Postgame Press: A cute new tradition and social media

With all of the serious topics I have written about in the past few weeks, I think it is finally time to write about one of the biggest, cutest, nicest smile-bringers in sports: waving to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.

Every game at the end of the first quarter, the University of Iowa fans turn around or continue facing forward, look up and wave at the beautiful building next to the stadium. That building is the newly erected University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. The so-called “Kinnick Wave,” named after the stadium in which the University of Iowa team plays, is a heartwarming event.

Many of the young patients at the hospital come to the windows and wave back, as they see a crowd of 70,000+ fans and players waving to them. Even opponents join in. Recently, the marching band formation was a hand that moved back and forth as they played, waving at the hospital. It is such an amazing event that ESPN is willing to push back its commercials so that everyone can see it.

Things like this are so important to see in sports. With controversy on suspensions, kneeling and more, it is a refreshing change of pace to see such a kind gesture.

While I don’t necessarily think that there needs to be a larger message to this story, I do have a column to fill and there is a message that can be discussed. This awesome new tradition was originally proposed by the Facebook page “Hawkeye Heaven,” an Iowa fan page. The word spread and the tradition was born. Similarly, during a night game, a fan sent the idea to wave with flashlightsto an Iowa columnist who tweeted it out. The word once again got out, and the waving tradition continued despite the darkness.

Social media has created a big change to the sports atmosphere. The athletes, commissioners and even leagues themselves interact more and more with fans. Any player can reply to a fan’s tweet or say something funny outside of an interview. At the same time, social media allows players to share the causes they care about even more than they could before.

Charities can get plenty of exposure, and oftentimes players post the good deeds they do, likeRussell Wilson and JJ Watt visiting children’s hospitals. Fans, too, get to communicate with each other at a level they could not before, creating traditions like the “Kinnick Wave.” Sticking with that positive vein, people have even met their spouses during sports-sponsored social media nights (check out Atlanta Hawks Tinder Nights).

The whole point of this for me is that social media has been wrongly vilified in regards to sports. Yes, athletes have said stupid things, liked inappropriate things and posted at bad times (Chad Ochocinco/Johnson got fined $25k for tweeting during a game). But overall, the good that social media does for athletes and for sports greatly outweighs the problems it causes. I mean, who can argue with a unified crowd waving to sick kids? I think I’ll go tweet about it.