When Social Media Attacks!

Whatever happened to a thing called "locker room talk"? A place where athletes can communicate amongst themselves to air out any issues they have with each other, as well as bonding with each other privately. Where has the intimate and private communication gone?

Social media has taken over the way we think and respond to problems we face. Twitter seems to be the new media outlet in which athletes can express their thoughts by posting comments on their Twitter page. The Baltimore Ravens are preparing to face the New England Patriots on Sunday, Janurary 22 in the AFC Championship game. One prominent player on the Ravens took to Twitter following his team's win last week agaisnt the Houston Texans.

Ravens safety Ed Reed is a 10-year veteran and 8-time Pro Bowler; you can imagine the influence he would have as both a leader on the defence, as well as the team as a whole. Reed made a comment following the Ravens' 20-13 win over the Houston Texans, about the performance of his QB Joe Flacco. Reed said over his Twitter account, "Flacco was kind of rattled a bit after facing that defence (Houston)". This comment is garnering a lot of media attention suggesting that Reed was being negative or critical of his QB after a key win.

Reed would later state in a video interview with ESPN that the comment was not meant to put Flacco down, rather to motivate him. Flacco shrugged off the comment and stated that it did not bother him even though he was caught off guard by it. Looking at the situation objectively, Reed has a point in that, if the Ravens want to win this Sunday in New England, Flacco must improve his numbers. Although Flacco has a record of 7-0 this regular season against top-10 defences, it's his postseason stats that have Reed worried about how Flacco and the rest of the offence will match up against Tom Brady and the Patriot's defence. In Flacco's eight career playoff games, he has completed just 53 percent of his passes and has averaged only 153.3 yards passing/game. Flacco has thrown six touchdowns and seven interceptions for a quarterback rating of an abysmal 31.5 in his postseason career.

The problem with Reed's tweet however, is that if he had an issue with Flacco's performance why wouldn't he man up to Flacco and handle the issue in private? Instead, by taking to Twitter, he has allowed the media to take it as a far bigger issue then it really is. Only positive comments should be made public with such an important game forthcoming. It is not as motivating a comment as Reed wants to believe. If Flacco under performs this week, will Reed's comment be of partial blame? Or perhaps as Reed says, it helps to motivate Flacco to raise his game to defeat the Patriots on the road, which is always very difficult.

The bottom line is that athletes should be handling problems they have in the locker room and not publicly, because once the media gets grasp of it they will turn it into a bigger story then it has to be. It can possibly lead to animosity between teammates with a huge game upcoming.