There is a lot to be said about Corey Pavin’s decision to request all players of the USA Ryder Cup Team to not post on Twitter during their time on the team. Is it right? Is it Wrong? Will it hurt golf? Will it help the players to focus on what they went to Wales to do? Will it build the team? All of this is what we assume Pavin is attempting to do. Will it work?
Guess time will tell. However, overall, like my colleague Ryan Ballengee stated in his blog, the Pavin non-tweeting policy only affects a few of the USA players since most of them don’t use Twitter anyhow. Will the few who spend most their time hunkered over their smartphone posting thoughts and replying to just a few people take away from building a solid team with those who do not Tweet? More than likely!
If things go bad during the match those who do not tweet will bring up the cause as being those who do tweet’s lack of dedication or concentration to the task as being why they are failing. Is that good for team building? What does that make those of us who are on Twitter look to those who are not? Besides, what are we going to miss that will not be covered by the hordes of media that is already waiting on the teams in Wales?
Whether the non-tweet ban is good for golf..bad for golf or will cause a hail storm in West Texas, what Pavin is attempting to do is reduce distractions amongst his team as a whole and focus a group of young guns to face a team of very hungry battle proven professional golfers who are playing on their home turf. Tweeting is the least of things they should have on their minds.
For me, I can wait a week of not hearing from these guys on Twitter. Lets get down to BUSINESS…Go..USA!
My theory is they should not tweet while they are on the golf course. What they do on their own time is their business IMO. That would be like an employer telling me what i can do in my spare time.
Rob,
Good point for the real world, but unfortunately, these guys are almost living with each other during this entire week. The other issue develops around those who do not Tweet wanting to be around those who tweet for the fear of what they do will be posted online. This is a rare incident involving a team of private individuals who do not usually play as a team.
I still do not agree in the Sports World. Lance Armstrong a world class athlete tweeted during the Tour De France. Football, Baseball and Hockey players tweet all the time.
The issues are not tat they are private individuals. If they are such professionals and they get paid for what they do, they need to get over it. When you are a public figure and pro athelete, the rule change some. That is a fact of life.
I have no issue with people tweeting. Please remember one thing though. The same rules that apply off the internet apply on it. That means a respect for manners, privacy , treating people the way you want to be treated and so on. If these rules are applied, it makes no difference if athletes when they are not “working: tweet.
Hardly a great loss. We’ll be inundated with media reports, interviews etc etc – those little tweet soundbites are hardly going to add anything to the general booha. Besides, I’m way to busy in my own life to follow every little tweet!