Social media, Cardinals help young fan who had ball stolen

Just about every team across the professional sports landscape is attempting to beef up their social media game in order to bring fans closer to their favorite franchises and players.

For the Arizona Cardinals that meant helping out a young fan who was the victim of another fan's bad behavior, and setting a great example for teams' media relations departments everywhere.

Andrew Joseph of AZCentral retold the story from this week's Monday Night Football game, in which running back Chris Johnson tried to hand a touchdown ball to a young fan named Easton, only for the pigskin to be batted away by an overzealous adult in the stands nearby. The ordeal was reportedly captured by ESPN cameras.

Here's where this tale takes a happy turn, Joseph reported:

"Blaine Wiggins of Glendale posted his account of what happened on Facebook, and it popped up on the feed of TV personality Montel Williams. The young fan is a 12-year-old named Easton.
Determined to help, Williams tweeted a screenshot of Wiggins' Facebook post at the Cardinals' media relations staff."

The Cardinals reportedly came to the rescue, giving 12-year-old Easton a football autographed by Carson Palmer and a photo op on the field after the Cardinals defeated the Baltimore Ravens 26-18.

Sure, Montel Williams probably won't be on hand to help get the attention of every team's media relations department. But this is a great blueprint for how social media can help teams make the fan experience better. Plus, hopefully Wiggins' move to create the Facebook post will encourage more fans to use social media to help each other.