Tag Archives: SI

Jul 15 2011

Spanning the Twitterverse: Roger, The List & #FreeBruce

Spanning the Twitterverse to bring you the constant variety of tweets
The thrill of the retweet and the agony of the unfollow
The human drama of the twitter timeline
This is CadChica’s Wide World of Tworts

Today has been one of the craziest days I have ever seen on Twitter. It all started so innocently enough with what seemed like good news on the NFL labor dispute.

That makes it seem like it might be a good day right? It’s mid-July. Baseball is just coming off its All-Star break. The British Open began today but that was early morning of the first day so not much to tweet about there. Hmm. Might be a slow day I thought………….BOOM!!!!

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WOW! Roger Clemens, who was on trial for lying to Congress about using steroids, scored a HUGE victory today when the prosecution exposed the jury to testimony that the judge had previously said was inadmissible. BIG MISTAKE. The judge declared a mistrial. 

Needless to say Twitter went a little crazy. The tweet below about sums it up.

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Silly me. I had the nerve to think that was all that we were in for today. So much so that I tweeted THIS:

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A prognosticator I am not obviously. But I sincerely thought that would be THE story of the day. And then this little nugget came along:

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Have you ever heard the saying, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”? Whoa baby, substitute the word “sportswriter” for “woman” and you have a nice little Twitter story going on.

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This one, said it pretty well.

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The Football Girl makes a point, in asking, ’Who cares’? I thought about the answer to that. I do not know if there is one right answer. My initial reaction is the ESPN effect. ESPN and its channels, with shows like Around the Horn, have turned many sportswriters into “stars”. Now I don’t know exactly how someone goes to work for ESPN. I’ve seen ESPN’ers post job openings on Twitter. ESPN, like most companies, has employment information on their website as well. But to become one of their select few on these reporter-centered shows is beyond my “fan” knowledge. 

Sports Illustrated is one of the ‘power-brokers’ if you will, in the sports media market (my opinion). SI used Twitter to announce their list. The convergence of two powerful mediums such as SI and Twitter for a sportswriter could potentially be a boon to a career. This list of their ‘must follows’ was, in essence, their seal of approval. A seal of approval from SI means they are someone in sports media that should be listened to. And that, means someone like ESPN might take notice and provide a larger platform from which they can speak.

That’s my theory. Right or wrong? I don’t know. It’s either that or the negative reaction is one of insecurity (i.e. ‘not being accepted into the cool kids group at school’). I don’t know any sportswriter on a personal basis so I can’t speak to the insecurity part. From what I read and hear, it is not an easy business to be in. To make it on a national stage, I believe you have to make a lot of sacrifices, both good and bad, and you have to work extremely long hours to do so. I’m just a fan, but that insecurity is a possibility, and it’s my opinion.

I thought the Twitter news was done…..

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until this BOMBSHELL came down this afternoon:

Picking up my mouth off the floor, I retweeted that right away. Bruce Feldman, who by all accounts seemed like a great college football sportswriter, was suspended by ESPN. The reason, according to the story from Sports by Brooks, was that he was suspended in relation to Mr. Feldman’s participation in Mike Leach’s new book; he had received approval from ESPN to do so. Mike Leach, the former Texas Tech head footbalI coach, was fired by the school. His new book, just recently out, blasts ESPN and, in particular, announcer Craig James. I wasn’t sure what the effect would be but it EXPLODED my Twitter timeline. It didn’t disappoint.

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That’s just a very small  sampling of what was tweeted on the Twitterverse today regarding Bruce Feldman. There was just so much outrage from both media and fans alike regarding this. I cannot possibly begin to do them all justice. I tried, I really tried hard to find a tweet in support of the suspension. Aside from the fans angry that Bruce Feldman said a negative (read: honest) comment about their team, there wasn’t one. Not one that I could find. I did find this:

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In the issue of fairness, I do not know all of the details; I’m just a sports fan. Who does know other than the key parties involved and the HR department at ESPN? The magnitude of this was amazing to me. Just a few short hours before, it seemed as though sniping was going on over a “stupid Twitter list” (another person’s tweet not mine). How quickly one tweet can change the dynamics of a timeline!

The reaction happened like an avalanche. In one moment it went from routine activity, to giant slabs of ice and snow barrelling down the mountain at breakneck speed….not stopping until all of its power and rage has been unleashed on the unsuspecting wilderness below it. In the context of Bruce Feldman’s suspension that’s how quickly the sports Twitterverse reacted. As of now, that avalanche has not stopped.

One story that is already out there is calling this action, ESPN’s Waterloo. Whether it will be or not remains to be seen. There could be more to this story we don’t know yet. However, the power of social media, in the hands of “the media”, could prove to be quite dramatic. Will it amount to anything in relation to Mr. Feldman? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, the avalanche continues….

CadChica Sports