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Football: #Relax
By: Matt Archibald
Posted on:
I've always been cautious of using sarcasm in texts, tweets, emails or anything digital. Reason being: tone usually does not carry through the screen.
You can tell if somebody is making a joke when you're with them in person. A smile or the tone of their voice helps you know if what they're saying is serious or just a joke. Ohio Bobcat punter Paul Hershey just learned this lesson the hard way.
After learning that Ohio's bowl destination was the Famous idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho, Hershey (@PHershey41) tweeted: "Idaho?? Who the f*** wants to play there in December??"
Here's my opinion on this and Hershey eventually backs it up: I don't think Hershey was dissing Boise, the state of Idaho, or the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (great name by the way). He was simply saying that it's going to be cold by December 17th, and let's be honest – who likes being in the cold?
Now before all you "football's a man's game, get out if you're not tough" folks jump on me for what I said let me say this: you feel the cold more when you stand in it rather than playing in it. I've been on the sideline for every Bobcat football game this season with my camera shooting the games, so I've learned standing still in the cold numbs the toes real fast.
The same can be said for, and was said by, a punter.
"I'm gettin a lot of hate for my tweet on bowl bid," Hershey tweeted. "Punters don't like the cold."
Of course they don't like the cold. Punters sit around and wait for their number to be called four to eight times per game. It's a lot of standing around and waiting for about six seconds of action, then it's back to the bench.
After that first tweet, Hershey got a lot of heat (no pun intended) for his what he said and he eventually deleted his typically active and, I'd have to say quite funny, account.
So, folks of the Twitter world, remember: it's just Twitter. You don't always know exactly what the person was trying to say, so take a chill pill until you do.
Can you really get upset about what some, as Peyton Manning would call him, "idiot kicker" has to say?
(That was a joke. See? Sometimes it's hard to tell the tone of the text. Point made?)
http://www.calebtroop.com/2011/12/04/storify-backlash-after-punter-complains-about-cold-weather/
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This commentary does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the WOUB Center for Public Media or the WOUB Sports Department.