Canseco posted on his Twitter account April 8, “Of the 103 unnamed players on the list who tested positive for steroids in 2003, Manny Ramirez’s name is most likely on the list, 90%.”

As if Canseco didn’t have enough “juice” before, this adds even more credibility to his previous accusations and any he makes going forward.

I’m still in shock. Baseball’s two highest paid players over the last decade have now both been outted for performance enhancing drugs. I’m very interested to see how Major League Baseball handles this.

While his play on the court is seen as tough, Bowen in the Social Media world is likely going to develop a different reputation, one that is much softer than his NBA persona.  Bowen’s profile, according to the Twitter Athletes directory, is a quite different from what we’ve come to expect from NBA players on Twitter. The lock down defender is using his Twitter feed specifically to push the salon & spa that he opened with his wife.

While Bowen is clearly being the “loving husband and business owner” his profile states, he may want to be wary of turning himself into the cyberspace Doug Christie. You may remember Christie as the former Sacramento Kings guard who had a reputation of being controlled by his wife. While Bowen in real life is a far cry from Christie, his Twitter profile is screaming that same phrase, “controlled by his wife.”

Need evidence? Just check out this tweet from Bowen today. A Sex in the City contest for a ladies hair cut and style? Seriously Bruce? Is this really the same tough and gritty player who notoriously kneed league MVP Steve Nash in the playoffs a few years ago? I’m having a hard time believing that we are seeing “The Real” Bruce Bowen on Twitter.

Bowen’s profile leads into a couple good questions – Is it a good idea for professional athletes to push their initiatives or the initiatives of their significant others using social media and how is the best way to do it?

It’s not a new idea to utilize fame and celebrity to endorse businesses, but if the only thing we get from an athlete or celebrity on social media is promotional, then attaching their name to that profile might as well be considered false advertising.

I think as long as there is a balance in what athletes and celebs communicate to people, it is OK to promote their business agenda. Bowen clearly has not found that right mix of pushing his wife’s business and giving us a look into his own personality and thoughts. After all, isn’t that what Twitter is all about?

Please Bruce, give us some thoughts on who you like in the playoffs now that the Spurs are out, LeBron as MVP, the amazing Celtics-Bulls series or pretty much anything besides Sex and the City contests! If you add value to the community then the loyal followers will not be far behind.

Can anyone suggest athletes who use social media well to both provide a peak inside their lives and promote their (or their S.O.’s) business and charitable endevours?

Wilson had a rough outing on Sunday after his tweets appeared to put him out on the town late Saturday. Unfortunately, in addition to blowing a save, Wilson had to face some media scrutiny.

Wilson ended up playing it safe and closed his @BrianWilson38 account, which is actually the OPPOSITE of what I think he should have done. His Twitter account would have been the ideal way to fend off his social media critics, as evidenced by the stream of supporters who still want him to tweet.

We’ve seen many brands use the power of social media to address the masses in a “crisis” situation like this one or even more serious situations like the Dominos Pizza YouTube fiasco. I feel Wilson should have done the same and not cut off the connection to his fans.

My advice to Wilson would have been to work with the Giants media relations staff to craft a few tweets in his voice making it clear to fans that he was not out clubbing (as he claimed he wasn’t in a later interview) and then move on using the age old year old adage “Think first, Tweet second” …but please, don’t stop going toe-to-toe with ninjas. (Read the previous link if you don’t get that reference)

How would you have advised Brian Wilson in his Twitter crisis?

The Patriots took the surprise out each draft pick by tweeting the pick prior to the NFL’s announcement of the player chosen. In addition, the Twitter feed routinely dispensed information about the Pats shopping picks and which teams they were talking to.

While football fans had to be psyched about receiving up-to-the-second updates on what the Patriots were doing through this rapidly growing forum, the losers in this situation were media members covering the team’s draft.

Beat reporters, like the Boston Globe’s Mike Reiss, found themselves constantly referring to the Patriots’ Twitter page as the main source breaking news. Check out Reiss’ live draft blog and notice all the team Twitter page references (I counted 19).

Media members did not seem to enjoy getting scooped by the team, essentially making their own up-to-the-minute updates outdated before they were even posted.

As pigskin web site ColdHardFootballFacts.com, who happened to be on-site with a slew of Patriots beat reporters at Gillette Stadium reporting on the draft, said about the Twitter situation:

In fact, there was something of a mini dust-up in the press box at Gillette Saturday night with reporters pissed by the fact that the Patriots were posting their picks on Twitter before announcing them to the media. Essentially, the NFL, and individual teams like the Patriots, are eliminating the middle man called the traditional reporter – and reporters are not happy.

So after getting beat again by Twitter, one reporter blew up at Patriots staffers, yelling that “these guys own everything” (apparently referring to the organization), while pointing out the press box window, and said that they’re “killing” him.

Another reporter lamented: “We are now totally useless.”

The Patriots were not alone in announcing draft picks early, the San Diego Chargers also offered their fans an early look at their new players through the team web site, Twitter feed and text messages.

Should the NFL step in to avoid having individual team’s social media outlets steal their thunder AND alienate the media who report on their league to millions of people? The league says they are going to review team’s disclosing their picks before the actual announcement, however a bad precedent has been set by the Patriots and Chargers.

While I don’t feel the media will ever become “totally useless” because of the analysis and opinions the writers and columnists provide, the Patriots have taken a major step toward taking away the “breaking news” element of the media. The ability to reach a mass audience while being only one step away from the source should be cause for concern in the eyes of all members of the sports media. It will be interesting to see how the NFL and other professional sports leagues address this issue over the coming months.

Do you think NFL teams should be able to announce their draft picks via social media before the league announces them to the rest of the world? Chime in on the comments section to let me know your thoughts.

]]> http://socialmediainsports.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/new-england-patweetiots/feed/ 2 socialmediainsports