On Monday afternoon, a Twitter user apparently named Abdul tweeted a funny photo of a guy at the Boston Marathon inspiring runners by reminding them that the Patriots had trailed the Falcons 28-3 in the Super Bowl before rallying to victory.
Here it is:
https://twitter.com/Advil/status/854044957526683648
Pretty amusing, right? Some media outlets thought so. SB Nation tweeted at Abdul to ask if it could use his photo. Abdul, whose Twitter avatar appears to be him wearing a Red Sox shirt, had an interesting response:
https://twitter.com/Advil/status/854064558633357312
Sure enough, a little while later ESPN reached out to Abdul, and he did not respond kindly.
https://twitter.com/Advil/status/854065672296554497
Abdul is apparently still upset about ESPN’s role in Deflategate, the scandal that began when several reports, including from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, suggested Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had illicitly deflated footballs during an NFL playoff game.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Patriots fans deny ESPN over their Deflategate grievance—in fact, it’s at least the third time. But it may be the first time we’ve seen a Patriots fan demand ESPN block him on Twitter and then tell the network (or the innocent person running the assignment desk Twitter account) to “go fuck yourselves.”
Gotta love those Boston fans, amirite?
About Alex Putterman
Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.