Blue Jays Prospects go ‘Tweet, Tweet, Tweet.’
April Whitzman // September 29, 2011
Sports fans used to live their lives with everything at arm’s length. The only possible interaction used to be shouting at a television, conversing with another fan on the phone, or communicating with the person sitting next to you at the game. That being said, technology has completely changed the world of sports. The onset of social media has changed how we keep track of our favourite sports and, even more interestingly, how we engage with athletes. Fans can now interact with players, and vice versa. This is predominantly possible thanks to one specific social media tool: Twitter.
As founder and lead writer of a website dedicated to the Toronto Blue Jays affiliate teams and prospects, I have been able to travel to games across North America. This has given me the opportunity to meet amazing young baseball players hoping to make it to the ‘Big Leagues.’ However, being miles away in Halifax, I do not always have the luxury of attending the games and often miss out on conducting interviews. Thus, I contact players via Twitter and follow up with a phone or email interview.
During these interviews, I ask a wide variety of questions, such as: Who is your favourite player? What is your best skill on the field? Who has helped you get where you are? Players expect these questions. Yet, the question “What are your thoughts on Twitter?” is normally met with a great deal of surprise. While I asked this particular question out of curiosity–I am a fourth year Communications student, after all–I received some thoughtful, unique answers in return.
I first spoke with Ian Kadish, present reliever for the Jays’ short-season affiliate, the Bluefield Blue Jays. He has been dominant on the mound, maintaining a 2-3 record with a 2.67ERA in 23 games. More dominant, however, is his ability to consistently keep his fans updated and connected on Twitter via his handle, @BearJew36. Discussing his use of Twitter, Kadish states, “I am certainly a fan, but I realize it has its positives and negatives. Athletes need to be smart about it. I think it has brought the athletes and fans closer together because they can interact with each other much easier. It is more of an interactive environment where fans can give the athlete their praise or tell them how bad they were on that specific day.” He further added, “Hopefully, the latter does not happen, but sometimes it will, so athletes need to take the comments with a grain of salt.”
There is no denying Kadish’s statement warning players to be cautious has quite a bit of merit. While Twitter and other social media can be beneficial for fan-player interaction, this interaction can be somewhat detrimental if the athlete reads comments that are not necessarily positive.
The positive and negative aspects of Twitter were also echoed by Sam Strickland, a reliever for the Lansing Lugnuts. This season, Strickland has posted a 3-1 record with a 4.98 ERA. He has also proven his command on the Twitter mound via his handle of @S_Strickland34. Strickland says: “Without fans, baseball has no purpose. Being a professional athlete comes with attachments off the field – Including answering to fans. If you have a great game, people will notice, as is the same with a poor game. As a pro athlete you have to learn that both occur. It wasn’t that long ago that I was the huge crazy fan, so I am definitely an advocate for social media being intertwined with pro sports. We as athletes just have to be careful!” Strickland stated that he is careful not to reveal anything harmful to his reputation: if Twitter is used incorrectly, it can easily damage one’s personal branding and reputation.
Lastly, I spoke with speedy outfielder Jonathan Jones, (@JonJones707), who has seen lots of progress this season playing for both the Lugnuts and the Vancouver Canadians. Jones mirrored all other perspectives, stating, “I believe that Twitter is a great tool. It gives the fans access to follow their favorite players and see what they are doing, learn their likes and dislikes, and even get to see photos. It allows fans to feel like they have a personal relationship with the athletes and, in return, it allows us (the players) to see all the fans’ love and support. It goes both ways.”
As all of the Toronto Blue Jays prospects have concluded, Twitter has completely changed the world of sports and has become a powerful tool. Twitter allows fans to interact with other fans around the world, it provides networking avenues, and even gives fans a chance to interact with their favourite pro athletes.
Yet, as I said previously, it is imperative one recognizes that while Twitter is very powerful, it can also be detrimental if used incorrectly. As the players have stated, Twitter possesses the ability to tarnish one’s reputation and even damage an athlete’s confidence when fans too readily share their disapproval. The moral of the story? Don’t just tweet for the sake of tweeting. Twitter is a wonderful and useful tool, but to optimize its benefits, one must use it accurately, sports fans and athletes alike.
