Recent Actions By Musselman's Wife Highlights Big Issue

How Arkansas fans can stop destroying their own program

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas fans can be their own worst enemy. 

Sunday is the one day where the buzz of a cell phone doesn't mean having to drop everything to see what's going on before springing to a computer to carry out one of many jobs that come as a result of whatever the latest notification brings. However, as it sat face down on the dinner table, the familiar buzzes kept going and going to the point they were going to knock over water bottles. 

While flipping the phone over to make it stop for a moment's peace, an image flashed across. It was a screenshot someone sent of Danyelle Musselman's Twitter account turned off.

It wasn't surprising. The only thing that felt mildly shocking was she had the patience to wait so long to do it. 

Arkansas fans haven't exactly been known for understanding boundaries even before the days of social media. These are the same people who famously spit on Ken Hatfield, a man who had Arkansas 10-0 and No. 8 in the country en route to back-to-back seasons where the Hogs finished the regular season Top 10 in the country and conference champions.

Earlier this basketball season, Razorbacks fans reached another infamous low when Musselman had to take to Twitter to ask fans to stop bothering her middle school aged daughter about Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman's job status. 

(Danyelle Musselman – Twitter)

While a lot of Arkansas fans immediately jumped to the conclusion that a coach's wife taking down her Twitter account means he's taking a job elsewhere, that's more born out of an inferiority complex that causes Razorbacks fans to always assume the worst rather than looking at things from a rational perspective. The most logical conclusion is she got tired of absorbing all the negativity on social media and getting bombarded with questions about whether her husband will return. 

That doesn't mean Eric Musselman might not still leave. The way fans have behaved on social media and how it's directly affected his family is more than enough reason for any loving father and husband to pack up and go elsewhere. 

It'd be a shame if that happened, especially if that were the reason why. So, in the event he chooses to give Arkansas fans a second chance in hopes they will learn to be better so things can get back to how they were for both halves of this sports relationship, it's time to offer a little knowledge for fan self-rehabilitation.

1. The family of Arkansas coaches are off limits. They don't work for the university. They don't call the plays. They don't recruit the players. No fan should engage a coach's wife in a negative manner unless she engages them in similar fashion first, and there is never a point in which any fan should interject themselves into the lives of school-aged children. 
Why that last part even has to be said is dumbfounding. Let's say this one again for those in the back of the room. Adults have no business messing with other people's children. That goes for all children, not just those who happen to be born to coaches. Keep your hands off their bodies and your hateful words off their hearts.

2. Stopped getting used by other fan bases to self-destruct the program. The basketball program is seen as a national threat and draws a lot of haters from other fan bases. Because of this, they will pop into various social media platforms to intentionally stir up problems.
Arkansas is an especially easy target because Razorbacks fans appear to believe anything no matter how outlandish it may be. The group that enjoys doing this the most is Missouri fans. They were responsible for one particularly ugly rumor this year that did tremendous damage to the program that should have been an easy no-brainer for Hog fans to ignore.
A basic rule to follow is to keep discussions on social media relegated to what happens on the court. Discussing things like shooting, hustle, body language and such is fair game. Personal attacks and rumors have no place. Following this guideline makes it impossible for other fan bases to use Arkansas fans to proliferate hateful, juvenile posts with no basis in fact.

3. Unless you see it in print from at least two legitimate news organizations covering the Razorbacks, assume it's not true. There are a lot of blogs and pop-up YouTube channels out there run by people who aren't trained as journalists who also don't hold the ethical code official journalists are supposed to follow. 
What happens is these guys throw up something they heard from a guy their cousin talked to who said he overheard a coach in the next aisle at Wal-Mart saying. Fans have no idea how much stuff comes our way in the form of someone acting like they've got a big scoop only for 90% of it to not be true. If it's not verified by two, usually three reliable sources, it's not getting reported by someone worth reading.
Even legitimate journalists get burned by a source or jump the gun trying to be first. There are times where something is true in the moment, but situations change before anything becomes official, so the reporting is wrong. That's why you will see allHogs usually wait until something is verifiably official before reporting on it when others are blasting information out early.
The biggest sign something isn't on the up-and-up is if someone who is supposed to be a legitimate reporter puts a breaking story out and no other proper journalists report on it. While a few random Twitter warriors who try to present themselves as journalists pass it along to generate clicks, the actual media will let the guy who messed up twist in the wind. That's happened at least twice in just the past three months.

So, there it is. If Arkansas is fortunate enough to have Musselman back for another season, those are three powerful guidelines that can help make sure he wants to stay. There are always things that go on behind the scenes to cause friction like there is at any job, but cutting out the outside problems that shouldn't be there will help a lot.

Even if Musselman leaves, unless Razorbacks fans get what's been happening on social media in check, it's going to be hard to get a coach worth his while in here. How Arkansas fans act on social media has come up in talking with recruits several times, so it's hurting there too. 

They need to pull it together before they completely destroy the program. There are more good Arkansas fans out there than hateful keyboard warriors, but it's those emboldened by hiding behind a screen who are speaking often, loudest and doing the most damage. 

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