How social media helped Demetrius Crawford sign with the Riders, and what that means for the CFL

Upon first read, Regina Leader-Post sportswriter Murray McCormick's excellent piece on how Twitter and YouTube efforts helped recently-signed Saskatchewan running back Demetrius CrawfordAlgeresque stories about improbable heroes rising to the top, and that's particularly true in sports; meanwhile, various forms of social media have arguably democratized sports in a way previously unseen, so having them play a role in a player's rise to a professional career may seem like the pinnacle of the heroic dream. For all the talented athletes who do make it to the professional ranks, there are many more who fall short and wind up dreaming about what might have been if a few breaks had been different or if a few more opportunities had been open, so a story like Crawford's seems to offer inspiration and a possible way forward for some. The implications of that aren't as unilaterally positive as they might first seem, however, as Crawford's signing could pave the way for a legion of imitators and perhaps even close off the path that he took.

This is no slight at Crawford. He's put up some notable accomplishments, including a 1314-yard rushing season (with a 5.2 yards per carry average) with NCAA Division I-FCS Montana State in 2008 (the same alma mater of B.C. Lions' star quarterback Travis Lulay) and recent solid seasons with the IFL's Tri-Cities Fever, and his videos are certainly impressive. Here's one of his college highlights:

And here's one on his quest to go pro:

Crawford's resume and demonstrated skills certainly make him seem pretty similar to many of those invited to a CFL minicamp (which, to be clear, is essentially all he's earned so far despite officially signing with the Roughriders), so he's no Charles Chulada. This is a guy who could potentially make the team and be a contributor, especially now that the running back position could use some depth and young talent following the release of Wes Cates. Despite his unorthodox approach, which included making Twitter contact with everyone from well-connected fans like Angela Iuvalé to media members like Rod Pedersen to Riders' employees like communications coordinator Sheri Trapp, Crawford is a guy who doesn't seem to be terribly out of place on a list of CFL signings, and he may even be one who winds up on the Riders' roster this summer (although that's still a reasonable long shot). If social media brought a solid potential player him to the Riders when normal methods might not have dug him up, that's fantastic for both him and the team.

It's the larger implications of a story like Crawford's that are concerning, though. The Internet sometimes has the feel of a gold rush similar to the 1890s Klondike one or the 1840s-1850s California Gold Rush (which incidentally inspired the names of at least two professional football franchises, the longstanding San Francisco 49ers of the NFL and the short-lived Sacramento Gold Miners of the CFL), with initial discoveries paying great dividends but also spawning rafts of imitators who miss the motherlode (or in this case, the point). There already are plenty of aspiring CFL players who try to market themselves via avenues like Twitter and YouTube, and most go nowhere. That's partly because they don't often demonstrate Crawford's savvy and targeted, persistent approach, but raw talent and career accomplishments also play a part.

The key takeaway from Crawford's signing is that this is a player CFL executives have deemed worthy (and, from this standpoint, rightly so) of a minicamp invite, but one who got there through unconventional means. If this follows the typical Internet pattern, it will spawn a legion of less-talented imitators more focused on the unconventional means than the necessary skills, spamming CFL executives, players, media and fans with their tweets and videos in an attempt to duplicate Crawford's story. Time is a finite resource, and CFL teams certainly can't sift through infinite videos from every player who's ever dreamed of a professional career, so they may just give up on looking at any of the horde of recruits who approach them via paths like Crawford's, killing off the "gold strike" in its infancy and perhaps missing some real talent in the process. As a standalone story, Crawford's story is a fantastic example of both one man's personal drive and how this league can find players via unconventional avenues. If it proceeds along the traditional Internet lines, though, it may be remembered as the signing that launched a thousand spam tweets and killed social media as a CFL recruiting tool.