Twitter & Phil Jackson

Found this Ad Age article interesting on Phil Jackson & Twitter:

http://adage.com/article/trending-topics/phil-jackson-loses-lakers-rules-week-twitter/238366/

As many may know, Phil Jackson is the former LA Lakers coach (and quite a successful one with 11 NBA Championships to his name between the Lakers and Bulls) was disrespected by his former team (LA Lakers) after they fired their coach and then reached out to Phil to see if he would be interested in taking the position.  He expressed interest and then the Lakers turned around and hired Mike D'Antoni instead.  It seems like an odd move, given the LA market's love for Phil Jackson and the fact that they spoke to him about the position, but one has to assume Phil either asked for too much money or some other factor broke down in negotiations.

Regardless, the reason I think this is interesting is because Twitter became a location for support for Phil, with fans launching their support for him.  While this isn't unusual, as fans often express their opinions on Twitter, especially on controversial topics or decisions, I found it especially interesting that Magic Johnson, former LA Laker and current Laker executive, expressed his dislike of the decision, calling it one of the Laker's Manager Jim Buss' "critical mistakes."  I know Twitter was originally a location where all opinions of all people were posted, in recent years, companies and groups have cracked down on their member's freedom of expression on Twitter, especially if someone is a public or famous figure.  The fact that Johnson expressed dislike of the decision and in fact was one of the ones anchoring supporting for Phil Jackson after the decision was made, surprised me as I would assume his current position within the team would not allow him to disagree with the brass in the Lakers organization.  Perhaps there will be a swing on Twitter the other direction, where people start resenting the monitoring of their personal opinions and start to take a stand on what they think is important, regardless of what it might do to their career or standing. That might be refreshing.