When was the last time you watched a game without getting on social media? You may be one of the few who doesn’t, however for most the two are almost going hand and hand. You have fans who cheer, tweet and give play by play for everything and then there are those who berate “their” team, the coaching staff and other fans. If you go to a live sporting event, take a look around and see how many people can watch a game without getting on a device to check social media. As i write this I’m watching WVU play and my twitter account is constantly buzzing with updates, messages and other fans talking about the game.
As I get older I think back to how my dad and I would check out a WVU game when I was a kid, growing up in southern WV a lot of games weren’t on TV. So we listened to Jack Fleming paint a picture of the environment, he made you feel like you were there. He was the main reason I got a communication degree and got into sports broadcasting. I loved doing games and its something that if an opportunity presented itself would be hard not to listen too. Today, many want to watch the game on TV or live, however then spend most of their time looking at the phone, ipad or computer trying to come up with the perfect post to put on social media.
Social Media has become so important to some that its a contest to see how many “friends” or “followers” I can get. I will look at my list from time to time and ask Jess do you know this person. The response is typically no then it becomes a contest to see how they know me or how they came about to my information. Then I think about an athlete, coach, etc and couldn’t imagine some of the stuff that gets thrown at them . Requests for things, negative attacks because they missed a shot or have a turnover. You read and hear people threaten these players because they fans of the team. These so called fans live behind their social media account.
The next time you attend a game or watch it on TV, see if you can put away the device and simply enjoy the game. Some of my best memories of WVU sports wasn’t behind a phone, an IPad or computer. It was sitting in the backyard with my dad listening to the Voice of the Mountaineers.
Enjoy your day.
TCB