If you don’t like Spurrier, I get it. Sure he’s older, he’s sassy, he makes bold calls sometimes. Most of the NCAA either loves or hates the old HBC, but there’s rarely anyone in between. However, if there’s one thing you don’t do, it’s create fake stuff about him. But that’s exactly what Gamecock fans woke up to on Twitter this Sunday.
In an attempt to shame Brandon Wilds, Coach Spurrier, and the Carolina family, a bitter fan (or rival…) let loose in a fake Tweet shown below:
The tweet, which was first released on Twitter via Rixon Lane (voice of Lander Bearcats and Gamecock Central contributor), caused outrage for various people. Mainly those in support of Gamecock football and in support of honest social media. Granted Lane (sort of) apologized for the tweet, by then it was too late.The tweet caught like wildfire among Clemson fans on football discussion boards. Many other fans were calling for the immediate suspension of Brandon Wilds and questioning the capabilities of the HBC himself.
While there was no evidence on the aforementioned discussion board of the Tweet being fake, many Twitter followers of Mr. Lane spoke up and called him out on it. One user zoomed in far enough on the Tweet to prove it was a fake, by noting a few things.
1. There was a delete button visible. This is impossible unless the picture was from the original Tweeter. b
2. A Retweet option. This is impossible given Wilds’ security options.
3. Pictures of people favoriting the account consistent with that particular fake Tweet website.
Another angry user addressed the fact that, “grown freaking adults sit around creating fake tweets for college students by hacking their accounts.”
Since you, Mr. Lane, in your own words, “Clearly don’t fully understand [the Internet],” I’m just trying to help you out by telling you to issue an apology. For someone who is claiming to be a Gamecock contributor, you aren’t really contributing. For the other “Gamecock fans” posting on CFB pages – WHY? Why would you ever talk about Gamecock football in a negative manner to other people?
In conclusion, let’s evaluate what happened here. A college student with a private Twitter account was hacked. Not only was it hacked, but it was hacked to say something negative about someone on their own team. If Mr. Wilds was an average student, no problem. But what NFL team is going to want a player if they think he attacks his own coach? To the adults that made and retweeted this fake Tweet, please realize that while you may not understand the full effect social media has on a career, college students do. So let Brandon Wilds mind his own business please, and if you have a negative attitude about it, then get out of Gamecock country.