Hacked or Not? 15 Controversial Sports Media Posts
Was Darrelle Revis really hacked on Instagram, or did he just lose his cool with Internet trolls?
"I was hacked" is a common response to many controversial sports social media posts these days, but it's often difficult to decipher the accuracy of such a claim.
What follows is a search for the truth in 15 recent instances of the "I was hacked" explanation. Unfortunately, without any concrete evidence to support the truth, this will be pure conjecture, but it should still be fun.
Here they are: 15 cases from the last year or so, ranked from "definitely hacked" to "definitely not." Again, the final hacked-or-not decisions for each are all opinion and speculation.
Michigan Facebook
1 of 15
Some hacks are questionable, but some are pretty much definite. In August, the Facebook pages of a few University of Michigan athletic programs fell victim to what certainly looked like clear-cut hacking. The offenders posted several distasteful and NSFW photos and pieces of content.
Michigan football posted an apology that read, in part, "Fans – Early this morning, Facebook accounts for Michigan Athletics, football and men's basketball were compromised. Thanks to diligent work on behalf of our partners at the University of Michigan and at Facebook, we have resolved the situation and deleted any offensive posts."
Hacked? Yes
Mel Tucker
2 of 15
Alabama defensive backs coach Mel Tucker came on board with the Tide in January. Not a week later, his Twitter account became suddenly littered with pro-LSU posts, per Matt Lombardi of College Spun. The post with several dozen tiger emojis was just plain ridiculous.
Hacked? Yes. No one would mess with Nick Saban like that and expect to keep his job.
Jae Crowder
3 of 15
In August, a photo of a woman appeared on the Instagram account of Boston Celtics forward Jae Crowder. The photo was accompanied by a pretty disparaging caption (NSFW content in link) that attacked the woman and included, for example, the phrase "home wrecking."
Hacked? Yes. Unless Crowder went on a tirade against his own mistress, this was the work of his girlfriend.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Cam Newton
4 of 15
In November 2014, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton "tweeted" to Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman one word: "Overrated."
At the time, the Panthers' official account tweeted, "Cam Newton's twitter account has been hacked, we're currently working to resolve the issue."
After things had supposedly been resolved, Newton's accounted proceeded to troll the Oakland Raiders and express a desire to be released from the team.
Hacked? Yes. These were funny, but the "I wanna get released @Panthers" tweet took it too far into hackerland.
Donovan McNabb
5 of 15
In August, former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb tweeted, "Mia Khalfia's Instagram is Jaw Dropping." Khalfia is an adult film star, and McNabb's tweet came with accompanying (borderline-NSFW) photos.
McNabb later tweeted, "I apologize for the messages sent out from my account yesterday. I was unfortunately hacked temporarily."
McNabb is a public figure (and married), so the idea that he openly promoted a porn star's Instagram does seem unlikely. Per Esquire, his account was "clearly hacked." Agreed.
Hacked? Yes
Kevin Nash
6 of 15
In other elicit social media hacking news, WWE veteran Kevin Nash's Twitter was allegedly hacked in September. Per Daniel Pena of Wrestling Inc, a photo of a nude female was tweeted from his account. Also, since Nash's tweets were linked to his WWE profile page, the image appeared on WWE's official website.
The image was deleted, and Nash tweeted, "It's been brought to my attention my Twitter account was hacked. My apologies to anyone that was offended."
Hacked? Almost certainly, but then again, it appears Nash had tweeted at the woman before. Hmm.
CeCe Jefferson
7 of 15
In November 2014, highly touted defensive end prospect CeCe Jefferson "committed" to play at Florida State on Twitter.
He almost immediately blamed it on his friends, tweeting, "I swear my teamates play entirely too much, I have not committed, im commiting on National Signing day!"
Hacked? Most likely, since that's what bros do. Also, Jefferson ended up at Florida.
Deondre Francois
8 of 15
Speaking of Florida State, freshman quarterback Deondre Francois was still a recruit in January—committed to the Noles but not yet officially. Around that time, he seemed to briefly regret that choice (if his Twitter activity is to be believed).
Per Sam Cooper of Yahoo Sports, Francois tweeted a decision to decommit from FSU but almost immediately deleted the post.
Nothing happened for a few hours, but finally Francois tweeted, "I apologize for the inconvenience. It was a mistake. My Twitter account was hacked. I am still 100% committed to FSU #Tribe15."
Hacked? Maybe, or maybe he got some temporary cold feet. It's worth nothing he did stay committed to FSU.
Jim Mora
9 of 15
In January, UCLA head football coach Jim Mora tweeted a Photoshopped image of a recruit wearing a Bruins jersey. It represented a big no-no in college recruiting (talking about unsigned recruits), so of course Mora said he had been hacked.
Per Bruins Nation, the account tweeted, "This account has been hacked, does not represent Coach Mora and hasn't since January 3."
Hacked? Maybe, but maybe not, given Mora's tumultuous Twitter history and the fact the Bruins have sent pictures like this to recruits in the past.
Jarred Cosart
10 of 15
In March, screen shots emerged appearing to show Miami Marlins pitcher Jarred Cosart had sought gambling advice on Twitter.
Cosart's account was deleted, but later, another account appeared. The new account's user, claiming to be Cosart, declared the old account had been hacked, per Barry Petchesky of Deadspin.
The second account later disappeared as well, and a subsequent MLB investigation concluded Cosart had bet on sports but not on baseball.
Hacked? No, but maybe he just didn't understand direct messaging?
Dick Vitale
11 of 15
In February, basketball broadcaster extraordinaire Dick Vitale included a NSFW handle in one of his tweets. Upon viewing a screen shot from SB Nation, most people would likely conclude this was a normal, harmless tweet, and Vitale simply made a mistake by typing the wrong handle.
Yet, he tweeted in response, "SOMEONE HAS HACKED MY TWITTER ACCOUNT – PLEASE PAY NO ATTENTION TO THEIR PERVERTED SICK ATTITUDE THANKS!"
Hacked? No
Cardale Jones
12 of 15
Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones has had some epic Twitter moments, but this incident in June was not one of them.
Jones posted a series of tweets regarding his feelings on female sports fans. For example, take a look at this gem: "Chicks kill me so called having a favor sports team, 98.99% of females like teams because of their colors."
The posts were deleted, and Jones tweeted, "BTW, those wasn't my tweets about females and sports, I don't comment on race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, politics or gender, goodnight."
Hacked? No
Ra'Shede Hageman
13 of 15
In November 2014, Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Ra'Shede Hageman (then a rookie) appeared to use his Instagram to look for marijuana.
Marijuana might be legal in several states now, but it's still a no-no in the NFL. According to Vaughn McClure of ESPN, Hageman's account showed a message to a woman that read, "u smoke weed?" and later, "my teammate were looking for some.''
Hageman cried hack, but come on.
Hacked? No
Jim Bowden
14 of 15
The timing on this one is a stretch since it dates back to August 2014, but it seems timely given the recent situation with CBS reporter Jamie Erdahl. In early November, Erdahl reported player injury news that originated from a fake Twitter account. It was embarrassing, but at least she didn't cry hack.
Such was not the case with ESPN's Jim Bowden. Not only did he report MLB trade news from a fake account, but he also failed to credit the source. Per Barry Petchesky of Deadspin, Bowden took a series of actions upon the realization of his blunder, including removing his Twitter avatar and transferring/deleting/restarting his account.
Then, naturally, he explained it all by claiming he was hacked.
Hacked? No
Darrelle Revis
15 of 15
New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis won a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots in February, then signed with the Jets in March.
In April, Revis appeared to get into it (NSFW) on Instagram with some folks who thought he should thank Tom Brady and Bill Belichick for his title. Revis didn't exactly pull any punches, perhaps explaining why he later claimed to have been hacked.
Hacked? No
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
