On Thursday, April 28, during the first round of the 2016 NFL draft in the Auditorium Theater in Chicago, Illinois, athlete Laremy Tunsil became known for much more than just his prowess on the football field. The six foot five 315 pound offensive tackle out of University of Mississippi was projected to go third in the first round of the draft, but after a video showing Tunsil smoking marijuana out of a gas mask bong surfaced on his Twitter feed, Tunsil dropped from the number three pick to thirteen. Estimates suggest that Tunsil’s draft day folly may have cost him over $10 million in guaranteed signing bonuses, but beyond the money, the leaked “tweet” serves as a reminder of something else at stake: the privacy of the professional athlete.

In the modern era of sports, it is not enough to be able to throw a 100 mph fastball, or to tackle harder than anyone in the Western Hemisphere. Professional athletes have to make sure that their private moments remain private. Though it is easy to understand how many young athletes have difficulty coping with their sudden fame, those who maintain public personas are automatically held to a higher standard. Young fans and aspiring athletes look up to their sports heroes, and the effects of irresponsible public actions are scarring.
Tunsil’s behavior may have been extreme and inappropriate, but he is not the first professional athlete to fall prey to the dangers of a world obsessed with social media. What Tunsil didn’t realize is that there is no such thing as a private moment anymore, especially in the life of a sought-after football draftee. Many athletes take to Twitter and other forms of social media on a constant basis to stay in touch with fans and to flaunt their fame. However, the by product of becoming a public persona is that every move is being observed and analyzed.
Sometimes, the effects of balancing an online profile with an athletic career are felt long after the two personas are correlated in public. Larry Nance Jr., a power forward selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the 2015 NBA draft, faced an awkward situation after an old tweet attacking Laker’s captain Kobe Bryant resurfaced. The tweet, which he posted three years prior to the draft as a 19 year-old freshman at University of Wyoming, read, “Gee I sure hope Kobe can keep his hands to himself in Denver this time. #rapist.” Bryant eventually accepted Nance’s apology, but the tweet remains embedded in cyberspace forever.
J.J. Watt, a star NFL defensive end, openly warns young athletes of the pitfalls of maintaining an active social media presence.
“Read each tweet about 95 times before sending it,” Watt said in an interview with MaxPreps.com. “Look at every Instagram post about 95 times before you send it. A reputation takes years and years and years to build, and it takes one press of a button to ruin. So don’t let that happen to you. Just be very smart about it.”