One hundred and forty characters.
If you really think about it, it isn’t much.
Honestly, there can’t be that much you can say in such a short amount of text to warrant any type of punishment or discipline.
Hell, the sentence you just read was only 140 characters. What could possibly go wrong in a mere sentence?
Apparently enough for University of South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier to ban his entire team from using Twitter.
Earlier this month, former South Carolina linebacker Corey Miller tweeted about how fellow Gamecock receiver Alshon Jeffery got arrested after a fight.
Sound familiar?
However, the main difference between Jeffery and the problems we have here in Baton Rouge was the presence of the actual fight.
In the case of Jeffery, there wasn’t one — nor an arrest. It was all fabricated by Miller.
Of course, the misinformation leaked all over the Internet and back to Spurrier.
The coach proceeded to ban all of his players from using the social networking site.
Spurrier joins many other football coaches across the country in banning Twitter.
Last year, Boise State’s Chris Petersen was the first coach to ban the site, and Kansas’ Turner Gill followed suit.
Switching over to college basketball, Mississippi State’s Rick Stansbury and Villanova’s Jay Wright also have banned their teams from using Twitter, according to CBSSports.
While it may seem like these coaches are going to the extreme, it’s actually an extremely wise move.
Sure, those in sports media might disagree with me, but these coaches are actually saving themselves — as well as their players — a bunch of unnecessary headaches and distractions.
It’s no secret many sports reporters get a lot of their information from Twitter. It’s become a huge source of press releases and insider scoops of what players are actually thinking rather than what their publicist or agent thinks.
But it isn’t always a good thing. Take the University of North Carolina for example.
Last year, UNC lineman Marvin Austin tweeted pictures of himself on vacation in South Beach.
Seems harmless enough. Everyone takes vacations.
Unfortunately, as of right now (and this is a different column for a different day) college athletes don’t get paid for playing. So how did Austin afford such a luxurious vacation to South Beach?
The answer isn’t important.
What’s important is that the scandal had claimed the jobs of football coach Butch Davis and athletic director Dick Baddour before the question even had the opportunity to be answered,
It seems 140 characters are more powerful than we thought.
It’d take less than a minute for an angry player who was just chewed out by his coach to tweet a few choice words that’ll end up on SportsCenter.
Coming from a community already dealing with enough distractions concerning the upcoming football season, an angry tweet would be the last thing we’d need.
Also, have you ever heard of the term “bulletin board material?”
When a team talks trash about its opponent, the opposing team puts the article or quote on a bulletin board to use as motivation.
A quick tweet about an upcoming game could easily get the entire opposing team fired up just the same as a news clipping.
It isn’t necessary.
Luckily, the University hasn’t had too much of a social media problem with its student athletes.
While some may argue that a tighter, more filtered social networking policy may be better than an outright ban, people need to remember these 18 to 22-year-olds are not only student athletes — they represent the University, the city and the state.
Filters don’t catch everything, and it only takes one hothead to garner national attention.
Not everything needs to go on Twitter or Facebook. And this is a lesson everyone should follow, not only student athletes.
Keep your thoughts to yourself and talk on the field — not online.
 
Adam Arinder is a 21-year-old communication studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.
 
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Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]