Sports are never serious enough to threaten someone’s life over. There’s absolutely no place for that in any of this.
Ohio State’s upset loss in the tournament to Oral Robert’s Golden Eagles on Friday in a close game 75-72. Ohio State was the obvious betting favorite as the 2 seed. They beat this team nine times out of 10 — the exception just so happened to play out on Friday.
And that’s fine! Such is the nature of the tournament. A lot of this is random. These are amateur athletes playing in a bubble in the middle of the pandemic. There are so many more important things going on in the world right now.
Yet, some fans still felt it was necessary to send death threats to Ohio State star forward E.J. Liddell after the loss.
It got so bad that Ohio State AD Gene Smith had to come out and defend his player.
I will support our student-athletes in and out of competition!
I have nothing but love and respect for E.J. He epitomizes all that we hope for in our student-athletes. pic.twitter.com/BxejMWvo1x
— Gene Smith (@OSU_AD) March 20, 2021
“The threatening social media attack E.J. Liddell faced after the game yesterday is appalling and will not be tolerated. To the few of you who have chosen to inappropriately rail against our players on social media, stop. Hate and derision have no place in Buckeye nation or in civil society. If you cross the line and threaten our players, you will be hearing from the authorities. That I promise you…I have nothing but love and respect for E.J. He epitomizes all that we hope for in our student athletes.”
It’s a shame that Smith even had to make this statement. It’s an even bigger shame that fans think it’s OK to send anyone — let alone an amateur athlete — death threats.
Liddell and the other athletes on the team put their health at risk by participating in this tournament in the middle of a pandemic and this is the thanks they get.
This is shameful. It has no place in sports. And if people are going to act this way after one silly loss, then we don’t really deserve sports at all.
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