As a die-hard Minnesota Vikings fan myself, I think it's great that fans can get that more casual and personal perspective on their favorite athletes through social networks like Twitter, but the unregulated nature of these networks has raised some issues.
In response, the NFL has passed regulations on many of these issues, from how soon players can tweet before or after a game to leaking inside information about their organizations.
But despite those regulations, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes has still been in hot water over his recent Twitter activity.
But to his credit, he isn't guilty of violating the league's policy on leaking info or pre-game tweeting...instead, he told a fan to commit suicide.
Specifically, he said the fan "shud try finding the worst thing that you could drink n kill urself."
Now I'm no expert on the legal gray areas that exist between social media use and sports, but I'm fairly certain that a professional athlete (with nearly 11,000 followers) should not be telling people to go kill themselves.
Holmes took it a step further a couple days later, when he tweeted Wednesday morning that it was "time to wake n bake," which is a common pot reference.
Let me be clear, this isn't a debate about the legality of marijuana or the liability of suicide incitement. But as bad as those issues are, what I'm dumbfounded by is that he said these things when thousands of people were watching and could hold him accountable.
Regardless, this should serve as a wake-up call to all of these Twitter athletes is that just because social networks exist outside of the league doesn't mean they are above scrutiny from both the leagues and the public at large.