actual people with family/parents that are playing football for us to watch as entertainment. BYU did a promo to start the season where the parents were featured and it got me thinking quite a bit about what I say online about players and then this issue with the Ute fan really hit it home for me again.
If I wouldn't be comfortable saying something to a player in a face-to-face conversation, I should probably re-think what I saying about them on Twitter or CB or wherever. Unless it is 100% positive, I don't see any reason at all to ever under any circumstances tag a player or DM a player on Twitter even if I think the criticism is justified. I think it is really easy to sometimes lose sight of that in the heat of the moment, especially regarding sports and politics and especially when you can create anonymous account. This Ute fan clearly took it waaaaaay too far with what he said and took it even a step further by sending him a DM, but the same lesson can be learned from it in all interactions online.