Sports Figures Acting Like Your Parents on Social Media

When it comes to social media, Bill Belichick is such a dad.

But it's not just him. Plenty of sports figures have been hesitant to jump on the social media bandwagon—or if they have, they haven't quite done it correctly.

The following people and their actions on or opinions about social media have been downright parental. What exactly does that mean? It means these folks are old school. They don't use social media at all, they use it incorrectly or they simply take action likely to embarrass any teenage offspring in the vicinity.

Who is the biggest offender, the most parental of sports figures today? Hint: It's actually not Bill Belichick.

Urban Meyer

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer is actually pretty adept at social media use, but he's also a chronic photobomber. 

He will photobomb your Twitter selfies, your Halloween party, even your wedding photos.

Maybe the coach doesn't post these images himself, but he creates a lot of embarrassing dad-like material that generally finds its way onto a social media platform or two.

Brandon Jennings

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

You know how some parents send texts like they are emails? And you just think, hey, if you want to send me a novel, put it in an email, please.

Anyway, sports figures have a habit of doing this, but in the form of Twitter rants. Tweets are meant to be 140-character snippets, not extended pieces of prose.

Along those lines, Detroit Pistons guard Brandon Jennings once took to Twitter to explain why Kobe Bryant, not Michael Jordan, is the GOAT. He used over a half dozen tweets and way more than 140 characters to make his point.

Marcin Gortat

"Why aren't more people liking my Facebook post?"

This is a thing parents say—at least some. Trust.

Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat had a similar experience with Twitter in November. In this video for SB Nation NBA, Gortat expressed frustration about photos of "little dogs and cats" getting significantly more likes than his own social media posts.  

Tom Brady

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

You know how some parents obsessively like everything on Facebook? They're very into it because they were late to the social media game and still think FB is where it's at?

That's Tom Brady.

Bill Belichick

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is the new, more aggressive version of Vin Scully.

Like the legendary broadcaster, Belichick doesn't seem to understand social media. And in fact, he simply wants nothing to do with it.

Back in May 2014, a Patriots scouting report for Heisman winner Johnny Manziel surfaced online. When asked about the leaked report at a presser, Belichick said, "What's online, you should go talk to the geniuses that are online. I don't know. MyFace, YourFace, InstantFace. Go talk to whoever you want that does that stuff," according to Patriots.com.

MyFace, YourFace. Classic.

Still Bill Belichick

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

A year later, Bill Belichick still hasn't come around to social media. 

To be fair, the coach was busy dealing with a bit of turmoil this summer. At one point, WEEI in Boston asked how Belichick kept up-to-date on all things Deflategate.

To this, he replied, "Twitter account, InstantFace, I don't have any of that," according to Andrew Jones of SB Nation.

Jim Tomsula

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Perhaps one reason coaches don't like social media is because it can get their players in trouble (or rather, their players can use it to get themselves in trouble).

Such was the case for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who posted an insensitive Instagram post in May related to serious storms in Houston.

In response, his coach, Jim Tomsula, told Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee he doesn't use social media at all. He said, "I don't get it, personally. Talking purely personal here, OK? It just so happens every time I hear about it, it's not in a good way."

Remember when Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino told ESPN's Mike and Mike social media was like poison? It's like that. 

Television will rot your brains, kids! Social media is like poison! 

Dabo Swinney

Tyler Smith/Getty Images

Some coaches dislike social media so much they prohibit players from using it.

In January, Minnesota head basketball coach Richard Pitino banned his players from tweeting (like father, like son).

In August, Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney helped institute what has become an annual ban on social media for the season. Tigers offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain told Scott Keepfer of USA Today, "A big piece of my life has been removed."

But Dad, you're, like, ruining my life.

Kevin Sumlin

George Bridges/Associated Press

In 2013, Troy Aikman attempted to hit on a woman using a direct Twitter message. The problem was, he didn't know how to DM (hence, why this little story is now public knowledge).

That was a simple case of not understanding how to use social media properly. And guess what? It's still an issue. 

In August, Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin tweeted a mean-spirited joke related to USC coach Steve Sarkisian. According to Sam Cooper of Yahoo Sports, it was "clearly meant to be a direct message." (It was.) 

Come on, people.

Paul Pierce

Rob Latour/Associated Press

Remember the whole DeAndre Jordan offseason emoji battle? A refresher: The free agent big man was in limbo between the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks. Both teams scrambled at the eleventh hour—the Clips to keep him and the Mavs to sign him away.

Chandler Parsons, Blake Griffin and some other NBAers had a little fun with the whole thing. They started posting transportation emojis on Twitter—planes, cars, helicopters—basically just to say, the race for Jordan is on.

It was kind of silly, but also kind of funny. It was especially funny when Paul Pierce got involved. The veteran, who had just signed with the Clippers, posted what can only be described as clip art in the form of a rocket ship.

Cue the "old man doesn't know how to use emojis" jokes.

Doc Rivers

Darren Abate/Associated Press

Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers doesn't quite understand emojis either.

According to Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com, here's what he had to say about the DeAndre Jordan emoji saga of 2015: "We're sitting there laughing because we're all over his house watching TV. And every time one of those stupid little memes, whatever they call them — yeah, emojis. I felt like Paul [Pierce], with the rocketship, I didn't even get that. Like, why was that so funny?"

So something a dad would say.

Jay Cutler

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

At the tender age of 32, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler is apparently the old fart on the team.

He told Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com about his younger teammates:

"

These kids with their phones. All the social media, everything they do. They were telling me that they play video games now and they have another screen where people watch them play video games. It's like, I don't understand that. They just watch you play the video game. They're like, 'Yeah, it's awesome.' I don't know anything about this.

"

Kids these days, amirite?

Coach K

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

Setting up a secret Twitter to keep a virtual eye on your kids? So parental.

Duke's Mike Krzyzewski told Dana O'Neil of ESPN.com in June he monitors his players' social media use through a secret Twitter account.

Spoiler: According to Nina Mandell of For The Win, his players say they know about it—just like all the teenagers of America probably know about their parents' "secret" accounts.