Groupies, Girlfriends, and Social Networking

  

Many of you may or may not know of the recent scandal involving a certain LSU football player and the backlash that followed his decision to very publicly acknowledge his long time girlfriend. In case you haven't, here is the run-down. Said very well-known football player after a major win took to Twitter to talk about how he couldn't wait to see his girlfriend after the game. Not only did he talk about her, but also mentioned her Twitter name. Various groupies and jump offs, angry at his public display of affection, then took to the internet to- how shall we say it? Put him on blast. Pictures of him and countless other females were then leaked and the rest is history.


In college, I dated a high profile athlete. There were always groupies lurking, but everyone knew that we were an item. It angered alot of females to say the least. I dealt with everything from evil stares to internet bashing. My senior year it took on a whole different level when a certain female tried to set me up and began spreading nasty rumors surrounding the situation. Fortunately, my relationship was rock solid. Although everyone and everything tried to tear us apart, we remained committed to each other. Every vile, nasty, and disheartening rumor was publicly disseminated about us both and it only got worse as his success rose.


The question it brought me to is why do we care? More importantly what does this mean for athletes or anyone dating a "high profile" individual? What are the implications of this incidence as it relates to social networking and relationships? Why is it so hard for successful atheltes (and other successful) men to maintain strong and very public relationships?


This situation is exactly why. I can't speak to the validity of the allegations against this gentleman; but what I do know is that this sends a loud and clear message to the rest of them. Keep your private life private. And for most this means keeping a monogomous relationship on the low.


But what does this mean for the girlfriends, wives, etc. of these athletes? Do they then have to take a quiet backseat to their man's world and give up the public love and affection that a normal relationship should/would have? Or do they face it and deal with the hell that will follow? In many ways its a lose-lose situation, but is it worth it?


My heart goes out to the girl put in this awful situation. But in some respects she was at least use to dealing with scandalous females. It requires someone with extremely tough skin to date a "star" athlete. My hat off to her. At the same time, had he not been galivanting with these foolish females, there would be nothing to expose right? Many of us sat back in wonderment and amazement at the dramatic expose' of Tiger Woods, his scheming ways, and bounty of females. It convinced us that men would become more "discreet" when it came to their side chicks. Steve McNair (RIP) for example, died at the hand of a schizophrenic side chick. When will men learn?


At the end of the day, not all athletes are bad news. There are some very faithful, loyal, and good hearted ones that get grouped in with the rest. But from my experience, I've realized that even the most innocent bystander can be a victim of internet lies. So what does it take to maintain a solid relationship under a public spotlight?