I’m one of the sports ambassadors in our class, and I’ve been following professional athletes who frequently interact with the fans. The athlete who I’ve been focusing on is Chad Ochocino of the New England Patriots. Besides being a wide receiver for the Patriots, Chad is also an avid user of social media, specifically twitter and Facebook. Much of the press has called him a “social media fiend.” It is not uncommon for his comments to be considered controversial, and for him to be criticized for publicly expressing his opinions.
Only one week into the National Football League season, Chad has already made headlines with his most recent tweet. The tweet was posted in response to the Patriots latest victory, in which Tom Brady set a Patriots record by passing for 517 yards and leading the Patriots to a 38-24 win over the Miami Dolphins. The tweet read “Just waking up after a late arrival, I've never seen a machine operate like that n person, to see video game numbers put up n person was WOW."
Tedy Bruschi, a former Patriot who helped the franchise to win three superbowls and who is currently a football analyst for ESPN, expressed harsh disapproval in Ochocinco for his tweet. Bruschi commented:
"You're not someone who's on another team or watching TV. You're not an analyst. You're a part of it. They want you to be a part of it. So get with the program because obviously you're not getting it and you're tweeting because you're saying, 'It's amazing to see'? It's amazing to see because you don't understand it. You still don't understand it and it's amazing to you because you can't get it. "Wake up! If you're just waking up now -- I don't know when this was, six minutes ago? -- get out your bed and get to the stadium and watch some film if you still think it's amazing. If you're in it and you know what you're doing and you execute out there, you don't think it's amazing. You know why? Because it's what you're supposed to do."
I do not agree with Tedy Bruschi in this situation. In my opinion, Chad Ochocinco was praising his teammate for the record-breaking performance. Even though Ochocinco had only one catch for a fourteen-yard gain, the team won. Ochocinco knows that he’ll need to step up his play and be a contributor in the future, but it was his first game with a new team. I don’t understand why Bruschi felt the need to publicly call him out.
Interesting was Tom Brady’s response to Bruschi’s comments. Brady stated "Everyone has an opinion on everything, and none of it really means anything. The only thing that means anything are the guys in this locker room and what we do every day in practice." Brady, as the leader of the Patriots, protected his teammate by making it clear that others could criticize Ochocinco all they wanted, but that the team had his back. Brady acknowledged that Ochocinco has been working hard and preparing himself to be an important factor in the run for another superbowl. It will be interesting to see if Ochocinco’s offensive production increases, and how the media will react to his tweets. Will Brady be getting on his back if his offensive struggles continue into week 12? Will he keep tweeting if his offensive struggles continue into week 12? It will be interesting.
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