Twitter Beef???

Ruffle My Feathers, a weekly sports blog by Justin Lewis

TWITTER BEEF???

Most if not all athletes should be banned from Twitter. Athletes are having are becoming involved in “Twitter Beefs” and they are also discussing TOO much over Twitter (which could be easily fixed by CALLING someone ON THE PHONE, you know the device you are Tweeting from). Twitter is all fine and good but when people start arguing on social media sites something has to be done.

Twitter battles are ridiculous. Why do people feel that they’re tough if/when they “fight” on a social media site? The biggest beef right now is between LeBron James and Kendrick Perkins. Kendrick was dunked on by Blake Griffin (some would say it’s the dunk of the year and possibly best dunk ever). LeBron took it upon himself to Tweet, “Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I’m No. 2 now. Move over #6.” When James said he was “No. 2 now” he was referring to the fact that his own dunk (where he jumped over the head and shoulders of John Lucas III) paled in comparison to Blake Griffins dunk on Kendrick Perkins.

Kendrick then spoke to the media about the situation and he said, “You don’t see Kobe (Bryant) tweeting. You don’t see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you’re an elite player, plays like that don’t excite you. At the end of the day, the guys who are playing for the right reasons who are trying to win championships are not worrying about one play. They also are not tweeting about themselves talking about going down to No. 2. I just feel (James) is always looking for attention and he wants the world to like him.”

There are a few things I find wrong with this situation. First, I have a problem with two men the size of TANKS arguing on TWITTER! Come on now. That’s about as bad as a Kardashian claiming that they’ll never date anyone who is an athlete (AGAIN) or potential millionaire. Second, LeBron just put John Lucas on blast and now EVERYONE who did NOT watch the highlight will now be rushing to YouTube to see what he is talking about; I also think Perkins is incorrect when he says, “If you’re an elite player, plays like that don’t excite you.” Plays like that should be exciting to everyone, with the exception being the recipient (who gets dunked on). Being in awe is one thing, but being excited and respecting someone’s game/talent is another. I will have to favor Kendrick Perkins in this “beef” because LeBron is giving up his mythical spot at #1 for Dunk of the Year. This is why I say LeBron will never win a championship. It’s because he is too nice and respectful. Now don’t get me wrong you must have respect but when you are competing there are NO friends DURING the game unless they’re on your team, everyone else is in your way. All of the great players know that (e.g. Jordan, Montana, Magic, Bird, Tiger, Jimmy Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Babe Ruth, Gretzky, Jeff Gordon and the list can go on and on).

Then there are certain players who battle over nothing. Andray Blatche (Washington Wizards) Vs. “The Haters”. He claimed his account was hacked, but since he has come into the NBA his “behavior” has been a little suspect, and that leads me to believe the tweets most likely came from him. One of his most notable tweets (while his account was “hacked”) towards his haters was: “like I said I’m done with this fake internet thing if u wanna see meet me saturday after game I can throw these things homie.” He then continued to rant with tweets such as, “money talks I can wear watever and still beat ur moms,” and “ok let’s do this so everyone can see wat u bout let’s meet n dc saturday after my game.” Obviously spell check and/or auto-correct is not available on Twitter or his mobile device. Why anyone would want to hack the account of a player on the Washington Wizards is beyond me. My theory is they didn’t hack the account and he needs to take his own advice and understand that money does talk and he should take that “money” and first seek out and TALK to his former English teachers (so they can do a quick refresher course) AND then make an appointment to TALK to an anger management specialist. If you practiced more than you tweeted perhaps you wouldn’t have to “throw them things, homie”.

Then we have LeBron James vs. Daniel Gibson (YES Daniel Gibson of all people. The guys’ nickname is Boobie. Albeit it was given to him by a family member, but come on. Can you be thugged out with a name like Boobie?) This feud started when Gibson threw a party in Cleveland and claimed that he was the new “king” of Cleveland. Apparently that irked Mr. James. LeBron responded with this tweet: “I wake up this morning to hear somebody got real fly at the mouth at their party lastnight. I see where we stand now even though I sense it!” Boobie (I can’t take him seriously) not to be outdone retaliated with this tweet: “complaining about someones tweets is like complaining about the channel & you got the remote in your hands.” The two then squashed the beef personally as LeBron later posted, “The Air is Cleared.” Gibson said the incident wasn’t meant to offend James, but let’s be serious Boobie (I’m still laughing) clearly directed the comments towards the former “King of Cleveland” by stating he was the new king. The clash is just another one of the repercussions of LeBron “taking his talents to South Beach”. Why is LeBron even worried about Boobie Gibson? He is in MIAMI with a championship caliber team and Gibson is in Cleveland aka The LeBron hate capital of the world. Once again this is why I don’t think he will win the championship because he isn’t mature enough (hence the constant responses to people who criticize him) nor does he have the killer instinct. Let your game do the talking and if/when you get a ring that will shut the haters up for at least 6 months, but even if they start hating again they can’t take that ring away from you.

Lastly, we have Terry Richardson a stand out Wide Receiver for Detroit Cass Tech High School. He led his team to their first state title. In doing so he caught the eye of the University of Michigan Head Football Coach Brady Hoke. Michigan offered Richardson a scholarship, and he accepted, but there was one problem. The problem was he didn’t know how to “express” his need for playing time in a professional and private manner. He felt it necessary to speak out on twitter about his “need” for playing time. He stated, “I need to start at Michigan offtop.” “no time for redshirting they start talking that redshirt (expletive) it’s a wrap.” There was some “fallout” from the message but it was immediately removed from Twitter. As a result Richardson’s character was questioned. Fortunately for Richardson, Hoke and his staff honored their offer, and Richardson signed a national letter-of-intent. What ever happened to picking up the phone and calling someone to talk about your issues and concerns; or going to the mall or out to eat; or playing some ball and talking with your boys face to face? Don’t they think people monitor those things? Especially colleges and/or big organization that don’t want their name put out there in a negative fashion. I would have honored my word and given him the scholarship, but he would have been working his B-hind off just to have the opportunity to sniff the field.

Twitter is fine if you’re posting blogs or funny videos (e.g. LeBron’s hairline video with Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaq and Kenny Smith on TNT), or following comedians or sports analysts etc. (Kevin Hart or John Clayton), but when you start “fighting” on Twitter or yapping negatively about things that will determine your future you need to find another way to vent. #Grow Up