No sooner had Chris Boswell missed a 32-yard field goal in last week's 17-10 win over the Patriots than the Tweets aimed at the Steelers placekicker started piling up.
Most of the mentions are not printable here. Many told Boswell he should "kill himself."
Welcome to the world of social media, where fans have immediate access to players -- or at least, in many cases, the people who run their social media accounts.
Boswell is not one of those. Even though he earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl last season that netted him a five-year, $20-million contract extension, Boswell isn't a big enough name or star to have somebody to manage his social media account.
How else to explain the other things "unearthed" on his account soon after the miss Sunday? Some social media monitors went back to tweets Boswell made in 2012 and 2013 -- when he was a junior at Rice -- and blasted them out saying they were both homophobic and racist.
Boswell did, per the tweets, joke about some friends being "gay." But he was quoting a Twitter feed from a poster called @omgfgfunnyy when he sent a friend a post that used a derogatory slur about African Americans.
Of course, those tweets were made public in an attempt to "get Boswell suspended or fired," as one poster put it.
Boswell, however, was fed up with it. He deleted his Twitter account and suspended commenting on his Instagram page soon after the Steelers' win last Sunday. And it wasn't because of some six-year-old comments as some suggested.
Yes, he's struggling. A year after making 35 of 38 field goal attempts, including five game-winners, he's just 11 of 18 this season. And he's missed five extra point attempts.
But does that justify "fans" telling him to kill himself?
"You get that stuff all the time," punter Jordan Berry, one of Boswell's closest friends on the team, told me. "I remember going through it earlier. People were yelling it to our face, even. You’ve got people that just aren’t right and they project it on other people.
"It’s never good to see anyone have that kind of hate directed toward them. I know he hasn’t used his social media in almost a year, I think. Now he’s deleted it completely. He wasn’t using it to that point."
There it is. Hate.
Many of the same people trying to get Boswell in hot water for Tweets made when he was 20 and 21 years old are the ones telling him he should "kill himself."
This comes a month after Pittsburgh united as a community in the wake of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting that rocked the city.
Nobody is going to confuse some people on social media wishing harm on Boswell with a mass shooting, but ...
"They’re on completely different levels, but it is still people just directing hate at other people for no real reason," Berry told me. "Obviously, he’s missing field goals. It’s a game of football. But that kind of response in any way, I guess there are people who just aren’t right. They need to get it out of their system some way and they choose to do it anonymously."
Maurkice Pouncey has dealt with this kind of thing in the past. He's gotten himself into hot water before for responding to people going after him on social media. But that happened when he was younger.
Now, at 29, the seven-time Pro Bowl center just doesn't engage those commenters, no matter how nasty things get.
"At the end of the day, just don’t pay attention to it," Pouncey told me. "Everyone has an opinion. You’re allowed to. But just ignore it. Who cares? It’s stupid people saying stupid stuff. No matter what, if you’re reading that stuff, it just shows them that they have an upper hand. It doesn’t matter."
Sometimes, that's easier said than done. Pouncey and Berry understand that. But they also stand firmly behind their teammate.
"You played in the Pro Bowl last year. You made five game-winning kicks," Pouncey said of Boswell. "Don’t let people affect you in the outside world, because everyone on the inside world knows what you can do.
"There’s ups and downs with this game. They’re going to say stuff. They’re going to write stuff. Everyone else has a job to do too. It’s just stupid to let stuff on Twitter bother you. Who cares? Unless they’re paying your bills. If you’re paying my rent, you can tell me what to do. Other than that, I can’t give you that much credit. He came back and made what, a 48-yard kick? Who cares what they say?"
Boswell, as he is now on social media, wasn't available for comment this week.
MORE STEELERS
• The Steelers, by the way, have no official comment on any of the past Tweets made by Boswell or him deleting his account. But Boswell is hardly the only player to have comments like the ones credited to his account -- in any locker room for any sports team. -- Lolley
• Speaking of social media, rookie running back Jaylen Samuels told me his phone had blown up following his 142-yard rushing effort on 19 carries last week against the Patriots. "It was a lot. I had a couple from family and friends, telling me what a good game I had. I tried to respond to as many as I could. It was a lot, though. More than normal for sure." His carries were more than normal, as well. Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said Thursday he had a number of touches in mind going into the game for Samuels, whose career high for carries at North Carolina State was 12. Samuels, who also had two receptions, exceeded that number by more than half. "Yeah, you’re concerned all the time because you don’t know, but I don’t think we’re scared of the unknown. Again, he’s here for a reason. I said about a month ago about him, he was one of those guys on tape who scored touchdowns in college. He’s just that kind of guy. He makes plays." -- Lolley
• The Steelers typically pipe in crowd noise on Fridays to help them prepare for what they're going to face on a given Sunday. For road games, the offense gets the crowd noise played. For home games, it's the defense. But anticipating how loud Sunday's game in New Orleans will be, the Steelers also piped in crowd noise at Thursday's practice. -- Lolley
PENGUINS
• Fighting is a part of Jamie Oleksiak's repertoire but the defenseman has never been defined by it. Obviously, the Penguins would have loved to have seen a better outcome in his fight with Tom Wilson but you win some, you lose some in that line of work. Wilson doesn't have many fans in the Penguins' -- or any other -- dressing room but the consensus was that, all things considered, it was a fair fight. Oleksiak would have been better served to square off but he also should have had more awareness. Whether Oleksiak will get a rematch is debatable, a team source said. -- Chris Bradford
• In 13 NHL games this season, Garrett Wilson provided a pair of assists (the first two points of his career), threw 35 hits, blocked three shots and used his speed and tenacious drive to draw five penalties, the same amount as Sidney Crosby. But the 6-foot-2, 199-pound Wilson never truly distinguished himself, according to a team source, until Wednesday night, hours after he cleared waivers. Wilson does a lot of good things but doesn't have the "a--hole gene," as the source says, to do some of the dirty stuff. But full credit to Wilson for at least trying to goad Tom Wilson into a second fight Wednesday. The two had last fought in a Dec. 3, 2010 OHL game between Owen Sound and Plymouth. A fight wasn't going to spare Garrett Wilson from returning to the AHL -- he was reassigned Thursday with Dom Simon coming off IR -- but he managed to leave a favorable impression on the organization. -- Bradford
• About an hour after the Penguins' win in Washington, the NHL's roster freeze went into effect. It runs through 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 28. Jim Rutherford chose to stand pat for now as it seems the Penguins genuinely like the direction that they are heading. That's not to say that changes won't be made before the Feb. 25 trade deadline. But after the Carl Hagelin trade Nov. 14, Rutherford wasn't going to make a deal just for the sake of doing it at this point. Wednesday night's game, along with the two previous games against the Capitals (all one-goal games), was just further proof that it's a two-team Metropolitan Division. -- Bradford
• Ron Burkle attended the Penguins' game in Washington and was seen in the dressing room afterward exchanging handshakes with his players. He was last seen at the Oct. 25 game in Calgary, which was preceded by a few days of practice in the mountain resort town of Banff, Alberta. Say this for the Penguins' co-owner, he only hits the hot spots. -- Bradford
PIRATES
•Troy Tulowitzki has piqued the Pirates’ interest after being released by the Blue Jays with two years and $38 million left on his contract. One scout told DKPittsburghSports.com he believes the Pirates would be wise to sign Tulowitzki even though the 34-year-old five-time All-Star shortstop missed all last season after undergoing surgery on both heels. “Time will tell if he has anything left but he’s a great competitor and a real pro,” the scout said. “I never bet against guys like that. I’d take a shot, especially when it’s only going to cost you the minimum (salary of $555,000) if he makes the team.” -- John Perrotto
• The Pirates made an interesting move this week when they agreed to terms with catcher Steven Baron on a minor league contract. The 28-year-old has played in just six major league games, four with the Mariners in 2015 and two with the Cardinals this year, going 1-for-16 (.063). However, Baron is considered one of the top defensive catchers in professional baseball and has thrown out 43 percent of runners who have attempted to steal during his 10 minor-league seasons. With Francisco Cervelli (if he isn't traded) and Elias Diaz at the major league level and Jacob Stallings and Baron at Triple-A Indianapolis, the Pirates should again have enviable catching depth in 2019. -- Perrotto
PITT
• The new addition to the Pitt basketball roster, walk-on freshman guard Onyebuchi (Onye) Ezeakudo, might have seemed to come out of nowhere, but he wasn’t just a player plucked off campus. Ezeakudo has been a practice player with the team all season, and when it was learned Sidy N’Dir would miss at least a month of action, Ezeakudo got a jersey — and a change of travel plans, as he already had returned home to Fort Wayne, Ind. for the holiday break. Instead, he traveled back to Oakland and played in his first college game Thursday, recording two assists in three minutes of mop-up time against New Orleans. — Matt Grubba
