Welcome back to Twitter Wars, where we meticulously chronicle sports media personalities arguing on social media like it’s a heavyweight title fight because we have nothing else better to do with our lives!

Over the years, Sports Illustrated media writer Richard Deitsch has been the unquestioned king of Twitter Wars.  His record over time is impressive and he’s done battle with everyone from Darren Rovell to Clay Travis to Piers Morgan.

This time, however.  Deitsch may have met his match in a new Twitter Wars upstart – FS1 host Nick Wright.

It started with a cheeky exchange early in the day about Skip Bayless’ hire at FS1.

It really escalated several hours later with Wright tweeting about the election and radio host Bill Mitchell denigrating fallen US soldier Humayan Khan. Mitchell’s despicable original tweet can be seen here in screenshot form since it was deleted.  Deitsch once again invoked the name of Wright’s new FS1 colleague Skip Bayless, and business picked up.

Grab some popcorn for old time’s sake, here we go…

Deitsch is Bayless’ number one critic and has been for years.  The SI scribe will frequently tweet about his distaste for his antics and compare the Bayless act to other things in sports and media.  However, the analogy between Bayless and some shock jock criticizing a war hero obviously did not sit well with Wright and spawned this multi-tweet response.

Deitsch countered by sticking to his original statement and then the debate expanded into the larger sports media.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s true, “Skip Bayless race-baiter” is just a Google search away.  Also, Deitsch is probably referring to Bayless attempting to out Cowboys QB Troy Aikman as gay in a book even though that has never been substantiated.  Back to the tweets!

Wright’s tweetstorm had the speed and accuracy we’ve rarely seen in a Twitter War.  This was like watching a young prodigy Mike Tyson in the ring.  Not only did Wright have three tweets to Deitsch’s one on most occasions, they were pinpoint blows.  Take for instance Wright’s comments on the sports media marketplace justifying the salaries and platforms given to the likes of Skip Bayless.  (No matter how much critics may dislike his persona, he drew ratings and revenue for ESPN on First Take.)  Wright not only connected that to Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue….

… but he also landed the seminal blow of the Twitter War with this tweet…

Even though Deitsch attempted a brief rally, those back-to-back tweets from Wright were decisive.

 

 

 

In the end, it was a spirited back and forth that ended with something of a truce. There are no truces when it comes to the Twitter Wars scorecard, though.

Wright put Deitsch on the ropes like we’ve never seen anyone able to do before – not Rovell, not Whitlock, not Travis, and certainly not Piers Morgan. From the opening Bell, Deitsch was on the defensive, trying to counter Wright’s furious Twitter barrage. The reigning champ was effective on some occasions, being able to counter about his awards column outpacing his Skip Bayless coverage and quickly dismissing a couple of Wright’s other claims.

Nevertheless, Wright was relentless. He made enough solid points that were hard to find fault with and (unlike some people who step into Twitter Wars) didn’t fight dirty. Wright continually made his case with logic and respect, which always gets an extra boost on the scorecards in a gentlemanly arena such as this.  He was even able to prove that he wasn’t just a corporate shill sticking up for his new FS1 colleague because he could point to a pinned tweet which is a thoughtful commentary on Black Lives Matter and Clay Travis.

The winner of this Twitter War, by unanimous decision, is FS1’s Nick Wright. How will the fallen champ Richard Deitsch respond? Stay tuned! If there is a rematch, it promises to be more interesting than if Pacquiao and Mayweather ever step into the ring again.