By: Martin Rand, III
Date: January 24, 2012
If you haven't heard by now, the New York Giants have beaten the San Francisco 49ers in a thrilling overtime game 20-17.While Eli Manning, Victor Cruz and the rest of the offense played nearly flawless and Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul and the rest of the defense played very well (only giving up two huge touchdown plays), majority of the sports world seems to think the reason the Giants are going to the Superbowl is because of 49ers wide receiver/punt returner Kyle Williams.
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| Kyle Williams (above #10) trying to block out the crowd noise after a hard day on the job. However, I don't think it is going to be that easy to block out the fans on Twitter. |
You don't believe me when I say almost everyone blamed Williams for the Giants victory. Just look on Twitter. The tweets that were being sent out Sunday night were numerous and continued on until through Monday night; and all of them said pretty much the same thing-- YOU SUCK!!! (for 49er fans) and THANK YOU!!! (for Giant fans).
More Than Just A Game
Now, I read through a lot the mentions about Williams and some were actually hilarious and creative for the moment. However, others were a little shocking to say the least.
The thing I found most interesting was other people tweeting the fans that were threatening Williams were taking things a little too far. They said it was just a game and shouldn't be taken that seriously.
I'm sorry to say but sports it's not just a game. Not in the United States of America anyway. Not when more people pay attention to their fantasy football team than to the presidential candidates and their particular platform.
No sports, the NFL in especially, is a lucrative business; where there's a lot of money riding on the players shoulder's. From the owners down to the gambling fans, fair or not, there's a lot of other people's money riding on the performance of the players; and, when a player performs as horribly as Williams did, some people get money taken out of their pocket.
Sometimes Emotions Get In The Way
Even for the fans who are non-gamblers, the game can still mean a lot. Those true die-hard 49er fans, who live-and-die with every play, literally do live-and-die with every play. I know because I'm the same way.
Whenever my Yankees, Knicks or Giants are playing, I go through emotional roller-coasters, especially during playoff games. For every ounce of happiness I felt when Williams fumbled the ball, 49er fans felt an once of heartbreak and loss. Some of those tweets were from people who were grieving because they realize that their season is over and they came so close.
Of course, the main culprit behind the end of the 49ers' season is Williams. No matter what any of his teammates say to the media they know, like we all know, without those two fumbles, the 49ers have a much better chance at winning that game. The picture below sums up how Williams' teammates really feel about him. Look at how Vernon Davis (with the helmet on) and Michael Crabtree (#15) are looking at Williams. You can't tell me they ain't thinking some of the things people were tweeting.
I'm not saying what the people were tweeting was right or wrong. All I'm saying is people should understand where the anger comes from and not jumped on people for their tweets and act like they have no connection to what's going on on the field. In this time of social media,it's so easy to express yourself at any given moment that sometimes those hurt feelings come out in a very hateful way.
To see both Williams' turnovers go to Pyrate TV.
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