GOLF AUTHORITIES BAN TWEETS BY U.S. OPEN GOLF PLAYERS

Tennis’ twittering heavy hitters like Serena Williams and Andy Roddick better watch what they tweet. The 2009 US Open starts Monday and tennis authorities — ie. the Tennis Integrity Unit — are doing everything in their power to discourage athletes from turning to Twitter() to reveal inappropriate information.

News() is trickling out of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center that cautionary signs now litter locker rooms and players’ lounges, while emails to all players with similar strict messages have been sent out. On top of forbidding tweeting on the court during matches, players, coaches, agents, and family members are being instructed to keep their off-court Twittering to an absolute minimum.

The big concern is over tennis gambling and how tweets could potentially be construed as sharing insider information, which is strictly forbidden. The signs posted around the facility indicate that the Tennis Integrity Unity will be proactively monitoring tweets for “information about the likely participation or likely performance of a player in an event or concerning the weather, court conditions, status, outcome, or any other aspect of an event which is known by a covered person and is not information in the public domain.”

According to the Telegraph, Jeff Ress, formerly of Scotland Yard, also emailed players with a warning that had a headline of, “Important player notice – Twitter warning,” and “informed players that they should not be sending ‘tweets’ that include “sensitive information” which relates to their own matches, or to other players and their matches.”

Unlike the SEC ban of social media from college stadiums, which was later revised. Tthe US Open doesn’t seem to be taking a stance against fan involvement and content sharing via social media. In fact, the official website even includes a fan zone, and links to their official Twitter account and Facebook Page..

While we can appreciate the sensitivity around unsanctioned tweets, we’re still curious to see what our favorite tweeting tennis players manage to share during the course of this year’s US Open.

COMMENTARY;  I have never figured the why people like Golf so much.  It is expensive as hell, and and I get hay fever out on those greens.  I don't even consider it a real sport.  What's such a big thing about hitting a small ball several hundred yards and putting it into a small hole in the ground?  It's the same as playing outdoor pool. That's not a sport either. Also, I have written to ESPN about poker games. That's gambling, certainly not a sport. One of these days somebody is going to tweent another player's hand. Haven't heard of any ban yet, but I do hope it happens. Football, baseball, basketball, swimming. Those are sports.  I am glad that the U.S. golf authorities have slammed the golf pro's.  Other than Tiger, I have no idea who the other golfer's are.

Courtesy of an article dated August 28, 2009 appearing in Mashable     

Comments

[lochlomondo]

[this is good] I think this is a little harsh but you have to respect their decision. A grumpy one it maybe my friend :-)