Twitter is not for everyone. Just ask Troy Smith.
The Ravens quarterback said he does not "tweet." More pointedly, Smith said he is not the author behind "TroySmith10," an account that used questionable language and disparaged Baltimore.
"That was kind of a little thing where somebody else had obviously put my name on there," Smith said after a recent training camp practice at McDaniel College in Westminster. "When we got to camp, the coaching staff said something to me about it, and I had my people look into it, and ever since that, I've let my people do what they're supposed to do, and it hasn't been used since we got here."
The NFL and its teams are concerned about players having Twitter accounts created without their knowledge. They worry about players using Twitter during games and others popping off about the league and teams. Some teams are bothered by media members tweeting from practices. And NFL coaches and team officials are always afraid of information being leaked and having game plans fall into enemy hands.
The Ravens don't plan to block their players from using Twitter. The NFL says it supports the 300 or so players who tweet and the league has 807,473 followers on its Twitter site, but it has banned in-game tweets. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (nflcommish) tweets on occasion.
Other Ravens have seen accounts created without their consent. Quarterback Joe Flacco (Jflacc), tight end Todd Heap (toddheap), offensive coordinator Cam Cameron (camcameron) are supposedly on Twitter, and there are two accounts in linebacker Ray Lewis' name (RayALewis52 and lewisray52).
"We kind of reserve the right to figure this whole thing out, but our mind-set is not to ban Twitter," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "It's not to ban any medium."
Several teams - most notably the Miami Dolphins - have told their players to refrain from tweeting. In addition, the Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints have banned media reporting from the practice field via Twitter.
The San Diego Chargers fined cornerback Antonio Cromartie $2,500 for linking the club's "nasty food" to its 14-year absence from the Super Bowl and have banned tweeting from within the team's facility.
Twitter, billed as a real-time communications avenue and a social platform, limits its messages to 140 characters. It does have its supporters. The network figured predominantly during Iran's elections, and news of pop singer Michael Jackson's death gathered steam courtesy of Twitter. Even President Barack Obama tweets.
