Twitter is clearly the voicebox of a new generation, even more for professional athletes who have grievances to air. Take Ndamukong Suh for instance. The devastating defensive tackle who plays for the Detroit Lions and possesses an incredibly awesome name nearly took the head off of Cincinnati Bengals rookie quarterback, Andy Dalton, and was punished for his efforts.
The hit in question:
For what was deemed as an excessive tackle on the opposing player, Suh was fined by his superiors–the NFL–for $20,000. The reason the fine was so severe, especially when you consider the fact it was during a preseason game, is because Suh has something of a history with quarterbacks during exhibition games.
Just ask Jake Delhomme.
For that hit, which took place last season, Suh was fined for $7500. The escalation of this year’s fine is directly related to last year’s. The Jay Cutler hit was probably considered as well, but that was just a bad call all the way around on the NFL’s part:
Not sure what Suh was supposed to do there, but for that tackle, he was again fined $15,000; and now, with the fallout from the Dalton hit has hit the wires, Suh is none-too-happy about the NFL’s decision. Naturally, Suh took his beef to the people of Twitter:
@ndamukong_suh
Ndamukong Suh$20,000REALLY???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#NFL #BIGFAIL
3 hours ago via Twitterrific · powered by @socialditto
The exclamation points are a nice touch.
Naturally, Suh post was retweeted over 100 times, and there’s little doubt many of those echoes from the computers of Detroit Lions fans.
However, because of Suh’s frustration, as witnessed by the #BIGFAIL hash tag, he’ll likely receive yet another fine from NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, someone who doesn’t take Twitter sass lightly. Of course, because of the NFL’s stringent Twitter rules, there isn’t much criticism from the players to begin with.
It will be interesting to see how Suh’s social media outburst will be treated by the NFL’s leaders.
Suh’s reaction is just one of the too-many-to-count examples of how professional athletes embrace the social media revolution. Whether or not Suh does get fined for his reaction, it’s very doubtful it will have any impact on how NFL players use services like Twitter and Facebook in the future.
Besides, Suh could always take the Kenny Britt route and claim his account was hacked, but, and this is just a guess based on what little I know of Suh’s character, he’ll likely stand behind his response to the “donation” he now has to deposit into the NFL’s rules violation account.
Just don’t be surprised if Suh’s defiance is responsible for an additional “donation.”