Football, Facebook and Faux Pas’

I am not one to  rant- often.  I always try to make a positive out of a negative.  This one’s  a stretch, even for me.

Here’s my issue- some people have no boundaries or common sense when it comes to posting on social sites.  I had an “emotional allergic reaction” after watching Sunday Night football.  I hesitated writing this post because I couldn’t see how to give you a positive story after the things I read.

After the Sunday night Steelers-Patriots football game I was a little disheartened. I’m saddened by the fact that many of my Steeler Nation neighbors displayed poor taste in commentary as a result of our team’s  loss.  Comments on Twitter held a wide range of emotion. The hashtags were jumping of course. And Patriots fans were having their way with us.  A bit of EA (from)Sports – Emotional Attitude  from Sports as I am calling it.  They deserved the moment because their team played a fantastic game.

We didn’t.

Rightfully so,  Pittsburgher’s (and I extend that to all Steeler’s fan’s no matter where you live) were upset with the game. It was seriously disappointing, but I dealt with it. It’s one game. It was a bad loss.  They made mistakes that need  improvement. And we need a healthy team.  Enough said.

Except that for some people it isn’t enough said.  LaMarr Woodley tweeted a couple of hours after the game “Man that one stings..but gotta regroup and  get focused on beating oakland”  It also posted to his Facebook page. This is where the game went bad for me.

The comments left for Woodley ranged from “hang in there”, “We still love ya” to  “can’t win em all…gotta do better in the red zone” and  couch potato coaching in long form. Okay, he’s made a public page where anyone can comment, so he knows he has to deal with criticism as well as praise.  The problem for me was that not all comments were directly intended for him.

I was going to give some of the specific comments, but I would rather not encourage the abusive behavior that went on in some of those comments. I went back into the feed today and think that some of the worst may have been removed. Kudos to commenters who called out those who made inappropriate comments.  And a big pat on the back to Mr. Woodley for posting this yesterday:

Yall need to do me a favor and refrain from cursing and what not on my page please.. i got a ton of fans who are kids and they dont need to be around that.. thx for understanding

I’m not sure if the “what not” refers to using  his page to post homophobic slanders against William Gay for his performance Sunday night(yeah, like he has never heard that before) .  Or maybe it  addresses those people who think it’s okay to request that he ask management to get rid of Jeff Reed or William Gay and the three or four players they wanted axed.  Come on. They are a team. Win together, lose together.  Management is going to decide who stays and who goes and when (i.e. Jeff Reed), not LaMarr Woodley or any other individual player.

If I went to your place of employment and saw someone who wasn’t doing their job or was not giving it 100% , would it be okay if I posted it to your FB page and asked you to tell your boss she needs to fire him?

I have seen my own friends on Facebook do similar things. They talk about others as if those people will never know about their status updates or comments.  Have you seen this? It makes me cringe. I am far from a perfect person.  If I do something that makes you unhappy, please come tell me- don’t post my mistake to the rest of the world (at least, without giving me a chance to fix it.)  Talk to the person, not the page.

I realized before I started writing this that the world (or people in it) does not always make a positive impact on me, but that I can always try to make a positive impact on the world.

To do that, I am going to give you my tips for using Facebook better.

1.  If it’s not your story to tell…don’t tell it.  If it didn’t happen directly to you, maybe you should think twice about how the other people would be affected if you did.

(I learned that one  in college(SRU) with the girls on my floor in the dorm.)

2. Would you say that in front of your mother?  Think about it.

3.  Would you say it to the person if you two were having a real life conversation?  Would you say it that particular way?

4.  Would you like it if someone said it about you?

5.  Are you emotional about an issue?  Would you post it differently if you waited 24 or 48 hours?  Will it still matter to you in 24-48 hours?

6.  Why are you sharing the information?  If it is just to be hurtful, why not try being the better person this time?

We share a world where we can communicate with one another more often and across more settings than ever before.  For good or not, everyone is now privy to our business. Social media is certainly an effective tool for change.  I’m not saying we should be all rosy and accepting of everything.  I am just asking that when we can’t, we use a little tact, decency, and common sense to promote, motivate and inspire the changes we want to see happen.

If you agree, share this with your Facebook friends. Maybe we can spread some positive change.  Have any other things that you’ve seen that bother you?  Share a comment (please be general, we don’t want to make anyone feel bad).

Simply Put-‘ Think before you speak’ applies to the internet too.

(I had to add this link. It was tweeted after I posted. Longer list of tips and pointers than mine and very to the point:

Calling “BS” in Social Media.)