Whatever you do, DON'T insult an Olympian!

[Rob Williams]

Yeah so here's a story where some punk kid from the UK said something arguably minor to an Olympian, and was arrested.

"You let your dad down i hope you know that."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/31/teenager-arrested-tweets-tom-daley

The kid's a douche, I think we'll all agree to that, but to be arrested for it? It wasn't a threat of any sort, just a dumb remark.

Just... wow. Is this the UK or Saudi Arabia?

 

[madmat]

Actually, he later also threatened to drown the guy. The media hasn't bothered with that part though as it doesn't make for as sensational headlines.

 

[Rob Williams]

Ahh, I read that as an entirely separate event (I thought someone -else- issued that threat). Now it makes a lot more sense. Thanks for pointing it out.

Yeah, chuck the piece of shit in jail.

 

[Big Red Machine]

Reminds of when the 49ers lost the NFC Championship game last year. WR Kyle Williams had two critical special teams fumbles which both led to scores for New York.

After the game, there were lots of so-called "fans" who sent Williams a ton of death threats through Twitter for those mistakes. Throughout the whole thing, and even until today, Williams just acts with great class and is saying all the right things.

I'm not just a San Francisco 49ers fan, I'm also one of those people who are rooting very hard for Kyle Williams to do great in his NFL career. And to those cowards who sent him death threats (as well as to that 17 year-old Brit kid who said those awful things) on Twitter: Cowardice deserves no respect. Rot in hell, the whole lot of ya.

 

[Rob Williams]

As soon as Kyle fumbled that second time, death threats is the first thing that came to mind. As sad as it is, there are a lot of people just like that, who end up valuing sport and other things way above what actually matters.

 

[Rob Williams]

Haha, it seems I am not the only one who misinterpreted that story:

http://boingboing.net/2012/07/31/17-y-o-arrested-in-england-for.html

 

[Big Red Machine]

As soon as Kyle fumbled that second time, death threats is the first thing that came to mind. As sad as it is, there are a lot of people just like that, who end up valuing sport and other things way above what actually matters.

TBH, I was shocked to hear about the death threats. When I heard those stories coming in, first thing on my mind was: Jeez, some people really need to learn to have some perspective.

I love sports. I love competition. But mistakes or a performance that just comes up short are part of why I love sports and competition. When I was younger, I was involved in quite a few competitions (basketball, academics, etc.), and despite giving my all, on the day of the contest someone was just that little bit better than me. I gave everything I had, but if someone is better, then he/she deserves to win.

I think that some of these yo-yos who use Twitter or other social media to spout off such hateful discourse probably don't know a thing about competing. It's easy to be passionate, you know, when all you have invested in something are maybe your emotions; some people have money invested in the competition, too. But I'd wager that for many of these same people, they never put on the uniform; they never have really known what it's REALLY like to compete.

It's too easy to be a big man with a big mouth on the Internet, I guess...

 

[Rob Williams]

I'm not sure what it is, but I feel like I'm just a little immune to this sort of thing, because it feels like I hear about it all the time. It does happen in soccer on occasion; I believe Thierry Henry had death threats after his allowed handball during World Cup 2010.

This isn't limited to sports of course; celebs get death threats all the farking time. It's a little depressing when you realize just how many people out there are like this.