Griffin Johnston, 4th period, Alabama kicker receives death threats via twitter for missing three field goals in loss to Auburn

            Bernie Augustine, writing for the New York times, reports on the barrage of hateful tweets the Alabama starting kicker received for missing the three field goals in their loss to Alabama Saturday, November 30. Multiple tweets included death threats towards the kicker, in addition to insulting messages filled with four letter words. Alabama, was ranked the number one football college football team in the nation for most of the 2013 season until their loss to Auburn Saturday night. The game came down to the last seconds with a 56-yard field goal attempt by Alabama. The starting kicker, Cade Foster, who had missed the three previous field goal attempts, had been taken out and replaced by a freshman kicker. With Alabama’s loss to Auburn, they also lose their chances at playing in the National Championship.

            With the countless amounts of money and expenditures associated with college and professional sports in America (and the world) as well as the massive popularity and spectators of these sports (especially football), we sometimes lose sight of what is most important in these sporting events. People have lofty expectations, and when those expectations are not realized, anger and, in this case, hate, can sometimes enter in on our thoughts, words, and actions (and tweets). Also these people who tweeted these horrible messages are ignorant to the immense pressure put on the players in this game. Games are meant to be fun to both play and watch and, while competiveness and the drive to achieve in these games and sports makes them even more enjoyable, the desire to win should not overmaster our thoughts. Everyone makes mistakes and Cade Foster’s mistakes in this game were, fortunately, trivial and minor in the grand scheme of his life. Moreover, his three field goal misses could be the best thing to ever happen to him in his career, for it is through our struggles that we are made better. Lastly it is encouraging to hear that the Foster’s teammates and other fans have made a Facebook page in support of Cade Fosters.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/irate-fans-hurl-death-threats-bama-kicker-article-1.1534107