When I was a kid, I hated the Pittsburgh Steelers. I still do to a certain extent. They always seem to beat the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns, sometimes in the most heartbreaking ways imaginable.
I remember when Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger came very close to losing his own life in June of 2006 when he was involved in an ugly motorcycle accident.
Luckily, Roethlisberger survived the crash, but I was not about to send my condolences to the quarterback of the Steelers. I was mad that he didn’t die that day. I thought with Roethlisberger out of the picture, maybe the Bengals and the Browns could finally break through and win a championship.
I realize now that comments such as those are insensitive. Wishing death upon someone is cold and heartless. I could use the “excuse” that I was young and didn’t know any better, but, nevertheless, I accept the fact that I used a very poor choice of words.
Apparently, I’m not the only one who wishes death to well-known athletes. Last weekend, Scott Torgerson, host of the popular sports talk radio show “Common Man and the Torg” here in Columbus, made a similar comment.
Torgerson, who professes his Buckeye fandom on a daily basis, along with his extreme distaste for everything involving the Michigan Wolverines, tweeted this about former Heisman trophy winner and current ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard:
“I wish Desmond Howard would get fired or die so I can watch Gameday again.”
Now, I know that Ohioans, fans of the Scarlet and Gray, are bred to hate that School up North. Lord knows that image of Howard striking the Heisman pose against the Buckeyes makes any Ohio State fan cringe.
However, there is a fine line between being passionate and letting that passion overtake you. That is what happened to Torgerson.
He deleted the tweet and apologized for his comment, tweeting, “My Desmond Howard tweet was a joke. I think if you listen to the show you know that. My apologies to those who took it seriously. Total Joke.”
My question to Torgerson is this: How is wishing someone would die a joke? I recently went to the funeral of the brother of one of my best friends from high school. Believe me, death is no laughing matter.
Since this infamous tweet, Torgerson has been suspended from the airwaves indefinitely.
The lesson to take from this is do not let your fandom cloud your overall judgment as a human being.
There is more to life than spending every waking moment hating someone just because they beat your favorite team. I learned this lesson when I was young. Unfortunately, there are some people in this world like Torgerson who didn’t get the message until it was too late.
Think before you say it. Think before you tweet it. Think before it is too late to fix.
