Social Media "Hack"

On April 29, 2016 CBS Sports released a story on Ole Miss offensive lineman, Laremy Tunsil. Tunsil was expected to be a top 10 selection in the NFL Draft. He was known as one of the best offensive linemen. His talent was so great that many mock drafts had him going first overall. Until minutes before the draft, a video was posted to his personal verified Twitter account that was of him wearing a gas mask smoking what looks to be marijuana.Who leaked this photo? The real answer is still unknown. Tunsil claims his social media had been "hacked". He claimed the incident happened several years ago and that he had made a mistake. There are reporters that think it was Tunsil's step-dad because of the previous problem they had earlier that year. Hacked or not, the point is Tunsil WAS wearing the gas mask, and he WAS getting high. Athletes don't realize that their actions, no matter how recent they are, are always on display to the public at all times. Because of this incident, it scared away teams that were previously interested in him and Tunsil dropped all the way to the No. 13 pick. The Dolphins finally selected him, costing him millions of dollars in potential earnings. Although he lost out on millions of dollars, Tunsil was grateful for the Dolphins
and the opportunity he was given to play for them. 
Now what does this show about the affects social media have on sports? A lot. This incident literally happened minutes before the draft was supposed to start, and it went viral. So viral that the host of the draft even asked Tunsil about it in front of everyone right after he was picked to play for the Dolphins. Did this incident stop the decisions of the other teams? Yes, absolutely it did. They never verified the facts because it had happened so fast. At the time of the incident, there was no further investigation to change their minds about Tunsil, it immediately affected the draft order. Because of this, I do not believe that sportswriters are not going to be diligent in verifying the facts before negative framing of an athlete is depicted. Tunsil had to try to convince everyone that he really was hacked because why would he post that right before the draft, one of the most life changing moments of his life. 

Why are stories like this so popular? Well because of supply and demand of course. If football wasn't such a popular sport, the athletes wouldn't hold such a public standing. Supply and demand is very real when it comes to athletes on sports teams. Fans are interested in the athletes and their behaviors and that is why there is even a market for stories like Tunsil. Athletes are public figures and everything about them is interesting to anyone that follows or cares about sports at all. In Tunsil's situation, if he is going to be smoking

marijuana, so be it, but make sure that no one is ever filming it, snap chatting it, or tweeting about what is going on. Athletes need to learn to keep certain activities private and only use social media for good. Those bad behaviors can get leaked all over the internet for all eyes to see, especially people you may not want to see it and they will have to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives, because once something is on the internet, it is always on the internet.  

The Fantasy Sports Gamble

Today, fantasy sports is a multi-billion dollar industry. About 57.4 million people played in some sort of fantasy league in 2016. That is about 15% of the entire United States population. An article by the New York Post sports

discusses how author Daniel Barbarisi was intrigued by the rise of daily fantasy sports that he quit his job as a New York Yankees beat reporter for The Wall Street Journal to live and breathe fantasy sports. Is this excessive fantasy? I believe so. Who quits their reliable job and takes a risk on fantasy sports? This guy is an idiot if you ask me. He had worked for The Wall Street Journal for 5 years and then decided to pursue his dream of book writing and also took a chance with fantasy sports.

Although, he definitely had good luck. Of course, I'm too much of a chicken to take such a big risk. But those that do, sometimes have great success, Daniel in this case did for sure.

Daniel has now earned $100,000 more than he had made at his writing job with The Wall Street Journal. Because of his success he decided to write a book called “Dueling With Kings: High Stakes, Killer Sharks and the Get-Rich Promise of Daily Fantasy Sports”. In his book he talks about how he was successful and what he saw.

He states, "Consistent winners closely analyze statistics, sometimes use computer models and have no team or athlete loyalties." But many of his fantasy sports gambles failed miserably. In fact, just last summer he lost $10,000 with his poor choices in his fantasy baseball league. Things don't always go as hoped. So what kept him going? What was his motivation? I believe Daniel went from being a "fan-first player" to a statistical enthusiast. His failures came because he was spending too much time trying to determine who he thought would be the best picks and not paying enough attention to who actually was the best picks based on statistical data. Once he learned from other people who do this for a living, his motivation changed and this is where I believe Daniel became a statistical enthusiast. He found he loved crunching numbers to uncover the degree to which having the first pick offers owners intrinsic advantages or disadvantages. He is a "stat geek", because he is more than willing to spend hours seeking out the data needed to play the games. He states he doesn't have team loyalties because those loyalties can ultimately ruin your chances of winning by affecting your ability in making logical decisions.

Fantasy sports gambling alters a person's attitude about winners and losers, it essentially creates a game within a game. Daniel states, "I am not looking to get rich at this. I don't want to weather the emotional ups and downs of playing for a living". He has already experienced the emotional ups and downs of sports gambling when he lost thousands of dollars and tried to hide it from his wife because he felt terrible and didn't want her to find out. He said, "I feared that I had given up my job to be a loser gambler". I don't think there is a time in gambling where you don't experience the emotional ups and downs. When you win, you crave to do it more, and when you lose, you feel horrible. I don't think Daniel realizes that these emotions come with the gambling territory no matter if you want them or not. 

Fantasy sports and sports gambling is very addictive. It is a massive industry and is under reported and underestimated. Fantasy sports has a positive correlation with sports betting and goes hand in hand with each other. This is why Daniel's story is not a surprise. Typically those that get consumed in fantasy sports, find the sport gambling side of things hard to stay away from. When money is involved, it is hard to quit. Even though Daniel states he won't do this for a living, I believe he will. He has had too much success so far, and I think it will be hard for him to stay away.  

Here is a clip of Daniel Barbarisi on the radio discussing his success: 

http://media.weei.com/a/118675511/dueling-with-kings-author-daniel-barbarisi-in-studio-3-9-17.htm 

Crisis Communication in Sports

An article published September 2016 on CNN by Emanuella Grinberg describes the case that drew national attention to the way that sexual assault survivors are treated. More than 16 months after the incident happened, Stanford student athlete Brock Turner was finally sentenced to six months in county jail after sexually assaulting an unconscious women behind a dumpster on Stanford's campus. Prosecutors were hoping that he would get 6 years in jail, but his sentence was reduced to just three months in county jail instead of six months. The judge who gave Turner his sentence was also a Stanford graduate. 

Judge Persky found that his case was "unusual" and justified sentencing Turner to probation instead of prison based on the fact that alcohol was involved and that he was an All American Swimmer for the university. This judge had to make a special exception to hand out such a light punishment when the typical sentence for such a crime is a minimum sentence of 2 years in jail with a max sentence of 14 years. If it was someone who wasn't an All American Swimmer, or even a Stanford student, or who was a white male, they probably wouldn't be given the same sentence time for the exact same crime. Just because you were drunk at the time of the crime should not allow for you to be held less accountable, in fact I think you should be held more accountable on the fact that you were being more irresponsible. 

The biggest problem here is the punishment does not fit the crime. During all of this, Brock Turner failed to take responsibility, failed to show remorse, and failed to tell the truth. At the time of Turner's conviction, he told everyone that she had consented to it, and more importantly, that it was HER idea. He did not even apologize to her for what he had done. The victim stated later on, "Had Brock admitted guilt and remorse and offered to settle early on, I would have considered a lighter sentence, respecting his honesty, grateful to be able to move our lives forward". 

Lets go back to the example of the Tiger Woods who had multiple affairs, cheated on his wife and disappointed his kids. He publicly apologized and felt sorrow for his wrong doings. This does not by any means justify what he did, but it does allow for people to acknowledge that he understands he was in the wrong and allow people to soon forgive him. His speech allowed for image repair. It has allowed for him to be able to one day build back his reputation. What Turner did was disgusting, disrespectful, and how he handled the situation was disgraceful. I have no respect for any person, athlete or not, who behaves in such a manner where he tries to put blame on someone else or denies he was in the wrong. This is a crisis in communication, his reputation is ruined. It will be hard for people to look passed the "sex offender" label he will have. His image is damaged and I do not think it can be repaired. Unless Turner were to publicly apologize to the victim, and make it the best apology he has ever given, there is no hope in his image ever being repaired. The way that Turner handled this situation is the typical denial and transcendence resolution type. First off, he denied that he was in the wrong, and the transcendence of this situation is the judge essentially blaming his actions on pure alcohol involvement.  

It is disappointing to me that our judicial system even let this sentence pass. I am aware the the judge is currently under recall, but that should not have even had to be put in place. Athlete or not, Stanford student or not, drunk or not, he committed a crime. He should be punished and he should take responsibility for his actions and at least apologize to the poor victim who will unfortunately be scarred by this for the rest of her life.