Kelly Robinson is visibly nervous.
Maybe it’s the prospect of being featured in a popular and widely read newspaper column. Maybe it’s the orientation of things: She’s on a couch, I’m in an armchair ““ it’s all very psychiatrist-like.
More likely, it’s my fortnight-old mustache, which she says will make her cry if it remains on my upper lip any longer.
She might be more comfortable if we conducted the interview over email. Or, say, Facebook chat. Or Twitter. After all, that’s why she’s here.
A couple weeks back, I made a bold claim. With the @DBSports Twitter account hovering around 980 followers ““ and with the section embroiled in a fierce race-to-1000-followers feud with UCLA quarterback Richard Brehaut ““ I promised via the web and the radio that whoever ended up being the section’s 1,000th follower would be featured in one of my columns.
Robinson, who graduated from UCLA in June, lives down by the busy intersection of Sepulveda and Santa Monica boulevards (S and SM, for the urban planning hipsters).
But metaphysically, she’s here at the corner of Sports and Social Media, an alternative S and SM junction that’s just as congested these days.
Social media hasn’t done much to change the games themselves, mind you, although a number of professional leagues have instituted restrictions on players Tweeting during games and things like that.
What has really changed is sports fandom ““ the casual fan becomes a junkie, the junkie becomes a diehard, the diehard becomes Die Hard 2: Die Harder and eventually Die Hard With A Vengeance.
Point is, a UCLA fan such as Kelly Robinson can follow her beloved Bruins without having to go out of her way to find a TV or a radio.
“It’s even easy to do without people knowing you’re doing it,” she says. “Without anything else handy, it’s a great way of getting updated quickly.”
I wouldn’t quantify Robinson as a stereotypical hard-core sports fan. She doesn’t play fantasy football, paint her body or own any foam fingers. Instead, she prefers to bake pies, sing songs and make spontaneous cat noises.
But think about how easy it is for people such as Robinson to use Twitter to follow a sports team without a second thought. Social media is essentially doing in our generation what the Brady Bunch did in our parents’: Bring groups of people from different circumstances and combine them into one big happy family.
Here’s another thing to think about: Radical fandom has been exacerbated by the very existence of Facebook statuses, which have evolved into integral parts of our communicative system.
I can’t even begin to count the number of times my Facebook feed has been flooded with sports-related statuses. World Series wins. Major upsets. Tragic injuries. Suddenly, we’re all commentators.
Let’s say the UCLA football team pulls off a dramatic upset of USC. Hypothetically, it’s a hugely significant outcome for both programs.
Can we not expect Facebook to function as the ideal means of publicly acknowledging the victory? Social media has done wonders for trash-talking and for celebrating.
“Without Facebook, I don’t think I’d initiate (any postgame trash-talking),” says Robinson, who admittedly has a number of friends at USC (the interview doubled as a confession).
“It’s more acceptable to do that through Facebook; it’s less rude than directly contacting someone.”
The other aspect worth considering when it comes to social media’s effect on sports is the actions of the athletes themselves.
Our culture is breeding a generation of players comfortable with mass interaction with their fans, a more open system that gives us more insight into the minds of the biggest sports personalities, for better or worse.
Social media gives us all a chance to live vicariously through the sports stars of today.
People such as Kelly Robinson ““ who says if she could play any sport professionally, it would be lacrosse because she could hit people with a stick ““ may not achieve their athletic aspirations, but at least they can maximize their fandom.
Here at the intersection of Sports and Social Media, there’s plenty of traffic. But in this reality, absent of physical requirements or seat restrictions, there’s always room for one more fan. Even one who makes cat noises.