Twitter Is Now Banned Deep In The Heart of Texas Tech

Things aren't going so great in Red Raider land. 

No, it's not the fact that they are 2-2 and the chances of returning to last year's glory are not going to happen.

It's because some key Texas Tech players started to use Twitter to voice their frustration about both the coach and their play after last weekend's late loss to Houston.

In an Yahoo article posted Monday, key seniors including senior linebacker Marlon Williams tweeted their frustration publicly like this one:

"Wondering why I'm still in this meeting room when the head coach can't be on time for his own meeting."

Ouch.

Instead of rounding up the wagons and attempt to squash these frustrations, technologically adverse Coach Leach issued a team-wide Twitter ban for the rest of the season Monday afternoon.

Bless their hearts, I feel so sorry for them...and for Coach Leach too.

Athletes should realize that controversial tweets are almost equivalent to paparazzi pictures of celebrities doing stupid things.  All the media has to do is sit back and wait for the perfect piece without having to lift a finger.

Sometimes, it just comes in a form of 140 characters.

This is the dangerous side of how social media allows for self expression, but if you let your guard down, you won't be able to take it back.  No matter what they say on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media platform, it is considered "open" and free content, no matter how much privacy they set up.

Athletes, if Charlie Villaneuva, Chad OchoCinco, and Antonio Cromartie haven't shown you that you need to think before you tweet, then I'm not sure how much more we can help you.

On the flip side, while I understand coach Leach wanting to restrict his players from saying any "negative" things through Twitter, I hope he is going to take the time to address the deeper issue that is causing these outburst. 

Well...outside of the fact that the Red Raiders are not very good this season that is.

If he doesn't and the Red Raiders continue to follow their downward path, don't expect the media to let up on pursuing athlete's growing frustration of their season...or their coach.

Oh, and Coach Leach, there's not enough banning you can do to stop that problem.

---------------------------------------------

Steve Raquel is sports fan and an online social media expert who helps professional athletes, individuals and businesses navigate and succeed in leveraging social media as the president of Illinois Online Ventures.  Contact Steve directly at [e-mail] or follow him on twitter at @sraquel.