Sports
Twitter, Facebook and Stevie Johnson – the ugly side of sports
Tuesday November 29, 2011 | By:Charles Roberts, Sports Reporter


The world has gone nuts. More specifically, the sports world is about a fry short of a Happy Meal.
Politics notwithstanding, name another profession where you can not only publically – and by publically, I mean on national television and in front of nearly 100,000 paying customers – humiliate the company brand. Oh, and while seeking a significant raise. Did I mention you want the raise despite hardly showing up for work for the better part of a month, too?
Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson’s well-publicized antics – and crucial drop – Sunday means more than another season down the drain for his team; it’s a big-time slap in the face to fans. Not to mention the sea of more than 77,000 Twitter followers, to whom he tweeted the following: “Haha wow I can't believe you guys really telling me I ‘dropped’ the GWinner. Smh. Pitt was a drop. This was QB&WR not on the same page.”
No, Stevie. The only person not on the same page was you. Perhaps you were preoccupied thinking about your Twitter page when the potential game-winning throw – a beauty, I might add – ricocheted off your hands.
Admittedly, I had to Google “smh.” It’s apparently an acronym for, “shaking my head.” Talk about ironic.
Look – I’m not trying to totally bash Johnson here. He has been nothing but a nice guy when it comes to dealing with the media and seems to do the right thing in terms of appearances and so on. But at the end of the day, football requires a team-first mentality and Johnson simply does not appear to get it.
Last year he took to his Twitter account to blame God after dropping – and yes, that was definitely a drop – the would-be game-winner against the Pittsburgh Steelers. No need for further elaboration on that one.
“It’s nothing to me now. I’ve already been through it last year,” Johnson said Monday. “You can’t say live, laugh, love and learn and you don’t learn from anything. I’ve learned from last year from all the talk and all the negativity surrounding it. I just smile and laugh.”
Color me confused. What exactly did he learn? Where to send the check for the ensuing fine?
From deflecting blame to the dozen-or-so tweets per day to the nonchalant attitude about paying fines for his end-zone publicity stunts – this guy’s focus is all over the place. It’s unfortunate for the Bills that he takes for granted the one thing he occasionally does well: playing football. Just ask Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis.
Johnson is playing in the final year of his rookie contract. It’s anyone’s guess as to how the Bills’ management proceeds. My hunch: they make him a rich young man – he is only 25 years old – and demand that he dedicates his hands not to tweeting and sending mock bullets into his thigh, but catching footballs.
Full disclaimer: I utilize both of the aforementioned social-media tools. In fact, allow me to plug my Twitter handle: cHartleyRoberts. Addendum to disclaimer: I’m a fairly dull guy to follow. I’ll occasionally talk sports and don’t mind hitting on other subjects. But if you’re looking for an on-the-hour, location-giving, minutia kind of tweeter, I’m simply not your guy. I like sports, not the nonsensical blather that follows it – no pun intended – these days.
CharlesHRoberts@yahoo.com
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