When Social Media Goes Wrong

So as you may or may not know, I'm a huge fan of Twitter. Even though my two best friends make fun of it constantly, calling it "Twat-er" or saying "sending more Twats?" I think when it comes to sports, Twitter is something that has made the fans even more a part of the game. I follow pretty much all of the players who have an account on the Indians and Browns, as well as many of the beat writers. I like to stay in the "know," but sometimes people just say interesting things.

While I think it's great that we now have a direct line to some players and coaches, there comes a point when we as fans have to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves. Case in point, last night some vicious and hateful things were said to both Manny Acta (@Mactriber_11) and Chris Perez (@ChrisPerez54) by some angry fans.

Now, first off these angry hateful people only represent a microcosm of the entire Indians fan base, and I know that, but sometimes just a few people can make a whole lot of other people look just as bad. I read the timeline of tweets mentioning Chris Perez, and some of that stuff was absolutely ridiculous. I'm talking from homophobic slurs to straight up saying "You (bleeping) suck" -- if you can think of an insult, it was probably on his timeline. And you could tell when he gave up the home run, because one Tweet was "Okay, get this last guy!" and the next was "Are you (bleeping) serious?" I was reading these out loud and my friend had to ask me to stop because it was so upsetting.

Okay, I understand being angry. I understand wanting to throw the remote at the TV and cuss out anyone you see because your team loses a game you know it should have won, but there's got to be a point when you stop, take a breath, and just don't do those things. The same has to apply when it comes to Tweeting expletives at players and the manager. These guys shouldn't have to respond to "fans" with, "Winning 1st season series vs Red Sox since '05=Great. Blowing lead vs Rangers = Disappointing. Blocking 10 negative fans = Priceless" as Acta did last night, and Perez shouldn't have to say, "The day I let people get inside my mind is the day I retire."

This is not to say that I don't think fans have a right to be critical. If I'm at a game and my team makes a bad play, or has a bad inning, I think it's appropriate to boo. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think that makes you a fair-weather fan. I think it means you're into the game, you're responding to what is on the field. You pay to come see the game, so if you don't like the product, hey, I think you've paid for the right to be critical.

What I don't support, however, is picking on a guy on a team you support by name and then going with name calling. That's immature, that's high school B.S. and if you're an adult you should know better. You should know it's not just inappropriate, but unacceptable to use homophobic slurs to insult and degrade people.

And the worst part is that people do this because they can do it and get away with it under the guise of the internet! Even though everyone has their own Twitter handle, the fact that you're saying something to this person but not to their face makes it sort of anonymous. But you know what, if you're that immature that all you can do when the chips go down is insult and name call, you really need to take a long hard look at your life and your choices and decide you need to grow up. A lot.

Look, I'm not saying that all Tribe fans are like this -- in fact, far from it. I looked at Perez and Acta's timeline this morning, and the response was overwhelmingly positive, especially compared to last night. But the bottom line is we've already lost Matt LaPorta's Twitter (@Gator4God) because of negative fans, and I'd really like to keep our manager and the #BullpenMafia in tact.

If you want to be critical, go ahead and do so, I know I do. But show a little maturity -- don't send it to the player. If you're going to tweet them, support them and do it with class. I don't think that's too much to ask, is it?

~MAS