Passion for sports is great, but when you start making threats towards players, you step way over the line.
I live and breathe sports. I love watching sports. I love writing about sports. I love talking about sports. Some might say I’m obsessed with sports. I take sports seriously.
But I know at the end of the day, it’s just entertainment, something to watch and talk about with people. I also know where to draw the line.
I feel horrible when the teams I root for lose, but I know the players involved in the actual game feel worse. They don’t need me telling them how badly they screwed up. That’s not my place. Or a journalist, in this case. That’s not the place of a fan, in any case. The players know how costly their mistake was based on the outcome of the game.
Kyle Williams made two bad plays in Sunday’s loss to the Giants in the NFC championship game. If I thought that was the reason the 49ers lost — and as I wrote yesterday, I do not — I would fume around for 15 minutes, and then move on with my life.
I wouldn’t waste my time hunting down a way to contact Williams directly in order to make him feel worse.
But it appears there are 49ers “fans” — it pains me to call these people fans — who have decided that Williams should pay for his mistakes with his life.
Williams’ Twitter feed has been blowing up with death threats from people hiding behind the veil of the social network. People are wishing harm not only to Williams, but his wife and kids. You want Williams’ kids to die because he fumbled a ball? You want Williams’ kids to die, period? What did Williams’ wife do to deserve your wrath? Fall in love with him?
These are the type of people that should never be allowed into a stadium. They don’t belong there. These are the type of people that ruin sporting events for true fans, the people that show up to root on their team and enjoy a day at the stadium.
For the record, after Williams’ fumble in OT, I tweeted the following:
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/Ali_Thanawalla/status/161290508298235906″]I was referring to the fact that it might be safer for him to live somewhere else rather than in the Bay Area. At the time, I made the comment in jest. But now, it might actually be safer for him to live somewhere else. And that is truly sad.
The man didn’t do his job properly. He knows it. We’ve all made mistakes in our work place. Our mistakes just don’t happen in front of tens of millions of fans on national television.
My hope is that when Williams — not “if,” but “when” — makes a big play next season to help the 49ers win a game, he doesn’t say anything. I want him to celebrate with the teammates that work him every day and never once pointed a finger at him.
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Latest @SFBay Column: Fans fumble Kyle Williams situation – SFBay http://t.co/h6GZ7DLH