the oaks were poisoned, and so was the atmosphere.
Cyberspace intensifies tensions between sports fans: so runs a complaint about one football rivalry.
"I've never seen it worse," said Paul Finebaum, a longtime Birmingham talk show host and newspaper columnist. "And I think it's because so many more fans are being heard or can be heard through so many different mediums. As a result, it's more contentious."
Twitter, message boards and, yes, talk radio keep things stirred up.
The article doesn't run with this theme, as you can tell from the talk radio note. T-shirts are next on the list of trouble-stirring agents, and then the author turns to... the actions of individuals.
Infocult does not follow sports, so perhaps you readers can offer insight. Is the fearsome internet meme alive in the professional athletics sphere?
(thanks to Ted Major)
Not exactly about tensions among fan bases. However, there is some snootiness among NBA bloggers about the intellectual level of "fan forum" websites, and, beyond that, I seem to recall a few print journalist pieces (read online) about how cyberspace and social media permit fans access to athlete's statements they might not otherwise gain and also how they permit the intensification and acceleration of fan reactions to those statements. I recall the takeaway as "it was better when the professional print/radio/TV journalists could mediate the public's access to athletes and also voice the culturally appropriate opinions to athlete's off-field/court speech and behavior." Here there is some talk about how social media permits athletes and their marketers to bypass mainstream commercial media, with Shaquille O'Neal as a prime example: http://www.socialnomics.net/2011/08/04/shaqs-twitter-legacy/ Finally, Eric Freeman's "Days of NBA Lives" feature at yahoo sports regularly celebrates the twitter antics of NBA players: e.g. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Days-of-NBA-Lives-Wherein-an-airline-lost-Manu-?urn=nba-wp3917
Posted by: Yago Colás | August 23, 2011 at 16:39
"Shaq can be credited with making Twitter the largest sports bar in the world. Inadvertently, Shaq may also be credited for making the sports reporter obsolete"? I've missed all of this, Yago.
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | August 24, 2011 at 18:50
Here's another one, wherein star guard Gilbert Arenas loses part of a lawsuit on the basis of his Twitter feed:
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2011/08/gilbert-arenas-loses-lawsuit-to-basketball-wives-participant/
Posted by: YagoColas | August 25, 2011 at 10:28
Posting foul comments for a team to the internet from a fan can certainly add tensions to a conflict. Self awareness and responsible social media using are the most common things to be practiced by the people.
Posted by: Joanne Dexson | August 18, 2012 at 02:31