JMar09 to Sports World: Cease Tweeting

The problem with Twitter? Aside from allowing only 140 characters of data per tweet, leaving us barely enough room to burp and fart, it provides the immediate and unfiltered dissemination of thought by people with no brains. Some of these people happen to be athletes, creating yet another distraction in a sports world with enough alcohol, weed, steroids, groupies and strip joints to go around. Now we have to deal with a daily assault of social-media madness?

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Take Martellus Bennett, backup tight end of the Dallas Cowboys. Going by the tag MartyBTV, he wrote the other day, "Jus took a steroid test. Mann me no likey doctors waking me up to pee. Quick power nap then prac."

Like I care. Then there's Visanthe Shiancoe, last caught in all his full-frontal-nude glory by a post-game TV camera, telling us how he's earning his salary with the Minnesota Vikings. "Zzzzzz zzzz zzzz zzz (in meetings) lol ... Introducing the staff," he posted FROM THE TEAM MEETING ROOM at 11:46 a.m.

From the no-shame department, San Diego linebacker Shaun Phillips tweeted a personal request to Oakland linebacker Kirk Morrison. "[W]heres the erin andrews video son," he asked, apparently wanting a look at the peephole perv video that shows the ESPN sportscaster naked in her hotel room. Later, Phillips asked the general public to "send me the link to the erin andrews video." If and when Andrews ever interviews Phillips, she has my permission to kick him in the groin.

Hardly a day passes anymore without a sports figure making news via Twitter. In some ways, the craze can be funny and even serve a newsworthy purpose, such as when Shaquille O'Neal congratulated rival Kobe Bryant on his fourth NBA title. Or when Lance Armstrong provided meaningful updates and observations from the Tour de France. But more often than not, it shows the damage that can be done when irresponsible dopes have free-speech access to a digital printing press.

They abuse the privilege. No, they obliterate it.

Take J.R. Smith, shooting guard of the Denver Nuggets. Several of his recent posts have reflected what experts suggest is code for the Bloods street gang. In that particular lexicon, a "C" is replaced with a "K." And if both letters are in the same word, the "C" is completely eliminated. When he was released from jail last week, Smith wrote, "I just Kame home .... I kouldnt have done it with out yall." This past Sunday, he wrote, "Vegas here I kome!" Last week, he wrote, "Kant wait to get bak in the swing of things."

While in Vegas, he complained about having to leave a hotel for an immature reason: "[G]ot to change hotels ... the palms won't let me hook my xbox up." He also talked of moving there, writing, "Man I'm tired . . . going to the airport. Vegas here I Kome!" ... "thinking bout buyin a house in Vegas" ... and then, ironically, "People please watch what you say on here it gets me in a lot of trouble."

"Those are still little messages that are being transcended back to some of the neighborhoods," said Rev. Leon Kelly, executive director of Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives in Denver, in an interview with the Denver Post. "Not to say in no way is he promoting a gang. But people got to understand that a lot of these kids come from gang neighborhoods. Their friends are still involved in doing what they do. Just because one was able to get out of that lifestyle, many of them don't forget where they come from."

(Editor's Note: Smith has since deleted his account).

Others play pranks that don't amuse their bosses. Over the weekend, Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson suffered a sprained knee ligament when a defensive lineman rolled on his leg in practice. While the legitimate news media tried to sort out truth from fiction, Vikings wide receiver Bernard Berrian was tweeting that Jackson was out for the entire season. This wasn't true; the injury isn't as serious as originally thought, and Berrian was forced to issue his version of a retraction -- not exactly from the Associated Press stylebook. "Ok folks jokes over. T-Jack is fine," he said. "But, lesson learned here. DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING U SEE IN THE MEDIA!! Yes, twitter is media!!"

If Berrian worked in the traditional media, he wouldn't last past lunchtime.

And as I write this on a sunny afternoon in Chicago -- where the Bears, like other NFL teams, have warned reporters not to tweet from the practice field -- this just happened: San Diego cornerback Antonio Cromartie was fined $2,500 by the team for tweeting that the food is bad at training camp. "Man we have 2 have the most nasty food of any team," he wrote. "Damn can we upgrade 4 str8 years the same ish maybe that's y we can't we the SB we need." Yep, the Chargers can't win a Super Bowl because the food stinks. They should make him starve.

We're reaching a point in sports where the everyone's-a-writer concept is diluting trust within.Do not misconstrue this as a rambling complaint from a traditional sports journalist. I've rolled with the times -- first handing back $1 million in guaranteed money to leave a dying newspaper, then joining a progressive Web operation at AOL with hundreds of journalists, pundits, editors and bloggers. I understand Twitter and its quick-hit purpose for shorter attention spans, even if I dissed the idea when asked to perform it last summer at the Beijing Olympics. I also understand when Kevin Love, forward of the Minnesota Timberwolves, makes a beat reporter's function obsolete when he literally breaks the news that his coach, Kevin McHale, was being let go by the franchise. No longer does Love or anyone else in sports have to take a call from a writer to disseminate what he knows. He can do it himself on Twitter.

Yet we're reaching a point in sports where the everyone's-a-writer concept is diluting trust within. Monday, the Philadelphia Eagles were upset when a player anonymously leaked news that starting linebacker Stewart Bradley suffered a torn knee ligament and was out for the season. That led reporters to directly contact Bradley, who confirmed the news. This, in turn, angered coach Andy Reid, who ripped the media for violating a "pact" in which he supposedly asked reporters to make him the sole source for injury information. It's laughable to think anyone in the Philadelphia media would agree to such terms, but Reid lashed back anyway.

"I made a pact with you guys when I first got here that I would disclose to you the injuries -- just stay away from the players and stay away from other personnel in the organization and I would take care of you with that," he said. "That part was breached." He also said he would use "peer pressure" to make sure some reporters turn on those who talked to Bradley and others.

How pathetic that Reid can compete each year against Dallas, Washington and the New York Giants -- yet he wants the media to be a collective blob that serves his interests and doesn't compete for stories. Now more than ever, reporters have to protect their waning livelihoods in a crumbling profession, and the time-proven way is by breaking a story. If Reid can't respect that, I can't respect him.

But I do grasp completely why franchises want to crack down on players who tweet. The Green Bay Packers will issue their maximum fine of $1,701 to any player who uses Twitter during team activities. Running back Ryan Grant abided by the policy, writing in off hours, "Soo the word issssss...NO tweets during any team activity(which i think is fine since we are focused) but that means.only... expect tweets in the morning before we go to work, possibly around lunch time and at night once we done..i dont want that heavy fine lol." What a concept: Work by day, tweet by night. The Miami Dolphins have issued the same no-Twitter edict, and expect others to follow when the NFL expresses concerns to players about identity fraud and impersonations on fake accounts. It's one thing to promote a sport and team, quite another to let tweeting cloud focus and become counterproductive to the grand goal.

Of course, that won't stop Chad Ochocinco from obliterating the team-first priority, as usual, and tweet during games. "I'm going to really make it fun. I'm using Twitter during games, during halftime, after the games. I'm going to be taking it to the next level," Ochocinco said. "I like it because it gives me the opportunity to reach out to thousands of people at one time. It gives me a chance to get my story across when something goes wrong ... It's big for me and I'm taking it a step further. I have my own application coming out where people will be able to interact and follow me. You know more than through just the keyboard and reading my messages -- you'll actually be able to follow me and when the season starts, it's going to get even worse."

Thanks for the warning.

Tweeting, as you can see, is the self-promoter's best friend. It's also something out of a junior-high-school cafeteria. "Got NFL Total Access following me today!" wrote DeAngelo Hall, the Washington cornerback. "I'll let you guys know when to look out for it! I also have a HUGE Announcement coming up!!!"

Hopefully, that he's quitting Twitter.