A Little Birdie Told Me...

It is in the 1st Amendment in the Constitution that every American is entitled to freedom of speech, yet some athletes need to be a little more aware as to how they use that right. This has become a more alarming trend since the cultural establishment of websites such as Twitter and Facebook. But these athletes need to remember that the words they put on the internet, can and will be used as news stories if the quotes are inflammatory.

Orlando Magic Center Dwight Howard recently stated on Twitter that the Orlando Magic media is attempting to run him out of town. "Why does it seem like the writers of the Orlando Sentinel are trying to push me out of Orlando with dumb articles, It's annoying can I enjoy my summer and get ready for next season in Orlando Please, you guys did the same thing to Shaq, Shake my head"

Well Dwight, from what I have been reading, there has been far less criticism about your overall play then there should have been. For one thing, Howard's playoff resume is not very impressive. In his 8 year career, Howard has been to the playoffs 3 times and has only been to the NBA Finals once. Howard's trip to the Finals in the 2008-2009 ended in 5 games with a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. As far as this season's playoff run, Howard himself played well, averaging 27 points per game and 15.5 rebounds per game. But his team, lost to the Atlanta Hawks in 6 Games. So Howard is more along the lines of Spiderman, instead of Superman. Recognizable, but not strong enough to carry the load alone.
If Howard read that kind of writing on a consistent basis, then maybe he would have a little more of a beef with the Orlando Sentinel. But here is one thing that Dwight is not coming out and saying. He wants to be courted by other teams in free agency next year, so he is doing his best to indirectly distance himself from the Magic. But he's still under contract, so he can not come out and say 'I am looking towards being courted in free agency, I'll try next year to get the Magic to the playoffs to make myself look better to other teams.' Hope I got that right Dwight.


And in other twitter news Saints running back Reggie Bush mentioned that he was enjoying his extended vacation. "Everybody's complaining about the Lockout! Shoot, I'm making the most of it! Vacation, rest, relaxing vacation here and there, I'm good. Right about now we would be slaving away in 100 degree heat, practicing twice a day while putting our bodies at risk for nothing"

Now Reggie Bush brings up the typical player complaint, 'too much Organized Team Activities, not enough vacation.' But when he got drafted number 2 to the New Orleans Saints in 2006, he, like all NFL players knew what they were signing up for. Every job has difficulties, long hours, cranky bosses, and sometimes an unstable work environment.  But players who make it in the NFL get two really big perks that most jobs do not offer: popularity, and a lot of money. Reggie Bush has money because he was a high pick and is popular because of his relationship with celebrity Kim Kardashian. But Bush's career has not taken off. Yes he won a ring in 2010, but he has played in all 16 games only once, has 2,090 rushing yards over 5 years, and has never gotten 800 yards receiving or rushing in a season. At this point, Bush is more of a celebrity than a good football player, so the lockout benefits him.

Athletes use social media to put themselves out there in a way that the prepared end of game press conferences do not allow. But that freedom comes with positive and negative consequences. The positive is in situations when athletes promote positive causes. But more often than not, Twitter shows us the sides of athletes we do not want to see. For example, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson comparing football to slavery and Steelers running back Rashad Mendenhall floating out 9/11 conspiracy theories. Freedom of speech should never be taken away, but since athletes have voices that a great deal of people will listen to, they had better be careful of what they say.