BleedGopher
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While we all have fans that get way too personal and are more critical of college kids than need be at times, our fan base is nothing compared to many fan bases. We are a very tame bunch, which I'm grateful for. This column from the lead reporter on the Winston case from the Tampa Bay Times chronicles what he went through while covering the case for 15 months:
For my role in reopening a dormant investigation, Florida State fans wanted me to die of brain-eating cancer and in a car crash on my way home. They told me to jump off a bridge and get hit by a truck. They suggested I get intimate with a monkey infected with AIDS.
Fans bombarded my phone with more than 100 calls over a couple of weeks. I answered almost every one, never knowing if it was a legitimate tip or a prank some troll would illegally record to laugh at online.
My phone number showed up in a gay personal ad on Craigslist next to a picture of a chiseled man wearing only boxer shorts and a Santa hat. One late-night response included a photo of a stranger's penis.
And it got worse.
I was covering a high school football game one night when a Twitter post popped up on my phone:
You're a marked man … Say goodbye.
My wife started worrying about me at home, so she reported it to the police and the FBI.
She spent that night combing through message boards, looking for other threats. Buried in the hundreds of vicious comments, she found a photo someone posted of the two of us. One of the trolls said our future children would be ugly.
When I called her on the drive home, she was in tears.
I didn't know what to say.
http://www.tampabay.com/features/hu...d-me-the-pain-of-covering-the-scandal/2219244
Go Gophers!!
For my role in reopening a dormant investigation, Florida State fans wanted me to die of brain-eating cancer and in a car crash on my way home. They told me to jump off a bridge and get hit by a truck. They suggested I get intimate with a monkey infected with AIDS.
Fans bombarded my phone with more than 100 calls over a couple of weeks. I answered almost every one, never knowing if it was a legitimate tip or a prank some troll would illegally record to laugh at online.
My phone number showed up in a gay personal ad on Craigslist next to a picture of a chiseled man wearing only boxer shorts and a Santa hat. One late-night response included a photo of a stranger's penis.
And it got worse.
I was covering a high school football game one night when a Twitter post popped up on my phone:
You're a marked man … Say goodbye.
My wife started worrying about me at home, so she reported it to the police and the FBI.
She spent that night combing through message boards, looking for other threats. Buried in the hundreds of vicious comments, she found a photo someone posted of the two of us. One of the trolls said our future children would be ugly.
When I called her on the drive home, she was in tears.
I didn't know what to say.
http://www.tampabay.com/features/hu...d-me-the-pain-of-covering-the-scandal/2219244
Go Gophers!!