Earlier today, I saw a tweet linking to this article at Mashable detailing the NFL’s new policy to not allow players, coaches, personnel , etc. to “tweet” during games, and times 90 minutes before and after.
The article pretty much sums everything up nicely in their asking of the question “WHY?!”. I couldn’t agree with the author more that the NFL should be using social networks like Twitter to connect with their fans on a whole new level. Of course, Twitter HAS to be silenced because these athletes who are having fun interacting with their followers could reflect the league in a bad way, which hasn’t happened much at all lately.
The NFL for a long time has been touted as the no-fun league because of it’s ridiculous guidelines. Touchdown celebrations are almost non-existent nowadays, for the players fear being fined for doing anything creative (I don’t condone the whole Randy Moss “mooning” type of celebration, but what’s wrong with a little dance?). More fun with fining, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson was fined $5000 earlier this week for wearing an orange chinstrap… $5000 FOR A CHINSTRAP!! IT’S RIDICULOUS!! This attack on social networking by Roger Goodell is, in this humble sports fans opinion, a stupid move that should be immediately scrapped. They’re playing a game, let them have a LITTLE fun.