First of all, apologies on the technical difficulties with my post this morning. Secondly, I did make sure to greet everybody just for you Big Nate.
Today I wanted to toss out a discussion item that has been a lightening rod on other message boards. Want to know more, and check out my predictions for tonight’s games? Well then Coug fans, read on.
Social Networking sites, such as Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook have taken the World by storm since their inception. When I joined Facebook in college, I never would have imagined it becoming what it is today. In fact, its founder Mark Zuckerburg is the youngest self-made billionaire in the World! Nor could I have imagined it being responsible for a book written by Ben Mezrich, who wrote the book responsible for the movie 21. The Accidental Billionaires is an excellent read by the way.
Anyways, what I am trying to get at is the role social networking sites play for today’s college students. What is private information and what is public domain for an 18-22 year old these days? Is information which athletes and recruits post to their Facebook and Twitter pages fair game for fans to share and discuss on sites and blogs? The one thing I see from our athletes is most stuff that doesn’t pass the Grandmother Test is actually from incoming players/recruits, instead of those on campus. The Grandmother Test was something I learned about in a Greek Leadership Class in college. Essentially meaning, are the things you do in your organization (or in this case, things you say or post online) something you would be proud to share with your Grandma? Which leads me to believe the Wazzu Sports Information Director teaches our student athletes the right and wrong things to share online.
In the comments section, I really want to hear what some of you think about this. As, right now I am not sure where I stand. Part of me thinks if somebody isn’t responsible enough to set their profile and pictures to private, than they are susceptible to criticism. Last year a teacher at Eastlake High School was fired because parents complained about pictures on her Facebook account. At first this annoyed me, why would you be looking at some young teacher’s online profile? But the more I thought about it, if she felt the urge to post pictures that raised an eyebrow, at least have the common sense to make your profile private. If you choose not make it private, then I believe this public information is fair game for discussion; even though it does make me feel like this guy. Heck, news reports quote and capture images from social networking sites all the time; victims, suspects, and convicts.
Anyways, I wanted to broach this topic over here as we really do believe your comments and thoughts are one of the major drivers of this blog. What do you think about social networking as it relates to athletes?
Moving on, let’s take a look at tonight’s Pac 10 action!
Oregon State at Stanford: If the Cardinal shoots anything like it did in the second half against the Cougs, then OSU is going to have a hard time getting out of Maples with a win. Will the OSU Zone Defense stop the Cardinal? Stanford 61 – OSU 55.
Oregon at California: I would have to imagine the Bears are a little pissed off about being embarrassed by the Dawgs last weekend. I would imagine the three-headed monster of guards lights up the Ducks. Oregon has lost three straight contests (all at Mac Court) since they swept on the road against the Washington schools to open Pac 10 play. Cal 93 – Oregon 75.
Washington at UCLA: Two thoughts. Is UW worse on the road in basketball or football? Can’t decide? Me neither. My other thought is UCLA has minimal talent on their squad; which should make for a pretty entertaining game tonight. Washington 82 – UCLA 77.
Wazzu at USC: I’ve got a hunch that Coach Bone has lit a fire under these guys this week in practice. I will be shocked if we sleep walk through the first 5 minutes and the final 7 minutes tonight. I am still waiting for the USC collapse as they only have pride on the line this year. My guess is said collapse begins tonight, during Washington State’s most complete performance of the year. Cougs 79 – Trojans 71.
That is all for today. Go Cougs!
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