Is Social Media Toxic?

Rick Pitino, the successful and well-known Louisville basketball coach, claimed this past Wednesday on ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike show that he believes social media "poisons the minds" of athletes. He goes as far as not allowing his team to tweet, to protect their minds of course. He wants his players to read more, and learn how to communicate face to face. 

Pitino stated that his team uses about 4 hours a day on social media. As an athlete follower on Twitter, I'd say he's probably about right. And when you have another job to be doing, it can be important to stay focused. So I can see where he's coming from.

John Calipari, Kentucky basketball coach, on the other hand allows his players to tweet, and has said (with no disrespect) that he believes Pitino and Izzo don't like social media because they don't understand it and personally use it. Calipari says that the most important thing is just to turn their usage into a positive experience. As long as they behave properly, there should be no issues; and that's why he brings in professionals to teach them the do's and don'ts. 

My favorite line from John: "What we are trying to tell those kids [is], Hey, you build your brand or you break your brand down. For anyone to say [about social media], 'Don't do it ... it's crazy.' I don't know what you're talking about."

I'm gonna say I side with John in this debate. What do you think?

All Things Sochi

Found another great article about the Sochi Olympics to share today. Everyone's gotta be all informed and ready for tonight's opening ceremonies!!!

I'll keep this brief... Feel free to check out the linked article above for more information.

Sochi (pronounced So-chee) is located on the Black Sea. It has a population of around 400,000 and stretches 90 miles along the Black Sea, making it the second longest city in the world behind only Mexico City.

The mountains you see in the picture above are the beautiful Caucasus Mountains. Sochi also hosts pebble and sand beaches, along with Stalinist architecture. Its been said that Sochi was Joseph Stalin's favorite "Dacha", or seasonal/summer home area. In fact, Sochi is known as the Russian Riviera.

Sochi is a resort town with subtropical temperatures, making it the warmest city to host an Olympic Winter Games (average temperatures around 53 Farenheit).

Sochi is a predominantly Christian city, though approximately 5% of its inhabitants are Muslim.

In terms of Olympic preparation, Sochi was chosen to host this years games back in 2007. More than 200 miles of roads and bridges were built along with over 125 miles of railroads. 690,000 people were at work to make this happen.

Sochi is 9 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

The conversation rate for currency: $1USD = about 35 Russian rubles.

Final fun fact - the Sochi mayor has claimed that there are no gays whatsoever in Sochi. "They are not accepted."

Last but not least, GO TEAM USA!

Sochi Olympics -- Meet Team USA!

Found this awesome site this morning and thought I should share with y'all. The Boston Globe created an article profiling all 230 American athletes participating in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Hopefully this year we can improve on our 2010 record setting performance that included 37 total medals (9 gold). Anyways, check out the site where you can filter athletes by sport, home state, medals won, and gender!