"The NFL has reached the point where the sink is always open and each claim will be tossed out ridic," Winston wrote on Twitter. "Enjoy the people of comedy".
And then: "Walking out of a trading session. These guys are a real hoot. If someone screams, ' I want my cake and eat it too ' is theirs. "
Winston is just one of dozens of players and agents who took to Twitter during labor strife of N.F.L., commenting on everything from skirmish Court above as television contracts of N.F.L have been structured (@ ericwinston) for 18-game regular season (@ RobertMathis98) players from having to pay for their health insurance if the League requires a block when the current collective bargaining agreement expires on 4 March (LeCharles Bentley, who is @ LeCharlesBent65 on Twitter).
N.F.L. work of the negotiations are the first of a major league sports to be played in the social media age, giving hundreds of players, dozens of agents, millions of fans and even a handful of owners, the equivalent of a gigantic microphone to provide instantaneous — sometimes frustrated — analyzing minutiae once-controversial masked trading. Real-time reactions on Twitter sometimes give the impression that the events surrounding the job interviews are moving quickly — in fact, they were just moving at all — but they are also opening a pipe without filter with fans that players have long said that they wanted to.
"People are going to say what they mean," said Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley (@ LaMarrWoodley). "It's like living news. Players can interview themselves. "
The results are not always enough. The risks of unbridled communication were most evident even before the season ended when jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie, in an interview, as he dropped his locker, criticized both the negotiators with expletives and League for Union doesn't get a done deal. Which drew accusations from fellow players, including a Twitter message from Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who was active in the Union, questioning whether Cromartie knew what it meant C.B.A ... Hasselbeck quickly deleted the post, but a small crack that otherwise might have done only in the intimacy of a dressing room or a phone call was made before thousands of spectators.
Members of the Union has played down the significance of Twitter message of Hasselbeck — "If you know personally, Matt, you know that he is being sarcastic, but you can read words on Twitter, you can't read intent," said Kevin Mawae, President of the Union — but Cromartie and Hasselbeck are definitely not only in their point of view. Which begs the question: could Twitter create a problem of maintaining cohesiveness between a widely dispersed group of players and a block? After all, the few owners on Twitter are less likely to reveal internal disagreements over this great group, distant players who are open to influence by families and friends back home during the low season.
In a publication called "Guide to the NFLPA block", the Union of players warned that the fight may not be won at the negotiating table or in the Court of public opinion if there was even a hint of Division in the ranks. Offered a short list of talking points to players and came with this sobering reminders:
"This modern world of media and social networking, knowing that the nature of the comments that are on Facebook, Twitter and text are taken seriously by the public. A negative comment from a player can be detrimental to the process of negotiation and confuse the public and the media on the position of our players.
Still, the Union has embraced Twitter. According to his archives, 716 players around 1900 N.F.L. have Twitter account (Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco, @ ochocinco, leads all tweeter N.F.L. with the followers of over 1.7 million) and a section of the website of the Union is dedicated to build Twitter posts about the collective bargaining agreement and a block.
For now, most players limit their messages musings on their daily work — what they are eating is a popular theme — steering away from the complex and controversial issues that dominate the discussion. That has helped create a link to fans for better or worse. When Cobra insurance rates for the players were discussed on Twitter last week, dozens of fans reacted with almost identical language: Welcome to the real world. But when a reporter used Twitter to express a similar sentiment, Bentley replied "Writer jealous."
Mawae, that's not on Twitter, said: "we are telling our players be vocal, tweet away, tell people what they think, but make sure you tell them the truth. It is a good thing for us. People want to know what the deal. You feel as much a part of the game, and they are. This gives them an added twist that we care about them. It would be difficult to find players who are speaking out against what is doing the Union, as well as one or two guys. But the problem we have with social media is minimal compared to the positive response we have had with it. "
Agent Ralph Cindrich (@ RalphCindrich), an active user of Twitter, says the Union could help keep players together in case of a lock because the display unit on Twitter will create the public pressure on players that might otherwise be critical of the leadership of the Union. But Cindrich adds that he is not sure how long that will last if you extend a block in the regular season, when players will miss game controls and anxiety will build.
Then the Union may have a forum that has the ability to powerfully shape opinion, as it questioned the hardness of Chicago players current and former quarterback Jay Cutler when he didn't return to Championship game after injuring N.F.C. the knee. The real-time diagnosis distribution via Twitter long before the game is over. It may have reflected image problem of Cutler also among his peers, but it was also surprising just how quickly players, watching from their couches as other fans, on one of them, with little solid information at your fingertips. Only later, when it was disclosed the extent of injury of Cutler, players to recant.
"You can sometimes have an emotional reaction to something and say something that becomes a bigger story than you thought it would be, especially since there will be actual football news," said Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely (@ JayFeely), representative of the Union of the team. "That is probably the bad side."
Maybe so. But for now, said half a dozen players interviewed on Twitter weren't worried that fragmentation and players were taking pains not to be more cautious in their writings. In an atmosphere as charged as the one that surrounds the labor dispute N.F.L., 140 characters might be enough to get their point but short enough to limit the damage.
"The family of the players is just like any other family," said the spokesperson of the Union, George Atallah (@ GeorgeAtallah). "Brothers are going to have opinions of what the brothers. My brother and I fight all the time. The unique element only is you're talking about a family very high profile in a very immediate. "
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