10 Times Athletes Mixed It Up with Social Media Trolls

I recently saw a tweet that said basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley will never get on social media because he doesn't, "want to talk to idiots."

Ah, yes, classic Chuck.

The problem with Barkley's proclamation, though? Well, it's that other athletes aren't following his lead, as players continue to do stupid things on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to bring bad publicity to themselves byway of Internet wars.

Yes, I'm talking about responding to trolls—and you know the type of people I'm referring to.

They always seem to have an opinion, usually snarky and depressing, with the main object of their posts to get a reaction. They're like the instigator on the playground as a kid, not wanting to get hit, but wanting to get noticed.

And since so many pro athletes get caught up in responding to these people, I figured I would give a few instances in which the player should have just brushed things aside and avoided hitting the send button.

10. Kobe Bryant

I'm a big Kobe Bryant fan, but seeing him complain about defender Dahntay Jones undercutting him in the spring of 2013, leaving the Black Mamba with an injured leg, is a little bit much.

And with Bryant screaming to anyone who would listen that the play was both dirty and unnecessary in the game, he let down his guard by responding to at least one troll on Twitter, who argued Kobe kicked his leg out and the injury was just a freak accident.

Kobe, to say the least, respectfully disagreed, saying that anyone with half a brain could see that Jones was trying to injure him.

Even after Jones has apologized a number of times, the L.A. Lakers star isn't dropping it, sticking by his side of the story that it was the defender at fault.

Isn't this what Twitter was made for, to solve debates like this?

9. Paul Bissonnette

Although Paul Bissonnette isn't in the NHL right now, he still remains to be one of the most outlandish athletes on social media, often tweeting or posting pictures of him partying and hanging with a bunch of hotties.

But the man they call "Biz Nasty" isn't about letting anyone say whatever they want to about him, especially when it's done on Twitter.

Often attacking Bissonnette mercifully—especially when it came to "your mom" jokes—user @MattHoagie found out that the hockey player wasn't just an enforcer on the ice, as the player laid down the law by replying back with a few digs at the guy.

But after the player found out that this certain troll had been canned by his old job for stealing merchandise from the store he worked at, he tweeted out the link to get the last laugh and one final burn in.

It looks like there was just bad karma for @MattHoagie, who deleted his account shortly thereafter.

8. Colin Kaepernick

We all know that it's never a wise move to give an athlete bulletin board material, but such motivation comes from an opposing team or player, not trolls on Twitter.

But for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, he saw the power of Twitter hate when, after a loss to the Indianapolis Colts in 2013, fans lashed out about his play, claiming how bad he was and how they wish the team would have kept former starter Alex Smith, instead.

Rather than reply to all the tweets, though, Kaep favorited all the ones he found to be the most distasteful, no doubt making both a mental and digital note for himself to play with a chip on his shoulder to shut these types of people up.

7. Amare Stoudemire

Other than a few games early on in his New York Knicks career, it has been tough sledding for former All-Star Amare Stoudemire in the Big Apple.

Battling both injury and inconsistency, the forward has been a shell of his former self, when he was explosive and lethal in the post for the Phoenix Suns.

And, unfortunately, a few Knicks fans have taken notice.

After getting tweeted by some kid demanding that Amare come back strong, the baller responded with a direct message to the poor dude in which he used a, not so nice, slur.

For his actions, Stoudemire was fined $50,000 by the league, begging the question: Was it really worth it, or more, necessary?

6. Brandon McCarthy

No matter if you're in the mob, a drug lord somewhere or a professional athlete troll on Twitter, it's almost an unwritten rule to never attack someone's family.

It's not that it's just disrespectful, but it's also not their fight to be fought, as they, in most cases, have no cards in the hand.

So when Twitter user @TheRealCVerde tweeted to MLB pitcher Brandon McCarthy that he would, "rail his wife," the hurler didn't exactly let that one slide into the Interwebs to be forgotten about.

Instead, McCarthy attempted a serious burn on the troll, hoping that it would shut the guy up for good.

Who knows if it worked or not, but at least B-Mac was standing up for his lady. You know what they say, happy wife = happy life, so good work by Brandon.

5. Johnny Manziel

After being chosen by the Cleveland Browns with the 22nd overall pick in this past year's NFL draft, polarizing quarterback Johnny Manziel appeared to say and do all the right things—until he went wheels up for a trip to Las Vegas during rookie minicamps.

Seen partying with, who else, a lot of attractive women around a lot of booze, Johnny Football's persona followed him to Sin City for a weekend of wildness.

Hell, he even posed for pics with New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, not only causing a storm of controversy for the first-year player, but also sending minds running at the debauchery the two party animals got into together.

There were even photos that surfaced of Manziel holding a rolled bill in a bathroom, which, for you squares out there, typically goes with snorting something up one's nose.

Rather than ignore it and talk to his bosses about nothing happening, Manziel responded, in kind, to those who were talking about it, simply posting a photo he took on his flight back that included some headphones and the Browns' playbook, with the message, "Guess it's impossible to enjoy the weekend and study?"

It's probably best for Manziel to just sit back on these types of things, rather than bring more attention to it with posts like this.

4. Roddy White

We probably all remember that time earlier this year that Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White bet a fan on Twitter he would hook him up with tickets if Mercer would beat Duke in the NCAA tournament, right?

Well, that wasn't the only time that White got mixed up in the wrong Twitter crowd, because he responded to some fantasy football hate after a game last year against the New Orleans Saints.

After missing practice in the week leading up to the game, White went out and really dropped the ball—not that it was being thrown to him, though—as he finished the game with just two catches for 19 yards.

That prompted him to give his opinions on what he thinks team managers should do in fantasy, which a few players have done before.

Seeing how I had White on my team last season, I wouldn't be surprised if I tweeted something nasty to him, so his response probably hit me a little harder than others who would read it.

3. Lee Westwood

It seems like English golfer Lee Westwood is always the groomsman but never the groom—if there is such a thing.

Although he's just ranked No. 42 in the world right now, Westy has had a solid career that has included top-three finishes at all four major championships, yet, sadly, has never walked away as a champion.

But it was his collapse during the final round of the 2013 PGA Championship which saw him finish 13 shots behind winner Jason Dufner that got Twitter trolls to attack the guy.

The result of their digital abuse? One of the most amazing twitter rants ever by an athlete.

Westwood didn't just reply to the, in his words, "minions," but he completely lost it, spiraling out of control with a expletive-laced feed towards those who put him down.

I'm all for people standing up for themselves, but for a pro athlete, this isn't really the right way to respond to haters.

"

@kinkwadze @jimmyob88 ill give £1000 to anybody that provides me with address and picture of this man! knock knock!!

— curtis woodhouse (@woodhousecurtis) March 11, 2013"

2. Brandon Marshall

What happens when you take your hate for a specific team too far? Well, as one Detroit Lions fan nearly found out, a star athlete on said team might just try and fight you—and I'm not referring to keeping it between 140 characters, either.

After Twitter user @AnthonyGKalla bashed the Chicago Bears and their wide receiver Brandon Marshall, the Pro Bowler didn't just sit back and let the guy tweet away, rather challenging the poor guy to a boxing fight.

In fact, Marshall kept upping the ante, going from $5,000 to $25,000, appearing as if he was ready to duke it out.

There have been replies from athletes to trolls before, but there haven't been many that nearly resulted in the troll taking a few literal jabs at the player.

It's probably a good thing this didn't go down, for obvious reasons.

1. Curtis Woodhouse

While the aforementioned Brandon Marshall challenged a troll to a fight, British boxer Curtis Woodhouse did him one better, actually hunting down a guy who was bad-mouthing him on Twitter.

In a nutshell, here's what happened:

After losing a light welterweight fight back in the spring of 2013, the user named @jimmyob88 started taunting Woodhouse, calling him a disgrace and a laughable joke, among other, unkind words.

It seems that just doesn't fly with Woodhouse, because the fighter took matters offline and to the streets, literally, tracking down the trolls address and live-tweeting the entire trip to go and find him to settle matters.

Referring to @jimmyob88 as a "Keyboard Warrior" a few times, Woodhouse wanted to set the guy straight that he wasn't as tough as his 140 characters may have made him appear.

Was it the right thing for an athlete to do? Probably not. But I bet that troll learned to re-read what he was writing before actually sending it so not to get his booty kicked by a pro boxer.