Pirates Players Learn To Tune Out Critics On Social Media
BRADENTON (KDKA) -- Social media has become part of everyday life, but sometimes, it's not so nice and can get downright personal, and that's why some of the guys in the Pirates locker room have learned to tune it out.
"Critics are easy, because everyone is a critic," says Pirates pitcher Jeff Locke.
Locke has had to deal with some nasty tweets in the past.
Some of them include: "Can Jeff Locke retire from baseball?" and "I hope Santa brought you a better fastball. Go Bucs" as well as this one, "@Pirates, who do I need to contact to request a membership in the @Jeff_Locke haters club?"
Those are some of the more tame tweets.
"I think one thing people don't seem to realize is that we are human," says Locke. "They think maybe because they never get to get that close to us, or because we're in this little stadium, and they flip the lights on, and we put a costume on and go play for them, they think we should go do whatever they want us to do. But it's tough sometimes."
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KDKA's Rich Walsh: "Personally, is it hard to tune out the critics for you?"
Locke: "No, they don't matter to me. They really don't. When you get booed at home as much as you do on the road sometimes, it really doesn't bother you anymore. You have a job to do. You've got to do the best job you can at that. You can't worry about – this guy likes you, that guy likes you. I've been a fan before too, so I expect the best out of everyone on the team."
Locke has Twitter and is a fan; he grew up rooting for the patriots, so he understands a little bit, but it's something during the season he can't pay attention to.