UMassHoops.com

EBox · Senior Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 869 Location: New Jersey

I think a few people out here follow some of the member of the hoops team on Twitter. I do as well. Twitter is a great outlet to exercise your freedom of speech rights to the virtual world, share opinions, pictures and general commentary about whatever you want.

However, Freddy Riley has made a number of tweets recently which I find a bit inappropriate:

"I hate umass, but ima miss it when I leave"
"I wanna buy the maill but ain't s*** in this small town"

There are other various tweets/retweets that have expletives as well as use of inappropriate words denoting race.

While I certainly think anyone is able to say what they want in social media - hey, it's their reputation - I think this creates a negative connotation for UMass and the basketball program. I think Derek Kellogg should really clamp down on this and let his players know that negative tweets about the school or behavior that doesn't represent the team or the University in the best light possible are unacceptable. I don't see many big time NCAA basketball programs having players tweeting at all, surely their coaches have put in a policy of some type.

What do people think?

Marty Peretz · Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:45 pm Post subject:

I think they should be able to say whatever the hell they want to and if we don't enjoy reading it, we an stop following them. If there are cultural differences that you don't understand, don't assume the worst so quickly. If there are stupid one-liners that are common to 19 year olds, realize that and scroll down. If they are bashing the fans (which they never are), write back: "shut up, asshole." Engage, ignore, tune-out, do whatever you wanna do, but stop making something out of nothing. If there is direct evidence that tweeting is affecting performance, come let me know. Until then, lets discuss worthier topics.
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MullinsManiac · Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:51 pm Post subject:

Freddie's made more than a few inappropriate tweets since he got here. You'd think somebody on DK's staff would remind him that a lot of people are reading them and forming their opinions of him (fairly or not) from his tweets.
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wmmmfan · Sophomore Joined: 20 Aug 2010 Posts: 214

Ebox

While I don't like to hear that a student is unhappy with his/her time spent at the U, it is their god given right to express it.

I'm sure DK has rules about tweeting, I would bet they only pertain to discussing specifics about the team. No coach should put restrictions other than those regarding discussing team business on one of their athletes freedom of speech.

We shouldn't concern ourselves with the writings of a young man who has a lot to learn about the world he lives in. We can only hope he leaves the U with the necessary skills to make sound decisions once his time is up in Amherst.

cox'n · Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:13 pm Post subject:

Here's a famous story about "expressing yourself" while playing college basketball:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OPu3fnbmvo

MikeUMA · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:24 am Post subject: Re: UMass Hoops Tweets?

xlgman · Hall of Fame Joined: 04 Feb 2004 Posts: 2760

Think about this. If Xavier had never gotten in a fight but Tu Holloway had instead made his gangster comments on a random tweet, would anyone have cared or taken note? Probably not. It's about the context of the comment and frankly, we rarely understand the context of the tweet or who it is really being directed at. Stop reading into things so much and let the kids express themselves.
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InnervisionsUMASS · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:49 am Post subject:

lane one · Junior Joined: 17 Aug 2003 Posts: 674

A year ago, I was pretty disheatened by some of Freddie's tweets and as a result, really wasn't sure whether he would be coming back at all for this season. Instead, it seems like he worked really hard at the weakest (and, last year, the most complained about) parts of his game over the summer. Strikes me as someone who has bought into the team. The point of tweets is to make your thoughts public, but different people treat it differently. Some people are purposefully manipulative with what they say, some people censor themselves to maintain a certain tone or message, and some people are very honest with what they are feeling right that minute - good or bad. Freddie seems to fall into the last category. Perhaps an athlete on scholarship should do a better job of censoring himself, but that ain't my call. All I can do is turn the volume down and not read too much into his tweets.

chdavis295 · Junior Joined: 16 Mar 2011 Posts: 545

If Freddie really despised this school we wouldn't still be here. I've put up facebook status' and tweet about how I hate certain parts/programs and such quite often. It could very well be he hates being one of probably only 30 kids on campus for nearly a month. Or he hates the umass weather every winter coming from florida.

I've made it clear before that everyone tweets and posts dumbstuff contantly, I dont know why its just Freddie that gets called out

Floyd · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:12 pm Post subject:

mlaconte459 · Senior Joined: 01 Oct 2009 Posts: 943

Do not judge a man by the quality of his Tweets... Judge a man but the quality of his shot selection

Rory · Junior Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 542 Location: Boston, MA

^^

Nothing short of hilarious.
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jj · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:55 pm Post subject:

Ebox, I hate the fact that you're taken the liberty to immortalize a couple of his tweets on this board.

People say a lot of things that anyone can take issue with at any given moment. College kids are still kids. Cut the guy some slack. He can't win- people are all over his shit if he's playing badly. And if he's playing well, people are still all over his shit.

OutlawPete · Senior Joined: 01 Oct 2009 Posts: 1436 Location: UMass

I agree with Mike that Freddie says things to get people on here riled up. That said, him saying he hates UMass doesn't mean he hates his team or coaches. He might love playing UMass Basketball but not like the campus or the weather or the way other students are. In some cases I can't blame him.
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