Sideline tweets: Pro tweeters connect with amateur fans

Daniel J. Cook, commentary

Mock it all you like, but Twitter is here to stay. Personally, I’ve loved it since the day I signed up, and 1,953 tweets later, I don’t see this relationship ending anytime soon.  The biggest argument against it is, “No one cares what you are doing”; but my 75 followers and counting would beg to differ. But for the most part, they’re right, no one cares what I’m doing. But millions of fans do care about athletes like Shaquille O’Neal (a.k.a. @THE_REAL_SHAQ), Charlie Villanueva (@CV31), and Jozy Altidore (@JozyAltidore17).

The 140 character-limit is slightly more than the average sentence contains, so it doesn’t take a lot of effort to get one’s point across. There is a tweeter out there for everyone. Whether you care about breaking news, secret sales, or new music being released today, no one is excluded for lack of interest.

Where I get the majority of my pleasure from does not come from commenting on a professor’s recent lecture, but rather hearing from NBA All-Star Kevin Durant (@KevinDurant35) about what it was like to play against a rejuvenated Tracy McGrady. Athletes hate talking to media people who notoriously misquote them, but Twitter gives athletes the opportunity to say what they want, how they want. Good or bad.

The Durant example was good. Anything Shaq, Dwight Howard, or Steve Nash tweets is good. However, there is a dark side to all of this. During the last off-season, the Minnesota Timberwolves fired then head coach Kevin McHale behind closed doors and planned to hold a press conference about it days later. Rookie forward Kevin Love didn’t know that.

“Today is a sad day … Kevin McHale will NOT be back as head coach this season,” Love tweeted.

Love was fined a small amount for “conduct detrimental to the team,” and has since stopped tweeting.

Though that was an unfortunate incident, more good comes from the little blue bird then does bad. Of the 22 athletes that I follow on Twitter, 11 of them wear a Vanguard uniform. Since I didn’t discuss this article with any of them I won’t mention their names, but thanks to them keeping up with scores, injuries, and game times is significantly easier. Not to mention that having some of this inside knowledge makes watching their games that much more entertaining.

Fans love getting as close to their sports idols as possible, and Twitter allows this to happen, at a safe distance. Just the other night I got to see what Ochocinco was eating for dinner. I didn’t really care, but athletes somehow always get built up to be some sort of super human race that doesn’t eat normal food. Let me tell you, Ochocinco eats McDonalds and loves it, and there is nothing more normal than that.

Twitter allows athletes to connect with their fans without really having to do anything about it. Kevin Durant will occasionally give away gift boxes, which is awesome, and guys like Chris Bosh will take and answer fan questions. What it comes down to the fans getting the “intimate” relationship they crave, while protecting the athletes from the crazies.

I’m a believer, and as long as there is even a possibility that Dwight Howard will talk to me, 140 characters or less, I’m going to keep coming back. Terrell Owens mentioned me (@SportsManDC) last year, why would I stop now?

Find culture, experiences through travel

Living on campus is not a bad thing; but staying on campus fights directly against the actual purpose of this university—your education. Sometimes it takes stepping out of the classroom and onto different soil to really see you are learning.

Obviously, there is more to the world than the Caf, Old Testament Survey, and those towering blue letters. Agreed. Yet, most Vanguardians rarely go beyond the Costa Mesa border. 

Even those few out-of-staters may find this cultural-rich town so captivating that they would not dream of leaving, and understandably so. Think of the range of destinations between Taco Mesa and South Coast Plaza.

But learning facts and digits while sitting at a desk should correspond with leaving it occasionally to learn the abstracts of life, or those trivia you memorized would be obsolete. There is no better way to understand your studies than to travel, for only from the outside can you look back in.

Missions trips are plenty and good; there is no question to that. Take advantage of Global Initiatives to go on a significant couple of weeks. You will comprehend how great that commission really is.

You need to travel for your own benefit, too, even though going overseas may not be for everyone. At least see this country you live in. 

Vanguard has been called a bubble, but California is just as much of an air pocket if you never break out of it. If learning a new language and eating something other than Outtakes parfait cups or Arby’s sandwiches seem impossible to you, stay in the States. Just get out of this one.

It is not just about seeing the world or another building that is not a renovated barrack. It is about taking your schooling farther than a textbook can, and opening up your point of view.

So if there is a bias bone in your body, do not just sit and sulk in boring routine. Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”

Christians can get poor reputations for possessing those three traits; so break the norm and eliminate them. 

Studying abroad is a good way to see the world, especially while still in college. Students returning from London or Beijing or San José never stop talking about the experiences, and their friends notice change.

If anything, the student returning from Naples has a new idea of pizza.

While travel can drain the wallet, money should never be the only excuse not to get the feet a little wet. You will never have enough money, really. So now is the time to experience and discover, while your youth will still allow it.