A wacked and loony week for social media

Sometimes it is best to not check out those lines

The Blades are doing their part to make Saskatoon a better place.

Social media never seems to disappoint with how crazy it can be in the worst way.

Just when you think social media can be cool, all of a sudden it hits the sewer worse than you ever remember happening before. Out of all the social media lines, it feels like Twitter hits the sewer the fastest and hardest.

For me, the high note of the week on social media came in the early morning hours last Sunday. I got home after covering a WHL regular season game in Prince Albert on Saturday, January 22, where the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers downed the host Raiders 6-4.

Before I went to bed, I decided to check my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Both lines were filled with posts of people saying they were happy to be at the Saskatoon Blades WHL regular season home game on January 22, when they dumped the Winnipeg Ice 7-2.

The majority of the comments focused on the great job the Blades did with their Pride Night theme. The Blades rocked pretty sweet special jerseys for that contest to honour the LGBTQ+ community.

The Blades drew 3,585 spectators to the SaskTel Centre that night, which was their largest crowd since returning from their WHL Christmas break.

I went to bed feeling upbeat about the Blades having done something really positive for inclusion.

Even though I didn’t make that Blades game, it felt like they were able to show that a sports team can truly bring all parts of a community together.

Those feelings were genuine too, because Blades general manager Colin Priestner and his wife, Alanna, live and breathe those values.

Unfortunately, social media started to go south one day later this past Monday.

That was the day the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks announced Emilie Castonguay would be the team’s new assistant general manager. She would become the first female to hold that job title in the history of the Canucks and only the second female ever in the history of the NHL to be named an assistant general manager.

There was a lot of praise that came with that move.

Unfortunately, I came across cringe worthy comments too.

I came across a Twitter account that had just over 100 followers and stated the account holder was based in Alberta.

That account hold wrote a post responding to this announcement that women and gays have no place in hockey.

I was freaked out and felt sad and upset someone would say that so boldly on a public line.

I found a Twitter troll that said women don’t belong in hockey.

That same account said something that was unflattering to a Saskatoon Blades team post about the team’s Pride Game night.

That offending account got pushback from others, with some noting the offending account reinforced negative stereotypes for people from Alberta.

While that offending account that was saying those crazy things wasn’t interacting with my account, I decided to block it just because that offending account was that stupid.

I proceeded to take a look at the accounts the Blades have on various social media lines to check out their Pride Night posts. I found a handful of awful responses in the comments sections of those posts.

On Tuesday, the Blades proceeded to put a story on their website titled, “Saskatoon Blades score one for Pride.”

It was a beautifully crafted post about how great the team’s Pride Night was. If you are curious, that post can be found by clicking right here.

The Blades organization’s reaction to the negative comments was an outstanding one.

Unfortunately, I would continue to encounter rough social media waters in different areas.

Wednesday was Bell Let’s Talk day, which is Bell Canada’s annual mental health awareness and fundraising day.

It felt like the regular fundraising initiatives held over social media lines didn’t get the traction like past years. I traditionally write a post on Bell Let’s Talk day discussing my own mental healthy journey, and my post this year got by far the fewest views in comparison to my Bell Let’s Talk day posts of past years.

I figured that might happen, because I expected there to be a push back against Bell Canada after making huge jobs cuts in less than a week after last year’s Bell Let’s Talk day.

Bell Canada has become a company that talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk when it comes to mental health. However, any negativity towards Bell Let’s Talk day would not be the craziest thing that would be seen this week over social media.

Wednesday was the first day I started to notice posts from the truckers’ convoy that was heading to Ottawa, Ont., to converge on Parliament Hill to call an end for coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine mandates and other public health restrictions.

Truckers and other protestors made it to Ottawa on Saturday for their protest.

Starting on Wednesday, I saw way too many posts from the radicals in this group on the far right that made me cringe. Even posts that weren’t cringe worthy made me shake my head.

One shake my head post came from the “Truckers Freedom Convoy 2022” Instagram account on Saturday. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe put out a letter on his social media accounts thanking truckers, and it called for an end to the cross-border ban on unvaccinated truckers that travel between Canada and the United States.

Twitter is likely the most loony social media line.

Moe’s letter also stated in the not too distant future the Government of Saskatchewan would end its proof of vaccination or negative test requirement policy.

The “Truckers Freedom Convoy 2022” account said Moe’s letter was a step in the right direction, but immediate action was wanted right now. The post also used the hashtag #WeTheFringe.

Of course, you could find numerous posts including cringe worthy ones from the far left condemning those associated with the convoy.

To me, all of this devolved into absolutism that has been present since the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world in March of 2020.

There was lots of my way or the highway rhetoric.

So far during the COVID-19 pandemic, differing views regarding it have been the deal breaker on many friendships and associations and often it has been the only deal breaker.

Ultimately, I don’t think this convoy is going to accomplish much except drown out the voices of people who are reasonable and still have common sense. Any ill feelings will only be intensified.

While the truckers’ convoy dominated the news cycle in Canada, the news cycle in the United States was dominated by escalating tensions between that country and Russia over Russian massing near 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine. Anything related to the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t seem to be top of mind.

Finally on Saturday, social media jumped in a tizzy over a subject that was less serious in nature. Early in the afternoon, news broke that Tom Brady, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and arguably the NFL’s greatest ever player, was retiring only for that story to be shot down seemingly about an hour later.

Brady’s company TB12sports put out a tweet that indicated Brady was retiring, but that was later deleted.

The NFL put a story on its website that Brady was retiring and put out an announcement on Twitter saying the retirement was happening.

Reactions poured in from around the world congratulating Brady on his career.

Later Saturday afternoon, news came out Brady called Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht to say he had not made a decision yet on his football playing future. Brady, who is 44-years-old, is under contract to play for the Buccaneers in 2022.

With all that has gone on this week, the mix up regarding the story if Brady had made up his mind about retiring from his playing career ended up being a humourous one.

A Saturday afternoon screenshot of NFL.com of a story in error.

In the end, all one can do with these crazy social media waves is roll with the punches as best you can. If you can try to pause, take a deep breath and think critically without emotion about what you are seeing, it could potentially help you navigate those seas.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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