"Know that you're not your mistakes." You've probably heard that coddling, prideful phrase before from elders or wise loved ones in your life. They didn't sing life into it though. This year, it's been re-polished and reverberated out into the mainstream through Kanye's performance of the line in "Only One." I open with this, because of all the "things" here, know that I've been guilty of posting some of them online. (More on that later.) The sports fan I am today is trying to leave a handful of habits in the past. It's time for a spring-time cache scrubbing of my digital sports soul.
This isn’t all about me though. No, we’re all in this together. When you describe sports fan culture today, much of what immediately comes to mind is based on online interactions between your fellow fan. Your opinion of [insert hated fanbase here] fans may be shaped by some interpersonal experiences, but more likely than not, social media posts and comments sections have done their damage in affirming that yes, sports fans living in Los Angeles, Miami, and Philadelphia are the worst. We're informed by an ever-expanding spectrum, only limited to how much your eyes can take.
While you scroll/swipe/read through this list, you’ll find a few things that you’ve done in the past, or still do to this day. It’s alright—no judgments here. You’re not your mistakes; you know that, Kanye knows that, and ostensibly, Complex knows that. We can move forward into a more enlightened and refreshing age of sports social media by trimming dead ends. Don’t get left behind posting basic yesterday shit. These are 20 Things Sports Fans Need to Stop Posting Online.
"Know that you're not your mistakes." You've probably heard that coddling, prideful phrase before from elders or wise loved ones in your life. They didn't sing life into it though. This year, it's been re-polished and reverberated out into the mainstream through Kanye's performance of the line in "Only One." I open with this, because of all the "things" here, know that I've been guilty of posting some of them online. (More on that later.) The sports fan I am today is trying to leave a handful of habits in the past. It's time for a spring-time cache scrubbing of my digital sports soul.
This isn’t all about me though. No, we’re all in this together. When you describe sports fan culture today, much of what immediately comes to mind is based on online interactions between your fellow fan. Your opinion of [insert hated fanbase here] fans may be shaped by some interpersonal experiences, but more likely than not, social media posts and comments sections have done their damage in affirming that yes, sports fans living in Los Angeles, Miami, and Philadelphia are the worst. We're informed by an ever-expanding spectrum, only limited to how much your eyes can take.
While you scroll/swipe/read through this list, you’ll find a few things that you’ve done in the past, or still do to this day. It’s alright—no judgments here. You’re not your mistakes; you know that, Kanye knows that, and ostensibly, Complex knows that. We can move forward into a more enlightened and refreshing age of sports social media by trimming dead ends. Don’t get left behind posting basic yesterday shit. These are 20 Things Sports Fans Need to Stop Posting Online.
Videos of jerseys on fire.
This is something I'm personally guilty of. That's my jersey right up there. I burned it the old-fashioned way: With AXE deodorant, a book of matches, and some newspaper. In 2009, after Brett Favre retired and then unretired so he could play with the Vikings, I had it with greybeard. The dude was the NFL's premier domestic terrorist for years, holding the Packers at gunpoint over “will he or won't he?”
Trust me, at the time, it was annoying. But anything that's merely “annoying” at the time probably isn't a big deal in the long-run. Nearly six years later, I wish I hadn't burned my Brett Favre jersey. Aaron Rodgers is an Olivia Munn-banging Super Bowl champion, and Favre would be 100 percent cheered again at Lambeau Field when he eventually returns to have his jersey retired. Jersey burns are for crybabies and people who don't know the value of material possessions (one man's trash is another man's treasure is my favorite cliché ever—it's so damn true), because they have too many crappy things to begin with. Your privilege is showing, NFC East fans.
Fake retweets and fake reports from fake sports news accounts.
No, he's not. Stop the spread of misinformation. It was funny, like, the first time Peter King or SportsCenter got tripped up by a fake breaking news account. “Oh, look at real journalists and news outlets not even taking the time to see if it's real! Haha! Fuck media!” I'm with all that. But the speed and nature of social media opens itself to these errors becoming an intrinsic part of the platform, and Twitter is way, way, way too important to our news cycle to have fake reporter accounts out here.
Tweets at athletes asking for a birthday shoutout and/or follow.
He's never going to respond. You're 25-years-old. What?
Videos of their kids crying over a player trade.
I see you parents. I see you scheming up for your kids. I'd do the same. The jig is way up now though. Parents know that these types of videos go viral if they're cute enough, which means the athlete being cried over will probably see it, which means they'll reach out to your kid and awwwwwwww. Your kid is going to HATE you later on in life when they grow up, get on LinkedIn, and no longer care about that athlete. Videos of them crying as a child will forever remain the No. 1 Google search result for their name. That sucks.
Videos of themselves crying over a player trade.
Same goes for the grown-ups.
Pictures of athlete-inspired haircuts.
At Complex Sports, we've posted many of these in our proud history. The one you can see above cost $200. The barber who did it has done $200 athlete haircuts for other people too. Just get a jersey, bro. Shaving another person's face into your head is weird and ugly and we'd all be better off as a society if sports fans didn't do it.
Tweets at analysts after failed predictions.
So about that post…While it was fun flaming Bill Simmons for his draft analysis, I don't believe we've done any similar posts since. Tweets like these though:
@DesmondHoward So far your prediction is wrong. Go Oregon!
— Kaner (@TuranskiAlex) November 30, 2014
I’m sure Desmond Howard is dying over this.
Ugly-looking homemade jerseys.
Very clever.
Anything at Curt Schilling.
This man is a troll who can't stop trolling himself. He also doesn't know when to step away from the keyboard, making him a fearless, overly-opinionated boob. A pest, really. To this day, I think he's still tweeting at Keith Law about how evolution is a farce. Let Curt Schilling digitally suffocate.
Videos of Gronk twerking.
We posted two of them recently. That's done with. The Internet has more videos of Rob Gronkowski twerking than it needed in the first place. Like Curt Schilling's tweets, sports fans must learn to let Gronk's asscheeks go.
Anything related to their fantasy team.
*crickets*
I tweet about my fantasy teams, but I'm gonna work to stop it. It'll be hard—I think about fantasy sports way too much, but like you've never complained or dished out on something online that you knew nobody would care about. Sometimes you just gotta throw shit into the wind even if it's a guaranteed brick. It's a selfish brick, but it keeps you grounded. I know that the most uninteresting thing in a sport fan's life is another sports fan's fantasy team. You know this, too. Let's move forward together.
A-Gon helping out my fantasy team early on in the season.
— Frank (@FrankTheTank813) April 9, 2015
Just stop it.
Tweets at athletes with a fan's two cents on their personal decisions.
This tweet happened because 20-year-old Raheem Sterling, Liverpool's unquestioned best player, rejected a contract offer that would've paid him £100,000 per week, or about $7.7 million a year. Giving unsolicited, profanity-laden advice to someone who literally had no idea you existed until you popped up in their mentions is, believe it or not, a bad look. If we want athletes to be more open and active on social media, we should probably stop being direct assholes to them over their own personal and financial situations a.k.a THEIR OWN FREAKING LIVES. Let people live y'all.
Tattoos predicting championships for their team.
Don't jinx it. Tattoos like this always jinx it, even if you're a Lions fan and had no hope to begin with. That being said: this “40-0” tatted Kentucky fan is fucked.
Stupid trick shot videos.
These get old. Fast. (Except for DudePerfect and his vids. He's still out here caking on YouTube off trick shots.)
Tweets at sports team owners begging for trades/signings/moves they can do in Franchise Mode.
He's not listening. Get over it.
Tired memes.
Kobe hates passing, LeBron is a crybaby, something about Jordan on the Kermit the Frog meme, *yawn,*—think of new shit for new players. The league has a deep well of stars and scrubs waiting to be flamed.
Any and all Jordan vs. LeBron vs. Kobe related arguments. They're petty.
Nobody wins once that rabbit hole is dug. Unless…
Challenges to fight IRL over an online argument.
… You meet me at Temecula. Actually, nobody won this. Gas money was wasted, and no minds were changed. The guy who drove 35 minutes to fight could've scored a record deal, but he made his diss rap over the wrong beat. Should've gone with “Hot Friend,” friend.
Racist, sexist, and homophobic shit.
Block, report as spam, and give Twitter a heads up when you see it. If you're in the UK, call the police.