BLOG: Twitter, Here I Come
I have finally left the Stone Age and arrived to the year 2011 as I decided to sign up for a Twitter account today. I had always feared venturing into this unknown realm of social networking and microblogging because it's difficult enough for me to keep up with Facebook, Myspace, Yahoo Messenger, 3 email accounts, text messages and not to mention, all of the phone calls that come in every day and even my blogs. But it was my curiosity over tweets made by Steelers' RB Rashard Mendenhall that finally made me give in. So I created my account and read Mendenhall's thoughts about those that celebrated the death of terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden. I'm not going to judge or dissect his thoughts and feelings but will just simply say that he has a right to his opinion and leave it at that. After reading Mendenhall's tweets, I decided to find some people to follow. The Ravens' and Orioles' players were a good start along with the addition of Chad Ochocinco/Johnson who tweets about every five minutes! I sat back in my office chair and watched all of the tweets unfold, one after another. They were so quick! So instant. The first one to catch my attention was one of new Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith who tweeted that he "might get tarted this weekend". I almost fell out of my chair until his next tweet which read "tatted, typo y'all relax lol". So Torrey Smith may get a tattoo this weekend. Smith then added support to his teammate Michael Oher, who was furious with ESPN Draft expert Todd McShay for bringing up character issues when evaluating players (as he had done when Oher was entering the NFL). Oher blasted McShay by tweeting:
"Ok im so tired of the Character issues they are puttiing on ppl! What Character issues?!? Somebody tell me? . . . I never got in trouble with the Law . . . yes sir no sir guy . . . But this Todd Mcshay guy acts if he knows ppl on a personal level get real!"
After Michael Oher realized that Todd McShay was on Twitter, he tweeted directly to him:
"What if someone was to talk about your son . . . and he had character issues!! Thats how my family felt. You need to meet ppl first and then judge them not go off what you hear!! . . . And I respect Mel Kiper way more then I respect you…your a joke!!"
While this was all going on, Oher was also helping his adoptive mom Leigh Anne Tuohy raise money via Twitter for the tornado victims in Tuscaloosa. They raised over $500 tonight. That's character, Todd McShay.
Follow me on Twitter @staceybrownCBS
