UT QB Bray Says Hate Mail Led Him To Vent Via Tweet

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If you’re the quarterback for a major college football team in an age when anonymous dimwits can send you nasty comments in a nanosecond all from under a veil of anonymity, you better be ready to take a whole lotta crap.  Tennessee QB Tyler Bray wasn’t… and he responded to said crap via Twitter on Saturday following the Vols 41-31 loss at Mississippi State:

“It’s hard because you put your heart out there and then go on your Twitter and see the hate mail.  You want to react, but you can’t.  I was just frustrated at the time.  It’s been two weeks in a row that we could have won, and it’s frustrating.”

For those keeping score at home, Bray tweeted that he hoped “bandwagon fans” of the Vols wouldn’t egg his home as some classless Georgia fans had done to Aaron Murray’s abode following the Bulldogs’ loss to South Carolina a week earlier.

The tweet went viral immediately.  It was re-tweeted again and again.  By Sunday morning radio and TV shows in Knoxville were discussing the signal-caller’s comment.  After all, when the starting quarterback says “bandwagon fans” might egg his house, well, let’s just say you don’t see that kind of thing very often.  And if there’s already a question of whether or not said quarterback might jump to the NFL a year early, a tweet like Bray’s will lead many to believe he’s not planning on making a return to Knoxville in 2013.

Bray nuked the tweet and apologized to the “Vol Nation” half a day later.

But it’s yet another good example — as we wrote earlier this week — of why college athletes should deactivate their Twitter accounts during football or basketball season.  One, because they shouldn’t have to hear from any ol’ dunce who decides a 20-something (or younger) is fair game for abuse because he dropped a pass or missed a layup.  Two, because when an athlete does see that kind of gibberish, he’ll want to respond.

And if a big-time athlete respond, it only makes the situation worse.