Ever since the development of Twitter and the tendency of athletes and other sports figures to use it, there have been several controversial incidents involving both.

When Elon University senior running back Jamal Shuman posted profane statements on his Twitter page following the Phoenix’s 48-28 loss to Wofford College Oct. 29 of last season, the team’s third defeat in a row and fourth in five games, a continuing trend in that ever-growing relationship between athletes and social media outlets was brought to Elon’s campus.

“The biggest mistake of my life”

Shuman was Elon’s third-string running back in 2011. He had played just three games in 2010 before getting injured.

Shuman recorded just 22 rushes for 81 yards on the season up to the Wofford game, sitting behind fellow senior running backs A.J. Harris and Dontay Taylor. He took to Twitter to vent his frustrations (Warning: Tweets contain profane language.), tweeting, “There goes another game of my f—– senior year nd I don’t touch the f—– field lik I ain’t one of the best athletes on dis d— squad.”

“Me not playing, I kind of reached a boiling point, and I let it out on Twitter,” he said. “It was the biggest mistake of my life. I didn’t realize the type of things I was tweeting were such offensive things. I thought I was just letting my frustrations out.”

Two days later, Shuman was suspended indefinitely, which meant he did not play the last two games of Elon’s season. When asked now if he thought it was too much, he shook his head and said he “got off.” In each player’s scholarship, according to Shuman, there is a clause about social media and how the players represent themselves. Head coach Jason Swepson reinstated him for Senior Day activities, but did not let him suit up for the game.

“I think it was right,” he said. “I applaud Coach for letting me back on the team.”

Swepson was unavailable for comment for this story.

Dave Blank, Elon’s athletic director, said athletic department policies on social media were followed when Shuman’s tweets went online.

[quote]Basically, don't tweet anything you wouldn't tell your grandma, which I think is wise. - Niko Fraser, Elon junior outfielder[/quote]

“When you run into something like that, that you utilize a policy of that kind or a practice of any kind, it makes you look it up and see, ‘Okay, how does this apply?,’” Blank says. “We’re not in the practice of trying to prevent our students or student-athletes from freedom of speech or however they want to practice that. We just want to be in the practice of educating them and saying, ‘If you do these things, you have to be careful how you represent yourself.’”

Interestingly, Shuman’s debacle was not the only one found in the Southern Conference this year. In November, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior forward Chris Early tweeted some not-so-nice things about his coach, including, “I hate this man with a passion, each and every day I have to see him I become more and more miserable.” Early was suspended for the rest of the season, also his final year in uniform.

Shuman said he wishes he had been able to speak to Early before he made those comments and thinks he could have prevented him from doing it.

It’s company policy

Erica Roberson, the director of media relations in Elon’s athletics department, said the school’s social media policy was not changed after the Shuman incident. She says it was “appropriately handled at that time.”

“We have always had a student-athlete handbook and in it there is a section that explains various expectations of a student-athlete,” Roberson said in an e-mail. “One of the points among those expectations is that students should refrain from the use of various social media sites that may cast a negative image on themselves, the team or the school. We do not restrict the use of social media, but it is not to be used in a manner that would offer a potentially negative view.”

Junior Niko Fraser, an outfielder on Elon’s baseball team, said players’ accounts must be private and they must watch what they post. He also said the athletic department reiterated the policy after the Shuman incident.

“(Assistant Director of Media Relations) Chris Rash took us aside with Erica Roberson in the fall after the whole football incident and talked to us a lot about what we wouldn’t tweet — don’t do anything emotional and don’t do anything rash,” he said. “Basically, don’t tweet anything you wouldn’t tell your grandma, which I think is wise.”

Fraser has his own Twitter account, something he said the media relations people encourage.

“They want the community to know us beyond the uniform and more as people, but upright people,” he said. “We can’t be going around and doing things. Not that we should ever be doing that, but we need to recognize the fact that you have an audience, whether you know it or not.”

Roberson said she thinks it is important for players to consider everything they say, though.

“We want Elon University students to go out into the world as best prepared as possible, so we feel we have a responsibility to explain both the benefits of creating a social media persona and also the ways it can potentially cast a person in a negative light if used improperly," she said.

Beyond the uniform

Fraser has taken the opportunity to be on social media one step forward. This season, he created a blog (elonbaseball.wordpress.com) called “Beyond the Uniform” that follows the baseball team throughout the year.

A journalism major, Fraser said his future is one of the main reasons he’s doing it. He plans on sending the blog to future employers and including it as part of his resume.

“It’s really good to keep on writing throughout the season,” he said. “I thought about doing it last season, but I didn’t have as much skill. Then I took a class this fall, and I felt really prepared to do it. I knew that it was going to be very, very time-consuming. But I think it’s very good for team camaraderie.”

According to Fraser, “put that on your blog” has become a common phrase on the baseball team, as players will point out instances that should be blogged about.

“The team absolutely loves it,” he said. “Every single time I put a post up, they come up and give their critique, highly, highly in favor of it. They give me new opinions on things to write about. I have them sending me pictures and videos now, saying, ‘Put this on the blog’ or ‘Write about this on the blog.’”

[quote]Each tweet is like a mini-interview. You shouldn't go on Twitter to let out your frustrations. Don't put it on the Internet. - Jamal Shuman, Elon senior running back[/quote]

Post topics range from off days to walk-up songs, “SuperFan” Steve Roth and fun times at Skid’s, a restaurant just off Elon’s campus. The blog provides insight into what college baseball players have to deal with during the season.

For instance, Fraser described the scene in the outfield during a practice before a game against College of Charleston: "While we were practicing tonight at Patriot’s Point, their field, I ran out to centerfield to find our newly acquainted Spencer talking with Nate. Little did I know that I was walking into what might as well have been called ‘Bachelor: Elon Baseball Edition.’ Details closed to the general public, if you are a single Christian girl, it would behoove you to come support the Elon Phoenix baseball team."

Fraser said he has gotten a great reaction to the blog.

“People love reading about themselves, and it’s just another opportunity to mesh all the different personalities and styles of everyone, one conglomeration, hopefully, for the same goal of winning the championship,” he said. “The parents and the family, they enjoy it. And then whenever I give shoutouts of other college baseball players, it’s a small community in college baseball. Everybody loves reading about themselves. We’re not professionals, so when we see our names in bold print, it’s pretty exciting.”

Positives and negatives, as with anything

This seemingly out of nowhere mashup of athletics and social media, a previously untested avenue of communication by personalities to fans and reporters, took the sports world, especially sports media, by storm, and led to several new opportunities to criticize and debate.

“Each tweet is like a mini-interview,” Shuman said. “You shouldn’t go on Twitter to let out your frustrations. Don’t put it on the Internet.”

While the athletics department is hesitant to restrain what Blank called a “First Amendment” right, they are still concerned with what people say, implying there could be consequences.

“We educate our kids and we educate our coaches on the proper use of how we do things with social media,” Blank said. “Ultimately, it’s your choice. If you make choices to represent the athletic department or the university in a way that is not acceptable, that’s another discussion.”

Roberson emphasized the future as something players must consider when tweeting or posting on social media.

“As an employee of an organization, I practice these same expecations or standards and we hope that is the viewpoint that students will carry with them in the future," she said. “Inappropriate use of social media is not good in the the higher education world, the corporate world, the political world or the athletics world — just to name a few.”

Something Jamal Shuman, Chris Early and others have learned the hard way.