As I’m sure many of you know, Houston Dynamo and US National Team forward, Brian Ching got fined by MLS over a comment he posted on Twitter. A $500 fine for a comment regarding a call by the refs in the Seattle v Houston match. This brings up a very interesting point with all the new technology that is available.

Now if you ask me, I don’t like this decision by MLS. I know leagues do not like players criticizing officials, but we live in a new world where expressing your thoughts and opinions to the world is easier than ever. Let me start by saying that I think referees should be held accountable, and that if they make a bad decision they should be prepared for some criticism. I know players get mashed on if they play bad and all the rest of us get an earful if we don’t perform at our jobs. Referees shouldn’t be any different.

Secondly, getting fined over comments on an individuals own social networking site seems a little…well almost big brother to me. Technically Twitter is a conversation or at least a dialogue amongst people that you want to stay in touch with, or who choose to read what you have to say. So if MLS, or any league, starts keeping tabs on how a player communicates to those in their own circles, where do you draw the line? This is a very slippery slope that I guarantee will become more of an issue as players take to sites like Twitter to share their experiences and thoughts with those that are interested. Silencing their voices and opinions seems counter intuitive to letting athletes, or anyone, have a voice and express their opinion.

I for one hope this doesn’t squash the freedom that players have to express themselves and let their feelings be known. After all, they’re human like the rest of us, and getting a chance to see what they have to say only makes them more interesting and lets us fans see a different side of them.