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Posted December 10, 2008

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Isn’t it crazy how much the Internet has changed our world over the past 10 years. All the information you could ever want on any subject, all at your fingertips, just a click away.

For sporting nuts, like myself, this is the greatest thing ever. I easily find sports scores for any sport around the world, as well as the latest news on all my favorite teams. I can even get the latest scoop on college recruits for the University of Michigan and Michigan State.

Another thing I enjoy doing is keeping tabs on Thumb area athletes who have gone on to the college level to play sports. Not to mention all of the videos relating to just about anything on sites like youtube.com

The social geniuses of the World Wide Web have also created social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and many others. These sites can be amazingly helpful, but, if not monitored properly, they can come back to haunt you.

Just recently in the news was an offensive lineman from the University of Texas, Buck Burnette. Burnette was cornered by his coaching staff and university officials for inapropriate use of his Facebook account.

You see, this kid broke one of the biggest rules of the internet. No matter who you are, what you write, YOU CAN FIND IT. Nobody is invisable on the internet, they don’t call it the “world wide” web for nothing.

Burnette’s Facebook profile contained racial comments pertaining to the new President elect, Barack Obama. I will not reveal these comments, if you want to read them, you can find them for yourself on the internet. These comments eventually made it back to Texas football head coach Mack Brown, resulting in Burnette’s immediate removal from the team.

Burnette has since taken down his facebook page, but before he did, he was sure to leave this message to all those offended.

“Clearly I have made a mistake and apologized for it and will pay for it. I received it as a text message from an acquaintance and immaturely put it up on facebook in the light of the election. Im not racist and apologize for offending you. I grew up on a ranch in a small town where that was a real thing and I need to grow up. I sincerely am sorry for being ignorant in thinking that it would be ok to write that publicly and apologize to you in particular. I have to be more mature than to put the reputation of my team at stake and to spread that kind of hate which I dont even believe in. Once again, I sincerely apologize.”

Burnett is not the only public story however. Professional athletes have also been found in innapropriate pictures online, as well as a cheerleader for the New England Patriots losing her job due to a few photographs of her at a party making their way to the internet.

When I attended Central Michigan University, there was a big push around campus to support the football team in their recent success. A student at the university took it upon himself to create an online group supporting the football team which grew rapidly in numbers. One of the things he would do every week, was post a web-link to the opposing team’s quarterback’s facebook profile along with phone numbers and whatever else he could get his hands on, encouraging students to harass the player as much as possible before gameday. Some of this may be viewed as all in good fun, but it often escalades beyond that.

High School students may be the biggest victim of this, posting pictures of them or their friends drinking or partying with other teens. The internet is a public place and anything found is public information. When the schools administators or coaches find such things it can easily result in some sort of discapline if the student is involved in athletics.

Social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook are great places to unite with old friends, classmates and co-workers, but it has also been used as a helpful tool for employers. When applying for a job, the employer would just do an online search of the applicants name to see exactly what kind of person he or she is. I have heard of this in more than once instance which is why i constantly hear of college graduates cleaning up their internet profiles because their job hunt has begun.

Now, I will be the first to say that yes, I own both Facebook and Myspace accounts. However, I am very careful of the content that goes on to these pages. I monitor these pages almost daily due to the fact that anything can happen, including someone hacking into your account.

Although these sites are a lot of fun and a great way to catch up with old friends, I want to encourage people to monitor these sites carefully and be aware that you cannot hide from anyone on the internet.