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Whenever a team struggles, fans are going to act in a certain way. In the digital age we live in, especially in December when fantasy football playoffs take place, fans are quick to share their outrage—specifically calling out players on social media with their at.
On Monday, San Francisco 49ers running back Raheem Mostert had enough:
People really think they’re ‘big and bad’ with these Twitter fingers.
— Raheem Mostert (@RMos_8Ball) December 21, 2020
Do you really think players get hurt on purpose?!! Like we want to spend MONTHS in rehab NOT doing what we love?
— Raheem Mostert (@RMos_8Ball) December 21, 2020
The disrespect is out of control.
— Raheem Mostert (@RMos_8Ball) December 21, 2020
And for the millionth time, PLAYERS DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR FANTASY FOOTBALL TEAM. This is our real life.
— Raheem Mostert (@RMos_8Ball) December 21, 2020
Bottom line is — BE RESPECTFUL TO EVERYONE. Always. Disrespect gets you NOWHERE.
— Raheem Mostert (@RMos_8Ball) December 21, 2020
On the one hand, there’s an argument saying, “if I’m a professional athlete, I won’t look at my mentions.” That’s ignoring the human element. Also, we have no about the position these athletes are in because we’ve never been in that situation ourselves. If someone was talking about you, the odds you’d reply are high. If the replies got to the point of disrespect, and those replies were pouring in, then you’d react as Mostert did.
If a player that you played in your fantasy football league didn’t perform well, isn’t that on you for misunderstanding his projection? In Mostert’s case, you have to ignore everything you’ve seen from the 49ers this season (injuries, splitting carries, Jeff Wilson Jr. being the third-down/goal-line back) if you’re upset about Sunday’s outcome. This is why my bold prediction was Mostert running for 120 yards. It hasn’t happened all season.
Lashing out at a player because he did not perform to your expectations is insane behavior and the reason athletes look at fans in the manner they do. How do you feel about this topic? Should athletes ignore the backlash, or should they be allowed to make the type of statement that Mostert did?