When something happens in the world of sports, there’s really only one place to go for details anymore: Twitter.
Thanks to Twitter, I find it hard these days to watch a sporting event without my computer, tablet or iPhone handy. Twitter has become integrated into the game experience in many ways, most of them voluntary.
As a Mets fan, I spend most of each game in an alternate universe called #MetsTwitter, a place with thousands of baseball GM’s and managers and very few baseball players. #MetsTwitter is often a very fun place to be. From @JedSmed’s #MetsHashtags to @OGTedBerg’s #BlameBeltran meme, we have our fun.
But #MetsTwitter has become an unruly beast in the last few weeks.
Friday’s news that David Wright would not be starting the opener of a three-game set against the Philadelphia Phillies — levied by the official Mets Twitter account in the form of just a lineup with no detail — is a perfect example.
The news was not totally unexpected, as Wright is just four days removed from breaking his pinkie in a game against the Nationals. Rationally, it was hard to see Wright going from unable to grip a bat and his finger being in a splint on Wednesday, to facing one of the league’s most dominant pitchers, Cliff Lee, on Friday night.
But #MetsTwitter isn’t often a place where rationality reigns. Within minutes, my Twitter feed, which I believed I had filtered pretty well over the last several weeks, quickly began filling up with fans questioning Wright’s toughness. We’re talking about a guy that broke his back last year and played for nearly a month with it that way.
The crazed and illogical reaction to this news is what is wrong with #MetsTwitter and, in a larger respect, Twitter as a whole. It’s a reactionary place where we all can say pretty much whatever we want without any accountability or consequence.
Take Thursday, an off day for the Mets prior to their series in Philadelphia, as another example. A prominent New York sports talk radio show opened the morning by discussing the mere possibility that the Mets may do something to honor nemesis Chipper Jones this September because the long-time Mets killer is retiring at season’s end.
For the next 12 or so hours, #MetsTwitter became a textual warzone where fans bantered back and forth about the merits of honoring the enemy. Several fans, myself included, noted that they didn’t really care either way and some of those fans (not me) then had to deal with their loyalty to the team being brought into question. That’s #MetsTwitter.
Leave it to Andy Martino of the New York Daily News, ironically one of #MetsTwitter’s least favorite beat writers, to put the Chipper rumors to bed.
“Amid radio and Internet chatter Thursday that the Mets plan to honor Atlanta’s retiring Chipper Jones at some point this season, team officials downplayed the idea. While the Mets do plan to acknowledge Jones’ distinguished career in some small way, they will not hold an on-field ceremony, present Jones with a gift or stage anything elaborate. Any tribute to Jones will be extremely low-key, an official said.”
Not surprisingly, Chippergate was a non-topic on #MetsTwitter Friday. Maybe we all need to calm down a bit and step away from the ledge.
Now I’ve painted a pretty bleak picture of #MetsTwitter in these first several paragraphs so I better get on with discussing its merits. And they are many.
If you’re a Mets fan and you’re not on Twitter yet, I’d definitely recommend joining the revolution. Picture one big room, where you can interact with fans and get all the Mets news and knowledge you need. #MetsTwitter is that room. And by following and unfollowing fans, you get to decide who is in the room with you.
Watching a game while on #MetsTwitter is like watching a game in that room. There’s no shortage of discussion, opinion and news. And pretty much all news having to do with the Mets breaks on Twitter. As I was pulling up to CitiField on the LIRR on Tuesday, I pulled out my phone to check out the conversation.
Sure enough, news of Wright’s injury had — pardon the pun — broken. I actually — pun again — broke the news to many on the train and later in my section. It was never announced at the game that I saw or heard, but thanks to #MetsTwitter, everybody knew by first pitch.
That’s one of the great things about #MetsTwitter. It’s a place where fans can go to get there news and give their opinion on it. While some of those opinions may be off the wall, I’ll never be one that thinks anyone’s opinion should be censored. But the flipside is, #MetsTwitter gives me the freedom to debate the merits of that opinion. And who doesn’t love a good sports debate?
