In today's fast paced rat race our society more than ever wants all their information immediately and easily accessible.  The media outlets have changed with the times giving the public what they want. Some media outlets have used Twitter, Facebook and other social networks to get their consumers exactly what they want and fast.  Athletes have followed this trend by giving their fans what they crave multiple daily updates via Tweets or UStream.  These forums allow athletes to give fans a different perspective of themselves, outside of giving perfunctory answers that sports interviewers often get. The athletes get to convey how they feel on a myriad of different topics from their normal day to day activities to dancing or giving their takes on what's going on in the sports world.  

Recently many of these athletes have come under fire from the main stream media for acting silly or making what they feel are inappropriate comments.  This is what blows my mind and is comical.  The same athletes that get chastised and made fun of for giving simple obvious answers.  They now have a platform to get out what they want to put out, not something they've said most times after a game, practice or in interviews where they're still in the moment of playing or practicing.  Most times that's why they stick to giving those same redundant simple obvious statements.  The athletes know that if they say something that doesn't fit into the box of what the media wants them to say, they'll be crucified. This is the hypocrisy of most of the sports media, they want honest answers from athletes but when they get some and it doesn't coincide with what they want, they have the power to spin what was said anyway they want.  Media is notorious for cutting and editing what athletes say and portraying the side of the athletes as they see fit.  

So now athletes have gone to other means to get another side of themselves, the silly, funny if not occasionally quirky sides.  Now with the influx of several other avenues to reach fans athletes are using them and the media doesn't like it. The picture that the media has tried to paint of these athletes, is now distorted by the same very athletes they're supposedly supposed to know and be reporting on to us fans. Now that's irony for you, the reporters aren't getting the exclusives they've been accustomed to because the athletes, are giving the fans direct, unfiltered and unedited to the fans.  So since the media can't control the content of what is coming out from these athletes, they go back to their basic business model of creating a hero and a villain.  This is standard protocol when dealing with athletes, creating a mirage of negativity around athletes they don't like or don't fit their mold of a good guy.  At  the other end of the spectrum they build up and heap undue amounts of praise and media coverage on athletes that are popular.  In their mind once you're typecast as either one that's the box they continue to show you in.

Do some athletes say and do some out of the ordinary things while broadcasting or Tweeting? Yes, but isn't that what the fans want?  A deeper look into the lives of athletes they hold in high regard, a look into their daily lives. How athletes think how they interact away from the team and media.  Fans get a chance to see or read things they wouldn't otherwise be privy to, not even the media gets this close.  So what's all the fuss about, really?