Free agent safety O.J. Atogwe visited Redskins Park yesterday, and apparently left without signing a deal. That’s the entire story, really, and it’s not a very exciting one. It doesn’t explain motivations: did he leave because he didn’t WANT to sign? Because the team didn’t want to sign HIM? Because, regardless of what they both wanted, neither side wanted to do a deal yet? Unanswered. But the fact that the story itself even exists is, at least in part, another example of how Twitter has changed the news fans get about sports.
Once upon a time, Atogwe’s visit would’ve likely gone unmentioned until and unless he (or his agent) or someone on the team leaked it to the media. Everyone would’ve been speculating about it, of course — it took maybe ten minutes after news broke that the Rams were releasing Atogwe for me to get the first email suggesting that he might be a fit with Jim Haslett, his old defensive coordinator — but there might or might not have ever been confirmation.
In 2011, things proceed a little differently. First, on Monday afternoon, Atogwe posted this to his Twitter feed:
Heading to check out new horizons…—
Oshiomogho Atogwe (@blessedskins) February 21, 2011
Checking out the Redskins Facility.—
Oshiomogho Atogwe (@blessedskins) February 22, 2011
Technically it could’ve meant anything, but by Tuesday morning Atogwe made it pretty clear that those new horizons included at least a stopover in Loudoun County, Virginia.
Checking out the Redskins Facility.—
Oshiomogho Atogwe (@blessedskins) February 22, 2011
And, some six or so hours later, he finished with this:
Redskins are a great organization. Enjoyed my time there today…—
Oshiomogho Atogwe (@blessedskins) February 22, 2011
Like I started with: he visited and he left. That’s the story, as told by the guy himself That’s one thing you wouldn’t have gotten in those hazy pre-Twitter days. The other thing you wouldn’t have gotten is the honest reaction from the current Redskins safeties.As Atogwe’s comments were tweeted and retweeted by Redskins fans and bloggers (present company included), LaRon Landry and Kareem Moore — the current presumed starting safety tandem for the Redskins, and active twitterers both — took notice. And they did not seem to share the fans’ general sense of enthusiasm.
Here’s Landry, directing his comments to Moore (the one whose position Atogwe would likely be competing to take):
71 is what you get if you add Landry’s jersey number (30) to Moore’s (41); this naming algorithim yielded more awesome results when Landry was paired with the late Sean Taylor (21) in Area 51, but 71 has a fairly nice ring also.
And here was Moore’s response:
@MrLandry30 lmao man u knw what it is umma do me #71#—
Kareem moore (@KMO41AMN) February 23, 2011
I think it’s safe to say that if you are a supporter of the Landry/Moore tandem, you are now officially on Team 71.
So now: we’ve got a FA agent visit told in first person; we’ve got instant reactions from the players who would be most directly affected by the visit. But it doesn’t end there.
People who aren’t on Team 71 might justifiably point out that the 71 tandem didn’t necessarily yield the greatest of results last year, statistically speaking. And, again thanks to Twitter, a Redskins fan named Taylor Petropulos was able to make that complaint directly to Landry himself:
@MrLandry30 ya 71 resulted in the 31st ranked secondary—
taylor petropulos (@Taypet21) February 23, 2011
Fans have always been able to respond to players. That’s what letters and talk radio calls and novelty T-shirts are for, after all. But it’s rare that players would respond back to those things,and even rarer that they would respond quickly. Landry got back to Petropulos just 45 minutes later:
Which is sort of a happy ending, I guess. Certainly a note of positivity. Based on his next tweet, though, Petropulos was pretty unconvinced by Landry’s argument.
@ojrams21 come to Washington! You and dirty thirty will be…dirty—
taylor petropulos (@Taypet21) February 23, 2011
Which is pretty much the perfect capstone to this story: free agent shares his visit on Twitter; current players air their thoughts; fan brings his complaint to current player; current player offers a hopeful response to fan; fan goes directly to free agent on Twitter to encourage him to sign with the team. That’s about as 2011 as a sports offseason can get, I think.
