Do you…
a) Follow the baseball team on Twitter?
b) Friend request a couple of football players here and there?
c) Freak out when you see them downtown? Maybe take a couple of pictures?
d) Describe your class as “the one that Marcus Lattimore is in”?
Yeah…
So what? You’re a cleat chaser. We all are. At an SEC school that has potential to rank in almost every sport, our athletes are celebrities. Take our newly committed favorite, Jadeveon Clowney, for example. I’ve been told that when he arrives, USC will be a madhouse. And I believe it. We have glamorized the poor kid so much that seeing him on campus will be like celebrity stalking in Los Angeles. I mean, seriously, he may even have to leave for class early to avoid paparazzi (aka the Blackberry-and-iPhone-armed mobile uploaders).
And who knows? Maybe that is what is happening to our current athletes — er, celebs. My sports psychology class was stocked with the football, golf and softball teams, and I was in heaven. And group projects? I died. I collected phone numbers like Tiger Woods collected women and texted them with my class “questions.” I lived for the moments when someone asked, “Who are you texting?” and I would respond, “Oh, you know, just ___. Yeah, it’s not a big deal.”
But take it from me, if you want to know about these athletes’ lives, just send a simple Twitter request. Most athletes’ accounts are open, so you get automatically approved. This is different than Facebook, where they must actually approve you. My friend tried to send Clowney a friend request in that awkward “choosing between schools” period, and it literally said he had too many requests.
Yeah … celebrity status.
