Bama Football, Hoosier & Hoyas Hoops, and Social Media Accelerates the Downfall of Mankind

I think about the potentially positive and negative effects of social media and mobile device communication all the time, particularly how it might stunt the growth of interpersonal communication skills of a teen.

Humans have been around for thousands of years and developed successful communication skills without social media or mobile devices. You would have to think that with communication through key pads and screens exploding recently (let's say the last 10 years), we might have blasted forward into a realm so quickly that we are jumping past what the human mind is prepared to handle.

There are, of course, positives and negatives to our current modes of communication. In his article How Social Media is Effecting Social and Communication Skills Among Adolescents, Nicholas Dantuono says teens are missing out on the opportunity to learn about social cues and body language at a crucial time in their lives.  Conversely, he supposes the connections created through social media interaction can help form the strong relationships that will help them navigate the stress, learning, and confusion of adolescents.

But how is social media and mobile devices affecting us, AHOTP readers and sports fans? Before initiating this blog, I would send my thoughts out on random Facebook posts, Tweets, and numerous group text threads. Now with social media I can post a link to this blog on Facebook and Twitter and reach dozens more readers than I normally would.

Last Saturday, I ran my cell phone battery down texting furiously with some Army buddies during the first NFL playoff game Saturday. After plugging the phone in to charge, I didn't check on it until midway through the second game later on in the evening. By the time I finally unplugged it, I had 535 text messages waiting for me.

My phone during the second NFL game Saturday. That's a lot of damage. By the way, wallpaper is a photo from a Mariners game. 

I guess you can find positives and negatives in that vignette. More than 500 text messages between football-watching adults of a certain age on a Saturday afternoon is probably legitimately dysfunctional. I have been virtually (and occasionally in person) hanging out with these people for many years and known some of then since 1991. I will choose to revel in the dysfunction.

Alabama wins college football national championship

In an attempt to remain functional, I went to bed at halftime of the college football national championship game Monday night. That is the second year in a row I have turned in early during that game, and the second year in a row that I missed a thriller. Oh Georgia, what a heart-breaker.

Fletcher Page, the University of Kentucky beat reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal, is a long-time follower of the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team. He didn't necessarily get his heart broken by the game. He just wanted to call his dad afterward, but couldn't.

I know many of you don't click on the links I reference. Seriously, give this one a read. Then phone a friend.

Hoosiers and Hoyas victorious in tightly contested games

The Indiana University Hurryin' Hoosiers gained their second straight victory Tuesday in Assembly Hall with a 74-70 win over Penn State. The win edges Indiana's Big Ten record over 0.500 (3-2). According to Zach Osterman of the IndyStar, getting two successive quality wins is a new thing for Archie Miller's men.

Alex Bozich of InsidetheHall says improved defensive rebounding was key to the Hoosiers overcoming a poor shooting night. I am worried, however, about Indiana's shallow rotation with only six players clocking 20 or more minutes on the floor. The sketchy late-game performance of G Robert Johnson causes me concern, as well.

Quick-Hit Assessment: Nice win, but this team is not going far this year -- maybe NIT later rounds. Archie needs to get freshmen Aljami Durham and Justin Smith experience, or improvement next year will be limited.

The Georgetown Hoyas defeated St. John's Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden, 69-66. The Hoyas are now 2-3 in Big East conference play, but 12-4 overall, thanks to an incredibly easy early-season schedule. The Washington Post report on the game by Ava Wallace focused on the nostalgia of Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing returning to the Garden to face his former old-school Big East opponent, Red Storm coach Chris Mullin. No wonder she focused on nostalgia -- the game was and both teams are Hundescheisse, as your German friends might say.

The blog HoyaSaxa did not spare either team. They reported on the "ragged effort" in which "neither team could score" that was generally an "exercise of common futility." The CasualHoya blog admitted that nostalgia was the best thing about this game between "two programs slogging through yet another season near the bottom of the conference standings." [I think I like these blogs.]

Quick-Hit Assessment: You don't need my help here, do you? Reference that English-German dictionary again.

Here is where dysfunction comes back into play. I have never been able to get into Hoyas hoops like I am into the Hoosiers even though I did post-graduate studies at Georgetown. I took the family there a few weeks back, and kind of got hooked. I am going to at least one more game in Capital One Arena this year -- it's an easy metro ride, and the tickets are cheap. Getting in on the ground floor of the rebuild, baby! Hoya Saxa!

Looks like I will be spending more money and more time on spectator sports. We all have our dysfunctions, social media or otherwise. At least I am acutely aware of mine.

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