Rangers Win 8-7: Worst Loss of the Season
August 6, 2011While We’re Waiting…Cavs Future Shooting Guards, Greg Little Emerging, Tribe Built for the Future
August 7, 2011
“God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.” Much like the comment sections of popular websites, Twitter amplifies the voice of the crazies. We don’t know what satisfaction or personal sense of accomplishment people get from trolling – it’s an age-old question. What people get out of “@ mentioning” Indians players and then ripping into them is beyond my comprehension…and I’m a pretty pessimistic and cynical guy. But they do it and they always will.
Which is why it’s not a good idea for Chris Perez to pick up his phone after a blown save and proceed to open his Twitter app. Perez is outspoken on Twitter and almost never holds back criticizing the critics (we saw this last month when he came at Paul Hoynes for a negative tweet). After a brutal loss last night, Perez blasted off the above tweets. There were two opinions on this. One was a “good for him” positive opinion. Perez should stick up for himself against these anonymous twitter losers. The second is that he should keep his twitter app closed and not advance mental turmoil from last night – giving off the appearance of further unraveling.
Twitter is a great tool to communicate and interact directly with famous athletes. But too often that interaction is “hate, hate, hate.” Last week, Matt LaPorta closed his account after trolls started in on him and his bases-loaded 9th inning double play. They were pretty mean and nasty tweets that obviously accomplish nothing. Last night, Manny Acta addressed the twitter trolling with the following:
Winning 1st season series vs Red Sox since 05’= Great. Blowing the lead vs Rangers = Disappointing. Blocking 10 negative fans = Priceless.
Admirably, the Indians are extremely active on Twitter – this includes management, like Acta and Mark Shapiro, and a host of players – particularly the “bullpen mafia.”
With that said, I don’t think Perez should fire off after a loss like that. Everyone is heated and it’s only going to work the trolls up even more. He can do whatever he wants after a game but I’d rather him not be picking up his phone and engaging twitter trolls after a blown loss – it’s just not productive and is not the best look (I realize I’m a nobody and my opinion doesn’t matter but I also often think the same of Dan Gilbert’s tweets).
I think Perez’s tweets are generally funny and I like his schtick. I’m just some guy in my parents’ basement with a computer etc., but I think he and the other Wahoos just need to ignore the trolls or better yet, not pick up your phone, open your Twitter app, and scroll what they’re saying about you after a loss. Perez finished his rant with, “The day I let people get inside this mind is the day I retire.” With all these tweets, we’re kind already there, no?
15 Comments
Nice posts today, Brendan.
I couldn’t agree more on this topic. It’s a no-win situation.
I agree 100%. I saw these last night and was dissapointed. The only people he has to answer to are the people in the clubhouse. He doesn’t need to launch a preemptive strike on twitter. With that being said, a little piece of me died last night watching that game.
People who @ reply merely for the sake of attention-seeking should seek immediate help. Sure, athletes/journos/celebrity-types being on Twitter is them “putting themselves out there,” but under no circumstances should they have to endure the nonsense described above.
Good stuff, B.
My thoughts exactly. Great article.
He’s a professional athlete. He should know he’ll be overpraised when he does well and ripped to pieces for failures. Its a symptom of the job. I dont know why he would let those people get to him. Conversely, does he want all of us to pat him on the back today and tell to get back out there?? We’re not your mother, Chris. You know youre good. Most of us know youre good. Go pitch.
@Foghorn, we don’t have to be his mother to not direct negativity straight to his inbox. The way Twitter works, you can talk about people without saying it directly to them. I was disappointed last night and when Matt LaPorta failed last week. That being said, pretend you are standing right in front of them. Would you say something negative and crappy to them or just ignore them and walk away?
If you did the former, you would undoubtedly be a bad person with very little humanity or human compassion. Yet, somehow we want to make excuses because it’s just twitter. The method of delivery has very little to do with the acceptability of the message.
And just because it is understandable doesn’t mean that it is right or that we should tolerate it.
Well put, Craig.
With Twitter, there’s a gigantic difference between discussing/praising/criticising a player and the use of the @ reply when doing so.
I checked over Chris Perez’ @ mentions on twitter last night after the blown save. The dude is making a mountain out of a molehill. Maybe 15 people called him an [bad word], told him sucked, but the overwhelming majority said “tough luck, let’s get em tomorrow” or some variation thereof.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Check your ego at the door, famous people will get trash-talked endlessly on Twitter. If you can’t handle it, you shouldn’t sign up.
If you’re @ing smack talk toward athletes on Twitter, you’re a coward, bottom line. I have no problem w/ Perez defending himself. He took the high road in his responses. Maybe he shouldn’t be ‘feeding the trolls,’ but u can’t expect him to sit idly by as people trash him. There was some incredibly cruel stuff directed at LaPorta,too. People are nuts.
Fans are passionate about their teams in NE Ohio. The only all sports local radio outlet were are & have been TOOLS that basically talk amongst themselves and TRY to rile up the fan base. The ALL negative approach, for the most part, helps feed the hate THAT THEY START MOST OF THE TIME when things go wrong.
Bottom line is that the new 92.3 FM “The Fan” can’t get here soon enough!!! 8/29/11 is right around the corner. Go Tribe!!!
Perez nearly blew another one tonight.
Paging Jose Mesa…
after saturday night’s game Perez responded to Jay Crawford’s criticism via twitter and Crawford did not @mention him. Perez needs a thicker skin or he needs to delete his twitter, bottom line.
Craig, I disagree with the assumption that I would be a bad person for telling an athlete to his face that he “blew it” or, “left much to be desired”, etc. If thats what I think, thats what I think. The athlete has the choice to accept said criticism or ignore it. Personally, I’d rather have people tell me when I messed up. I like blunt honesty. If he doesnt want to hear it from fans, then dont have twitter, FB, etc. You could argue that Im not his boss and he shouldnt have to hear my opinion, but I counter that while I realize his only bosses are his manager and the front office, as a sports figure, you also answer to the fans (hence why we have media with post-game interviews and players who constantly talk about playing for their fans, etc.)
It cannot go only one way. You want our love, you also have to take our hate. I do agree with you on the point that if you cant say it to their face than dont say it on the web. If I saw Perez today, face-to-face, I’d probably say, “I think youre a solid closer, but you’ve been shaky recently. Whats going on?” Of course he wouldnt give me a real reply as he has no obligation to. In turn, I have no obligation to hypothetically give him a pat on the back through a post on Twitter nor do I have to withhold my true opinion when he is putting himself out there. (sidenote: I dont use Twitter).
For the record, I think Twitter is kinda stupid.
That being said,I agree with CST Doug–heck, if blowing off steam at dbags makes CP put the day behind him, go for it. And put the idiots on “ignore” while you’re at it, so you never have to see their drivel ever again. Twitter, as I’ve seen it, can be a dangerous place for anyone in the public eye to spout in, but I thought CP’s Tweets to the Twits were perfect–on point, scathing, and funny to boot.
‘But trash-talking LeBron on Twitter is cool, right?’ – idiots