Post by bigpeeler on Jun 29, 2009 10:54:07 GMT -8
Oh Chad Johnson...you so crayzee!!
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Impulsivity and the ability to instantly post things on the internet are a dangerous mix. Throw in egomania and, well, you've pretty much got Chad Johnson's Twitter page. (And, yes, we'll call him Chad Johnson, because that's still his display name, despite the fact that it's easily changeable.)
Anyway, after news of Michael Jackson's death broke, Johnson had a typically measured response:
"Okay, first Mrs.Fawcett and now Mr.Jackson, please tell me that this is a mistaken rumor, if not this is just as sad as 9/11."
That's some good perspective there, Chad.
Can we please put a moratorium on comparing all tragic events to 9/11 (and, for that matter, all evil things to Hitler)? Those are the extremes. The news of yesterday can still be plenty sad without having to break out comparisons to anything else.
Johnson retracted his statement a few moments later, though the apology read like he came to the conclusion his analogy was weak because of responses from fellow Twitter folk not because he realized anything was wrong with it. Still, at least he took it back.
At some point, an athlete is going to say something even more stupid and controversial on Twitter and it's going to lead to a big public outcry.
When it does, it should be interesting to see whether teams ever put in contract provisions that ban players from writing blogs or making Tweets. In this week's Sports Illustrated blogging Washington Wizards center Brendan Haywood tells Dan Patrick that he'd accept it if his team's front office made his writing go through an editing process.
Thanks to athletes like Chad Johnson, that day may come sooner rather than later.
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Thanks to Chris Chase at Yahoo Sports for the article.