The Most Ruthless Sports Figures on Twitter

If you haven't already noticed it before, the power of social media is absolutely insane, causing a number of different reactions anytime someone posts something.

And, as you might imagine, our favorite figures in sports who are on Twitter are the ones who get a lot of attention.

Whether it's meant to be good or bad, anytime athletes post, there will be people there waiting to pounce on them, hoping they get some reaction.

While it doesn't work all the time, a few sports figures have proven to have some fun with these trolls, and these are the ones who have been the most ruthless in all of sports at doing it.

Marcin Gortat

After performing a bit of an acting job in a game against the Utah Jazz last season, Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat found at least one basketball fan who wasn't going to let the play be forgotten.

The league agreed, fining the big man $5,000 for the play.

Oh, but that's not where the story ends, as one Twitter user took things to the next level by criticizing Gortat with a tweet, blatantly calling him both "weak" and a "flopper."

Not one to ignore that, Gortat copped a little revenge, using a classic move—a mama joke—to get back at the fan.

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"ur mama was weak last night."

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Nicely played, Mr. Gortat.

LeGarrette Blount

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You've really got to love New England Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount.

While he is, by no means, a star, he certainly has moments in which he carries himself as one—and he did that to someone on Twitter back in April.

When a troll tweeted to Blount that the running back was a, "trash ass bench ridin fool," LeGarrette wasn't just going to sit back and shine his Super Bowl ring. No, he was going to wear the diamond-encrusted piece to type back.

Saying the guy should, "call me super bowl 49 champ when you address me boy," Blount also added in some snarky comment about a girl who was in the guy's Twiter avatar, saying that she should,

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"get a champ and lose the chump."

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Superstar, backup or out of the league, LeGarrette Blount won't back down.

J.J. Watt

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You would be an absolute fool to ever go up against Houston Texans' star defensive lineman J.J. Watt.

As the, hands-down, best defender in the NFL right now, Watt has shown both versatility and dominance at a number of positions—the dude did haul in three touchdowns on three catches as a tight end last season—so no one should ever question what this man can do on the football field.

Unfortunately, some idiot on Twitter did, tweeting to Watt back in June that he was unfollowing him "because he was not a 5 star. This is a 5 star club only."

The guy was referring to Watt being only a 2-star recruit on Rivals.com when coming out of high school, something that's not only years removed, but also irrelevant seeing as how Watt is the manliest man among them on the gridiron.

Not wanting to get shown up, Watt responded in kind, replying with:

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"You keep your 5 stars. I'll keep my 2. And the 2 DPOY trophies that match."

"

With two NFL Defensive Player of the Year Awards and a reputation as being the best player in the league on that side of the ball, Watt could only remind this fool of all that—using a 5-star comeback to do so.

Kobe Bryant

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One of the most competitive and ferocious athletes ever, Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant rarely takes time off from going after someone.

Famous for challenging and, at times, even belittling teammates, Kobe has shown that he's just as ruthless on social media, too, having a few instances where he just won't let someone else get the best of him.

From his response to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban following Cube's suggestion in 2013 that the Lakers should use the amnesty clause on Bryant—after which Kobe poured in 38 points in a win against Dallas and punctuated it with a tweet back to Cuban—or his attack on "sources" during this summer's free-agency period, The Black Mamba doesn't let up.

None of us should be surprised by him being on this list, either.

Dana White

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You know, sometimes you just hit a nerve with someone or catch them on a very bad day.

That may or may not have been what happened last week when more than a few UFC fans criticized the organization's president, Dana White, following an exclusive deal that the federation signed with a certain sports apparel brand.

With the agreement, it eliminates any outside deals that fighters may have had themselves, which got a reply from longtime fighter Jacob "Stitch" Duran, who was subsequently fired for his comments.

When White saw all of the hate from UFC fans, he absolutely lit into them, personally attacking and criticizing them back for not agreeing with the deal—showing that he's both ruthless and really mature.

Noah Syndergaard

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Just 22 years old with only 14 career MLB starts under his belt, there's a lot of learning that New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard still needs to do.

One of those lessons might be how to handle Twitter trolls a little bit better.

After being criticized by, presumably, a Mets fan during spring training about his performances on different levels of pro ball, Syndergaard either couldn't, or didn't want to, shrug off the guy.

First, the right-hander said:

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"I'm sure you call in sick to your pathetic 9-5 job all the time. Or you might not even have one."

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But that wasn't enough for Syndergaard following a reply from the same guy, with the pitcher firing back with:

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"I really hope you don't reproduce."

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Of course, after the troll deleted his account, the Mets found it necessary to speak to their young ace about how to properly use social media—something I'm sure he's continuing to work on.

Marshall Henderson

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It's astonishing to me how frequently athletes are able to retain things, both good and bad, to use later on in life.

While most players seem to have a photographic mind when it comes to reading defenses or opponent tendencies, former Ole Miss Rebels basketball player Marshall Henderson proved he could remember any hate directed his way on social media.

After a failed drug test got Henderson in hot water with the school in 2013, announcer Erin Andrews went after the kid by tweeting out, "He mocking anyone now?"

That earned a reply from the former baller.

Fast-forward to April of this year, and, following a story of Andrews' boyfriend being busted with cocaine, the mock had finally been marinated, with Henderson replying directly to Andrews with:

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"lol wassup with your boyfriend?"

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It seems that getting on Marshall Henderson's bad side is not a good idea—because he never forgets.

Lee Westwood

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You know the saying, "Always the bridesmaid but never the bride"? It seems that it really applies well to English golfer Lee Westwood—in a strange way.

Although he has had a solid career on the PGA and European Tours, Westy is still looking for his first-ever PGA major title, which has included a top-3 finish in each of the majors but, sadly, never a victory.

While that's frustrating for a player, it was the collapse that Westwood had during the final round of the 2013 PGA Championship that saw him get into it with Twitter trolls.

The result of their digital abuse resulted in quite the rant from the golfer.

Rather than just ignore them or reply in a professional manner, Westwood called the trolls "minions," as he completely lost it by going into an expletive-laced tirade for the ages.

Ending with the words, "Westy out," the golfer was both cruel and ruthless—although those who were on the receiving end probably didn't enjoy it.

Cardale Jones

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He may still be just a college kid, but Ohio State national title-winning quarterback Cardale Jones has left quite the impact on social media since breaking through for the champs last season.

After going from third string to ring-wearing, Jones has seen his popularity grow mightily—and it has shown, with his Twitter getting a lot of attention.

Who would have thought that this were the same kid who got in trouble for an idiotic tweet years ago, when he mentioned he thought classes were pointless for athletes.

Now he's tweeting to Ronda Rousey about how she looked at the ESPY Awards and, even more recently, punking out some guy so hard that the fan actually deleted his Twitter account.

Jones may be hard to take down on the football field, but he's proving to be even more of a menace on social media.

Colin Kaepernick

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Anytime an athlete is a repeat offender at getting the best of a Twitter troll, I think that warrants a high ranking on this list.

In the case of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, that's exactly what happened, as he has dealt with a number of run-ins with bashers on social media.

Rather than turn a cheek at the haters, Kaep wanted to get the best of the people, with the well-documented story of him favoriting belittling tweets a couple years ago, and then, just this February, telling a hater who was criticizing the signal-caller to "get better at life!"

Both instances sound like fighting words to me—yet there aren't too many Twitter trolls who would dare match up against a 6'4", 230-pound athletic freak like Kaep.

Damian Lillard

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One of the best young talents in the NBA, there are few defenders who want to be matched up against Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard.

Turns out, Twitter trolls would be wise to have that same mindset—otherwise, Lillard might just punk them the hell out.

It's what the guard did twice in the past few months, first going after a Los Angeles Lakers fan who was giving him grief about Lillard's game not, "showing up against good teams," to which Lillard replied with a snarky "when ya hairline show up…Holla at me."

Lillard's next Twitter victim came a few months later, as he attacked some dude's grill after the troll compared Lillard to Stephen Curry.

Based off of his snarky Twitter history, whether he's on the floor or off, Lillard is as lethal as they come.

Curtis Woodhouse

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Hands down, British boxer Curtis Woodhouse's response to a Twitter troll is the best by any athlete in the history of social media.

In a nutshell, here's what happened:

After losing a light welterweight fight in the spring of 2013, some guy with the username @jimmyob88 began taunting Woodhouse, calling him a disgrace and a laughable joke, which, naturally, didn't sit well with the fighter.

Rather than just get back at the troll through 140 characters, Woodhouse took to the streets, literally tracking down the guy and live-tweeting the entire trip to find poor ol' Jimmy.

Referring to the Twitter taunter as a "Keyboard Warrior" a few times, Woodhouse proved that no one is often as tough as their online persona, scaring the living piss out of the dude in the most ruthless way.