Twitter ban? Yes or no.
Put yourself in the position of Brady Hoke. Do you impose a Twitter ban? Yes or no.
I say, "Yes." Just as with "Nothing good ever happens when you are out after 1 am," nothing good ever happens on Twitter. At least, nothing good for Michigan football players ever happens on Twitter.
This comes up because, according to Reid Fragel (Grosse Pointe South/Ohio State University), in what must surely be his last Tweet until he is drafted as a tackle in the fourth round by the Lions, he says that Coach Meyer will be imposing a Twitter ban:
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:37 PM ^
I'd like to think as a coach that I could treat my players like adults and let them twitter away. But a lot of people get in trouble that way. I think if it were me the team would be on Twitter, but with mandatory seminars on it and the understanding that one step over the line means that not only your own, but your teammates' privileges will disappear.
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:49 PM ^
He sucks and will cheat. This is all PR bullshit. Buckle up buttercup.
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:59 PM ^
Paul Azinger @PaulAzinger
Urban Crier stops all OSU players from tweeting..What's next? Getting them to turn down cash and cars? C,mon man!
January 3rd, 2012 at 3:11 PM ^
Paul Azinger = Florida State. There's some history there.
Even Azinger, who is a very intelligent guy with a wealth of remarkable personal and professional background, manages to make himself sound dumb on Twitter.
January 3rd, 2012 at 3:11 PM ^
Urban has probably had more than a few negative experiences with his players tweeting but I don't think an outright ban is the best response.
High School and College players use Twitter as thier first real glimpse of celebrity - and they enjoy the attention. To take that away from them can't be good for recruiting/team management. I'm sure that the kids are going to regret some of their tweets, but they will learn to be more responsible.
Hell, I regret the copius amounts of alcohol I consumed on NYE - but the answer isn't to put a ban beer.
High school kids want more responsibility and freedoms - not less. This could potentially hurt Ohio in recruiting.
January 3rd, 2012 at 3:28 PM ^
I suppose if things were to get WAY out of hand, then an absolute clampdown might be in the cards, but I am much more a fan of setting the guidelines on the sorts of information that can and cannot be provided for general consumption and some basic etiquette so as to maintain a positive face for the program, players and personnel. Obviously, there will be individual miscues from time to time, but I think it is more useful from a developmental standpoint to deal with the individual cases and circumstances rather than impose bans or blanket restrictions. Many of these kids are going to find themselves in a professional environment someday, whether in sports or the public or private sector, and athletics is an excellent platform for trying to instill professionalism.
January 3rd, 2012 at 3:30 PM ^
Our team can't convey a poor image if they can't be heard...he should also make them take a vow of silence.
January 3rd, 2012 at 4:46 PM ^
No way. Number 1, this is Michigan. The University of Michigan, we embrace free speech. I also think Hoke made it clear all the players need to use good judgement on Twitter, and he trusts them. Number 2, we don't have idiots on our roster, like some other schools might.
January 3rd, 2012 at 6:27 PM ^
for bringing Arnett home?
#freeArnett
January 4th, 2012 at 1:57 PM ^
Apparently there has been no Twitter ban at Ohio. According to local radio, players have been tweeting that there is no ban and the media made up a story and ran with it. Reporters "made up" a story they read on other players' Twitter accounts. I don't know what to think about this story anymore but Ohio looks foolish either way.
January 4th, 2012 at 3:22 PM ^
Reporters didn't make up the story. [Nor, I might add, did I.] Reid Fragel mistakenly interpreted something he heard, and after he Twittered what he thought was a Twitter ban, the story went viral. Sucking in everyone from Eleven Warriors to Desmond Howard to The Lantern (OSU student paper) to the Cleveland Plain Dealer's website, to the Bleacher Report.
To me, the lesson isn't that anyone at OSU was dumb; rather, the lesson is that this is the sort of thing that can oh-so-easily happen in a Twitter-world.
So, no; "reporters" didn't make it up. But Fragel and Stoneburner, via Twitter, did. This will be Exhibit #117 in my memorandum brief on why coach should ban Twitter-use by his players.
January 4th, 2012 at 3:26 PM ^
Sorry for any confusion. I know the media didn't make up the story, that was supposed to be implied with the quotes. The reason it makes Ohio look dumb is because their players, like Carlos Hyde, tweeted that the ban was on, then later tweeted that there was no ban and tried to blame it on the media. At least he didn't try the "my Twitter account was hacked" excuse. So, either the players don't understand what their coach is saying or Coach Meyer did ban Twitter and then retracted the rule after the public backlash. I would love to be a fly on the wall to actually know what's going on over there on the banks of the mighty Scioto. Plus there's plenty of BS around there, fly heaven.
January 4th, 2012 at 4:00 PM ^
You can see, in the USAToday story, that Fragel was trying to blame it on people taking liberties with his original Tweet on the matter. And I had linked to that very Tweet: QUOTE: "No more Twitter."
Several of them tried to blame it on outsiders, even as Stoneburner had written, "Twitter = done." (Yet another problem with Twitter; people writing sloppy, cryptic crap.)
So Fragel writes,
"Just now finding out the whole twitter thing wasn't exactly true. #hearsay
Haha sorry for the confusion, sometimes people decide to put words in others mouths... That's all I have to say about that"
So Fragel had 'just found out' that the Twitter thing "wasn't exactly true" [as HE had reported it!], but "sometimes people decide to put words in others mouths..."