Nick Kypreos

Nick Kypreos is a Stanley Cup champion and Hockeycentral analyst

Dion Phaneuf was caught on camera blowing off some steam in December.

In the good old days athletes only had to worry about gossip magazines; not so in 2010.

Man, it's a whole new world out there for athletes today and I'm really happy I'm not playing anymore. The rules have changed.

Two months ago, colleague Daren Millard showed me a YouTube clip of Dion Phaneuf doing his best impression of Billy Joel singing Piano Man at some watering hole.

My first reaction was to feel bad for the guy. Forget being a star athlete -- why shouldn't someone be allowed to go out and find a way to take the edge off their stressful lives without some jerk trying to record it and embarrass them?

My second thought was that Dion's night wasn't any different than what so many other athletes have enjoyed over the course their careers. What is different now is the technology and those who abuse it.

I cringe at the thought of what could have been recorded off the ice when I played pro hockey. Do you think Dion is the first hockey player to grab a microphone and sing a song? You'd love Mark Messier's rendition of Elvis Presley's Suspicious Minds or Kevin Lowe's Crocodile Rock at the Auction House in New York City.

Limo rides? Heck, the Chicago Blackhawks have nothing on my Washington Capitals team back in the late '80s. At least the Blackhawks weren't wrongly accused of inappropriate behaviour by a teenage girl like my teammates were, and end up the focus of a front-page Washington Post scandal.

In fact, some of my teammates claim the biggest accomplishment of my career was not the Stanley Cup win, but getting my grill on the cover of one of those cheesy tabloid magazines you find at your grocery store or on Millard's bathroom floor.

Apparently, Good Morning America host Joan Lunden was all set to dump actor Kevin Costner for her latest Ranger - no, not Messier, me! Me stealing Kevin Costner's girl, what are the chances of that? Besides, if Lunden was dropping Costner like a bad habit, it probably had more to do with the release of his dreadful movie, Waterworld, than it had to do with me, but that's another story.

I'll never forget the look on the faces of Mike Richter and Brian Leetch the day we drove to practice, listening to Howard Stern talking about the rumour on his show. Do you think I took some razzing over that for the rest of the year?

Now you can't sneeze without having someone videotaping your life for the world to judge. Back then there weren't cellphone cameras that could be instantly uploaded to the worldwide web. It is now a constant theme for not just Dion and the Chicago Blackhawks, but all people of "celebrity" status.

Texts and Twitter obviously don't have the same visual effect as YouTube, but they can be equally as dangerous. Just ask Tiger Woods. The best rule of thumb out there today for anyone is probably this: the moment you leave your front door in the morning until the moment you arrive back home at night, assume every word and every motion you make is being recorded and act accordingly. The truth is there are many jealous people out there who wouldn't think twice about trying to take you down a notch or two.

Today’s athletes are like Jim Carrey in the movie, The Truman Show, where a person’s every move is recorded for the whole world to see on TV. If getting caught singing Billy Joel songs on video is the worst it gets for Dion Phanuff, he’s still doing all right.