

Njia

January 31st, 2013 at 2:51 PM ^

Glad to see you haunting the front page, BiSB (can I call you 'Bizz'?). Congratulations on the 9 week old. You'll be sleeping through the night again before you know it.

Your wife never will.

Njia

January 31st, 2013 at 6:40 PM ^

Listen, ya bum ... "Before you know it" could mean anything. I'm in my mid-forties, I have two teenagers (one already getting recruited by college and university music programs) and wondering how in the hell I got here so quickly.

Rather be on BA

January 31st, 2013 at 3:18 PM ^

Awesome post.  I giggled in the library a few times.  I think the: "But who really deserves the blame here: the uncle who claims to have stolen your nose, or the entire fanbase who flips out because "HOLY CRAP, MY NOSE"?" part was my favorite.

maize-blue

January 31st, 2013 at 3:25 PM ^

That reminds me of Henry Poggi's father's account. (If it was real, that is) After his SEC vs. BIG recruiting remarks I saw people commenting back to him in a negative way. I was thinking that it may not be wise to do things like that. If Poggi was on the fence between the two schools stuff like that might help him decide against Michigan, who knows.

Bombadil

January 31st, 2013 at 4:07 PM ^

Awesome job BiSB. We're due with our first kid anyday now and I'm glad I've found more important passions in life than the authors of those negative tweets directed at Derrick.

readyourguard

January 31st, 2013 at 4:18 PM ^

I appreciate the effort it takes to comb through all the garbage in the Twittersphere for our enjoyment.   However, my faith in humanity is already skaken to the core, and a weekly thread devoted to Twitiots might be more than I can handle.

UofM Die Hard …

January 31st, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^

Those tweets are awful.  How can someone care that much about a kids decision for his future...ridiculous.

I would be bummed if he didnt pick Michigan but if he doesnt, oh well moving on.  I cant understand getting that mad and tweeting an 18 yearl garbage like that.

I am not on twitter, and its hard for me to believe anyone on this blog would tweet a recruit that picked Ohio State, Michigan State..etc over us.  Are there Michigan fans that do this?

The FannMan

January 31st, 2013 at 7:29 PM ^

I really enjoyed this.  Good read.  it is like TWIS, but for twitter.  Cannot lose.

One suggestion - maybe linking to such negative comments about a recruit is not a great idea.  I get that the point of the article you linked was to shame those losers who tweetted their fondest hopes that a kid they never met would suffer dire injuries.  My fear is that some of those people are not capable of shame.  They will, instead, be proud that their comments got a wider audience and found their way. albeit indirectly, to a Michigan blog.  There is a fine line here.  

By the way, Twitter needs a banhammer.  Can you ask Brian to get on that?

CharlesCarmichael

January 31st, 2013 at 11:04 PM ^

Is it possible that a current recruit would know the connection between this quote and the Fab 5? That's the first thing I thought of when I read the post, which made me think he was choosing Michigan, naturally.

Look Up_See Blue

February 1st, 2013 at 12:27 AM ^

It's really funny how all these idiots talk trash to Derrick Green on Twitter because he didn't pick the school they like. Where if he had chosen one of those schools he would've been the smartest kid in the world for doing so.



I live in the South, it really is funny the level of ignorance down here. Hats off to Mr. Green for Going Blue! He will be attending one of the most highly regarded institutions in the country.

Jonesy

February 1st, 2013 at 3:42 PM ^

I liked the tweet where the Vol fan inadvertently dissed his own school by saying Green won't be academically eligible at UofM and won't play a game...So you're saying your school is trash?  Good one, buddy.