While many die-hard sports fans make sure they get to tune into all the games they are interested in, keeping up with all the games that are being played simultaneously can be very problematic. Most sports fans aren’t capable of sitting back on the couch and watching all the games they are curious about.
For example, professional and college football can be seen on TV all day Saturday and Sunday, and fans just can’t give up that much time to watch all the games and even single games in their entirety.
In this day and age of social media, things have changed that allow fans to always stay updated with current sports. Following accounts on Instagram like BleacherReport, HouseofHighlights, ESPN and Sportscenter, every time followers open the app during sporting events, footage of plays, updates of scores, player highlights and the biggest moments of the game will all be posted within minutes of their occurrence. Through these social media accounts, fans can also get alerts when a post is uploaded, and this makes it even easier to stay updated and aware of the sports world.
“I think that social media has completely altered the way we view sporting events today,” WAHS Sports broadcaster senior Ethan Masel said. “I know for me, I have not watched a full basketball game in weeks, but I catch highlights pretty much every night.”
Another reason social media has made it unnecessary for sports fans to watch the game is by targeting big players. Fans who aren’t so passionate but enjoy watching NBA stars like Lamelo Ball or Lebron James, have no reason to watch the games anymore to see their performance, as during and minutes after the game, highlight tapes with their best plays and any big moments they caused in the game will be uploaded to these type of fans’ feed. These sports accounts know which players have hype around their name and post all of their content to satisfy thousands of peoples’ desires and, thus, make it unnecessary for many fans to have to watch the games live.
“Combined with fantasy sports, highlight social media accounts have focused the attention onto the players instead of their teams. I believe that this trend will continue into the future and keep making sports a major part of our lives even without watching full games,” Masel said.
Sophomore Braden Spear agrees, “I am a fan of sports like the NBA and NFL, but I rarely tune in for games. I stay updated solely through social media, and I see big plays being made every night on my instagram feed,” Spear said.
Without a doubt, the sports world has been transformed through social media, as fans no longer can only be informed by watching sports on their local channels or listening through radio stations, as the most entertaining or interesting clips of professional athletes will be posted on social media.
