Should the NFL Go Tweetless?

Throwing you a bender because I just thought you should know...

Is anyone in the NFL offices really monitoring Twitter? Are all of these tweets and followers slipping under the radar of league honchos? Is this social media a very slippery slope that the NFL is heading precariously towards? Or am I the only one astonished at the frequency with which these players try to jeopardize their income, careers and livelihood?

During the recent bounty situation with the Saints, normally classy Drew Brees stands up for his coach, Sean Payton. No problem there but, ooops, Brees finishes his tweet with "I need to hear an explanation for this punishment." Did he miss Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner, clearly stating it about 500 times on ESPN last week? Did he miss the part where Goodell explained how the NFL was even lied to about the bounties once they had discovered them? I applaud the loyalty but someone of Brees' stature and position might be able to find a better way to express it.

But Twitter takes us even further into the depths of the NFL. "QBKilla,"  who is also known as Warren Sapp of the NFL Network, tweets that Jeremy Shockey of the Saints is the "snitch" in the bounty situation. Shockey denies the claim via Twitter then goes on Yahoo Sports and says he would never do that "to Payton and the Saints."

If I am reading this correctly, Sapp is starting this contest of idiocy by basically declaring that anyone (in this case, Shockey) who would make the league aware that potential career ending bounties are being put on players by a team is wrong to do so. He is even doing this on the NFL's own network!

Shockey, an offensive player, replies by saying he would never expose them. Shouldn't we expect him to be saying that he knew nothing about it? Is he really saying that he and maybe other members of the offense knew about the fund and payments and just said nothing at all? Could this include Brees?

Goodell dropped the hammer on Payton, defensive coach Gregg Williams and the Saints but, in comparison, it was a light hammer. Mickey Loomis, the general manager, only received an eight game suspension while Payton only received one year. These people and the Saints are lucky that Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was not in charge!

Now it has been a few weeks since Tim Tebow has been mentioned in every other story. So by putting him on the market, he was brought back into the daily news. Unfortunately, his trade to the Jets put Drew Stanton in the position of being demoted to third string QB and having access to Twitter. But he allowed his agent, Deryk Gilmore, to take up the tweeting for him and bash the Jets. Gilmore is slamming the Jets move via Twitter by saying Tebow is a "gimmick to sell tickets." Basically, Gilmore has now reduced the league by one team in regards to the chance any of his clients have of getting a big contract from New York.

Stanton and Gilmore follow that up by demanding a trade. Stanton is upset and frustrated about being demoted and not being 2nd string? His career stats for four seasons are 12 games, 5 TD passes, 9 interceptions, 4 fumbles and playing on a team that went 0-16 for a season. Shouldn't he be happy just to be a 5th string punter and not a fast food drive-thru attendant? We know Tebow is a work in progress but at least he won some games and a big playoff match up. What is Stanton really whining about?

But maybe where we really need Goodell to throw his weight around is in the Twitter arena. How about a three day waiting period and a committee review before players and agents are allowed to hit "send" on a tweet? While the NFLPA might vehemently argue, careful analysis might reveal this would be good for the union!

To me, all this NFL nonsense and Twitter ridiculousness can only mean one thing...that baseball and Opening Day cannot get here fast enough. Play ball!

All this because I know more about nothing...