Olympic Tweets

More than one Olympic athlete has gotten into trouble for inappropriate tweeting. I have a lot of positive feelings about social media, but it has its drawbacks. I can only imagine that had Facebook and Twitter existed when I was a young hothead that I would have never passed an initial Google search. I am also glad that was not an option upon my graduation.

I mention my undergrad years because most of the athletes you read about it are that age or younger and if there is one thing that I have learned about teenagers is that most of them dumb. They may be able to program an I-Pad, pass exams, and navigate the web, but they really are, in general, short sighted. Understanding consequences is not a strong suit.

There are, however, some athletes who are old enough to know better and to them I would like to say, "Get it together." Nothing you put on the Internet is private I don't care if you delete it an hour later. We have already seen it. Here is a newsflash, the things that are funny to you and your friends are probably not funny to outsiders. Most of those "controversial" comments aren't funny at all, but at least if you say  them to people who like you, instead of writing it for all the world to see, you stand a chance of not being called out. You might even be able to deny it. The bottom line is that "Followers" are not your friends. Why is that so hard for people to understand?

Another thing I don't understand, is why they have so much free time to keep tweeting nonsense. Shouldn't you be busy. Are there no sights to see or other events to watch? If you have to post something, then upload Twitpics of you at Big Ben or with other athletes. Photobomb someone. Take a nap, for goodness sake. You can't get in trouble while you are sleeping. Stop mouthing off. Responding to commentators is a distraction. Focus. Keep your eyes on the prize. Remember: Eye of the Tiger (not the Tweeter)!

My real question to Olympic athletes is this:

Don't you have something more important (less disruptive) to do, like practice.