The Why and the How Twitter Makes Sports so Much Better

Feb 1, 2015; Glendale, AZ, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) reacts against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

2. The Inside Look at an Athlete’s Thoughts

One of the original reasons why Twitter got popular was it allowed you to peek into the personal thoughts of larger than life personas. Just like you can write in 140 characters about getting brunch with your friends, celebrities can too and now we can know about it. It made us feel closer to them, like we had all become pals.

Sports fans usually don’t care at all about who their favorite players are going to brunch with. What we crave are authentic reactions, and those predictable sideline sound bytes are not what we mean. Turns out, Twitter has proven to be even better at bringing player reactions to the masses than journalism has.

Sure, players still may not be able to sound off after a game about how pissed they are about a blown call, but they are able to voice their opinions about other big events in sports (much like how we do) and we eat it up.

Let’s stick to the topic of Tom Brady. The announcement of his four-game suspension caused not only the fans and the media to erupt, but also created an understandable hubbub among NFL players as well.

(See a larger list here.)

What’s fascinating about this is that we are essentially getting insight into what Brady’s colleagues are thinking, in the moment, immediately after hearing the news. This is something that Twitter is uniquely able to offer us.

Through Twitter, we’re able to see our favorite athletes cheer on their alma maters during the NCAA Tournament, predict who they think will win the Kentucky Derby, or basically comment on anything that any of us would comment on.

It gives us a brand new depth to experiencing the world of sports.

Next: Trolls. Yes, really.