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UCF's O'Leary: NCAA boss should hold himself as accountable as head coaches

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend is an extreme example of why college football coaches are fearful and fidgety about their players being on social media, says FSU football coach Jimbo Fisher.

I can't say I disagree.

If Te'o is telling the truth and he was duped in a cruel Twitter hoax, who can blame college coaches for trying to protect their players from the whackos and weirdos who pursue them on social media?

"I don't know the situation with Manti and I'll reserve judgment until the end, but there are so many things about social media that are dangerous," Fisher said on our Open Mike radio show. "There are great things about social media, but there are also these kind of things.

"These guys are 18-22 years-old, they're in the limelight and they're stars per se. They become targets that can be blackmailed, and things can happen. They're not as street smart as a lot of folks think they are. We have to educate players on how things are done and what's done (on social media), but you can't. There are so many things that people do that you can't even cover. ... Social media is a very dangerous thing."

Fisher doesn't allow his players on Twitter during the season, mainly because of the negativity from the team's fans themselves.

"If you have a bad game or a bad day, players don't need to hear all that stuff (on Twitter)," Fisher said. "They hear enough of it from the writers and everybody else. At least when a reporter asks you a question, there's a face to it. On Twitter, anybody can do anything to you."

Manti Te'o can certainly vouch for that.



On Dwight Howard's new team: "LOL (Lakers Officially Lame)."

On what you would do if you found out if your fake girlfriend was actually a man: "Are there monasteries in the Andes?"

On attendance at NFL games: "Guess which Florida NFL team had the highest home attendance in 2012? Surprisingly, it was the Jacksonville Tarps (64,984).


Three of my favorite quotes from this week's late-night talk shows:

Conan O'Brien: "Video game-maker Atari has filed for bankruptcy. Atari fans are so upset they're organizing a massive letter-writing campaign to President Reagan."

Jay Leno: "There's been a lot of criticism of the NFL for not hiring enough minority coaches. And, of course, the NFL is trying to spin it. They said, 'What are you talking about? We got two brothers coaching the Super Bowl.' "

Jimmy Fallon: "Manti Te'o's online girlfriend was a complete fabrication. When they heard that, nerds were like, "Man, even IMAGINARY girls only like jocks."



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