Social media can be cruel, especially when a pack of teenage girls gang up on a peer and spread insults based on speculation, assumption and gossip. Most of it, of course, is fueled by the need to build their reputations.
So here was Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler(notes) on Sunday with a sprained MCL in his left knee, tears welling in both his eyes according to SI.com. He was trying to deal with an onslaught of questions about his injury, manhood, heart and worth as a player. His crime? Sitting out most of the second half of the Bears’ NFC championship game loss to the Green Bay Packers; something some of his fellow NFL players found despicable.
This was, perhaps, the NFL’s first player-on-player social media attack.
Whether Cutler should’ve played on that knee is a debate that will rage forever on Lake Michigan. In my opinion Cutler did nothing wrong. I’m not in the position, or of the mindset, to question anyone’s toughness, let alone a professional football player though.
Other NFL players could be, perhaps, and that’s where this knee injury went from story to tsunami in 140 characters or less.
“All I’m saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee … I played the whole season on one,” tweeted Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew(notes).
“Cmon cutler u have to come back. This is the NFC championship if u didn’t know!” Arizona safety Kerry Rhodes(notes) tweeted.
Deion Sanders noted “in the playoffs u must drag me off the field.” Arizona’s Darnell Dockett(notes) said Cutler didn’t deserve to shower until the rest of the team left the locker room.
It was heated. It was interesting. It was, you could say, insightful.
Never before, have we had such raw and direct access to the real-time thoughts of NFL players. After decades of listening to athletes claim fans and media are too rough, it turns out we’ve got nothing on them in the venom department. Accurate or not, what they did to Jay Cutler was straight up cold.
Cutler is not even worthy of being in the locker room with the team? Really?
Don’t blame the old mainstream media this time – this was a player-fueled hit.
The twirling twitter feeds of Sunday afternoon changed the story dramatically. You can lament that in our instant gratification world things like facts, perspective and patience have died. That’s true.
It isn’t going away though. You might as well accept it. This is the start of the new normal. Until the next new normal, which isn’t likely to slow down or soften the commentary.
Even two years ago, Cutler and the Bears would’ve at least had until the postgame media session to explain the injury and circumstances around the benching. Questions would’ve been asked, some fans still would’ve been angry and perhaps a columnist would’ve ripped away. It wouldn’t have gone down like this though. Time and facts would’ve lessened the heat of the moment.
Sunday, Cutler was getting assailed within seconds of being taken out of the game – his aloof facial expressions, apparent disinterest in the game and history of not connecting with fans didn’t help any, of course.
The NFL isn’t prepared for this stuff. Teams pride themselves on secrecy. Ex-players-turned-analysts almost always fall back on tales of the “rub-some-dirt-on-it” days. The league still clings to its archaic and unreliable system of defining injuries: doubtful, questionable, probable, etc.
It was announced in the press box (which was then relayed out by media) that Cutler was “questionable” (whatever that means). That left a couple of obvious queries: who’s asking and who’s answering the “question.”
Winston Churchill’s line is “a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.” In this case, it was the sentiment that Jay Cutler was a quitter that whipped around the globe instantly. The official medical prognosis could wait.
Inside Solider Field fans read and passed on twitter comments from the NFL players via their smart phones. With each minute, the rhetoric grew increasingly heated. I was sent word of a new twitter account “@JayCutlersHeart” had been created, one of many springing up to mock the player. I immediately re-tweeted it out to my followers; participating in the game of one-upmanship.
Most challenging for Cutler is this: whether he should’ve played is neither truth nor lie, it is opinion. That’s more difficult to battle. By the postgame, Cutler was no longer able to explain himself with the facts – few seemed to care about the Bears saying it was a doctor’s decision or teammates speaking up for their QB. It was no longer about what happened, but why did it happen. Cutler was in defense mode and wasn’t prepared for it – offering a meek “no comment” to the criticism.
The questions by reporters were more aggressive than they would’ve been pre-twitter because journalists could lean on the opinion of NFL players to frame things. No sports reporter is going to toe-to-toe in a debate with Brian Urlacher(notes) on the toughness of a player unless he can cite Jones-Drew, Sanders and the others.
“Players around the league you said, right?” Urlacher said when asked about the Cutler criticism. “Yeah, love jealous people when they’re watching our game on TV while their season is over.”
Fair point but that’s where we’ve landed. Twitter has allowed a voice to emerge from the couches – be it the average Joe or the NFL pro. Everyone is empowered. It’s unfettered, it’s immediate and in it’s brevity it offers very little opportunity for perspective.
You’re gutless or you’re not. You’re a quitter or you’re not. Black. White. Sent.
One thing you learn as a writer is that some of your best lines are the ones you delete. That doesn’t always work in social media.
There is an undeniable badge of honor that comes from playing in the NFL. What’s surprising is that there doesn’t appear to be a universal appreciation for, or respect among, the participants though.
Jones-Drew and the others weren’t willing to hold their thoughts and give a fellow player the benefit of the doubt, let alone a couple hours for an explanation or medical report.
They just drilled him – the seventh grade overtaking the National Football League.
Sunday, Cutler was getting assailed within seconds of being taken out of the game – his aloof facial expressions, apparent disinterest in the game and history of not connecting with fans didn’t help any, of course.
this.
angry fans yesterday/today is just the culmination of a season's worth of sideline pouting from jay.
don't blame it on twitter. the fans don't need to be told how to feel by other NFL players. everyone in the bar i was at was plenty angry without checking twitter.
that being said... i'm moving on with my life just fine today
I haven't heard any players backin off their comments.
Sprained mcl. That's pretty fuckin mild to not at least give a go out on the field.
Pride goes a long fuckin' way.
Who's going to man up and apologize? It's not going to happen. Cutler could have been diagnosed with an malignant osteosarcoma, and nobody would say a word.
Besides, didn't Jones Drew miss some games due to a leg injury? That's beside the point...
The fact is, you have ignorant, un-educated athletes determining what is best for another player in the league. There is not one person other than the M.D. who read the MRI scan that knows the severity of the injury. Guess what? A sprained MCL can have not only different effects on different people, but the location of the sprain, the number of tears within the ligament, and surrounding tissue, edema, etc.
Yeah Drew, you can sit on our ass Tweeting all the fuck you want, but the fact remains that you and all the other clowns don't know anything about Cutler or the severity of the injury.
Sunday, Cutler was getting assailed within seconds of being taken out of the game – his aloof facial expressions, apparent disinterest in the game and history of not connecting with fans didn’t help any, of course.
this.
angry fans yesterday/today is just the culmination of a season's worth of sideline pouting from jay.
don't blame it on twitter. the fans don't need to be told how to feel by other NFL players. everyone in the bar i was at was plenty angry without checking twitter.
that being said... i'm moving on with my life just fine today
I guess what I don't get is why anyone has to put on an act. It's pretty obvious that not everyone is going to be as charming or fan/media friendly as a Peyton Manning.
They are playing a football game, not trying to score votes.
The guy took the Bears to the NFC Championship, had a very solid season, but because he isn't that social, and has a "reputation"...fuck it, lets grab our torches and march the streets.
Is it possible that a guy might not want to be in a Sony or Degree commercial, and just want to play the game and be left alone?
The drama that comes from all aspects of the media, the news, social media, reality bullshit on TV...it's sad that it had to cross the lines of the game of football.
"Oh, did you see the look on his face?" "Oh, Brady's hair is so long, it makes him look like a girl."
F'n lame.
"Oh, Brady's hair is so long, it makes him look like a girl."
its not nearly as bad as clay matthews :P
i hear what you're saying... but regardless of media, i feel like he could/should do more to pump up the offense... i know i wouldnt be feeding off his energy if i was a teammate... maybe he's got a different locker room persona that we don't see, but i just don't get it...
i think fan perceptions can make a break home field advantage too... from what i hear the crowd was totally out of it yesterday compared to other games... i'm sure that had a lot to do with the fact that cutler looked defeating and indifferent... not that the rest of the team was playing all that well the first half either
I haven't heard any players backin off their comments.
Sprained mcl. That's pretty fuckin mild to not at least give a go out on the field.
Pride goes a long fuckin' way.
Who's going to man up and apologize? It's not going to happen. Cutler could have been diagnosed with an malignant osteosarcoma, and nobody would say a word.
Besides, didn't Jones Drew miss some games due to a leg injury? That's beside the point...
The fact is, you have ignorant, un-educated athletes determining what is best for another player in the league. There is not one person other than the M.D. who read the MRI scan that knows the severity of the injury. Guess what? A sprained MCL can have not only different effects on different people, but the location of the sprain, the number of tears within the ligament, and surrounding tissue, edema, etc.
Yeah Drew, you can sit on our ass Tweeting all the fuck you want, but the fact remains that you and all the other clowns don't know anything about Cutler or the severity of the injury.
Not just an apology....No player is even backing off their comments about him being a bitch. Everyone of them said he could have went back in if he wanted to.
Drew Brees played half the season with a TORN mcl.
I've had a sprained mcl, acl and torn miniscus all in one go. I know how bad it can hurt. I finished the basketball game I was playing in, as the thing swelled up to the size of a softball. I realize I wasn't playing against 300 pound dudes that wanna kill me, but the point is I'm not as tough as a NFL player should be and I could withstand the pain, b/c I wanted to kick the other teams ass. I definitely wasn't gonna reach the peak of my profession with a win.
guy has diabetes. that is tough enough to deal with. trust me.
then he gets sacked 52 times this year. 52 times!
injuries to different people affect them in different ways. it looked like he could have played but who are we to know what he was feeling?
i could also care less about what his "demeanor" looked like on the sidelines. who the hell cares about that? that kind of stuff is way overrated to me....as evidenced by his entire team coming to his defense afterwards.
but what do i know? i once was in attendance when donovan mcnabb through 4 td passes on a broken ankle
"Oh, Brady's hair is so long, it makes him look like a girl."
its not nearly as bad as clay matthews :P
i hear what you're saying... but regardless of media, i feel like he could/should do more to pump up the offense... i know i wouldnt be feeding off his energy if i was a teammate... maybe he's got a different locker room persona that we don't see, but i just don't get it...
i think fan perceptions can make a break home field advantage too... from what i hear the crowd was totally out of it yesterday compared to other games... i'm sure that had a lot to do with the fact that cutler looked defeating and indifferent... not that the rest of the team was playing all that well the first half either
This whole argument that he always looks uninterested on the sidelines is such a fucking joke. Cutler looks the same on the sidelines whether he has just thrown 4 INTs or 4 TDs. He obviously has the support of his teammates and I think he was able to "pump them up" enough to get to the NFC championship game.
This whole argument that he always looks uninterested on the sidelines is such a fucking joke. Cutler looks the same on the sidelines whether he has just thrown 4 INTs or 4 TDs. He obviously has the support of his teammates and I think he was able to "pump them up" enough to get to the NFC championship game.
Agreed.
He was hired to be a QB, not a cheerleader.
Also, I do remember seeing Cutler sitting next to Hanie looking and discussing in-game photos... :?
Fuck it, next year when Cutler isn't on the field he should have some pompoms and a dance routine.
Not just an apology....No player is even backing off their comments about him being a bitch. Everyone of them said he could have went back in if he wanted to.
Comments
So here was Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler(notes) on Sunday with a sprained MCL in his left knee, tears welling in both his eyes according to SI.com. He was trying to deal with an onslaught of questions about his injury, manhood, heart and worth as a player. His crime? Sitting out most of the second half of the Bears’ NFC championship game loss to the Green Bay Packers; something some of his fellow NFL players found despicable.
This was, perhaps, the NFL’s first player-on-player social media attack.
Whether Cutler should’ve played on that knee is a debate that will rage forever on Lake Michigan. In my opinion Cutler did nothing wrong. I’m not in the position, or of the mindset, to question anyone’s toughness, let alone a professional football player though.
Other NFL players could be, perhaps, and that’s where this knee injury went from story to tsunami in 140 characters or less.
“All I’m saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee … I played the whole season on one,” tweeted Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew(notes).
“Cmon cutler u have to come back. This is the NFC championship if u didn’t know!” Arizona safety Kerry Rhodes(notes) tweeted.
Deion Sanders noted “in the playoffs u must drag me off the field.” Arizona’s Darnell Dockett(notes) said Cutler didn’t deserve to shower until the rest of the team left the locker room.
It was heated. It was interesting. It was, you could say, insightful.
Never before, have we had such raw and direct access to the real-time thoughts of NFL players. After decades of listening to athletes claim fans and media are too rough, it turns out we’ve got nothing on them in the venom department. Accurate or not, what they did to Jay Cutler was straight up cold.
Cutler is not even worthy of being in the locker room with the team? Really?
Don’t blame the old mainstream media this time – this was a player-fueled hit.
The twirling twitter feeds of Sunday afternoon changed the story dramatically. You can lament that in our instant gratification world things like facts, perspective and patience have died. That’s true.
It isn’t going away though. You might as well accept it. This is the start of the new normal. Until the next new normal, which isn’t likely to slow down or soften the commentary.
Even two years ago, Cutler and the Bears would’ve at least had until the postgame media session to explain the injury and circumstances around the benching. Questions would’ve been asked, some fans still would’ve been angry and perhaps a columnist would’ve ripped away. It wouldn’t have gone down like this though. Time and facts would’ve lessened the heat of the moment.
Sunday, Cutler was getting assailed within seconds of being taken out of the game – his aloof facial expressions, apparent disinterest in the game and history of not connecting with fans didn’t help any, of course.
The NFL isn’t prepared for this stuff. Teams pride themselves on secrecy. Ex-players-turned-analysts almost always fall back on tales of the “rub-some-dirt-on-it” days. The league still clings to its archaic and unreliable system of defining injuries: doubtful, questionable, probable, etc.
It was announced in the press box (which was then relayed out by media) that Cutler was “questionable” (whatever that means). That left a couple of obvious queries: who’s asking and who’s answering the “question.”
Winston Churchill’s line is “a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.” In this case, it was the sentiment that Jay Cutler was a quitter that whipped around the globe instantly. The official medical prognosis could wait.
Inside Solider Field fans read and passed on twitter comments from the NFL players via their smart phones. With each minute, the rhetoric grew increasingly heated. I was sent word of a new twitter account “@JayCutlersHeart” had been created, one of many springing up to mock the player. I immediately re-tweeted it out to my followers; participating in the game of one-upmanship.
Most challenging for Cutler is this: whether he should’ve played is neither truth nor lie, it is opinion. That’s more difficult to battle. By the postgame, Cutler was no longer able to explain himself with the facts – few seemed to care about the Bears saying it was a doctor’s decision or teammates speaking up for their QB. It was no longer about what happened, but why did it happen. Cutler was in defense mode and wasn’t prepared for it – offering a meek “no comment” to the criticism.
The questions by reporters were more aggressive than they would’ve been pre-twitter because journalists could lean on the opinion of NFL players to frame things. No sports reporter is going to toe-to-toe in a debate with Brian Urlacher(notes) on the toughness of a player unless he can cite Jones-Drew, Sanders and the others.
“Players around the league you said, right?” Urlacher said when asked about the Cutler criticism. “Yeah, love jealous people when they’re watching our game on TV while their season is over.”
Fair point but that’s where we’ve landed. Twitter has allowed a voice to emerge from the couches – be it the average Joe or the NFL pro. Everyone is empowered. It’s unfettered, it’s immediate and in it’s brevity it offers very little opportunity for perspective.
You’re gutless or you’re not. You’re a quitter or you’re not. Black. White. Sent.
One thing you learn as a writer is that some of your best lines are the ones you delete. That doesn’t always work in social media.
There is an undeniable badge of honor that comes from playing in the NFL. What’s surprising is that there doesn’t appear to be a universal appreciation for, or respect among, the participants though.
Jones-Drew and the others weren’t willing to hold their thoughts and give a fellow player the benefit of the doubt, let alone a couple hours for an explanation or medical report.
They just drilled him – the seventh grade overtaking the National Football League.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=A ... edia012411
angry fans yesterday/today is just the culmination of a season's worth of sideline pouting from jay.
don't blame it on twitter. the fans don't need to be told how to feel by other NFL players. everyone in the bar i was at was plenty angry without checking twitter.
that being said... i'm moving on with my life just fine today
http://seanbriceart.com/
Pride goes a long fuckin' way.
Who's going to man up and apologize? It's not going to happen. Cutler could have been diagnosed with an malignant osteosarcoma, and nobody would say a word.
Besides, didn't Jones Drew miss some games due to a leg injury? That's beside the point...
The fact is, you have ignorant, un-educated athletes determining what is best for another player in the league. There is not one person other than the M.D. who read the MRI scan that knows the severity of the injury. Guess what? A sprained MCL can have not only different effects on different people, but the location of the sprain, the number of tears within the ligament, and surrounding tissue, edema, etc.
Yeah Drew, you can sit on our ass Tweeting all the fuck you want, but the fact remains that you and all the other clowns don't know anything about Cutler or the severity of the injury.
I guess what I don't get is why anyone has to put on an act. It's pretty obvious that not everyone is going to be as charming or fan/media friendly as a Peyton Manning.
They are playing a football game, not trying to score votes.
The guy took the Bears to the NFC Championship, had a very solid season, but because he isn't that social, and has a "reputation"...fuck it, lets grab our torches and march the streets.
Is it possible that a guy might not want to be in a Sony or Degree commercial, and just want to play the game and be left alone?
The drama that comes from all aspects of the media, the news, social media, reality bullshit on TV...it's sad that it had to cross the lines of the game of football.
"Oh, did you see the look on his face?" "Oh, Brady's hair is so long, it makes him look like a girl."
F'n lame.
i hear what you're saying... but regardless of media, i feel like he could/should do more to pump up the offense... i know i wouldnt be feeding off his energy if i was a teammate... maybe he's got a different locker room persona that we don't see, but i just don't get it...
i think fan perceptions can make a break home field advantage too... from what i hear the crowd was totally out of it yesterday compared to other games... i'm sure that had a lot to do with the fact that cutler looked defeating and indifferent... not that the rest of the team was playing all that well the first half either
http://seanbriceart.com/
Not just an apology....No player is even backing off their comments about him being a bitch. Everyone of them said he could have went back in if he wanted to.
Drew Brees played half the season with a TORN mcl.
I've had a sprained mcl, acl and torn miniscus all in one go. I know how bad it can hurt. I finished the basketball game I was playing in, as the thing swelled up to the size of a softball. I realize I wasn't playing against 300 pound dudes that wanna kill me, but the point is I'm not as tough as a NFL player should be and I could withstand the pain, b/c I wanted to kick the other teams ass. I definitely wasn't gonna reach the peak of my profession with a win.
And that's not a football reference.
then he gets sacked 52 times this year. 52 times!
injuries to different people affect them in different ways. it looked like he could have played but who are we to know what he was feeling?
i could also care less about what his "demeanor" looked like on the sidelines. who the hell cares about that? that kind of stuff is way overrated to me....as evidenced by his entire team coming to his defense afterwards.
but what do i know? i once was in attendance when donovan mcnabb through 4 td passes on a broken ankle
GO BIRDS!!
i have no idea if he could play or not....
its over and time for the Bulls to go on a stampede
This whole argument that he always looks uninterested on the sidelines is such a fucking joke. Cutler looks the same on the sidelines whether he has just thrown 4 INTs or 4 TDs. He obviously has the support of his teammates and I think he was able to "pump them up" enough to get to the NFC championship game.
Agreed.
He was hired to be a QB, not a cheerleader.
Also, I do remember seeing Cutler sitting next to Hanie looking and discussing in-game photos... :?
Fuck it, next year when Cutler isn't on the field he should have some pompoms and a dance routine.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6056793
http://www.suntimes.com/3476238-417/gra ... -knee.html
Another, just because I think it's funny....
http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribu ... tions.html
In case you guys need a break from the Cutler debate, I figured you might like this...
that's pretty shitty.
I sent Webb chevy a quick note saying i'll never consider them for a car.