Last Friday morning, we learned why social media can be a nasty thing.
On Friday, a fake Twitter account pretending to be CBS NFL reporter Jason La Canfora, published information that was found later to not be true. This person tweeted that wide receiver Nate Burleson had been traded to the Patriots and in exchange the Lions would receive running back Danny Woodhead. Imagine learning that you’d been traded through an Internet application. Your entire life would be changed as a result of a few simple, yet extremely dangerous and careless, words. Luckily neither Burleson nor Woodhead were around when the word first broke.
Burleson, who is an avid user of social media, mentioned that he wasn’t online when the rumour first hit the web. But he did eventually hear about it that evening.
“That’s not a bad rumour to get started,” he said, “That’s almost believable. Luckily I wasn’t on Twitter, I might have gotten emotional and went crazy thinking Detroit was trying to get rid of me. Yeah, that’s pretty funny. I’m not going anywhere. My plan is to retire here.”
Must’ve been a little wake-up call for this 30-year old receiver; not expecting to be traded and then hearing about it over the Internet. A fine “thank you” for years in service. Burleson, who turns 31 in August, has three seasons left on his five-year deal that he signed in 2010. He recently renegotiated the deal to allow Detroit to clear some cap space. In his mind, he’s going to play out the remainder of this deal and then think about walking away from the game.
“I’d rather walk away while I’m ahead, while someone is still offering to pay me to play, than to be pushed out the door with them saying, ‘Them knees aren’t working like they used to.’ Right now, I’m feeling great. I had a nice showing at our OTA’s, caught a ton of balls and I did my thing.” Burleson said he feels like this could be the year that Detroit takes the next step, and he’s glad he’s there to help them get there.
In this case, Twitter could’ve caused some havoc and ruined a player’s career, or at least made his day really, really bad. Don’t get me wrong, Twitter is a great tool, when put in the right hands.
…and that is the Last Word.
