Social Media and "Suck for Luck"

I can still remember dreaming about building the “perfect computer” when I was in high school. I wanted something fast, with at least a 486 processor (look it up) a GB hard drive, and for sure at least 128 MBs of RAM. Fast forward 15 years and I’m thinking about getting a new cell phone with a 1.2 GHz processor, 32 GBs of memory, and a full gig of ram. Heck, when I was in high school no one even had phones – even the rich kids. If you had a pager you were straight ballin’ – or at least ballin’ as much is possible in a small high school in the Midwest.

As the technology has evolved so has society. We live in an instant information age, where things are texted, tweeted, facebooked, and relayed at the speed news breaks. We signed JP Losman yesterday. 15 years ago I would have found out about this by either reading the newspaper (likely, as I live in a state that doesn’t care about Miami Sports) or by hearing about it on SportsCenter the next day. That’s obviously not the case anymore, where I was able to receive 3 Tweets, 2 Facebook posts, and a couple of text messages regarding his signing. Even if I somehow avoided all that, I still came on here - via my phone no less - and immediately saw the top thread related to his signing.

It’s not just the speed at which information is relayed – but also the level of interactivity that comes along with it. Never before have we had such incredible access to professional athletes, especially through social media, such as Twitter. Some are insightful (Ricky Williams), others comical (Chad OchoCinco), while others find themselves putting their foot into their mouth (Rashard Mendenhall, Larry Johnson). In the past athletes were allowed to be themselves – the somehow uncensored SI cover of Csonka and Kiick comes to mind – but this was extremely rare and usually at the team’s discretion. That’s not so much the case anymore.

Likewise, technology and social media has allowed fans, often separated by cities, states, and even countries, to come together and discuss their favorite team. This website is a perfect example, as we’ve got members from all over the United States, and many of the people I respect the most aren’t even from this country. None of this was possible 15 years ago – or at least, not conceivable. In that respect, the NFL, and even these Miami Dolphins have benefitted and profited from sites and message boards just like this one, as we have not only discussed the team, but planned road trips and purchased tickets as a group, as well as bringing in and welcoming new members who otherwise may have watched only one or two games, before going back to some other sport to occupy their time.

The Miami fan base has recently taken their lumps in the media, from all types of people, including players like Karlos Dansby and Anthony Fasano, who are understandably upset at the general apathy towards the Dolphins miserable start. My point is this: I don’t think the way fans feel during these types of seasons has changed, I simply think the way that information travels back to the athlete has changed.

In other words, before the internet and subsequent explosion of social networking, there’s no way that a member of the 1997 Colts or the 1983 Broncos team is asked how they feel about “Mad for Manning” or “Elway or the Highway.” It just wouldn’t come up in the course of common discussion. That isn’t to say that it didn’t exist – au contraire. I’m 100% certain that there were members of those fan bases who were actively hoping that their team would land the rights to Peyton or John – because they feel, much like many do today, that they offered long term stability to the most important position on the football field.

The difference, quite obviously, between then and now, is technology and social networking. We’ve got a Facebook group to “Suck for Luck.” And again, in a sign of the weakening of the wall between player and fan, rumors are that Brandon Marshall, our #1 WR, wants to join the group. What’s the purpose? Well, we can speculate on the specifics, but essentially he wants to take his message to the people, directly, which is something that was never possible until a few years ago.

That, in a nutshell, is the point I’m trying to make. I firmly believe, that without social media, message boards, and the internet, there’s no way that the “Suck for Luck” movement gets off the ground, let alone garners any type of coverage or conversation in the main stream sports media. Not unless fans started physically showing up at “Suck for Luck” rallies, where half of them argued about how the other half weren’t “real fans”. Thankfully, due to the anonymity of the internet, we never have to worry about that nightmare situation coming to fruition.

That said, this is an interesting time. We are actively engaged in something pretty historic here, as this type of protest (or apathy) from a fan base is pretty much unheard of and goes completely against everything that we are raised to believe. That is that winning is the only thing that matters. In the past, as I mentioned, this wouldn’t be an issue. Yet here we are today, talking about Karlos Dansby, Anthony Fasano, and Brandon Marshall responding to us. They're responding because they got the message. This wouldn't have happened 15 years ago - heck, probably not even 10 years ago. It’s kind of crazy when you think about it.

I guess what I’m saying is that as a study in the impact of social media on professional sports, I find “Suck for Luck” fascinating, and I believe it will have long-term ramifications to the relationship between team and fan down the line.

What are your thoughts?