When being an Ohio State fan goes horribly wrong
The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry has been a hot topic all week, but it hit an all-time low when Harrison Watson, an entrepreneur from Columbus, Ohio, posted a message on Twitter offering a $2,000 bounty to permanently injure Michigan commit Logan Tuley-Tillman.
"$2000 to whoever sidelines this kid permanently… Enjoy purgatory Logan."
Of course, the backlash started immediately and the tweet was deleted but not before it was recounted on several websites and retweeted by several fans.
On Thursday, Watson, a 22-year-old man, apologized via his work website claiming it was meant to be a joke among friends and then personally wished Tuley-Tillman, "nothing but the absolute best in your future as a collegiate athlete and more importantly as a student at the University of Michigan."
More importantly, Watson said he was going to take his $2,000 bounty and donate it to the University of Michigan.
OK. Let's just take a step back for a moment. Has it seriously gotten to this? It was one thing to hear Logan talk about people harassing him in the mall and fans sending him death threats, but now people want to end his career? And all because he doesn't like Ohio State? Are you kidding me?
Harry Watson should be ashamed of himself. He's a grown man and Tuley-Tillman is a child. I'm not going to pretend anyone has been reasonable during all of this — Tuley-Tillman shouldn't have set the letter on fire, Ohio State fans should not have sent him death threats, a fellow recruit shouldn't have threatened them back, and Harry Watson shouldn't have offered up money to end Tuley-Tillman's career.
There is no right here, just a whole lot of wrong and a lot of very sad people who take the game of football — yes, it's a game — way too seriously and probably need to step back and examine their own lives and why that is the case.
Tuley-Tillman just finished his junior year of high school this week. High school. He won't even be on the Michigan campus until 2013 and who knows when he'll even see the field.
Watson may have apologized, but he also gave us insight into the sick mind of some when fanaticism goes too far. Watson should hope another crazy fan doesn't take him up on his offer.
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