Curt Schilling Picks a Worthy Twitter Fight (and Wins)
Image via ESPN
Curt Schilling has never really heeded the advice not to respond to internet trolls, and this time, he struck back at his internet taunters and seems to have come out ahead.
It began when Schilling announced that his daughter would be pitching for Salve Regina’s college softball team.
Congrats to Gabby Schilling who will pitch for the Salve Regina Seahawks next year!!
— Curt Schilling (@gehrig38) February 25, 2015
As he wrote on his blog, the announcement was met with rude tweets aimed at his college-bound daughter, including “tweets with the word rape, bloody underwear and pretty much every other vulgar and defiling word you could likely fathom began to follow.” In a lengthy blog post, Schilling called out two particularly vulgar Twitter users by name. He showed readers their tweets, then gave their identifying information and their schools. One, a DJ at Brookdale Student Radio at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey, has already been suspended. Actually, according to Schilling, several of them have already faced consequences.
I found it rather funny at how quickly tone changed when I heard via email from a few athletes who’d been suspended by their coaches. Gone was the tough guy tweeter, replaced by the “I’m so sorry[“] apology used by those only sorry because they got caught.
He noted how easy it was for him to identify these people, many of them college athletes. His large point—other than “stop harassing my daughter”— was a feeling that people don’t understand that the things they say on the internet carry consequences. And in this case, Schilling intended to bring those consequences to bear himself.
He sure knows firsthand that the things we say online follow us. His frequent Twitter wars are well-documented and often snarked at. But in this case, Schilling has used his platform to make a point that most people can get behind. And why not? It’s a father defending his daughter against online bullies and seeing them punished. So those reacting around the internet have generally applauded Schilling. His daughter, too, was grateful.
@gehrig38 don’t know what i would do without you, i love you so much!!
— Gabby Schilling (@GabbyS_chilling) March 2, 2015
