San Francisco 49ers Herald The End Of Civilization As We Know It

As if the San Francisco 49ers‘ offseason hasn’t been rough enough on them with the massive turnover of the roster and a couple of unexpected retirements. But not only will the 49ers have to figure out how to replace the likes of Justin Smith, Patrick Willis, Chris Borland, and Anthony Davis, but the organization must also now learn to cope with the fact that they are helping usher in the end of civilization as we know it.

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At least, according to Rush Limbaugh.

It’s not often that politics and sports intersect, but since conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh was once a failed Monday Night Football analyst, he will sometimes feel compelled to delve into the world of professional sports to make a point.

On June 18, Limbaugh was going off on one of his trademark tirades about this and that, using a recent Gallup poll to show that the American people have lost faith in “everything.” It would have been all well and good and just another day in the sphere of political commentary/mudslinging, but then he used professional football – and the San Francisco 49ers specifically – to make his point.

Though, it can be argued that it is a really, really poor analogy to make said point.

"“The San Francisco 49ers… You might be saying, “What do the San Francisco 49ers have to do with anything?” Well, we’ve been talking a lot about the culture, and I’ve told you it’s one of the things that really fascinates me and interests me right now. The 49ers have decided they need to make massive changes in the way the team is run, day-to-day operations. Not in the front office, but in the locker room, on the field, during the practice week, because the players are Millennials, and Millennials are different.”"

It’s more than obvious that Limbaugh has a problem with Millenials, and blames them for much of what ails the country – listen to any of his programs and that message comes through loud and clear. But what sort of massive changes have the 49ers made to warrant his accusations that they are what’s wrong with the country and justify the level of anger and vitriol he was spewing their way?

"“So the 49ers… Just one thing they’re doing. The 49ers are shortening every meeting by 10 minutes. So if the offensive line has its meeting or the linebackers have their meeting, it’s a 30-minute meeting. It’s now a 20-minute meeting. And after the meeting, players are given 10 minutes to check their smartphones and their social media websites, to stay informed as they do. The 49ers have decided that players are gonna go nuts… Essentially they’re saying players are addicted to social media.”"

Well duh. Aside from the fact that there is research out there indicating that people stay more focused, engaged, and tend to retain more information in shorter bursts than long, drawn out, dry and boring meetings, of course the players are addicted to social media.

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In this day and age, and in this image conscious world we live in, pro athletes use social media to build and maintain their brand. They use it to connect with their fans and earn new ones. Though it obviously has its obvious pitfalls, social media gives an athlete an instant connection with their fans and can be a win-win for everybody.

And that everybody includes the organization since players Tweeting out from the practice field, from inside the weight room, or any other location at a team function benefits the organization since it amounts to free advertisement for the club.

iPads, iPhones, and a million other techy gadgets are here to stay. The coming years will only see more, not less of them. What the 49ers are doing by embracing it, is actually quite brilliant. They know that their players are socially conscious, image conscious, and are always looking to build their brand via social media. So rather than try to abolish it completely, they’re doing the smart thing by allowing it, but regulating it.

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It’s innovative and it’s fundamentally smart. Said 49ers HC Jim Tomsula in an interview with the Wall Street Jounal:

"“The (experts) are telling me about attention spans and optimal learning. I’m thinking, ‘My gosh, we sit in two-hour meetings. You are telling me after 27 minutes no one’s getting anything?’”"

In addition to the social media breaks between meetings, other ways Tomsula and the 49ers are attempting to connect with their younger players include:

"“The introduction of enhanced digital playbooks that help more visual learners by including video clips alongside drawn-up plays. Sending alerts to players’ calendars instead of distributing a printed schedule. We haven’t handed out a piece of paper to a player this year and they love it.”"

The times are changing, and so is the world we live in. Unless you’re an old, stubborn fossil like Limbaugh, in which case, you’re going to do everything in your power and control to never forget those “good ol’ days” and recreate them.

Limbaugh may not like that the 49ers are going about their business in a different way – by embracing technology and the social media-driven world we live in and making it part of the fabric of the organization rather than resisting it.

San Francisco’s new policies are intelligent and very socially aware of the culture we live in. The 49ers have stepped into the 21st century while dinosaurs like Limbaugh remain rooted in the past.
With screed like those, Limbaugh is simply making himself look like the old man standing in front of his house, hose in his hand, screaming “Get Off My Lawn!” at anybody unlucky enough to pass by.

The 49ers are charting a course that will lead the team into the modern era – and given that this is such a copycat league, we can expect to see more teams around the NFL embracing the 49ers’ policies. Limbaugh, on the other hand, seems determined to chart his course back into obscurity by rejecting the notion of the real world, rather than the fantasyland he seems to exist in.

Next: Kaepernick Bound For Big Apple?