Florida State University and its Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, Jameis Winston, recently realized that Twitter can have more of a bite than Shark Week.
In keeping with the 21st century, someone in charge of the Florida State athletic brain trust (a contradiction in terms?) thought it might be wise to open a forum for all those with a Twitter account to #AskJameis whatever they wanted.
Big mistake!
Winston, a high profile college sophomore, has had his run-ins with the law lately, including rape allegations and most recently, an incident where he was caught shoplifting crab legs from a local Supermarket.
Needless to say, when Jameis strolled on to the internet, Tweeters had a field day, grilling the twenty-year old about his indiscretions. Despite the young man taking his lumps, this all probably could have been avoided had anyone in the athletic department had any sense. Let’s just say it’s highly unlikely another major program experiments with this sort of thing in the future.
Either way, the #AskJameis fiasco made me think of a number of other ill-advised open Twitter forums that would generate a healthy response.
#AskTigerWoods about the use of proper vocabulary after hitting an errant tee shot
#AskRayRice and #AskGregOden advice on marital counseling and how to properly treat a lady
#AskDonaldSterling about race relations in modern America
#AskRogerGoodell about long-term success strategies for running a professional sports league
#AskTampaBayRays tips on how to run a baseball team on an unlimited budget
#AskRichardSherman lessons in humility
#AskTonyRomo about sustained success in the playoffs
#AskJohnnyManziel about career focus without distraction
#AskLeBronJames how to retire happily in South Florida
#AskNCAACommissionerMarkEmmert questions on how to properly reimburse the college athlete
#AskSammySosa about speaking perfect English under pressure
#AskESPN about adventures in quality programming and ethics in journalism
#AskBrettFavre how to make a decision and stick to it
#AskFloydMayweather about lessons in frugality
Funny, You could have just left #AskJameis in the Sosa spot. He butchered the English language like no other after winning the NC.
#AskChrisHumpherys How to break 100 on the golf course (Yes Chris… 18 holes of course)
#AskChrisHumpherys How to survive the lean years in Florida Gators athletics…
I’m thinking…
Well it’s not like he’s learning English in class at Florida State, D.
One word to answer your second one, Dwin.
#denial
Oh, and remember. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Unless you really wanna tell me.
Chris, I laughed my butt off at this latest Twitter fiasco. Truly, the good folks at Florida State are so over the moon about their greatness they didn’t expect the country to moon them back through a torrent of troublemaking tweets. I keep praying for an Ebola-like virus to hit Twitter and eliminate it forever. I was on it for two different periods in my life and once..um twice… I realized I was worried more about following my Twitter feed than following the games being tweeted about it was time to come in off the ledge. I came to the conclusion it was not adding to my sporting experience and keeping me from my usual laser-like focus on the games themselves. As for FSU’s foray into trying to make their QB more likeable? #epicfail
Winston has a lot to prove this upcoming season with the ‘noles . Rumor has it , he will now be giving lessons to Justin Bieber on etiquette and manners .
Burnsy…
Did you read some of the Tweets that were sent in?
Hysterical.
Definitely worth the Google search if you haven’t yet.
He has a lot to prove, Al?
Why’s that?
Because winning the Heisman Trophy and national championship as a freshman wasn’t enough?
I kind of agree with Al. He has nothing to prove on the field as he is a great player obviously. That said he has a lot to prove as far as being an adult, making good decisions and generally functioning within society.
He is a role model whether he wants to be or not and is the Quarterback which is and has always been a position of leadership. On field leadership is great, off field is like a circus and out of control. I personally think he is extremely talented and also extremely immature. He has a lot of growing up to do or he will always be remembered as a clown instead of a legendary college football player.
Can he maintain that level of play this upcoming season ? Look at their schedule as well . One season alone doesn’t equate to greatness or is that what you’re suggesting ? The ACC is not a conference known for great football to begin with .
#asktheanswer – What time is practice?
D…
I wouldn’t go around here announcing to the rest of the Chumpeteers that you agree with Al.
They might just put you in time out. At best.
That being said, yes, Winston would probably fare well staying out of trouble this year. The guy’s almost getting as much attention as Johnny Manziel for all the wrong reasons.
An undefeated season AND a Heisman, Al?
That’s a tough act to follow.
I think just solid play and as D suggests, staying out of trouble, is all anyone can ask for.
Bleed…
We talkin’ ’bout hashtags?
Given Winston’s track record and the fact the rape allegations are still hanging over his head , do you believe he can stay out of trouble ?
So Bud Selig’s successor has been announced and Rob Manfred will replace that imbecile ! More of the same or a completely new chapter in the annals of baseball under the new Commissioner of Baseball ?
Look at the Heisman Trophy winners of the past twelve years and then look at how their careers have actually fared after the win and then on into the NFL . Your thoughts on that ?
Carson Palmer is still wading away aimlessly (two Pro Bowl appearances in a decade long career). Leinart is doing something , we just don’t know what that might be . Jason White ? Troy Smith ? Mark Ingram ? Bush’s (2005) Heisman is back at the Downtown New York Athletic Club along with an imprint of Kim Kardashian’s @ss for good measure .
Al…
Are you asking me whether I think Winston will remain out of trouble for the rest of his time on campus? That sounds like a sucker bet to me.
Like I told Dee Dee earlier, I don’t know much about Manfred but he can’t do much worse than his predecessor.
Few Heisman winners have amounted to much at the next level, Al. That’s nothing new.
And please, watch the hyperlinks, ok? I’m still cleaning up old, bad ones.
Rob Manfred was a litigator, who advised Bud Selig concerning how to handle the steroids issue concerning Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez . Look how that mess turned out in the end . Yet , the vote for him to succeed Selig was unanimous (30-0). I guess we can surmise the owners actually know what they are doing ?
Jameis Winston staying out of trouble will be like asking a Publix spokesman if they will ever welcome the player into their stores without his being profiled .
Another good win for the Rays . How bad are the Texas Rangers this season ? Scary thought , is they (Rangers) might not only end up with the worst record in baseball, but the Houston Astros (three straight losing seasons of 100 plus games) will end up with a better record than their instate rivals .
Al…
I heard Reinsdorf was the only abstaining vote for a while. Just didn’t hear why.
Yeah, not sure what happened with the Rangers. They were stout for a while. Guess their window just closed.
Fighting Irish’s Brian Kelly is saddened several of his players on the current team are caught up in an academic scandal ? Who knew the kids at Notre Dame were not that bright to begin with .
Jerry Reinsdorf had his reasons, but this vote was a joke . The three main leading candidates (Rob Manfred , Tom Werner & Tim Brosnan) n were all insiders of some sort within baseball . The league hierarchy has learned nothing new at all over the past decade.
The Texas Rangers are likely to fire Ron Washington at the end of this season with a great deal of the blame also being leveled at GM Jon Daniels and his handling of the organization’s affairs during 2014.
Brad Ausmus’ Detroit Tigers are beginning to make a complete mess of their season and now seem to be on the cusp of losing their AL Central title to a confident Kansas City Royals’ team . Who would have thought they would be this competitive in 2014 ?
Your thoughts on the Buccaneers play during the preseason and how are they likely to fare over the regular season ? A playoff berth , I think the team is certainly capable of attaining, if Mike Glennon’s play is of a high standard .
tophatal ………
I’m sure Brian Kelly is not the only coach in the nation who has to deal with this sort of issue, Al. Like I posted on FB and Twitter, I’m just surprised the athletes didn’t blame Manti Te’o’s girlfriend.
You weren’t actually expecting baseball’s owner to elect a new commissioner that didn’t have their best interests at heart, were you, Al?
Wouldn’t surprise me one bit if the Rangers got rid of Washington. As of right now, they’re a pathetic 28 games under .500. Someone’s going to have to take the fall for that.
Interesting that the Tigers are struggling considering when they got Price, everyone seemed to think they had the Series wrapped up. Wonder what Leyland would do.
I didn’t get a chance to watch the Bucs’ opener last week. Nor will I be able to tonight. I’ve heard the offensive line is porous. But it’s too early to panic. Let’s let Lovie do his thing and see how it works out.
Even as an FSU fan, I knew it was a bad idea. None of those have been turning out well.
Susan O. says hi… she is my roommate and turned me on to your blog. Good stuff!
Thanks for chiming in Kate and yes, this was probably not the wisest thing the FSU athletic department has ever done.
Please do send the lovely SOS my warmest regards and tell I’ll see her on a lobster night in the near future.
Will do!
Nice. Yeah, when I saw that was happening, I was surprised. Should not have been, but I was. You would think there would be some people running the show that would realize it’s just a bad idea.
KP…
There’s like a billion people on Twitter, fortunately many of them with a sense of humor and who hate Florida State.
Present company included.
Yeah, that’s true, Rev… although you are also saying that you have a sense of humor. Ha ha, yeah, so anyway…
KP…
It’s a rental.