Has social media killed home field advantage?

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

I wonder how much social media affects out players when they play in front of crowds that constantly pick them apart and put them down on social media? I know everyone don't, but it does happen and they see it for sure, especially on Twitter. It seems in the last few years, we have played better on the road and I wonder if this has anything to do with it? I would compare it to being a singer and singing at local events in your hometown. Then going on Twitter and seeing everyone pick apart your performance. Saying you should have sung it this way or done that, the mic sucked, the sound guy was terrible and the music was too loud..etc. How would you feel about going back there and performing again vs going out of town and performing? I would feel more focused and relaxed performing on the road as opposed to feeling like I am under a microscope facing my critics after reading a weeks full of insults and jabs at my performance.
Social media has no filter. All of our players are able and do read comments from some of our most ignorant fans every week on Twitter. As we have seen some of them have interacted with these idiots and have chimed back. I wish there was a way for the coaches to shut down social media for the players during the season. I think it would improve our home field advantage.
Thoughts?

[Cooterpoot]

If that's the case, we've got a bunch of pussies on the team. It goes on at every single school in the country when the team loses.

[confucius say]

Interesting concept. Prob depends largely on the maturity level of your players. For this group, that is immature and insecure, whines about facial hair articles, and has no leadership, it prob does matter on some level. To mature teams led by guys like dak and day and beckwith, probably doesn't matter much.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

Yea I should have referenced the younger players. It has to bother them. They are used to being to top dawg in high school and then they get here and realize they have to fight for reps and earn their right to be top dawg. I would be willing to bet that effects some of our older guys as well.

[BB30]

This is football... If we have players whether they are 18 yo or 22 yo and they are letting social media dictate their attitude for the day and the way they play then we are recruiting the wrong guys. They should be fully aware that being in the SEC you will get harassed/talked about by both your and opposing fans. It works both ways you play well and Social Media is the best thing ever. I don't agree with fans bashing players but it is part of it. You cannot be that soft and be a good football player. In my mind that equates to playing scared and that won't get it done. All they have to do is play better and none of the badmouthing will happen. Simple solution.

[GulfCoastDawg]

11AM kicks has killed home field advantage... You know that and the whole poor on field performance thing.

[HereComesTheSpiral]

Simple fix, quit looking at Twitter if you don't like what people are saying.

[Todd4State]

If only there was a block feature on Twitter....

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

Now you know good and damn well that it would be hard to not look at what people are writing about you. It would be for me. Especially if family members, friends or teammates were hitting your phone up telling you to go read what they said about you.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

Yeah but the damage could be done before they blocked someone...That would be the reason they blocked them.

[HereComesTheSpiral]

Yeah but the damage could be done before they blocked someone...That would be the reason they blocked them.

I thought you were talking about someone on our OL with all of that block speech

[GulfCoastDawg]

One could argue that anyone with enough competitive drive or fire to play college football would use the comments as "billboard material " or fuel to work harder and get better.

[RocketDawg]

11AM kicks has killed home field advantage... You know that and the whole poor on field performance thing.

I don't think so. The stadium was virtually full at the beginning and stayed pretty much that way until halftime. And the fans were cheering. But can you blame anyone for leaving when it's 35-0 at halftime? Especially after seeing such a lackluster performance? I can't.

I think Thursday night games hurt a lot more than Saturday morning games. Everybody gets 11 o'clock games at some point.

[smootness]

Have the home records of teams gotten worse recently? If not, then no, I don't think social media has killed home field advantage. If they have, then it's an interesting question.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

The crowd was great at the beginning. It was late arriving but at kickoff the crowd was good & after that pick it was lit. What killed the crowd was not taking advantage of the turnover & the proceeding drive by Auburn for a score.

[BulldogBear]

I wonder how much social media affects out players when they play in front of crowds that constantly pick them apart and put them down on social media? I know everyone don't, but it does happen and they see it for sure, especially on Twitter. It seems in the last few years, we have played better on the road and I wonder if this has anything to do with it? I would compare it to being a singer and singing at local events in your hometown. Then going on Twitter and seeing everyone pick apart your performance. Saying you should have sung it this way or done that, the mic sucked, the sound guy was terrible and the music was too loud..etc. How would you feel about going back there and performing again vs going out of town and performing? I would feel more focused and relaxed performing on the road as opposed to feeling like I am under a microscope facing my critics after reading a weeks full of insults and jabs at my performance.
Social media has no filter. All of our players are able and do read comments from some of our most ignorant fans every week on Twitter. As we have seen some of them have interacted with these idiots and have chimed back. I wish there was a way for the coaches to shut down social media for the players during the season. I think it would improve our home field advantage.
Thoughts?

I don't know the technical aspects of enforcing it but if I was a coach in any sport social media would be off limits for the duration of the season under penalty of sitting on the bench an entire game per violation. Absolutely NOTHING good comes from players on a struggling team having access to social media.

Interesting concept. Prob depends largely on the maturity level of your players. For this group, that is immature and insecure, whines about facial hair articles, and has no leadership, it prob does matter on some level. To mature teams led by guys like dak and day and beckwith, probably doesn't matter much.

^This

Have the home records of teams gotten worse recently? If not, then no, I don't think social media has killed home field advantage. If they have, then it's an interesting question.

I don't think it has probably made much if any difference.




....with all that above said. If players can't handle the "noise," then as I said in another thread, show them to a "safe place" during each game. It's back there by the water coolers and has been for a hundred plus years.

[Dawgbite]

The crowd was great at the beginning. It was late arriving but at kickoff the crowd was good & after that pick it was lit. What killed the crowd was not taking advantage of the turnover & the proceeding drive by Auburn for a score.

You really should have been paying more attention to the game instead of the crowd behind you*******

[I seen it dawg]

***** generation

[RougeDawg]

***** generation

I get your gist and agree. But the reason we have an up and coming generation of pansies is the liberal involvement in sports. Everyone gets a trophy these days and winning isn't the important thing, inclusion is. On top of that some leagues up until a certain age do not even keep score. Combine these with trying to make sports two hand touch, can't break up a double play or play at the plate and you have the modern day fragile minded athlete. This indoctrination has infiltrated every aspect of American life and one particular group is pushing inclusion of all and rewarding winners makes the losers feel bad and hurts their feelings. Dismiss and ignore if you will but it's been happening since the 70's/80's and has snowballed into what we are witnessing today.

ETA I'm only in my early 30's but do spend some of my free time reading about the founders of the modern day liberal movement and can recognize the underlying intentions of their perceived "good intentions". Cloak your real intentions by tying emotional topics to your cause that you never really address or fix, and continue to blame others because nothing ever is fixed for the better. Simple really after you take emotion out of their agenda.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

Great point! This is why I think some players would get their feelings hurt and would feel more pressure playing in front of the home crowd as opposed to the road.