Tik Toks Take Over of the NFL
Why players using Tik Tok and other media, in-season could be affecting their performance.
The NFL is not the same as it used to be a decade ago and that is the same for social media. Apps like Tik Tok and Instagram have been used as a platform for millions of individuals world wide and even professional athletes use these networks but, is during their season and prior to games the appropriate time to use them?
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers Juju Smith-Schuster and Chase Claypool have been under heavy fire from many media outlets and many of the athlete’s followers on these platforms because, of their extensive use of Tik Tok during the season.
A week ago, Smith-Schuster performed a Tik Tok dance on the Buffalo Bills logo. Bills players saw that and in the words of Michael Jordan, “took that personal”. Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen said before the matchup “Let them do all the talking, all the fucking dancing, we fucking work.” Players have been taking notice.
Despite the 26-15 Buffalo win, Juju recorded 6 catches for 55 yards and 1 touchdown but, I don’t believe his full focus is in helping Pittsburgh win a Super Bowl.
Last night, Pittsburgh squared off with Cincinnati who held a 2-10-1 record heading into the contest and even had an unexperienced quarterback under center, Ryan Finley. That did not stop the Bengals from finding the motivation to gut out a win vs the Steelers.
Prior to the competition, Juju posted another Tik Tok dance with the text on the video reading “They told to stop dancing on the logo and not to be yourself so….😏🤣🤣”. This is an already bitter rivalry and Smith-Schuster threw gasoline on that fire.
Bengals safety, Vonn Bell, laid an absolutely massive hit on Juju, forcing a fumble and providing a ton of momentum to help push Cincinnati to a win. The social media world blew up with thousands of tweets, and one hilarious one coming from NFL Hall of Famer and analyst Shannon Sharpe, “Sent corvette, corvette to the body shop tonite. Don’t Tik Tok on the logo…”.
Other players have been under scrutiny for using media during the season like Tennessee Titans lineman, Taylor Lewan and Titans linebacker, Will Compton. These two teammates and friends started the podcast, Bussin’ With The Boys, which is filmed out of broken down bus. It was purchased by media powerhouse, Barstool Sports earlier this year.
What many people do not realize about Lewan and Compton is that they pre-tape interviews in the summer prior to camp so that their producers are able to upload episodes weekly to their RSS feed.
This season has been a little different for the two Titans. Compton taped an episode in between when he was released and resigned with the Titans and Lewan has been able to tape because, he suffered a season ending ACL injury towards the beginning of the season.
All in all, social media is a great tool that athletes use to try to appear more “down to Earth” but, as an athlete, you never dance on another teams logo and disrespect a team like that. Flat out disrespectful.