Once in a while I like to take a step back and remind myself and anyone listening that this world has a lot to offer. So many things can and should give inspire us — love, sex, money, food, travel, work, music, cinema, physical exercise, and of course sports. Some of us can’t get enough of all of that, some have other vices, some only one or two. But although work and sports are one in the same for me, I make sure I spend time honing myself on the rest of life’s passions.
That’s gotta be important, right? Because if we put all of our eggs into just one avocational interest, we risk hitting rock bottom if that particular interest crashes on us. Better to diversify your areas of interest in order to avoid feeling the need to threaten the life of a 25-year-old for making one mistake in one game.
That’s what happened to former Green Bay Packers tight end Brandon Bostick after he botched an onside kick recovery against the Seattle Seahawks in a January playoff game, according to Bostick himself. Here’s what he wrote for The MMQB:
I knew it was a big deal. I knew it was a key mistake that cost us a trip to the Super Bowl. But, with all due respect, I think the media kind of took it and ran with it. I became the singular scapegoat. Social media didn’t help, either. I don’t know how many death threats I received, but there have been a lot. I still haven’t read most of the messages that people sent me, but I want to so I can deal with the consequences and use it as motivation. But it is physically impossible for me to read every troll’s comment; the volume is simply too much. So their comments sit there, untouched, maybe forever.
First, good for Bostick. It’s amazing what folks will say without looking you in the eye. Trolls hiding behind their keyboards don’t deserve acknowledgement. Working in media and dealing with fans the last seven years, I’ve come to realize that — sadly — a large faction of those who follow the world of sports are filled with hate. They’ll pick you apart in vitriolic and malicious fashion for no other reason than to feel better about their oft-pathetic lives. Ignoring them is the right thing to do.
The reality is Bostick isn’t the reason the Packers blew that game. Head coach Mike McCarthy deserves the brunt of the blame, and a few other characters played a role. His misplay didn’t cost the Packers their entire 16-point second-half lead. He’s a goat for mishandling Seattle’s onside kick in the final minutes, but not for attempting to catch it. Yes, Bostick dove in front of wide receiver Jordy Nelson, but don’t tell me there was another option in that moment. Hindsight is one thing, but the ball was coming right at Bostick, as were 11 Seahawks players. Did anyone really expect him to just assume Nelson was in perfect position and move out of the way?
Still, as Bostick notes, he felt upon his release that “a lot of people in the organization couldn’t live with me being there.” I actually get that. Regardless of where the majority of the blame should lie, he’s an easy scapegoat and is now permanently attached to that ugly collapse. He probably needed a fresh start, and so did the team.
What I don’t get is how anyone could be so obsessed with a sports team’s results that they could threaten a young man’s life over a lost game. We in the media frequently praise die-hard fans in the same way hard-working men and women are lauded in pop culture and literature. The good guys are the grinders who live to work rather than work to live, often at the expense of their families, and wildly fanatical sports lovers are almost always lovable when propped up in front of cameras for segments on ESPN NFL Countdown. But what does that say about which priorities we value? In fact, it indicates to me that we inexplicably worship those with inherently screwy priorities.
This isn’t the first instance of fans making death threats, and it won’t be the last. Until certain people wake up and realize that there’s more to life than football, they’ll find it appropriate to associate the sport and its biggest moments with life and death.
