Andrew Doak is a sports anchor and reporter at WWL-TV in New Orleans, so he’s spent some time covering the New Orleans Saints and has undoubtedly been in the team locker room. Next time he heads in it may or may not get a little ugly following a Twitter exchange he had with Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas on Saturday.
Thomas, whose Saints lost the Minnesota Vikings in questionable fashion last week, watched the Vikings get beat soundly by the 49ers on Saturday. He took to Twitter to do some trolling during the game and gloat about the outcome as well.
?? that’s what y’all get
— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) January 11, 2020
Not the best look. And some people certainly noticed, including Doak, who took to Twitter himself to not-so-subtly subtweet about it.
If your team was eliminated from the playoffs, it's usually not the best idea to talk smack all day on Twitter to the team that sent you to your couch for the rest of the season.
— Andrew Doak (@AndrewDoak_WWL) January 12, 2020
This, naturally, caught the attention of Thomas, who re-directed his focus in Doak’s direction a few hours later.
same couch I sat on every week after leading the league in every category week in and week out while you searched for a story goofy
— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) January 12, 2020
And off we went, with Doak not trying to straddle the line between smoothing things over without backing down on his initial point.
Don’t be a bad sport.
Be respectable, move on, get ‘em next season.
Your stats speak for themselves. We know you’re a baller. But you lost, fair and square after a great season. Deal with it in a better way.
Be well, Mike.
— Andrew Doak (@AndrewDoak_WWL) January 12, 2020
Thomas was not having it.
nope this is my platform you follow me and watch me. Know your place like I said you don’t know me. And you ain’t never played this sport so keep your advice for your intramural team.
— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) January 12, 2020
At that point, Doak tried to opt out and let it be known he’d be up for having a face-to-face discussion down the road.
And you don’t know me either.
I’m done with the Twitter fingers.
If you ever want to talk in person in the locker room, I’ll see you there.
Goodnight.
— Andrew Doak (@AndrewDoak_WWL) January 12, 2020
And that’s when, in so many words, Thomas decided to let Doak know he might punch him the next time he saw him. Lovely.
watch your mouth before I have to pop you in it before you even make it to the locker room. Goodnight ????
— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) January 12, 2020
Doak ended things by attempting to appeal to Thomas as a professional and that seemed to wrap things up for now.
I meant to speak man-to-man, as a professional, Mike.
— Andrew Doak (@AndrewDoak_WWL) January 12, 2020
You can squabble over the way things started, with a subtweet from a reporter about an athlete he covers, which isn’t a great look. However, Thomas’ insinuation of physically assaulting Doak was out of line, even if it was just Twitter muscles talking. There’s certainly no room for that in any professional setting, even one like football. Hopefully, the issue is addressed sensibly, either by the Saints or between Doak and Thomas in a comfortable setting.
[FTW]
