West Virginia running back Shawne Alston posted to his Facebook wall from his cell phone during halftime of West Virginia’s 23-7 Champs Sports Bowl loss to North Carolina State. “2nd half is da best half!!! Let’s go!!” he typed to his Internet friends. Scandalous.

During a loss skeptics will argue this shows an endemic lack of focus. I’m sure they tweeted this to their followers as they prepared whatever mindless game shlock they cranked out to meet deadline.

The Internet has made many of us addicts. Our brains crave the little hits of dopamine we get from emails, tweets and persistent social interaction. Most probably, Alston had a few moments for contemplation after receiving whatever brilliant pearls Jeff Mullen was offering. As most of us would, he picked up his smart phone. He posted a vacant motivational message. This probably took 30 seconds.

Had Alston been commenting on someone’s photos or posting a link to a YouTube video I could understand the unease. But, really, a generic “Let’s Go Get Em” is raising ire? The only thing egregious to me was the multiple explanation points.

Did posting on his wall affect Alston’s focus? There’s no way of knowing. His four touches all came in the second quarter. Perhaps, West Virginia needs a social networking policy during games, but the more pressing issue should have been implementing secondary and tertiary levels of thought into their offensive schemes.

Alston’s crime was committing an act media members could magnify and twist to the point of absurdity.  There’s no need to confirm stereotypes.

[Photo via Getty]