Brad Childress Fired: Social Media Playing A Bigger Role In Sports Today

Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, originally signed by the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2005, found out Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress was fired this morning with the rest of the world, from Jay Glazer on Twitter.

As a sign of the times, news travels so fast, the days of a team quietly huddling together to get the news first are gone. With the amount of NFL players, including plenty of Seahawks, making ample use of various social networking mediums, the way we gather our news has changed.

Today was the second time this year Vikings players have stumbled upon huge news about their club online. Just a few weeks ago, word leaked that Randy Moss had been released, also on Twitter. Just as they did today, the Vikings players found out Moss had been released online, through various social networking platforms.

With the amount of athletes and coaches on Twitter, news comes fast now. Just last week, Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian announced that Jake Locker had been cleared to play against the UCLA Bruins on Thursday night. It was how Sarkisian announced the news that came as a surprise. Instead of announcing the news to the press, the traditional route for a head coach, Sarkisian took to Twitter, telling the world all at once, in his own words, without the buffer zone the media provides. More and more, breaking news is passed along through social media outlets, giving fans unprecedented access to their favorite players.

Welcome to our brave new world.

Brad Childress Fired By Minnesota Vikings: A Look At Franchises Heading Different Directions

The Minnesota Vikings have fired head coach Brad Childress just 11 weeks into the season. Just one season after falling short of the Super Bowl by a few plays, the honeymoon ended in Minnesota

Childress and the Vikings have owned the Seahawks recently, even if the two teams aren't on each other's 2010 schedules. Just one year ago, the Vikings blew out the Seahawks in Minnesota, 35-9. It was a loss that helped send former head coach Jim Mora Jr. to the unemployment line, allowing the Seahawks to hire former USC head man Pete Carroll. At the time, it seemed like we were looking at two teams heading in different directions. Just a year later, the Seahawks top an admittedly weak NFC West and the Vikings are in a complete tail-spin.

Childress, if you'll remember, was head coach of the Vikings when Seattle lost prized left guard Steve Hutchinson. It was the work done by Childress, Minnesota's newly hired head coach, and the Minnesota front office that led to the infamous "poison pill" in Hutchinson's contract, a relative unknown loophole at the time. Since then, the Seahawks front office has seen a turnover of massive proportions, from the CEO all the way down to the head coach. It was a necessary ground-up rebuild for Seattle, as painful as it may be to admit.

Which would you rather have? An aging franchise quarterback and a team in turmoil, or a middling NFC West team -- that still tops the weak division -- with a young core of players in a rebuilding process? The Seahawks just may be in better shape than the Vikings, a franchise in serious turmoil.