People are jerks · Sports

Kicker who missed FG goes on national TV to the ire of sports bros

Bob CollinsBob Collins Jan 11, 2019
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Cody Parkey missed a field goal (officially a blocked kick) on Sunday night that would have sent his team deeper into the NFL playoffs, and people wanted him dead. They literally wanted him to die.

See?

Well, good for you, champ.

And it’s rough when even buildings, which, like some football fans, are incapable of brain function, are on your case, too.

Heidi Stevens, the Chicago Tribune sports columnist, says she showed her kids some of the hateful tweets, grateful for a teaching moment.

I showed my kids a couple of the cruel tweets. I asked them how they thought it would feel, after a so-so performance, if people piled on and called them names and threatened them. I told them how I would feel if people did that to me every time I made a mistake at work.

We talked about how pro athletes — despite giant paychecks and enviable endorsements and the (fickle) adoration of millions — are humans first. And no game is grounds for threatening or abusing a fellow human.

(I also showed them the tweets saying your team’s offense didn’t do you any favors by only putting up 15 points the rest of the game — 9 of which you scored. A nice reminder that every moment of a game counts, not just the final moment.)

I realize all of this, if you’re even seeing it, is cold comfort. Who wants to be a teaching moment instead of a Super Bowl champ? Nobody.

But as long as I’m raising sports-obsessed kids, I’m going to be searching deep and wide for the instructions we can glean from the triumphs and defeats and all the layers therein.

Today, Parkey went on TV for his first interview since Sunday night.

“Football is what I do. It’s not who I am,” he said.

For too many football fans, football is who they are.

Who’s leading the knuckleheads? Sports broadcasters and sports bloggers. Big shock, I know.