The world of sports is terribly opinionated. Everyone is an expert. Everyone has an opinion as to how their team should be run. Now the world of sports and the world at large has 24/7 internet news and social media. Social media used to be limited to fan-to-fan interactions, literal socialization. But the average fan's voice would be limited to his immediate friends and community. Then came the advent of local sports radio, where just about anyone could call in and weigh in on the topics of the day with a sense of detached power, the power to be bigger than you are as a mere fan. That voice and a possible small following are what could motivate someone to vocalize their ideas for the whole fandom. As the medium got bigger, the fans could be more vocal, more rabid, more bombastic. But the medium has only gotten bigger, with the message being able to diffuse further and faster.
After radio came the Internet and chat rooms, real time discussions between fans who would never have been able to meet before. The first chat rooms date back to the '70s and the earliest public chats started in 1980 as a way to replicate CB radio chatter. By 1993, American Online (AOL) and CompuServe became the leaders in bringing people together whether they be passionate fans or casually interested. Fans could finally spend their time discussing sports with like-minded fans or taunting opposing fans under the shield of anonymity. But those rantings and that expression were still fleeting. It would never stick. It had no destination or goal. Chat messages were finite.
Now the Internet has only made people more able to directly connect socially. Tweets go directly to the actual athletes or celebrities with whom we wish to talk. If 20 years ago you would have told me that I could send a message to the starting quarterback of my favorite football team and he could respond directly in real time, I would have laughed at you. But with the introduction of this direct connection, we have not gotten rid of that anonymity behind which people hide. The hostility is there and has never been higher. But now we can scream at the athletes themselves and they can respond, but wisely they rarely do.
Tim Lillis Tim is a married Masters student at Tiffin University pursuing work in the community relations or operations sides of minor league sports. He has been running and participating in fantasy leagues for a decade. He is a trivia savant and sports nut living in Grand Rapids, MI