S69 PT #5: Everyone's a Critic
February 26th @ 11:59 PM (PST)
|
hockeyiscool
SHL GM SHL GM
Dwight Knight did have a random stint of about a day on social media. However, it just got him really obsessed and furious about a bunch of people who knew nothing about situations beyond their control. He has actually been removed from platforms after just a few hours and has been barred from having a computer as the social media damage control team saw it as a lost cause and threatened to quit. It is actually in his contract that Dwight Knight does not have a cell phone, or a computer. Dwight now just walks around with a pager and lives his life in a zen like state of denial of social media actually existing. Dwight has had a lot of encounters with the local Florida media but it has generally all been positive and if someone said something negative about him, he has forgotten about it and continues to live his life.
[153 words]
Nhamlet
Budget Director Weenie Hut Jr. GM
Written Task: How do you feel about hockey's social media culture? Specifically with regards to top players in the world. A common complaint is that the NHL does not have the star power of a league like the NBA, and that the players are much more boring. Do you think this ties in to social media, and the unwillingness many players to engage beyond the officially sanctioned opportunities? Is it unrelated? If so, how do you think the league should go about making their stars more marketable and exciting? Does it even matter? (150+ words)
It is a bit of a strange thing when it comes to the star power of athletes in other leagues. Some of it is just naturally being maybe the 5th most interesting league in the States at best, nevermind however high in the rest of the world. Some of it comes from the fact that players themselves are still much more conservative when it comes to their public personalities and what they're willing to talk about. It would absolutely add more flavor, as useless as it could be to the league with having players demonstrate more of their personality and flair. As it is, it does feel as though there's a muted filter over everything right now. In order to making their stars more marketable, having them lead and promote their own initiatives beyond what's available to the players' own efforts would be one start. Just knowing what they care about could help bring about more good and getting to know them through that lens instead.
Count Chocula
Graphic Graders Posting Freak
Player Prompt - Getting into Twitter beefa is one of my favorite things as a professional athlete. If fans or haters want to step up in the public eye to try and throw shade at me, I have no problem slapping them back down to reality. All these pompous normals think they can make me feel bad when I'm Making millions playing a sport, while they're living in their moms basement delivering pizzas. I respect a hater who wants to say something to my face, but be warned I have a short temper and am an amateur boxer. If you can't back up your words, you're gonna be hurting tomorrow morning. Luckily no one has been dumb enough to trash talk me in public, except for some other players in the SMJHL. We all know I have an undefeated fight record, so I will let that speak for me. Moral of the story, if you're gonna talk tough I'll make you back it up. Cause I know I will.
W:168
5ympathies
Registered CCII Fan Club
Since I am a star player of the simulation hockey league, a true legend, hall of famer, all that, whatever you want to call it, I have an extra ordinate amount of pull (sway) in this league and for every team I happen to bless my play with. Because of that pull I have on the teams management, any media personality who critiques me gets their media credentials pulled, not only for the team I currently play for, but any team I have blessed in the past. This is a huge deterrent, as now I have played for New England, Hamilton, Buffalo, Atlanta, and Toronto so if you lose media credentials for all of those teams you are done. It works great as anyone who clowns me, I get to return the favour by clowning them for losing their job, causing financial strain on their family, having their relationships blow up as they can no longer find work. In the end, it is me who wins.
Gordon Bombay
Graphic Graders Senior Member
Flowseidon
All-Star Committee Posting Freak
I think that hockeys social media culture is by and large a product of how players have been coached for the media for so long. Sure we have some notables like Brad Marchand or PK Subban who mix it up a bit, but generally it's like a between period interview, boring.
Players are trained hard into how they answer and how they behave, and that's the side of them we see the most. When players start to become more interesting, it'll be met with criticism from the old guard (whether it's plays, personality, etc). I think this does negatively impact the league. We are seeing more and more that people are becoming fans of players and following them around rather than being a fan of a team, and for that to really succeed in the NHL these players will need to let their personalities shine through to attract people to their brand. When players have an attractive brand, the league does too. It is definitely an issue the NHL faces, and something they definitely need to work towards helping spotlight their players better.
G2019
Registered Am a peasant
McHits is not one to shy away from the critics; what they don't understand is that nobody is more critical of his play than himself. If people wanna talk up misplays, missed passes, missed shots, defensive breakdowns, etc...that's fine. However, attacks on his personal character, ethics, family, and teammates will result in a response. Sometimes, it's as simple as that person getting blocked from his social media. Other times, McHits uses his play and celebrations to clap back at haters who cross the line.
Much has also been said about his outspoken political views, but McHits believes in using his platform to be heard, to embolden others, and to foster support for populations that need it the most. As much as he has been told to 'stick to sports', that is something that he cannot, in good conscience do, which has drawn ire from those on the opposite side of the political spectrum. One thing is for sure, McHits gonna McHits, whether you like him or not.
Seany148
SMJHL GM Grandfather of the Rats
Player prompt
Edžus Ozolins actually doesn't have any social media, whether it’s Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, because he wants to make sure he doesn’t get affected by bad commentary after games or on off days. That way, he doesn’t get distracted, ever. Sure, he might go incognito for some sports news, but he does not own any account. Whether he was good or bad, Ozolins never hides from journalists. He always takes the blame for the team, as he is a big team player. However, if a reporter attacks a teammate for no reason, Edžus will step up to defend his friend and might even take action against the journalist for wrongfully embarrassing a friend. Overall, it’s just part of the job, and he simply lives with it, reducing the impact it has on himself and how he plays, since Ozolins wants to always be performing the best he can for the team, to always give his 100%. 156 words
bbjygm
Moderators Yogurt Lord
Hodor is usually a pretty chill giant but sometimes things get to his head, especially when they have a spark of truth to them. He's aware of social media and the negative trends anonymity and the multiple degrees of separation can have on criticisms, but he still can't help himself sometimes to responding to unfair claims. It can be a little confusing, though, when they don't know how to respond to a "Hodor!" rebuttal. When journalists get real riled up about his play, he likes to give them a visit, tower over them, and give them a great big hug to calm them down. But most importantly, he tries to take care of himself. He takes breaks from the backlash, seeks comfort among his emotional support animals, and generally goes out with his team for a fun activity to bring up everyone's spirits. There's nothing like a relaxing day with friends to help keep his mind at ease.
Rotti
Registered Broke
Tommi Koivu was one of the most promising young defenders in the SHL, but his recent performances had been horrible. The media had been harshly critical of his play, with some even calling for him to be benched or relsesased. The constant scrutiny was starting to get to him, but instead of wallowing in self-pity, Tommi decided to use the criticism as motivation to become a better player. He spent countless hours watching footage of his past games, analyzing his mistakes and looking for areas where he could improve. He worked with his coaches to develop a new training regimen that focused on his weaknesses, and he began practicing with renewed vigor and intensity.
As a result of his hard work, Tommi's performance on the ice began to improve dramatically. He was faster, stronger, and more Pog and ready togo out there and really show off the improvement in his abilities, and he quickly became a standout player on his team. The media began to take notice, and the same reporters who had once criticized him were now hyping him up and showing how nice he is at ball now.
Atox
Registered Senior Member
I think the reason why NHL players don’t have big personalities or charisma like in other sports is both media training and the culture around hockey. If anyone were to be very eccentric or loud in their public image a majority of the NHL media apparatus and most older fans would hate it. Look at the Storm Surge with the Hurricanes and Don Cherry literally saying “young men expressing themselves themselves for joy of winning. You don’t do these kinds of things in professional hockey.” This isn’t media environment that cultivates any type of interesting personalities. They all want the same white bread, generic responses and personalities. Obviously a decent number of the players don’t really care about this kinda stuff and that’s fine, I wouldn’t either; there would be more than a handful of players with memorable or tangible personalities beyond Brad Marchand or PK Subban
Credit Maxy and Merica for sigs
LampLighter
Registered Posting Freak
Player Prompt:
Matiss does not really use social media at all so he does not really pay attention to all of the negative attention from fans and reporters. If Matiss is at a post game press conference and negative things are being said he just tries to flip them and make positive remarks either about himself or his teammates. He is always trying to bring positive energy to the team on and off the ice. Matiss is a player who leaves it all on the ice every night, so that he can say no matter what that he gave 110% and sometimes things just do not go his way so he just tries to be better each and every shift he plays. Negative attention does not get to Matiss; he knows it is part of the job and people are going to say what they want to say. Matiss just wants to do what’s best for the team and be a strong team player. He lets his play on the ice do the talking.
dogwoodmaple
Registered Posting Freak
Loosh
Registered Member
Player Prompt
Loosh has a poor history regarding his interactions with negative attention, but has improved drastically. Early in his career, he would regularly go through twitter searching his own name & reading his mentions & leaving snarky comments. Some of his teammates, like Nino Giussepe, took him under his wing and pointed out that he was only inducing more negative attention with his behavior. Fortunately Loosh has learned from his mistakes and now he is doing a much better job of keeping his head level & placing his frustration elsewhere - into his play. He's certainly good to point out specific prominent journalists who are haters when he has great games if given the chance in a post-game interview, but that's a far cry from his early antics. With his new approach, he's receiving more praise from the fans - he's gone from being an embarrassment for his lack of poise to being a shining example of how to stick it to critics with strong performances. |
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
|
Users browsing this thread: |
8 Guest(s) |