Sports quotes are used in a variety of settings and for many different reasons.

Vince Lombardi’s “The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising after you fall” is likely used as much by corporate leaders as head coaches today.

However the one quote I find myself using, especially when speaking to young athletes comes from Herman Edwards, the former NFL player, coach and ESPN analyst who is now the head coach at Arizona State University.

It’s one that should resonate with the over 300 million people who use Twitter each month to share their views via social networking and here it is: “When you’re thinking about sending out that tweet, I only have one piece of advice.  Don’t press send.”

I can guarantee you that major league baseball stars Josh Hader (Brewers), Sean Newcomb (Braves) and Trea Turner (Nationals) all wish they did not press send.

In the last couple of weeks all have made the headlines for not what they have done on the field but rather because racist, sexist and homophobic tweets they sent as teenagers have surfaced.

In two of those instances it came in moments they should have been celebrating; Hader for making the All-Star team and Newcomb just last weekend after he came within one out of throwing a no-hitter.  However instead of post-game interviews focused on their on-field success they were having to answer questions about rather hateful messages they tweeted as teenagers.

Of course all have apologized and insisted that it was a case of being “young and dumb” and those views do not reflect how they feel now.  Whether that’s true or if they are just trying to save face and not hurt their careers is something only they know but either way they have learned a hard lesson that your words can and will follow you forever.

Colleges now screen potential student-athletes social media use and so do companies when it comes to hiring people so what you thought might have been a harmless tweet in the end might be quite harmful.

Best advice you might ever get comes from Coach Edwards,”don’t press send.”

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