PRINTCensorship Uncensored
Keeping the team’s online image nice and squeaky clean
Illustration by Elise Catchings
Thanks to the popularity of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, MU football players have to be careful of what they contribute to cyberspace.
October 22, 2009 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Big Brother is back. But not in a scary, 1984 Orwellian way. And though this figurative figure might be of no importance to the millions of Facebookers and Tweeters around the world, college athletes know eyes are waiting to censor what they send out into cyberspace — which explains why their tweets seem to be so perpetually positive or at least benign.
Virtually all Mizzou football players use Facebook, and some of them — in addition to head coach Gary Pinkel — also have accounts on Twitter, a micro-blogging tool used to send out personal messages. Players aren’t allowed to post anything related to injuries or drinking, nor are they allowed to trash talk other teams.
Twitter Chatter
Sean Weatherspoon “SeanWSpoon12” — senior linebacker
(Oct. 16): My snuggie my snuggie I’m fresh haha
Danario Alexander “D_Alexander81” — senior wide receiver
(Oct. 15): In class typing notes and watching film…. is that a bad thing?
Jon Gissinger “Giss_43” — senior tight end
(Oct. 9): Shit
Tyler Crane “Ty_Crane” — sophomore linebacker
(Oct. 7): Lol I know yall seen this big ass great Dane just walking around campus by itself lol
Del Howard “DHoward15” — senior safety
(Sept. 29): my teacher just basically told the class she has real bad gas! seriously??? lol that’s something I could live without knowing
Jeff Gettys “Gettys35” — junior linebacker
(Sept. 12): Torn ACL & just engaged 2 the best girl in the world!!!!
- Score! Who won it, 2002 to 2008
- Game Day Guide
- The visor
- The tailgating zoo
- Hey buddy, you're in my seat
- The Price of Playing
- Know your enemy
- Letting 'em out of their cages and corrals
- Stat Showdown
- Game Day Whereabouts
- Remember the Tigers
- Studying the stereotype
- And the winner is...
- Endzone ensembles
- I'm with the band
- Supporting Cast
- Prep and pride off the field
- An Obituary for the beloved Reactor
- The Lost, the Found and the Confiscated
- Columbia's Hangover
- Play by play
- Mo' Money
- Makin' Bank
- Tiger Watch Party
- Uniformology
Chad Moller, director of media relations for Mizzou athletics, says it’s mainly the job of the football team’s compliance staff to monitor the online activities of the players. “It has evolved into their duties since the scope of the Internet has gotten so large,” Moller says. The compliance staff didn’t comment on how many hours are spent clicking through the online profiles of players, but it’s conceivably a thankless task. “Division I teams have to be very closed because the media loves to take anything,” says Jae Ahn, a Mizzou weakside linebacker. “There are people watching us, although it’s more important if you’re a big shot.”
But the athletic staff is not alone in its labors to maintain a positive university image. YouDiligence, a program developed by MVP Sports Media Training, states in its promotion material that it is designed to “defend against negative student-athlete Internet activity” by searching “the public areas only of social sites for potentially damaging written material.” Mizzou’s athletics department has considered working with such a company to keep track of Internet conduct but is not currently using one.
On July 20, Mizzou linebacker Sean Weatherspoon declared his intentions to “squeeze the pulp out of Juice” in a reference to Juice Williams, the senior Illinois quarterback, but the attention paid to Weatherspoon’s tweet faded away. The media relations personnel are protective of what is released to the press — and in the cases of Facebook and Twitter, what is released to the world — but Mizzou’s guidelines are not as stringent when compared with other universities.
In 2006, Kent State University and Loyola University banned their student athletes from using Facebook. And just last month, as reported by The Daily Toreador, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said that college football players don’t need any more attention than they already receive and prohibited his players from using Twitter. In November 2008, the University of Texas dismissed backup center Buck Burnette from its football team after he published a racist remark regarding then-president-elect Obama in his Facebook status. Some defended Burnette’s character while chastising his offensive comment, but most Internet denizens deemed the punishment appropriate.
BadJocks.com publicizes the “bad behavior of professional and college athletes” and highlights the naughty things players, coaches and even fans do in the world of sports. Much of the publicized bad behavior is photos of underage drinking, and punishment as severe as expulsion from the team is not unprecedented. Players are also liable to lose their scholarship if they post inappropriate comments online, says Moller. “It’s mostly a common sense thing,” he says. “They understand that if something doesn’t reflect positively on them or the program, there will be consequences.”
The Internet is hungry for more personal glimpses of football players, which adds yet another layer of concern for those in charge of the team. The New York Times published an article detailing the harrowing lives of well-known NCAA football players who have to dodge persistent jersey-chasers and pseudo-paparazzi who surreptitiously use camera-phones to film players in their daily lives. Tim Tebow, Florida’s quarterback, recounted several instances of being framed in a shot with a woman who promptly attempted to remove her shirt as the camera clicked.
The amount of work required to maintain a football team’s image has undoubtedly increased due to the growth of the Internet. “There are a lot of things I do as a PR person that didn’t exist 15 years ago,” Moller says. “There’s no question that it’s a 24/7 thing nowadays.”
