Welcome to 2015, where a social media account combined with killing time can make you look like a immature teenager and a bad teammate, and even cost you your job.
That’s exactly what happened to Jasper Simmons as the Calgary Stampeders decided to part ways with the talented linebacker after a variety of asinine tweets were retweeted by the sour former Stampeder.
Agent Sammy Gahagan took to twitter to shed some insight on the lack of playing time the Stampeders were granting his client, stating, “it’s a shame what the Stampeders are doing to Jasper Simmons. The worst organization in the CFL is holding him hostage and won’t let him play”.
Hard to say what is more offensive: a professional athlete throwing a teenage-style tantrum on Facebook about how their parents ruined their life, or comparing not being good enough to crack the starting lineup on a deep Stamps team to that of being a hostage.
Is it understandable, the frustration of being a 2014 team’s MOP nomination being glued to the bench? Of course. But there has to be a point in a grown man’s life when he should start to act like a professional – or even an adult.
Simmons clearly had a moment of weakness, in a team where he was not able to crack the starting line up permanently. Instead of turning his frustration into production to perform better on the field, Simmons chose to tack to social media to speak his mind.
Yes, the defenders of Simmons will proclaim “Simmons never tweeted anything”. On one side they are correct but, this is a business and in business sometimes you are held accountable for who you associate with, such as his agent. Not only that he did vent his frustration in a way that was cowardly, on social media with a touch on his screen to hit retweet.
Simmons chose to hide behind his phone instead of using his talent to talk for him on the field. Teams have reportedly expressed interest in the immature LB (Winnipeg has already reportedly made an offer). But who can honestly think he is a warrior of the gridiron while he seems distracted and being a warrior of social media?
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