Cautionary tales of social media stardom

Have you seen the video?

The one in which former USC basketball coach Tim Floyd breaks up a fight in a casino food court and nearly gets clocked in the back of the head by a chair-wielding woman?

Have you read Brian Theriot’s profile page on Facebook?

The place where Theriot, father of UCLA fullback Trevor Theriot, trashed the UCLA football coaching staff?

We can’t say it enough. Whatever you do, wherever you do it, be careful and make sure someone else isn’t doing something under your name.

In the “no good deed goes unpunished� category, Floyd said he has become the subject of good-natured ribbing after the spread of the video clip.

Oh, and Floyd said, despite the fact Jim Rome said it was another former USC coach, Henry Bibby, who saved Floyd from being whacked by a chair-wielding woman, “It was not Henry Bibby,� Floyd said.

The incident happened last Friday, Floyd said, while he was on his way out of town, moving to New Orleans.

“A friend wanted to say goodbye,� Floyd said, “and this was a convenient place to meet.�

When the fists started flying, Floyd said, “I waited 20 or 25 seconds for security to come, but no one came. I just thought somebody needed to step in and stop things.�

Since the video clip went public, Floyd said, “Friends have been calling suggesting I start applying for jobs as a security guard. That was more physical than anything I saw in the Pac-10.�

And it’s not only athletes who get in trouble with their spontaneous and unedited comments on social-networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Parents need to be careful too.

Brian Theriot said someone hacked into his Facebook account, although Facebook communications editor Simon Axten said such occurrences “are very infrequent.�

Theriot said he had some advice for parents of athletes. “The most important thing is to stay off Twitter,� he said. “Twitter is very dangerous.� Anybody want to check Theriot’s Twitter account?

As for Floyd?

“I guess it’s true,� he said. “No good deed does go unpunished.�

Or untaped.

Military honors

Fox’s “NFL Sunday� studio show will be live from Afghanistan. On-base military personnel will demonstrate plays; troops will get to participate in a question-and-answer session with the experts -- Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan and Jimmy Johnson.

It’s in honor of Veterans Day, which is Nov. 11.

Not to be outdone, ESPN is having its “College GameDay� crew of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso be at the Army-Air Force game in Colorado Springs on Saturday.

The horses are here

And so is a crew of more than 200 people and 40 cameras at Santa Anita for the ESPN/ABC coverage of the Breeders’ Cup this weekend. Mike McQuade, vice president of production and talent, said he believes the 40 cameras are the most for a single sporting event excluding the Super Bowl. Today, ESPN2 will have coverage of six races beginning at 12:30 p.m. On Saturday, Channel 7 will take over from 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 with ESPN finishing off from 12:30 until 4 p.m.

No Game 7? Too bad

That’s probably what Fox officials were saying Thursday after television ratings showed that the 2009 World Series, won by the Yankees on Wednesday night in six games, had provided the network with its best ratings since Boston-St. Louis in 2004. The numbers were also up 39% from last year’s Philadelphia-Tampa Bay matchup. The ratings increase is the largest one-year gain in World Series television history. Yankees or Rays? You’ve decided.

Good today

The Cleveland Cavaliers play at New York in ESPN’s 5 p.m. NBA game. It may be mentioned once or twice about how LeBron James does, or does not, want to be a Knick next year. Wonder whom Knicks fans will cheer for . . .

Good on Saturday

Melanie Oudin will play her first big match since her U.S. Open quarterfinal run when she leads the U.S. Federation Cup team against Italy. The first of five matches (four singles, one doubles) will begin live at 2 a.m. on the Tennis Channel.

Remember when USC football was good? Now it’s kind of sad to realize it might be more interesting to see undefeated Cincinnati play Connecticut in prime time. But we won’t get that game on ABC, because we must watch two-loss USC against Arizona State on Channel 7 at 5 p.m.

Good on Sunday

The Chase for NASCAR’s Sprint Cup is down to three races, including Sunday’s at Texas Motor Speedway on Channel 7 at 12:30 p.m.

Continuing the theme of everything sports happens in Philadelphia, the “Sunday Night Football� matchup on Channel 4 at 5:15 has the Cowboys in Philly to play the Eagles. Having dealt with losing the World Series, Philly fans won’t be in a good mood.

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