LSU fan Phil McMahon said he felt cut off from his beloved Tigers when he moved to Colorado Springs in 1972.”I can remember being able to listen to John Ferguson and Walter Hill on a 50,000-watt station out of Shreveport,” he said. “That was my only connection to LSU football.”But 36 years later, McMahon feels back in the loop thanks to the advent of fan-based Internet message boards like the Tiger Rant.”The depth and amount of information available via the Internet is absolutely amazing,” he said. “Combine that with our success in the past 10 years, and for an LSU fan living out of state, during football season, you can actually feel like you are still living in Louisiana.”Fans are not the only ones who keep a close eye on fan-generated media, according to a study conducted by Sports Media Challenge.The study surveyed sports information directors in major colleges and universities across the country and found 88 percent of college athletic professionals view fan-generated media and 38 percent actually contribute to the process.One reason for an athletic department’s involvement, according to the study, would be to keep in touch with the opinions of their boosters. About 67 percent of sports information directors say their universities donors are “very likely” to view fan-generated media.LSU sports information director Bill Franques works with the Tigers’ baseball, men’s basketball and football teams.Franques said he frequents Internet message boards to keep tabs on what is being published by media outlets.”A lot of message boards post links to articles that I might not otherwise see,” he said. “So I look at those sites more for the articles posted. I don’t pay too much attention to the opinions posted there.”Franques said one thing he always stays away from are the rumors that sometimes surface on message board threads.”I don’t give a lot of credence to rumors there, because it’s too easy for any anonymous source to post whatever he or she feels like posting without any accountability at all,” he said.Fellow LSU sports information director Kent Lowe said he also reads message boards and said they serve as a good gauge for public opinion. Lowe said he visited message boards following men’s basketball scrimmage last week to gauge whether fan’s were receptive to the event.”It gave us a feel for if the fans liked us doing that type of thing, with the autograph sessions and those kind of things,” he said. “We don’t put a lot of gauge on them, but we are curious to see what people are saying about the different things we do.”Both Franques and Lowe emphasized that they think the content is useful, they do not influence any of the decisions made by the athletic department.”They are used as voices of public opinion,” Franques said. “But I do not think they really change anything we’re trying to do. They just steer us in the direction of where to go next.”One thing universities have begun to do to combat the spread of Internet-based rumors is give athletes media training so they can answer questions that paint their school in the best light.President of MVP Sports Media Training Kevin Long said helping athletes know what to say when faced with “hard-ball” questions can avoid quotes being taken out of context, which can start rumors.”Media training is something every school is going to need to do,” Long told ESPN.com. “The reputations of the chancellor, provost, president and everyone at the university are on the line every time these teams are on the air.”LSU is one of the schools to utilize media training for football players.Another way the football team protects its players is making true freshmen athletes unavailable to the media.Notre Dame senior associate athletic director John Heisler said the Fighting Irish utilize similar policies to help make the media experience as pleasant as possible for their student athletes.”Dealing with the media can be a positive experience,” Heisler told ESPN. “We try to get the kids to have fun with it.”Another function fan-generated media serves is a link between schools across the country. Montegut native Kenny Pellegrin is a member of the Tiger Rant.Pellegrin said having access to news and rumors from other athletic departments keeps him in tune with what is going on around the country.But he said he does not believe fan-to-fan interactions build rivalries despite the influx of rival fans on LSU boards.”Things have to happen on the field to intensify rivalries,” he said. “LSU and Auburn have a heated rivalry because of the way the series has been for the last 10 to 12 years. No amount of smack talk by some fan on a message board will ever draw out as much hatred as Tuberville’s players did by smoking cigars in the Death Valley end zone or Les Miles calling an ‘in your face’ pass for a TD when a FG would have won the game.”Fans and athletic officials have been unable to avoid the craze of fan generated media, but it appears most actual athletes make it a point of emphasis to stay away.Senior wide receiver Demetrius Byrd said LSU coach Les Miles tells the players to stay away from what is being said by outside sources.”I don’t care anymore what people say,” he said. “One week the media and the fans are on you. The next week, they love you. I really could care less what those people say. I’m not worried about that right now.”Byrd said he gets numerous messages on Facebook every day telling him about the things people are saying about him, but he does not respond to their messages and tries to avoid the negativity.”That happens plenty of times, and people are still doing it now,” he said. “There are a lot of times when people hit me up, and I don’t agree with it, or I just don’t feel like dealing with it.”One Facebook message Byrd was possibly talking about was from a fan before the Tulane game that told Byrd he should start to catch passes thrown at him.Byrd said he brushed off the message and posted it as his Facebook status to show his friends how funny some fans can be.”An LSU fan wrote to me that I need to catch the ball and some other stuff,” he said. “There were just being rude to me, so I put it as my status to show my friends because we thought it was funny.” Junior tight end Richard Dickson has heard both the good and the bad things said by LSU fans.Dickson agreed the Tigers avoid message board content because it disrupts the goals of a team over the course of a season.”I wouldn’t even know where to go to find those things,” he said. “I know they’ve taken their fair share of shots at me, but it’s no big deal. We are focused on winning by doing what our coaches tell us. No one else’s opinion matters that much.”—-Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]