In sports, it’s usually the records or milestones, a team’s lead, a player’s playing time, or the coach’s job that are being threatened. But sometimes, fans and players get a little too carried away. Just like Redskins’ safety Brandon Meriweather, when he made public his plans to wreck opposing players’ knees.
We’re talking about the kind of threats similar to what Liam Neeson’s character in Taken uttered when talking to his daughter’s kidnappers: I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.
From fans to players to curmudgeonly owners, we present to you our list of…
10 Ludicrous Sports-Inspired Threats
1. Brandon Meriweather wants to inflict a few ACL injuries
Instead of learning his lessons after getting suspended by the NFL for one-game because of his illegal hits, Washington’s safety Brandon Meriweather taunted the league to temporarily exile him again when he issued his follow up threat.
In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Meriweather reflected his resentment to the penalty he got saying:
“I guess I’ve just got to take people’s knees out,” Meriweather said. “That’s the only way. . . . I’d hate to end a guy’s career, you know, over a rule. But I guess it’s better other people than me getting suspended for longer. . .”
He has since apologized for his comments but the damage has already been done – at least verbally. It seems he’s already started to make good on the promise.
2. Guy amuses himself by threatening to blow up Boston
One man from St. Louis appeared to channel his inner terrorist through his Twitter account during the St. Louis Cardinals-Boston Red Sox World Series match-up. Thirty-year old Bobby Metzinger, a Yankees fan, and for obvious reasons, a Red Sox hater, made references to the deadly Boston Marathon bombing, threatening to make a replay of the harrowing episode in the city.
3. Mike Tyson’s Broadway show gets the Twitter threat treatment
Iron Mike is no longer into boxing but he’s still receiving threats – not from other boxers, or from the authorities since he’s been clean for some time now, but from someone who’s no doubt a serious headcase.
Although indirectly a threat to the former undisputed heavyweight champ, Tyson’s life was put in peril when a guy tweeted his intention to replicate the fatal Aurora shooting incident by opening fire on the audience in attendance at Tyson’s one-man Broadway show.
4. Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor takes the wrong direction
It was supposed to be a friendly charity game, but when Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor went to challenge One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson and left him on the grass agonizing in pain, millions of teenage fan-girls went medieval on Twitter, all of them wanting Agbonlahor killed, mutilated, and even dismembered. Not that Agbonlahor felt terrified by such threats, but he did say he’d apologize to Tomlinson if and when they meet again.
Some of the aforementioned Tweets:
My whole timeline is full of pictures of Louis getting hurt. I’m going to kill that guy!!!!!!!! HOW DARE YOU HURT LOUIS?!
— ProudOfYouLouis:’) (@_amyloves1d) September 8, 2013
@Louis_Tomlinson Are you ok?? If he hurt you I promise that I’ll kill him!!! No one can hurt my baby!!! Grrrr!! pic.twitter.com/N6WeDKeopA
— Isa Salamanca (@isa_loves_One_D) September 8, 2013
5. Patrick Beverley’s life threatened by Thunder ball boy
Similar to Gabriel Agbonlahor’ case, some fans thought that when Houston guard Patrick Beverley inadvertently injured Thunder spitfire Russell Westbrook while going after the ball, it was a sign that his time on the face of this planet had lapsed. [sc:Other250banner ]
No one expressed this sentiment more zealously than the ball boy of Oklahoma City, who allegedly sent out venomous tweets saying he would kill Beverley for what he did to Westbrook. We say allegedly because the ball boy, Mitchell Brown, resorted to the good ole’ “I was hacked,” excuse when pressed for an explanation.
6. Cubs owner wants to take the team somewhere else
Cubs owner Tom Ricketts sent out feelers suggesting that the Chicago Cubs would no longer call the storied Wrigley Field the home of the loveable losers if his intentions of building a giant video screen (now ubiquitous to every ballpark ) weren’t pushed through.
Who knows? Having another home field for the Cubs could be the cure for the curse of the Billy goat.
7. Steve Blake misses three-point shot, deserves to be killed along with family, declare fans
Steve Blake played the hero in the Lakers’ Game 7 victory over Denver in the first round of the 2012 playoffs, scoring 19 points and sinking five triples. The confetti stopped falling for Blake when he missed a potential game-winning three-pointer in Game 2 of the second round against the Thunder.
Suddenly, Blake became the target of an overwhelming volume of hate, mostly directed to his Twitter handle. Not even his family was spared, with some fans going as far as to wish them murdered, as revealed by his wife, Kristen, who also received a lot of flak online.
8. Antonio Cromartie wants to flatten Matt Hasselbeck’s face
A couple of seasons ago, the NFL was on the brink of another lockout. Fed up with the dragging dispute between the owners and the players’ union, Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie took a break from baby-making and made some critical comments about the slow progress of the negotiations.
A few players criticized Cromartie’s musings, but it was former Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck who got the attention (and the ire) of the cornerback. Hasselbeck, through Twitter, wondered “if Cromartie even knows what the CBA stands for.” Well, Cromartie heard the comment and snapped back at the QB, threatening to deform his face:
Perhaps realizing that Cromartie isn’t one to mess with, Hasselbeck erased his original tweet and backpedaled more by posting this on his timeline:
“@A_Cromartie31 Sorry for the joke man. No hard feelings. DB’s & QB’s have a hard time getting along I guess sometimes. Lol”
9. Brandon Jacobs’ fantasy owner fantasizes about killing him and his family
In the olden days, people threatened each other’s lives over matters like land ownership, politics, finance — you get the idea. These days, with the convenient cloak of social media, anyone can unleash these kinds of grave threats, sometimes over matters as mundane as, you know, fantasy football.
Giants RB Brandon Jacobs got a taste of this when some nutcase who drafted him to his fantasy team thought that saying that he would kill him and his family would motivate the 6′ 4″, 264 lbs Jacobs to produce the stats he so desired.
10. Mike Tyson will eat your kids
During his physical prime, Mike Tyson was the kind of beast that, when you heard him talking about ripping another man’s heart out and eating his children, you would find it hard not to take it metaphorically.
In one of his most infamous eruptions, the former baddest man on the planet unleashed a diatribe that could have made Hannibal Lecter’s knees wobble:
“I was gonna rip his heart out. I’m the best ever. I’m the most brutal and vicious, the most ruthless champion there has ever been. No one can stop me. Lennox is a conqueror? No! He’s no Alexander! I’m Alexander! I’m the best ever. I’m Sonny Liston. I’m Jack Dempsey. There’s never been anyone like me. I’m from their cloth. There is no one who can match me. My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable, and I’m the ferocious. I want his heart! I want to eat his children! Praise be to Allah!”
[sc:Other490banner ]
Do you know of any other sports-related threats that can challenge any on this list? Let your friends know about it. Share this on your Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus.
