If there's a scourge worse than people posting grainy videos of music gigs on social media it's the scourge of sportspeople herocially taking responsibility for a defeat and vowing to put their shoulder to the wheel and turn their fortunes around the next time.
You do this once, that's more than acceptable. You do this twice, it starts to get tiresome but when you get to the stage that it's becoming habit then maybe it's time to put the phone away or at least come up with some new material. Take Arsenal's Petr Cech for instance. With Arsenal falling 2-1 to Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday, Cech was so quick to take to social media and own his mistakes that you'd be surprised they didn't end up conceding a third goal while he was busy tweeting.
If you want to win a game away of home in the best league in the world your GK can’t concede 2 goals like I did today ... it’s simply not possible ... The team fought back but the damage was done .
— Petr Cech (@PetrCech) March 4, 2018
If you go back little over a month, you'll find Petr on Twitter again, this time vowing to valiantly fight on and stick with the sport despite his part in a 3-1 defeat to Swansea City.
Although mistakes are part of the game I always expect 100 % from myself and I’m not happy with the one I made today ... back to work tomorrow !
— Petr Cech (@PetrCech) January 30, 2018
But of course, true bravery comes from not just talking about your failings in defeat but by falling on your own sword even in victory. On the 22nd of October last year, Arsenal beat Everton but Cech wasn't going to ignore his gifting of a goal to Everton.
Great team performance and win away of home ! #COYG ... not happy with myself though for giving Everton a goal with my mistake! pic.twitter.com/oa12Y8uVyx
— Petr Cech (@PetrCech) October 22, 2017
Jack Wilshere's last two tweets also have a very similar theme.
I'm sorry to the gooners out there. You deserve better. Thats all i have to say. I know its difficult at the moment in this difficult period we are going through as a team but we need you. We will do better but please stick with us ❤ pic.twitter.com/UTsCdXkQmB
— Jack Wilshere (@JackWilshere) March 5, 2018
Hard to put into words my emotions about yesterday. City are a good team and deserved to win yesterday. Alot of people have had thier say on us and we have to accept cristism when we loose. That being said i can't accept some of the decisions that went against us yesterday. … pic.twitter.com/JgdO9ptqCx
— Jack Wilshere (@JackWilshere) February 26, 2018
Bonus points for the heart emoji.
I know we all long for players to more open regarding their thoughts on games but this is getting a bit much. It's like a 10-year-old taking the floor at home and solemnly telling his mother he was the person who left his dirty cereal bowl in the sink.
Dearest mother,
It was I who left my cereal bowl in the sink. Quite frankly it wasn't good enough from me today but the road to greatness is not marked by perfection but the ability to constantly overcome adversity and failure. Will work harder this week to win back your trust. #winorlearn.
At some point you've got stop leaving your bloody bowl in the sink!
Obviously Arsenal players are not the only sportspeople who are guilty of this but they were particularly low-hanging fruit after yesterday's result. You find a similar story throughout football and other sports as well. It's PR nonsense and it needs to stop.
