California Track Star...Internet Victim?

A California teenager knows firsthand the downside to being famous because of the Internet.  Eighteen-year-old Allison Stokke won a number of titles and broke several records as a track and field star at her high school.  But that's not what she's known for in the age of YouTube and blogging.  Instead, she has become an online celebrity thanks to images of  Stokke adjusting her hair at a track meet and a three-minute video on YouTube which shows her standing against a wall and analyzing her performance at another event.  The video has been viewed 150-thousand times. 

The attention has been unnerving to Stokke who says she is now recognized everywhere she goes and her family fears she'll become the target of stalkers.  Most of the images have made the rounds on sports blogs that have tongue-in-cheek items about everything from athletes to beautiful women.  Stokke tells the "Washington Post" that while she feels violated, she realizes there's not much she can do since the people posting her image are doing nothing illegal.  Matt Ufford, one of the sports bloggers who has put up photos of the five-foot-seven teen on his site, says he doesn't plan to change any of his practices.  He claims his blog attracted a record number of visitors in May -- thanks largely to the photos of Stokke.

If you go to Google and do a search for Stokke, you'll find pages and pages of results.  Many are blogs, others are simple picture galleries of the athlete.  And then you run across legitimate news articles about the track star -- like the one that appeared in the "Orange County Register."  It's a nice, innocent piece that talks about her accomplishments and features a Q & A session about the sport she loves.  But if you look closely at the top of the page you'll notice when the article was originally published.  It says March 25, 2006 -- that's right, more than a year ago.  Stokke willingly gave an interview to this paper and who knows how many others well before she became an "Internet sensation."  It's one thing for the article to be printed on paper and circulated around your hometown.  But we all know that in 2007, every local paper has a website, and most articles from the printed version end up online for the entire world to see.  When are people going to learn that when you grant an interview to a television news station or a newspaper, and you have some type of "status" (like being an athlete, a pastor, or just an everyday hero), you've opened yourself up to the masses.  You did it voluntarily and you're no longer an ordinary "private" citizen. 

That's what struck me about the women's Rutgers basketball team during the Don Imus fiasco.  No, these women should have never been called a name.  But to argue that they should be "off-limits" for public criticism or ridicule is outrageous and disingenuous.  All during the tournament, their images were plastered across newspapers, magazines and television screens.  And on the night of the championship game, the one that was commented on by Imus and his producer, it was broadcast live nationally on ESPN.  To argue these girls should have been left alone based on them being "private" citizens just doesn't hold water.  I'm sure the girls of Rutgers gave plenty of interviews before the game and all during the season.  Does that mean they should be called a degrading name?  Of course not.  But don't argue they're above criticism or ridicule.  They put themselves out there and they should be able to take the hits, negative or positive.

Prior to yesterday, I had never heard of Allison Stokke.  I would never have known she existed if it hadn't been for an article that appeared where?  In a newspaper.  And I would be willing to bet that none of the sports bloggers that have been posting her image and drooling over it would have ever known about Stokke if she hadn't gone seeking the publicity first -- in a newspaper. 

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