I’ve been staying off Twitter a lot lately, particularly during games, because it just makes me too angry, especially during a loss. I’m usually pretty careful to follow people who only Tweet amusing things about games, even during ugly losses, but with the ability to retweet, I inevitably end up pissed off about something and have to log off. This weekend, I cautiously ventured back onto Twitter, and generally enjoyed it, probably in no small part to the hysterical chronicles of the rain delay last night by people who were getting hailed on at the park.
Something came up on my feed today, though, that set me off all over again.
I mean, for real? There are fans who would actually do that crap?
Social media and the internet are great for a lot of reasons. God knows I use them enough. The downside is, though, that relative anonymity makes people brave. For most of us, having to look someone in the face while saying something to them makes us censor ourselves a tad. The internet gives you more of a hit-and-run mentality to being mean.
I have no problems with people having opinions about how a team is being managed. Fans will disagree, think they can make better decisions, play Monday Morning QB, etc. That’s just how they are. I’ve done it myself. And, sometimes, fans will frame these opinions in an unnecessarily negative way. I don’t like it (see: my opinions about booing home players), but that’s sports and it will never change.
But, really, that isn’t the issue here. The problem in this case is that some fans think it is perfectly acceptable to voice their opinions on how a team’s manager sucks to that manager’s son. That’s crossing a line. Yes, Patrick is on Twitter, and probably sees passing comments from time to time. But this person apparently Tweeted directly to Patrick, and that’s completely uncalled for. I guess they thought, hey, Jim Leyland isn’t on Twitter, but his kid is, so this is the next best thing? Maybe? I don’t know what the thought process was, but it isn’t okay.
Luckily, Patrick handled it gracefully, which speaks volumes about his upbringing. This was the next Tweet, which gave me some hope for humanity:
He also chose to post a video of his dad being interviewed as his response to any questions about Leyland’s loyalty to the Tigers, which I thought was a classy, appropriate response.
So kudos to you, Patrick, for sticking up for your dad, and kudos to Jim for raising a good kid.
Stay tuned for about a billion pictures from the Tampa games, as soon as I can narrow down which ones I want to post.
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