The biggest Twitter beefs in professional sports
Twitter has given athletes the ability to interact with anyone at instant speed. Unfortunately for them, Twitter is a two-way street and some athletes have been drawn into some online fights - often of their own making - with regular folks, celebrities and even other athletes. Most of these fights are honestly a little dumb. Some are great. And due to the nature of the medium, they are all seen by anyone with an internet connection (a fact that MUST escape some athletes, judging by how they react to trolls). Here are some of the most amusing and terrifying sports Twitter fights in the rich history of the medium*.
*Twitter is eight years old.
Bernard Berrian vs. State Representative John Kriesel
Back in 2011, State Rep. John Kriesel was tweeting his displeasure with the Minnesota Vikings following the team's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota's 0-4 start to the season. During his online venting session, Kriesel drew the ire of Bernard Berrian, who tweeted back at Kriesel that he should "sit down n shut up." One big problem with that: Kriesal is an Iraq War veteran who lost both his legs while serving overseas. The two exchanged phone messages and no ill-will was maintained on either side.
Richard Sherman vs. Darrelle Revis
Richard Sherman isn't exactly known for being a quiet individual on or off the field. Still, the fact that he was able to get under the usually even-keeled Darrelle Revis's skin speaks volumes. The beef between the two shutdown cornerbacks happened in 2013, after a 2012 season in which Sherman was starting to gain acclaim as one of the best (if not the best) cornerbacks in the NFL, while Revis was sidelined with a torn ACL. The ensuing spat between featured more ego defending than a typical rap diss track:
Darnell Dockett vs AJ McCarron
In January of 2013, Darnell Dockett made it known on Twitter that he fancied Miss Alabama Katherine Webb and offered to take her to WingStop and King of Diamond (a gentleman's club):
Unfortunately, Webb's boyfriend - and now husband - AJ McCarron was among the many who saw Dockett's tweet to Webb. He put Dockett on blast for his embarrassing Twitter faux pas. Although, like so many Twitter slapfights, neither man ended up looking particularly good in the end:
Dwight Howard vs. Brittni
If there is one thing that the world learned from Dwight Howard's Twitter spat with Brittni, it's DON'T GET IN A TWITTER SPAT WITH BRITTNI.
Howard was shooting off replies to random followers during the 2013 offseason, and when one follower suggested that Howard should have stayed with the Lakers, Dwight responded by telling the fan to "let it go. No need to dwell on the past".
Brittni had opinions about this:
Amazingly enough, Howard responded with a zinger of his own:
But he was just out of his depth:
Still waiting for a response from Howard on that one.
Aaron Rodgers vs Todd Sutton
Back in 2013, Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun was suspended for violating MLB's drug use policy, and his good friend Aaron Rodgers ended up suffering a small amount of humiliation due to a Twitter bet he made in 2012.
Following Braun's successful appeal against MLB in 2012, Rodgers tweeted his support of the ruling, which Twitter user Todd Sutton found to be ridiculous:
Rodgers was so confident in Braun's innocence that he laid down a huge bet on it:
Oops.
Mark Cuban vs. Donald Trump
A tweet war between Mark Cuban and Donald Trump has no winners. We all lose. That didn't stop the Dallas Mavericks owner and the billionaire reality TV show host from getting into a Twitter war over President Obama's birth certificate.
In late 2012, Donald Trump offered to donate $5 million to charity if President Barack Obama disclosed his college transcripts and U.S. passports. This caused Mark Cuban to then offer $1 million to charity if Donald Trump shaved his hair.
Trump was not amused:
Cuban responded with the following remark (which has since been deleted), referencing President Obama's own response to Trump's offer:
Come on@realdonaldtrump ,you need to do better with the insults.This reminds me of when I used to pick on you when we were kids in Kenya.
Mark Cuban vs Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant doesn't forgive, and he doesn't forget. So, when Mark Cuban suggested that it might have been wise for the Lakers to amnesty Kobe Bryant's contract in 2013, you can be sure that the Black Mamba took notice. And as luck would have it, the Lakers played the Mavs just days after Cuban made his comments.
The Lakers won the game 103-99 and Bryant ended up scoring 38 points during the game. Afterwards, he only had two words to say:
Cuban tried (and failed) to have the coolest last word on the matter:
Nice to know there is a least one team and their players, outside of the Mavs, that listen to everything I say.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 24, 2013
But I do have to give props to @kobebryant for a great tweet. #Welldone.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 24, 2013
Mark Cuban recently spoke out again on the issue, with his typical eloquence.
Kevin Durant vs Lil' B
The Twitter beef to end all Twitter beefs. In 2011, Kevin Durant dared to question the talents of rapper Lil' B, stating on Twitter "I tried to listen to Lil B and my mind wouldn't let me do it...can't believe this guy is relevant".
Lil' B harnessed all the power of the Based God to put a curse on KD for daring to question his rapping or his relevancy:
And while Lil' B briefly called a short cease-fire on "The BasedGods Curse," (which, side-note, should be the title of the new Indiana Jones movie) he has since put out several more tweetscursing out Durant (language NSFW), and he even madea (NSFW) music video dissing Durant.
All because of one tweet that KD made three years ago. As a side note, Durant has not won a championship since he had the Based God Curse placed on him and he's currently rehabbing from a fractured foot. So, yeah. It might not be wise to draw the ire of Lil' B or the Based God Curse.
Ryan Wong is a writer for Next Impulse Sports
