Good thoughts, bad thoughts

I’m sure you have your beliefs in how important social media is in your daily life. I know that people will put things in an email or on Facebook that, for the most part, they would never say to someone face-to-face.

But if they accidently send out a Facebook post or a Tweet, you can edit it in your mind can’t you?

Now I’m not a prude by any means, but I do cringe a bit when I see something that I think is over the top gets sent out.

I hear about it all of the time that someone sends out a Tweet that has a ton of innuendo and very little fact.

The idea is to make it sound like someone is to blame, even though there is no proof that they had anything to do with the issue or event.

A day or so later an apology is sent out and that is supposed to settle the issue. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way and now that I know the truth please disregard what I sent out.”

Okay, at least they apologized. But there are no repercussions for saying something over social media that is fabricated and there should be.

Remember a lot more people read the fabrication than ever read the, “My bad, I’m sorry I spoke too soon.” The damage is already done.

We see it in politics, but we also see it in sports. It seems that there is very little sportsmanship when it comes to social media. Athletes will talk about teammates, coaches or opponents as soon as a thought comes into their head.

How many times have you heard, “That quote was taken out of context”?

Now and then you will see something that is worth repeating and complimentary. These remarks don’t need apologies. But typically they are well thought out before they are sent out. What a novel idea.

Most of the times that bad vibes are in the air are after difficult losses or worse, difficult seasons. It seems that players, usually star players, will vent as to what the underlying problems are.

It might not be said in a post-game interview but in a late night Tweet when someone needs to be sleeping and not tweeting!

But social media has given us a certain type of courage with words that would never be said at a press conference or at least they shouldn’t.

I remember when I was in high school and we would hear second or third hand that someone didn’t like the way we played or acted on the field or court during a game. You could confront that person, but it usually was baseless or something said as a joke.

There was no social media only face-to-face or hand-written notes as proof. It didn’t make it any easier to take as an athlete. No one likes to hear negative things being aired in public.

We are all different, even those that have very similar thoughts on subjects. We all seem to react a little different to a topic that is popular for the day.

We also have our favorite teams and when a player is traded we as fans are either very happy or very upset. Chances are if you are very upset, you own a jersey that has the traded player’s name on it.

For example: You are a Seattle Seahawks fan and own a Richard Sherman jersey. Don’t be mad at least you had some good years wearing it.

Think about the guy that owns a Seahawk jersey with Rick Mirer’s name on it. Now that was a great investment.

For you youngsters out there, Mirer was the Seattle Seahawks’ second overall draft pick in 1993, right after the New England Patriots picked Drew Bledsoe.

Mirer made a living in the NFL, but he was never the star many believed he would become.

Sadly, many folks believed that since he played for Notre Dame and had success he would surely be a can’t miss pro. Playing for a great college team does not mean you can turn around a bad pro team.

There was no social media back then, but the evening sports report usually wasn’t kind about the lack of success this kid was having.

It could have been worse. He could have been playing for a New York team. That would have been brutal.

There are good thoughts and there are bad thoughts about everyone. There is a fine line between being brutal and being brutally honest.

But in either case don’t send out your thoughts on Facebook, in an email or in a Tweet. Have the wherewithal to talk to the person face-to-face. You will earn a lot more respect that way.

Or just keep your thoughts to yourself and you will never need to apologize.