This NCAA tournament multiple athletes have reported receiving death threats through their social media. After LSU’s lost to Iowa, an emotional Angel Reese broke the news that she has been receiving death threats since winning the championship the previous season.
After UConn’s lost to Iowa, Gabbie Marshall deleted her social media altogether due to death threats she received following a game clinching offensive foul she drew against UConn with seconds left in their Final Four victory.
On the men’s side, Purdue’s Carson Barrett hit a three pointer at the end of their game that brought DM to his Instagram that read, “Kill yourself for taking that 3 you f—ing worthless loser. Slot your f—ing throat you f—ing f—- that was completely uncalled for. I hope you f—-ing kill yourself”
Are these isolated incidents or is this now the new norm ? Should college athletes expect this type of abuse and threats from fans ?
According to NCAA president Charlie Baker who wrote this month in a letter to campus leaders,
“Recent data indicates that approximately one in three high-profile athletes receive abusive messages from someone with a betting interest. Data also indicates 90% of that harassment is generated online or through social media”
I played for Syracuse University from 1996-2000 and it was just a whole different world. We had times where we had a tough loss and fans were not happy with the result of the game. Although I didn’t experience fan hatred to the level of some of my teammates, I remember some of the guys sharing stories of angry fans heckling them at the mall or at a party or on campus, but there was no social media and betting wasn’t a widespread norm like it is now.
In my book We Matter “Athletes And Activism” I interviewed members of the Fab Five who told me of the fan backlash they received mostly from their own alumni who were opposed to their swagger their confidence their demeanor and didn’t feel they represented Michigan in the best way. They even received racist
Juwan Howard told me,
“We received so much backlash and it really was unexpected. And we didn’t have social media back then. If we had social media at that time ? Man !!!! It would’ve been crazy. It’s better we didn’t have twitter back then…..there were all types of letters that were delivered to the University and to Coach Fisher. A lot of them had a very racist and hateful tone to them. Many were latent with the N-word….it was like we were back in the sixties and trying to integrate an all-white school. But we were not going to allow anyone or anything to steal our joy. And we were determined to send a message with every game and every win that it was okay that you hated us, but we were going to keep winning and winning our way”
The hate that Angel Reese was receiving is the same hatred the Fab Five received from Mainstream America for being too confident, too proud, too “uppity” too much out of “their place” So they were despised and people rejoiced when they lost and hated when they won. And similar to what Juwan Howard expressed to me, Angel Reese seemed to embrace that same mind frame of dealing with the criticism and backlash but the difference is, with the advent of social media, the abuse and hatred and threats are magnified times a thousand since the Fab Five days.
Social media has given the fans so much access to athletes. Many times too much access. Overzealous fans can now voice their opinion, anger, frustration, disappointment, hatred, racism, sexism, or anything else they feel directly to the athlete with a simple strike of a button on their cell phone. They don’t have to take the time out to write an actual letter and mail it to the University, they can DM it directly to the athlete in a matter of minutes.
After Angel Reese revealed the death threats she has been receiving, many fans questioned the validity of her claims. They simply found it difficult to believe that anyone would actually threaten a college athlete for any reason, but the actual data shows that it happens a lot more than people think.
So now, add to that sports gambling which many have suggested as a possible reason for the uptick in fan abuse and threats.
“These harassing behaviours seem to have gone up because of the legalisation and normalisation,” says Amanda Blackford, director of operations and responsible gambling at the Ohio Casino Control Commission.
In fact, Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters last month that a gambler somehow accessed his cell phone number and left him threatening texts and voice messages, intimating he knew where Bickerstaff and his family lived.
https://theathletic.com/5381978/2024/04/02/nba-gambling-players-fans-interactions/
So now the question is, what are teams, colleges, Universities and the NCAA as a whole doing to keep their student athletes safe ?
Communications Act of 2003, is supposed to make it an offense to send a message that is “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character.” but it doesn’t seem like this is being enforced or adhered to.
Many are calling for harsher punishments for those who are found guilty of death threats, online abuse and harassment of athletes,
including a ban from attending NCAA-sanctioned events involving the school and/or athlete(s) involved. But will that solve the problem of the people watching from their homes and then jumping on social media with their vile abuse ?
Bottom line, No college athlete (or any athlete for that matter) deserves death threats no matter what takes place on the court. Whether it’s Angel Reese, Gabbie Marshall, Carson Barrett or anyone else. There is nothing they can do on the court that justifies such behavior. If sports betting is in fact here to stay and will be the way of the future, Universities need to do more to keep their “student athletes” safe from this type of danger. Threats should be taken very seriously and it just doesn’t seem like it’s being taken seriously enough.
