Internet’s ‘Reality Era’ Adds Damaging Hot Air, Controversies

The reality era is here and it's wreaking all kinds of havoc on the world of sports.One great example is "Deflate-gate," the ongoing uproar over whether the New England Patriots intentionally deflated footballs during the AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. This thing will not die, it's being fed by Internet memes and social media with small amounts of information seeping out of the NFL (during an investigation, I might add.)

Before the media can even report the facts in the story, a few little crumbs of news grow into a real story. Here's the simple answer: Don't answer any questions if you are the one conducting the investigation, and sure as hell don't tell some reporter that 11 of 12 footballs were under-inflated without knowing the reason why. That encourages reckless speculation, which we've had plenty of over the last week.

It also takes away from the Big Game on Sunday.

Now I turn my attention to wrestling fans, of which I am one. Watching the WWE Royal Rumble on Sunday night was awesome. Surprise entrants, a great tease to a potential Stardust vs. Goldust feud, and a crazy spot from Seth Rollins onto the Beast Brock Lesnar (who reportedly has a a broken rib) from the ordeal. There I go speculating.

Everything seemed to be going fine during the PPV until Daniel Bryan was eliminated early on in the match. The crowd has been behind Bryan ever since they forced him into the main event at Wrestlemaina 30 to overcome the odds and get his Wrestlemaina moment.

His title run was cut short by a nagging neck injury that caused his right arm to lose strength and kept him out of action for nine months. He's finally back in action and the YES movement is alive and well given the reaction he received from a raucous Philly crowd.

After Bryan's elimination fans booed every other entrant until Mizdow and the final entrant Dolph Ziggler made a solid showing. Roman Reigns, who ultimately won the Royal Rumble match and a trip to the Main Event at Wrestlemaina, was booed out of the building. Even with a semi-surprise appearance by The Rock couldn't get him over with the live audience.

Time will tell how WWE builds the main event and if fans come around to the idea that Roman Reigns is the future. But the Internet has led to a feeding frenzy and a trending Twitter hashtag #cancelWWENetwork that has fans canceling their $9.99 subscription. I'm curious to see how many of these folks actually canceled.

Next thing you know, these same fans will be trying to cancel the Big Game on Sunday. Everyone seems to think they know what needs to be done. Half these people who gripe and complain will be tuning into to RAW and resubscribing to see the behind-the-scenes at WM 30. If you don't like it, don't watch. It's pretty simple. I just don't understand the malcontent of fans and wish the ones that complain or think they could do it better would try and get a job in the NFL or WWE, because God knows they wouldn't last five minutes under the stress and pressure.