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The high stakes world of sports can bring out very strong emotions in otherwise totally level-headed people. Combine those wild emotional swings with the immediacy of the Internet and you often wind up with a very enjoyable collection of irrational reactions forever preserved in screen grabs. Fair or not, fans have always gotten away with acting like total lunatics. The guys who actually win or lose, however, don't get quite as much leeway. Here's a collection of our favorite moments of athletes, owners and even the team publicists acting just like the rest of us do when we're watching the game in our underwear on the couch.
Bill Johnston
Director of Public Relations, San Diego ChargersAfter the San Diego Chargers blew a 24-point halftime lead to lose by double digits at home to the Denver Broncos, Chargers fans weren't necessarily thrilled. Provoked by such outrageous declarations as, "Bye, bye Chargers. Put a fork in them." Johnston wrote a grandma-like scold directed at all Chargers fans urging them to take a "chill pill" and wait to see how the rest of the season plays out.
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Nameless Kansas City Chiefs employee
After the Chiefs lost their season opener, fan Travis Wright tweeted his unhappiness with the team's unwillingness to spend money on better players. While most of these seemingly innocuous comments usually go ignored, this particular tweet somehow earned a DM from the team's official Twitter account telling Wright to "get a clue." Then they blocked him.
That was a mistake.
Wright works in social media in Silicon Valley and actually has more followers than the team does. He posted his interaction on Reddit and the story went viral, exposing the Chiefs as an NFL franchise petty enough to respond to individual negative tweets. The team later posted an apology. With Brady Quinn taking over at quarterback, there are probably more where that came from.
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Jamie Ramsey
Assistant Director of Media Relations, Cincinnati RedsIn August of this season, the Reds were finishing up their fourth consecutive loss when Ramsey had heard enough from the teams' fans on Twitter. Things escalated from Ramsey defending manager Dusty Baker's pitching decisions to sending DM's threatening to kick individual fan asses. Ramsey briefly terminated his account after his threatening DM was exposed, only to reopen the handle again and continue updating his feed with far less threatening tweets.
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Amare Stoudemire
Forward, New York KnicksIn June of this year, a Knicks fan directed a tweet at Stoudemire asking him to "make up for this past season." Using one f-bomb and one homophobic slur, Stoudemire not so kindly told this fan he did not agree. The foul DM was posted online and Stoudemire got hit with a $50,000 fine. Stoudemire later sent another DM, this time apologizing for his crude behavior explaining that he'd had a long plane ride to think it over and realized now that he may have overreacted ever so slightly.
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Randall Cobb
Wide receiver, Kentucky WildcatsIn 2010, receiver Randall Cobb helped Kentucky pull off a rather shocking upset of South Carolina. Insead of reveling in this huge victory, Cobb took to Twitter post-game to call out the school's fans for not showing up on time and caring too much about basketball. Cobb almost immediately ran to the local paper to apologize and smooth everything over.
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Robert Henson
Linebacker, Washington RedskinsLittle used linebacker Henson blew up when hometown fans booed the team for its lackluster 9-7 win over the St. Louis Rams in 2009. Henson told the fans that he disliked them strongly, called them dim wits and then explained that he knows more than they do because they probably work 9 to 5 at McDonalds. Henson didn't play another snap in the NFL after 2009 but he still tweets quite frequently, so he's got that going for him.
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Jim Irsay
Owner, Indianapolis ColtsLeading up to the 2012 NFL Draft when Jim Irsay was keeping quiet about any big trades on the horizon, the Colts' owner was starting to hear it from fans about his secrecy. That's when Irsay decided to unleash a stream of consciousness tweet rampage taunting fans with his track record and daring them to buy their own team if they don't like how he operates. The Colts wound up with Luck and look to be rebounding well from last year's debacle, so maybe the fans should continue to let Irsay run the team from his high horse.
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Arian Foster
Running back, Houston TexansWhen Foster saw sparse playing time in the 2011 pre-season, fantasy football players spread worry throughout the Internet. Foster caught wind of these concerns and took to Twitter to voice his displeasure with the fans' main concern: his fantasy status. After calling out his fans as "sick" "ppl," Foster scaled back his thoughts by saying that he only puts out positive energy despite all of the negative thoughts directed towards him. Foster still ended with over 1,200 rushing yards and 12 total TDs, so this was all a big deal over nothing.
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DeAngelo Williams
Running back, Carolina PanthersAfter a six carry, six yard performance in a Week 5 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, DeAngelo Williams got buried in criticism from fantasy owners around the country. When he reached his breaking point from all the Twitter hate, Williams resorted to the best insult in the books for a pro athlete: you can't do what I can do. (Although, honestly, six yards doesn't seem all that hard.)
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10 of 10Next: 20 Hilariously Inappropriate Tweets
LeBron James
Forward, Miami HeatThere was also the King, who responded to...well, just about everyone in the universe after he switched over to the Heat in the summer of 2010. To be honest, it's hard to blame LeBron here because he was being hounded by openly racist tweets. Besides, he got his revenge just how he wanted to, on the court, winning last year's title and making him even more hated. See? Everyone wins!