CMS 200 Final Project

1. Twitter and Professional Sports
How Athletes, Teams and Leagues
use Twitter to Promote the Game or
Stir Controversy

2. Purpose and Methods
• It is my goal to analyze the way professional sports leagues,
teams and players use Twitter.
• I will look at the general use of the social network, the
business aspects of it, the goodwill that can be generated
among fans and the controversies that arise from an instant
form of communication with millions of users.
• To do this, I will review news articles, ask Twitter users for
feedback, discuss my own experience with Twitter and
athletes/teams/leagues, and do a rhetorical analysis of
some of the players that have been involved in goodwill
building or controversial tweeting. I will also do a form of
content analysis on a random sample of athletes and the
way they use their Twitter accounts.

3. The League
• The NBA uses Twitter to give score updates,
statistics, player updates and to advertise
upcoming games.
• The NFL uses Twitter to promote league
rivalries and provide updates on player and
team news.
• The NFL also has a Twitter feed for NFL
Network to promote their programming
lineup

4. The League (cont.)
• MLB uses Twitter to update fans on games, team
news and stories about how fans interact with
teams.
• MLB also has a Fan Cave Twitter feed to promote
their new studio show and attraction with
giveaways and updates on upcoming guests.
• The NHL uses Twitter to provide statistics and
game schedules as well as news from around the
league.

5. The League (cont.)
• Ultimate Fighting Championship uses Twitter as a
way to promote upcoming events, give health
updates on fighters and provide fan access to
fighters, as well as to address any technical issues
arising from pay per view broadcasts, such as
blackouts and equipment failures.
• The MLS uses Twitter to provide player and team
stories as well as updating scores and schedules
from around the league.

6. Twitter as a Business Application
• Dana White, President of Ultimate Fighting
Championship offers a Twitter bonus to the
fighter who gains the most new followers
during a UFC event.
• Professional Sports Teams can get ahead of
stories to promote their side of an issue or
break news on player transactions,
promotions and giveaways.

7. Twitter as a Distraction
• Pittsburgh Steelers Running Back Rashard Mendenhall
tweeted some controversial tweets in the wake of the
death of Osama Bin Laden, stating that hatred of him
was unfounded and that 9/11 was a Government
Conspiracy.
• Kansas City Chiefs Running Back Larry Johnson drew
fire for using racial slurs on Twitter.
• NBA player Metta World Peace (Formerly Ron Artest)
used Twitter to make excuses for a flagrant 2 (ejectable
intentional foul) that caused more harm than good,
resulting in a longer suspension than if he had just
committed the foul and not said anything.

8. Twitter as a Distraction (cont.)
• Bernard Berrian, Wide Receiver for the
Minnesota Vikings tweeted some controversial
replies to criticism received after a poor
performance in the 2011 NFL season, including a
reply to Minnesota Representative John Kriesel,
telling him to sit down and shut up. Kriesel lost
parts of both legs in Iraq, and is confined to a
wheel chair. He was also instrumental in trying to
get the Vikings a new stadium. The new stadium
bill has not been passed as of 4/18/2012.

9. Twitter as a Distraction (cont.)
• Washington Redskins Receiver Jabar Gaffney
tweeted about his wife being unfaithful, and
from there had a meltdown that resulted in
him accusing his former friend/teammate Lito
Shepherd of having an affair with his wife.
• UFC Fighter Miguel Torres was released from
the company following a tweet in which he
made jokes about so-called “rape” vans.

10. Damage Control
• The Pittsburgh Steelers had to distance themselves
from Mendenhall’s comments and affirm their support
of the US Military. Champion, one of Mendenhall’s
sponsors, dropped him.
• Berrian invited Kriesel to come to the Vikings facility to
watch game tapes so they could both talk through their
dispute and see things from the other point of view.
• Johnson was initially suspended for 1 game by the
Chiefs, forfeiting $213,000 in salary. He was released
from the team 3 weeks later due to public backlash.
• World Peace was suspended for 7 games (including
playoff games) and fined an undisclosed amount.

11. Twitter can Build Goodwill Between
Fans and Athletes
• Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic offered to fly the
1 millionth person to follow him on Twitter to Orlando
and provide tickets to the season opening game in
2009.
• Howard also tweeted secret locations during the off
season and provided rewards such as lunch with him
and video games.
• NFL Player Chad OchoCinco has treated his Twitter
followers to expensive dinners and tickets to games.
• Shaquille O’Neal, former NBA Superstar has also used
Twitter to give fans prizes as well as the occasional
phone call just to chat.

12. Twitter Builds Goodwill
• Metta World Peace has an image problem due to
an incident when he was with Indiana in which he
went into the crowd to start a brawl with fans.
He has used Twitter to reinvent his image.
• He offers to allow select fans to have Skype chats
with him (first come, first served) and also has
contests on his Twitter feed to give away his
allotment of tickets to home Lakers games.
• He also tries to reply to as many fans that send
him tweets as he can.

13. Twitter Builds Goodwill
• The Boston Red Sox team-run Twitter feed works
in conjunction with the team promotions.
Recently, the team released 100 balloons around
Boston that had tickets to the 100th anniversary
game, and the team Twitter posted clues to the
locations of the tickets.
• They also have a promotion called “Tweet Your
Seat” in which the first 3 fans in attendance at a
game to reply to their tweet with their section,
row and seat number get a bag full of souvenirs
from a team representative.

14. Twitter As a Marketing Tool
• Dana White, UFC President, says that Twitter is the
greatest marketing tool in the world. And it’s free.
• Loves it because he can talk directly to the fans.
• Loves that instead of tricking people into signing up,
people opt in to following on Twitter.
• He promotes the events leading up to their start.
• He can resolve problems with ticketing, cable outages
and other issues that can arise in real time.
• He emphasizes that you still need to use common
sense, because even if something is a joke, you don’t
get to explain yourself when there is fan or media
backlash.

15. Personal Experience
• I follow several athletes and teams.
• Players will give health updates when injured.
• Some players will reply to messages from fans.
Brandon Spikes of the Patriots, Metta World Peace of
the Lakers and Rick Fox, retired NBA star stand out in
this department.
• Real time statistics and scores from games allow me to
stay up to date on out of market teams/players.
• A friend of mine won a $400 video game system for
answering a trivia question asked by the MLB Fan Cave
Twitter, proving that real people can win these
contests.

16. Survey of Sports Fans on Twitter
• I circulated 3 simple questions on Facebook and
Twitter, with a request that Twitter users who
follow Athletes, Teams or Leagues respond to the
survey.
• First Question: Why do you follow Twitter feeds
associated with professional sports?
• Second Question: What are your thoughts on the
positive aspects of Twitter and Professional
Sports?
• Third Question: What are your thoughts on the
negative uses of Twitter in Professional Sports?

17. Experience of Others
• Scott Mermelstein, Indiana University Student on the good side of sports and Twitter- “I love the
way the St Louis Blues and LA Kings operate their Twitter. They are fan friendly, and the Kings
“troll” all of the other teams on Twitter.”
• Joe Dunbar, Portland Social Media Icon on both sides of sports and Twitter- “Unfortunately there
are instances when athletes don't think before they tweet...and cause controversy. It seems like
they forget how words you say, even online can be taken out of context or come back to bite you”
and “I think a lot of them do it for a way to connect with fans. I think the social media is a big outlet
for them. The [Portland] Pirates try to respond to fans as much as they can, and even follow some
of them (like myself). I also think some athletes just use it to try and build a fan base, more than
solely using it to connect with fans, etc.”
• Scott Mason, Senior Data Entry Clerk at Bank of New York Mellon- “I’ve seen a mostly positive
showing from athletes on Twitter.” He cited Chad OchoCinco’s invitation to any of his followers to
come out and have dinner with him in Harlem as an example. The turn out was around 200 for that
giveaway. Mason said that the only negative experience he has had with athletes on Twitter is that
he missed out on the opportunity to join Chad’s dinner party.
• Jasmine Bucinski Colorado Housewife–”I know [Chad]Ochocinco says some pretty inspiring stuff in
a lot of his tweets. That's why I follow him. They don't seem like they're necessarily for teammates,
more for anyone who's paying attention.” She lists her favorite OchoCinco tweet(s) as “Some
people say the grass is always greener on the other side. I say be the gardener. Water it. Feed it.
Make your own grass grow. I make the grass greener wherever I am. I'm the gardener.”

18. Experience of Others(cont)
• Dan Pacini, Broadcaster with Curtis Media Group, Boone, North Carolina- “ Jabar Gaffney had some pretty
interesting tweets regarding Lito Sheppard and his "soon to be ex wife.“ Pacini is referring to an incident in
which Gaffney started tweeting a string of obscenity filled rants about his wife cheating on him and Lito
Sheppard (a former friend and teammate) being “Lame” and someone he doesn’t [deal] with anymore.
Gaffney also went on to make vague threats that he wouldn’t respect anyone’s relationship if he saw a
woman he wanted. Some media outlets have described I as a “meltdown.” This occurred on April 12th, and
Gaffney has shut down his Twitter account in the meantime.
• Matt Werenczac, Syracuse University Grad School- “ I thought it was cool when Kevin Love circumvented
the news process and broke the news that McHale was getting fired/let go. Anything that ruins the
"sacred" bond that the media has is a good thing in my mind. The journalists have a monopoly on access to
sports and athletes, this helps break it down and gives a new forum for fans to avoid all the bias/elitism
inherent in the status quo.” Matt clearly sees Twitter, even in its controversy, to be an important tool in the
way news is reported.
• Matt also listed these examples of Twitter as a positive media tool- “There are both negatives and positives
to this forums/access, such as we hate our athletes who are corporate and focused about their brand
(LeBron/Tiger),conversely we also hate our athletes who speak their minds (when we don't agree with it)
such as Mendenhall’s tweet revealing himself as a 9/11 Truther. However, Twitter has revolutionized the
news cycle despite being a relatively simply idea. Basically a public text message. Some notable instances of
Twitter with athletes: How about the rumors Dwight Howard signed an extension (or waived his right to
opt-out) based on feedback he was getting from his Twitter fans? What about during the lockout (football
and b[asket]ball) both sides posturing to gain public support without having to use their worms in the
media (a positive for the establishment -- can maintain some semblance of objectivity of some issues) and
go straight to the fans. What about [Kevin]Durant tweeting during the lockout to random locales showing
up and playing b[asket]ball/handing out bookbags to people. Twitter is awesome in lay terms.”

19. Conclusions Based on Fan Survey
• Judging by fan response to my inquiries, even after emphasizing the NFL
controversies from earlier, I would say that more often than not its the media, not
the fans that follow athletes, that turn a tweet into a controversy. The exception is
the Johnson case, as the media coverage turned the fans against him. While the
Berrian case is directly centered around an athlete and his Twitter followers, I
don’t think that the controversy really had a negative impact outside of that
personally felt by Rep. Kriesel.
• Most fans typically only see or pay attention to the positive messages that their
favorite athletes convey, whether by selective consumption or by the sheer fact
that a controversial tweet goes unnoticed or isn’t controversial without being
made into a bigger deal by the mainstream media. At least one respondent thinks
that Twitter is a solution to the problems plaguing mainstream media. Matt
mentioned that some sports reporters may withhold information due to the type
of rapport they have built with some athletes, whereas Twitter is direct from the
source, as though the fans are being allowed into the locker room, essentially.

20. Rhetorical Analysis of Controversial
Tweets
• Mendenhall’s Tweet, “What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how
people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one
side…” came via social media. For context, Mendenhall quotes Ezekiel 33:11 from
the Christian Bible, citing the line “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I
take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their
ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!...”
• Using this as his justification for his tweet shows that his referential and emotive
function was to preach the word of Christianity as it relates to the celebration of
Bin Laden’s death. The comments led to outrage among fans and US citizens, and
led to the team distancing themselves from Mendenhall’s comments. His apology
and explanation seemed sincere enough, and most fans have forgiven him.
• Ethos: As a pro athlete, he has a wide audience, therefore wide influence. Pathos:
His tweet spoke to an issue that several Americans are highly emotional about.
Logos: His initial tweet had no logic or reasoning, but his explanation did. Aim: His
tweet was intended to spark conversation about a morality issue.

21. Rhetorical Analysis of Controversial
Tweets (cont.)
• Larry Johnson’s tweet, in which he referred to someone as a “fag”
was sent via Twitter in reply to an insult about his playing career
and criminal record from a non-athlete Twitter user.
• Johnson issued a formal apology, stating that the words were used
in anger and he regrets his choice of words. The referential
function of this message was a player who had just had a poor
performance in a game, and the emotive function was anger. The
slurs enraged fans and civil rights activists, and eventually led to
Johnson losing his job.
• Ethos: As a Pro Athlete, Has a wide audience/sphere of influence.
Pathos: He was angry and trying to project his anger onto the
intended recipient. He forgot that while it was directed at one
person, it was viewable by everyone on Twitter. Logos: He had no
proof, just his own frustrated projection. Aim: To emasculate his
intended target.

22. Rhetorical Analysis of Controversial
Tweets (cont.)
• Jabar Gaffney’s Tweet(s) were filled with obscenities and sent after
discovering that his wife was having an affair.
• The referential function of this series of tweets is that Gaffney was
emotionally distraught at betrayal from two people he felt very
close to and needed an outlet. The emotive function was anger,
loss of trust and confusion.
• Ethos: As a professional athlete, he has a wide audience. Pathos:
Used profanity and vague descriptive language to evoke a sense of
empathy from followers while trying to cultivate hatred towards his
wife and his former teammate. Logos: This alleged affair coincided
with a feud with a former teammate, possibly the events are linked.
Aim: After a high negative emotion, he was using Twitter to vent,
not unlike most users.
• Thus far, there has been no public resolution to this controvery, but
Gaffney’s Twitter feed has been disabled.

23. Rhetorical Analysis of Controversial
Tweets (cont.)
• Torres’ Tweet stated that "If a rape van was called a surprise van more women
wouldn't mind going for rides in them.“He deleted the tweet and replaced it with
"If a windowless van was called a surprise van more people wouldn't mind going
for rides in them. Everyone likes surprises.“
• UFC President Dana White’s reaction: "There's no explanation for that. There's
absolutely nothing I could say to make any sense of that. And the fact that he even
thinks that's funny or that's a joke, it disturbs me. It bothers me.”
• The referential function of the tweet is that Torres was trying to be funny. The
emotive function was to be shockingly outrageous.
• Ethos: As a well respected and successful fighter (40-4 career record) he was
influential in the MMA world. Pathos: Tried to make a joke by saying something
outrageous and shocking, hoping that the extremity of the language would convey
the joking intention. Logos: I see no logic in this tweet, and according to his
apology, in which he said “I am very sorry for upsetting my bosses at the UFC, and
also to my fans and everyone else who was upset by the language in my tweets. I
understand it was wrong, and I meant no harm or disrespect,” apparently he saw
no logic, either. Aim: To create controversy and get people talking about
him/following him. UFC offers incentives to their fighters based on gains in Twitter
followers.

24. Rhetorical Analysis of Positive Tweet
• Dwight Howard’s invitation to fly his millionth follower to
Orlando for the opening game and the “Find Dwight”
tweets were intended to be fun and exciting rewards to his
fans.
• For a referential function, he has embraced his role as a fan
favorite and used Twitter to further this goodwill with the
fans. He is a regular on the NBA Cares circuit for charity
work. From an emotive standpoint, he is always looking for
fun ways to engage his fans and promote his team.
• Ethos: Positive Face of The Orlando Magic/The NBA.
Pathos: Tried to give fans an incentive while allowing them
to break down the fourth wall, so to speak. Logos: Issued
reward based challenge to fans. Aim: To show to his fans
that he appreciates them as much as they appreciate him.

25. Rhetorical Analysis of Positive Tweet
• The first Metta World Peace ticket giveaway tweet I saw
was specific to couples who had been married for at least
12 years to commemorate his 12th season in the NBA.
• For a referential function, he is a former trouble maker in
the league trying to re-invent himself as an ambassador of
the game. For an emotive function, He is trying to express
his gratitude to his fans to show that he appreciates the
support he has received since going to Los Angeles.
• Ethos: Uses his celebrity status to promote his team/image.
Pathos: Motivated by reinvention of his image. Logos:
Offered an incentive to loyal fans who could prove they
were loyal to their significant other as well as their team.
Aim: Reward his fans while showing that he had shed his
bad boy ways.

26. Rhetorical Analysis of a Positive Tweet
• The Boston Red Sox “Tweet Your Seat” promotion gives
fans another reason to attend games and follow them
on Twitter.
• For a referential function, the team is playing on their
“The Greatest Fans in Baseball” business mindset to
reward loyal fans.
• Ethos: The Red Sox have one of the most loyal and
widespread fan bases in baseball. Pathos: Fans that feel
like they are part of something will continue
supporting it. Logos: Rewarding loyalty will allow for
continued loyalty. Aim: Gain marketing insight while
cultivating a relationship with the fan base.

27. Content Analysis
• For this content analysis, I randomly selected 8 athletes that I
currently follow. 4 of them are from Boston teams (My favorite
teams), 1 plays at the International level, 2 are from out of market
teams and 1 is a retired athlete. There are 3 baseball players, 2
basketball players, a hockey player, a football player and a soccer
player. 7 are men, 1 is a woman.
• The purpose of the content analysis was to determine how a typical
athlete uses Twitter. I only looked at the 30 most recent tweets on
each timeline, and categorized any theme that occurred more than
3 times within the 30 tweets.
• As I have stated throughout this presentation, I believe that
promotion and team updates are the primary use of Twitter for
athletes, so this analysis will help me determine if that is accurate.

28. Content Analysis (cont.)
• Alex Morgan- Forward for the US Women’s Soccer Team. 1,582
Total Tweets, consisting mostly of updates on her personal life,
interaction with her teammates, interaction with fans and updates
on Team USA news.
• Brandon Spikes- Linebacker for the New England Patriots. 12,437
tweets consisting of interaction with teammates and fans (usually in
humorous ways, sometimes smart alec responses to people who
make rude comments to him, but not over the top like some of the
controversial tweets from earlier).
• Paul Pierce- Power Forward for the Boston Celtics. 717 tweets
consisting mostly of life updates, interaction with teammates and
promotion of charitable causes.
• Tyler Seguin, Forward for the Boston Bruins. 175 Tweets consisting
of life updates, fan interaction and promotion of charitable causes.

29. Content Analysis (cont.)
• Mike Aviles- Shortstop for the Boston Red Sox. 146 Tweets
consisting of life updates and interactions with teammates and fans.
• Kevin Durant- Power Forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
20,700 Tweets consisting of interaction with teammates and fans,
life updates, promotion of charitable causes and promotion of his
sponsors.
• CC Sabathia- Pitcher for the New York Yankees. 784 Tweets
consisting of fan and teammate interactions, life updates and the
promotion of charitable causes and his sponsors.
• Jose Canseco- Retired Major League Outfielder. 3,383 Tweets
consisting almost entirely of fan interaction and what you might call
life updates, though that is a loose interpretation of his Tweets
because he seems to be a little off his rocker, in my not so
professional psychological opinion.

30. Potential Issues with Content Analysis
• The Content Analysis takes only a small sample of
the total Tweets sent.
• The selection of athletes, while somewhat
diverse, only includes 1 female, 5 sports, and is
not a statistically significant representative
sample of all athletes on Twitter.
• All of the athletes are at the Major League level,
which completely ignores players from the
developmental leagues, which in spite of popular
belief are still professional athletes.

31. Response to the Potential Issues
• Given the fact that 7 out of the 8 athletes I chose use Twitter to interact
with fans, 6 out of the 7 current athletes interact with teammates, 7 out of
8 provide life updates and 4 of the 8 promote charity, I think its safe to say
that other athletes would use Twitter for similar reasons.
• Going further with the 6 out of 7 active players that interact with
teammates, that means that the teammates of 6 of my sample athletes
interact with teammates.
• Further on the fan interaction, I’ve mentioned several situations in which
fan interaction from teams and athletes have led to goodwill and/or
controversy. I also mentioned UFC’s approach to Twitter, in which all
employees (including the 340 fighters on their roster) are encouraged to
interact with fans.
• In regard to minor league athletes, survey respondent Joe Dunbar
mentioned his own experience with the local AHL team the Portland
Pirates and how they try to respond to all of their fans.

32. Conclusions
• Twitter can be used to provide fans with access to a player off the
field/court.
• Twitter can be used to promote the game, the player, and goodwill among
the leagues and the communities they are in.
• Twitter can reward fans for their loyalty.
• Twitter can be used to interact with fans.
• Twitter can be used for players to share their opinions on current events.
• These activities can be used for positive promotion, as seen with the way
the leagues run their own feeds as well as certain players, like Dwight
Howard, Shaquille O'Neal and Chad OchoCinco.
• They can also portray a player in a negative light, as is the case with
Rashard Mendenhall, Larry Johnson and Bernard Berrian.
• Teams and Players could avoid controversies by hiring PR people to
oversee how they use Twitter and try to put a stop to negative or
controversial tweets before they are posted.

33. Sources
• Aviles, Mike. Twitter Handle @TheMikeAviles
• Bucinski, Jasmine. Twitter Handle @ThatGirlFromCO Answered Survey.
• Canseco, Jose. Twitter Handle @JoseCanseco
• Dunbar, Joe. Twitter Handle @JBarPortland. Answered Survey.
• Durant, Kevin. Twitter Handle @KDTrey5
• Fittipaldo, Ray. Social Media and Sports a Growing Dilemma. http://old.post-
gazette.com/pg/11136/1146848-66-0.stm
• Holmes, Baxter. When Athletes Post on Twitter, Controversy can Follow.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/15/sports/la-sp-0516-athletes-twitter-20110516
• Mason, Scott. Twitter Handle @TheEmperor129 Answered Survey.
• Mermelstein, Scott. Twitter Handle @Shmermel. Answered Survey.
• McNeill, Franklin. UFC Fires Miguel Torres For Tweet.
http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/7334939/ufc-releases-miguel-torres-rape-van-twitter-post
• Morgan, Alex. Twitter Handle @AlexMorgan13
• Ostrow, Adam. The Cost of Larry Johnson’s Gay Slur on Twitter: $213,000.
http://mashable.com/2009/10/28/larry-johnson-gay-slur-twitter/
• Ostrow, Adam. Dwight Howard Flies One Millionth Twitter Follower to Orlando Magic Game.
http://mashable.com/2009/10/28/dwight-howard-twitter/

34. Sources (cont.)
• Ostrow, Adam. How a Tweet Led to a Phone Call From Shaq.
http://mashable.com/2008/11/21/shaq-twitter
• Ostrow, Adam. NFL Star Rashard Mendenhall’s Osama Bin Laden Tweet Sparks Controversy.
http://mashable.com/2011/05/03/rashard-mendenhall-twitter/
• Pacini, Dan. Twitter Handle @DPIceMan Answered Survey.
• Pierce, Paul. Twitter Handle @PaulPierce34
• Puapolo, Joe. UFC’s Dana White: “Twitter is the Greatest Marketing Tool in the History of the
World.” http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/10/ufc-dana-white-twitter/
• Sabathia, CC. Twitter Handle @CC_Sabathia
• Seguin, Tyler. Twitter Handle @TylerSeguin92
• Spikes, Brandon. Twitter Handle @BrandonSpikes55
• Van Grove, Jennifer. Larry Johnson’s Twitter Slur Targets Coach and Heckling Fan.
http://mashable.com/2009/10/28/larry-johnson-gay-slur-twitter/
• Wente, Scott. Minnesota Viking to Rep. Kriesel of Cottage Grove: “Sit Down and Shut Up.”
http://www.swcbulletin.com/event/article/id/19144/
• Werenczac, Matt. Twitter Handle @Real_Matt_Dubya Answered Survey.
• Wilson, Aaron. Rashard Mendenhall Issues Clarification.
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Rashard-Mendenhall-issues-clarification.html