NYT: N.F.L. Labor Dispute Plays Out on Twitter

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/sports/football/22NFLtwitter.html?_r=1


From left, Ronald Martinez/Getty Images; Hugh Gentry/Reuters; Associated Press

From left, LeMarr Woodley, Robert Mathis and LeCharles Bentley have taken to Twitter during the N.F.L.’s labor strife.
By JUDY BATTISTA
Published: February 21, 2011

A few hours after N.F.L. owners filed a complaint against the players union last week alleging that it was not bargaining in good faith, Houston Texans right tackle Eric Winston took to his keyboard to react.

“The NFL has reached that point where the kitchen sink is getting opened and every ridic claim will be tossed out,” Winston wrote on Twitter. “Enjoy the comedy people.”

And then: “Walking out of a bargaining session. These guys are a real hoot to deal with. If anyone screams, ‘I want my cake and eat it too’ it’s them.”

Winston is just one of the dozens of players and agents who have taken to Twitter during the N.F.L.’s labor strife, opining on everything from the court skirmish over how the N.F.L.’s television contracts were structured (@ericwinston) to the 18-game regular season (@RobertMathis98) to players having to pay for their own health insurance if the league imposes a lockout when the current collective bargaining agreement expires March 4 (LeCharles Bentley, who on Twitter is @LeCharlesBent65).

The N.F.L.’s labor negotiations are the first of a major sports league to be played out in the social media age, giving hundreds of players, dozens of agents, millions of fans and even a handful of owners the equivalent of a gigantic microphone to offer instant — sometimes frustrated — analysis of the once-cloaked minutiae of contentious negotiation. The real-time reactions on Twitter may sometimes give the impression that events surrounding the labor talks are moving quickly — in fact, they have been barely moving at all — but they are also opening a filter-free pipeline with fans that players have long said they wanted.

FULL story at link.