This NFL season, I would say I’ve generally been unimpressed by NFL Twitter (I refuse to call it X), and NFL social media in general. Social media brain rot seems to continue to infest NFL discussions and narratives, and as a fan of the sport, I hate it. In instances where it is obvious satire, I can find the humor of NFL twitter to be funny. For instance, the Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald has been one of the hottest head coaching candidates this year, and it appears he will get a head coach gig here soon. In a joking effort to retain Macdonald, Ravens fans took to Twitter to accuse Macdonald of numerous minor offenses, such as “giving out baby carrots on Halloween,” “leaving his shopping carts in open spots in the parking lot,” and “stealing candy from kids.”
Obviously, these comments are satirical, and the fact that it’s obvious makes it funny. However, as of late, NFL social media has taken a weird, dark turn. It started with the Kansas City Chiefs playing the Ravens in the AFC Championship. As a Ravens fan, I was obviously rooting for the Ravens to win, as were others Ravens fans. However, my TikTok and Twitter quickly became infested with videos and posts of fans of numerous NFL teams begging Lamar and the Ravens to stop the Chiefs, going even as far to openly root for the Ravens. Seeing Steelers, Bengals, and even Patriots fans root for the Ravens makes me sick. What happened to the game I love? I never root for any of my rivals. Hell, I won’t even pull for a different team in the Super Bowl (the exception being the Commanders, I’d probably root for them if Baltimore wasn’t playing; if they win it’d make my dad happy, which I would be in support of).
Will I want one team to win more than the other? Probably. Will I beg that team to win, to the point that I am rooting for that team? No. I think that goes against real fandom. A fan of the Steelers should not like the Ravens, nor root for them. Respect and cheering are two completely different things. I don’t want Kansas City to win, but I respect what they’ve done the last few years, and it was the same with the Patriots during their run. This whole “everyone in the NFL is on the side of the Ravens” stuff was cringeworthy, and annoying from a Ravens fan. The Ravens would eventually lose, causing one of the worst social media outcries I’ve ever seen.
One post compared Patrick Mahomes to Hitler, and Tom Brady to 1940s England (for stopping Mahomes from winning two more rings). Another post showed Mickey Mouse draped in Nazi clothing standing next to Patrick Mahomes. Do the original posters seriously believe what they’re saying to be true? I have no clue. However, the fact that some in the comments seem to genuinely believe this is a level of brainrot I have never seen before. It has devolved from joking satire to comparing Patrick Mahomes to one of the worst humans to ever walk the earth. I just don’t get it, I am lost, and I’m thankful that I don’t get it. I am tired of this garbage rotting my timeline; I just want sports news, not a post comparing Patrick Mahomes and Brock Purdy to Hitler and Stalin.
Sports media was not like this, and has never been like this. Were people calling Joe Montana a terrorist in the 1980s, or Troy Aikman a fascist in the 90s? No. Because they aren’t. This kind of media is not beneficial to anyone. It provides no room for discussion, and even when it does, it makes the conversation insufferable. Social media provides an avenue for posts like these because there is no way anyone would say anything like this on TV or in person. If someone looked me in the face and genuinely said “Brock Purdy is like Stalin,” I would walk away. I would never take their opinion on sports again seriously. So many accounts on Twitter feel like this, and it seems to be spreading more and more.
Due to Elon Musk’s absurdly poor management of Twitter, anyone can purchase a verification symbol. What a great idea, right!? No, god no. It is so easy for accounts to impersonate anyone with the purchase of the verification badge. Someone can impersonate an NFL insider or reporter and very easily spread false information that people take and run with. This has always been a thing, but most of the time was done satirically and was trying to be funny, and it was funny. It would occasionally potentially get you for a little bit, until you realize it’s a fake account. However, with Elon Musk’s Twitter, people can genuinely believe the misinformation they read due to the fact that it looks like an official account. With media literacy being as bad as it has been potentially ever, this has made sports social media a living hell.
Do I somewhat feel like an old man yelling at clouds over this? Yes. However, my concern is that social media, which is an already extremely toxic environment, is going to continue to drag down the sports social media side of the scene. It is easier than ever to spread misinformation and make it believable, and with the ever expanding capabilities of AI, it’s only going to get worse. More and more, a majority of sports Twitter is becoming an insufferable place to be, and in a year from now, it’ll be even worse.