Blanchette: It’s the season for tricks or tweets

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Coach Mike Leach has banned Washington State’s football players from Twitter. #ProblemsBabeHollingbery Didn’tHave

Generation Z @GenZCoug Who’s Babe Hollingbery?

Double Down @DoubleDownCoug

Does that change the point spread this weekend?

Cyber Stalker @CyberStalkingFan

My buds think the personal flotsam I find following players on Twitter means I hang with them. There goes my cachet. #40YearOldsWithNoLife

Cougar Crazy @CougarCrazy

Where will I go now to read crude, misogynistic hip-hop lyrics?

Section 23 Fan @Section23Fan

Surely the program has more pressing problems than a 20-year-old tweeting what he wants to eat for dinner. #What’sTheDeal?

John …

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Coach Mike Leach has banned Washington State’s football players from Twitter. #ProblemsBabeHollingbery Didn’tHave

Generation Z @GenZCoug Who’s Babe Hollingbery?

Double Down @DoubleDownCoug

Does that change the point spread this weekend?

Cyber Stalker @CyberStalkingFan

My buds think the personal flotsam I find following players on Twitter means I hang with them. There goes my cachet. #40YearOldsWithNoLife

Cougar Crazy @CougarCrazy

Where will I go now to read crude, misogynistic hip-hop lyrics?

Section 23 Fan @Section23Fan

Surely the program has more pressing problems than a 20-year-old tweeting what he wants to eat for dinner. #What’sTheDeal?

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Of course. But when you’re 2-5 heading for 2-10, you at least want people thinking you’re losing with choir boys.

Curious Coug @CuriousCoug

What made Leach decide to do this now? Did he just discover Twitter or something?

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

WSU journalism students had a story ready to pop about how the athletic dept. monitors Twitter, including some poor-taste player tweets. #Murrow’sKids

Truth Seeker @TruthSeekingCoug

Did he acknowledge that?

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Oh, no. Leach said he instituted the ban “because I decided to, that’s what prompted that.”

Truth Seeker @TruthSeekingCoug

Where have I heard that before?

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

When you were 5 years old and your mother said, “Because I’m the mommy, that’s why.”

Section 23 Fan @Section23Fan

Were the tweeters giving away game plans?

Skeptical @CougSkeptic

If our game plans can be revealed in 140 characters, we’re in more trouble than I thought.

Wulff Fan @BringBackWulff

What’s a game plan? LOL

Dirt Searcher @LookingForDirtCoug

I’ll bet some were bad-mouthing the staff or other players.

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Well, there have been zingers about players acting like empty corpses and looking like basset hounds, but I don’t think they came from teammates.

The Major @MajorBigGunJBone

I’m for it. It would make sense to clamp down on bashing teammates and uphold the program’s honor. #WaveTheFlag

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Yes, it would. But A.D. Bill Moos said that wasn’t the problem. He did say some tweets would “not be approved by the Parent Teacher Association.”

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Unlike the stuff the student section chants when a referee’s call goes against the Cougs. #GoodCleanFun

Wulff Fan @BringBackWulff

Looks to me like we’ve lost our innocence.

The Puritan @PuritanCoug

How bad were those comments Moos mentioned?

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Exactly as bad as what gets said in the locker room, the dorms, the frats and The Coug every day.

Worried @WorriedCoug

What happens if a player tweets that he’s excited that his folks are coming to see the next home game, or that he got an A on a test?

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Armageddon. “I don’t care if it says, ‘I love life,’ ” Leach said, “I would like to see it because I will suspend them.” #DoubleDogDare

Leach Lover @LeachLover

Good for Leach. Who needs this crap? It’s all just more noise anyway.

Even Keeled @EvenKeelCoug

And so you’re on Twitter because? #PotHoldingForYouOnLine2Kettle

Worried @WorriedCoug

Wow, that almost sounds like Leach is actively seeking a reason to suspend guys.

Ethical @EthicalCoug

Hey, Mike Leach has a Twitter account. I follow him. So do 39,000 others. Why isn’t he shutting his down? #DoubleStandard?

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Because he needs a place to say “Go Cougs” and to promote his next book signing.

Truth Seeker @TruthSeekingCoug

Also, he’s the mommy.

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Now you’re catching on.

Down with the Dub @CrushTheNCAA

So players don’t deserve a place promotethemselves and say “Go Cougs”?

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

I don’t think you understand how college athletics works.

Cougar Crazy @CougarCrazy

I’m psyched. Now the players can spend the time they used to be on Twitter studying more game video.

John Blanchette @JPBlanchette

Or updating their Facebook pages. Or noodling on Tumblr, Pintrest, Reddit. Or texting, emailing, instant messaging #PuttingTheToothpasteBackInTheTube

Generation Z @GenZCoug

Hey, I mean it: Who’s Babe Hollingbery?