July 30, 2006

My Space: How My Space and Facebook are giving coaches and administrators a new headache.

posted by ballen7065 to general at 08:14 AM - 9 comments

hah

posted by defrag3x at 10:14 AM on July 30, 2006

This is crap!

posted by nflhou02 at 10:19 AM on July 30, 2006

College sports players have always given up certain personal rights in order to play on the team. This is no different than a coach hearing rumors of a bad frat party and telling the players they can't go to that house anymore. MySpace is not a private journal. It is a public declaration not much different from standing in the campus courtyard with a sign that says: "Doodz, I'm so f^%$! Woooo!"

posted by ?! at 10:43 AM on July 30, 2006

"MySpace is not a private journal." Not to mention, prospective employers have checked out what applicants have posted there, causing some to lose out on an employment opportunity. Back in my day, (which is farther back than i care to mention) it was the reefer leaf and Pink Floyd stickers on the back bumper, two things garaunteed to get you pulled over. (At least where I lived.) Maybe they should just be a little more selective about what they post on their websites.

posted by steelergirl at 11:08 AM on July 30, 2006

Good. I understand that people need to make up for their insecurities and boost their egos on declaration sites. They want people to view them and it happened.

posted by T$PORT4lawschool at 11:12 AM on July 30, 2006

However it could be used smartly to get under the skin of an opponent. Register under your rival school name and prop some goats or other farm animals in mock dorm rooms, pop some photoshop cropped photo's on the site and........ah I miss college!

posted by mikemora at 11:48 AM on July 30, 2006

These pampered middleclass twits need to learn about what is important in life. For sure it isn't in MySpace or Facebook.Having to earn whats been given to them would help.

posted by sickleguy at 03:09 PM on July 30, 2006

Really? I chalk it up to same things the Bowling Green coach says - these are 18-year old kids. So, basically, some of them are stupid. It's okay - people can recover. Besides, this whole MySpace and Facebook shit is relatively new, people aren't still sure what content to use. Give it some time, this stuff traditionally polices itself. I'm all for coaches and other mentor-figures getting involved. Seems to be being handled in the right fashion.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:26 AM on July 31, 2006

I may be one of the only people on this forum who is both a college student (or was one up until three months ago) and is on MySpace and Facebook. With this background, I can understand a lot more about what goes on in these kids minds than most other people, and the answer is: not a heck of alot. (Preface to this commentary-my facebook and myspace site are fairly circumspect, and I understand the need to guard my privacy) As Weedy said, these are 18 year old kids, a group not known for its intelligence. People hammer them for posting scandalous images and phrases on their sites. But it has to be remembered, that none of these things are terribly scandalous for my generation, especially for college (and pretty much for high school, too) age kids. This is the norm and what everyone else does on Facebook and Myspace, therefore it won't seem out of the average. In the same idea, student-athletes won't care about any damage to the school, and won't realize any danger to themselves (after all, we are young and invinceable). Finally, I would like to add a final comment about the behavior of the coaches. For the coaches to be dismayed by what the athletes post is one thing. I can understand that, as it is part of their job to make the school look good. If their problem is that it scandalizes the school that is fair. But the article is written to illustrate some of the nefarious actions of the students, making it sound shocking and suddenly new. As a coach, if you didn't have at least an inkling of what most of your players were up to, and were completely unprepared for an introduction to the college party life, you probably haven't been doing to good a job at knowing your athletes. You have to at least know what is going on around your campus a little bit.

posted by Bonkers at 02:07 PM on July 31, 2006

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