"Know that you're not your mistakes." You've probably heard that coddling, prideful phrase before from elders or wise loved ones in your life. They didn't sing life into it though. This year, it's been re-polished and reverberated out into the mainstream through Kanye's performance of the line in "Only One." I open with this, because of all the "things" here, know that I've been guilty of posting some of them online. (More on that later.) The sports fan I am today is trying to leave a handful of habits in the past. It's time for a spring-time cache scrubbing of my digital sports soul.
This isn’t all about me though. No, we’re all in this together. When you describe sports fan culture today, much of what immediately comes to mind is based on online interactions between your fellow fan. Your opinion of [insert hated fanbase here] fans may be shaped by some interpersonal experiences, but more likely than not, social media posts and comments sections have done their damage in affirming that yes, sports fans living in Los Angeles, Miami, and Philadelphia are the worst. We're informed by an ever-expanding spectrum, only limited to how much your eyes can take.
While you scroll/swipe/read through this list, you’ll find a few things that you’ve done in the past, or still do to this day. It’s alright—no judgments here. You’re not your mistakes; you know that, Kanye knows that, and ostensibly, Complex knows that. We can move forward into a more enlightened and refreshing age of sports social media by trimming dead ends. Don’t get left behind posting basic yesterday shit. These are 20 Things Sports Fans Need to Stop Posting Online.
Videos of jerseys on fire.
Fake retweets and fake reports from fake sports news accounts.
Tweets at athletes asking for a birthday shoutout and/or follow.
Videos of their kids crying over a player trade.
Videos of themselves crying over a player trade.
Pictures of athlete-inspired haircuts.
Tweets at analysts after failed predictions.
So about that post…While it was fun flaming Bill Simmons for his draft analysis, I don't believe we've done any similar posts since. Tweets like these though:
@DesmondHoward So far your prediction is wrong. Go Oregon!
— Kaner (@TuranskiAlex) November 30, 2014
I’m sure Desmond Howard is dying over this.
Ugly-looking homemade jerseys.
Anything at Curt Schilling.
Videos of Gronk twerking.
Anything related to their fantasy team.
*crickets*
I tweet about my fantasy teams, but I'm gonna work to stop it. It'll be hard—I think about fantasy sports way too much, but like you've never complained or dished out on something online that you knew nobody would care about. Sometimes you just gotta throw shit into the wind even if it's a guaranteed brick. It's a selfish brick, but it keeps you grounded. I know that the most uninteresting thing in a sport fan's life is another sports fan's fantasy team. You know this, too. Let's move forward together.
A-Gon helping out my fantasy team early on in the season.
— Frank (@FrankTheTank813) April 9, 2015
Just stop it.
Tweets at athletes with a fan's two cents on their personal decisions.
Tattoos predicting championships for their team.
Stupid trick shot videos.
Instant written descriptions of plays just seen on TV.
Just Vine it, bro.