Ben Dubose AKA The Cat deleted his Twitter account?

I understand - I had to step away from my job too after that WS loss, due to psychological safety.

 

@The Cat If you would like, I can run your account in your leave.

 

Couple things: First, I've found that most people on Twitter aren't genuine when they say what they were "blocked" for. Their incentive is to try and "mock" the person who blocked them. In most of these cases, the block wasn't for having a different opinion — it's because the person took it to the next level of name-calling or some other type of personal insult after the disagreement. There's plenty of people who I disagree with a lot, including on officiating stuff, that I go back-and-forth all the time with because they can handle the disagreements respectfully.

Anyway, here's a creepy story about some of those angry reply tweets that JR shared, just so that people have some idea as to what it can be like and why I'm stepping away for a bit.

John Kutenits is a wedding DJ from New Jersey who, until yesterday, I had no idea existed. (I first noticed the name when he tried to follow my private IG late Monday. I looked him up on FB, and he's a combination Yankees/Warriors fan.) Out of nowhere, on Tuesday morning, he started piling on into all the anti-Ben threads. I searched out my name and his to see if we had any prior interactions, because I didn't remember any. Apparently, I blocked him after 2018 WCF G7 because he started doing the usual whataboutisms in a thread that was about Scott Foster. No interactions since.



This guy held onto that grudge for 3.5 years! But wait, there's more. Indeed, this guy did reach out yesterday via email to one of the editors at USA TODAY, and he fabricated a story that I had personally threatened him and numerous other people over the weekend, and that that's why I deactivated. He demanded that I be fired. Thankfully, my bosses figured out quickly that it was nonsense, but the entire situation was embarrassing as all hell.

That's just one very recent example, I've got dozens of others. But that's one reason why I have a very quick trigger finger on blocks — there are a lot of absolutely crazy and mean-spirited people out there who are truly out for blood, if you're a large media account and you've hurt their feelings about a sports team. I generally err on the side of blocking to avoid those people, and if anyone gets caught with friendly fire, my apologies.

This is an issue where I wish more people would try to put themselves in the other person's shoes. In this case, it can be very different when your real name and occupation are out there and you're a quasi-public figure (in a media sense).

 

Ummm why does a Houston sports writer have to be unbiased towards Houston sports teams? I'd say sports is one of the only places where irrational love and hate is not problematic. Its part of sport and adds to the banter. Loved Bill Worrell for his unabashed homerisms!

I also see nothing wrong about pointing out when referees/umpires are crap when they actually are. Players are judged down to every particle of their existence, why should officials, who are an essential part to any sport, be given a free pass?

 

Just clap some cheeks and having a couple beers. **** will blow over. AL championship is something to celebrate.

 

To this point — as a prominent example, @justtxyank and I still don't agree on many aspects of the Astros' sign-stealing backlash. That's okay! The thing is, he's an adult and doesn't get nasty about it, and life goes on even though we have different opinions. I've grown to consider him a friend, too, even during a time in which our "sports interests" are dramatically opposed (at least in a baseball sense). The vast majority of those blocks come when the response to the disagreement either turns personal or to some form of mocking, because it's clear the other person won't accept it. Somewhere along the way, Twitter became a place where differing opinions (even on sports) aren't okay, and it must be a sign that something is literally wrong with the other user as a human.

P.S. That's another reason I stepped away, you can see some of the replies that JR compiled of total strangers trying to treat me like a toddler with life advice. It's so condescending, all simply because that person has a different opinion about a sports game. If you disagree with that opinion, feel free to tell me why. If you find it annoying and see it as cluttering your timeline, you can unfollow/mute/block, that's what those tools are there for. Instead, I've got total strangers who have never even had a single conversation with me trying to make it personal.

The irony, it's not sports games that were making my real life hard. It's clowns on Twitter who pull stunts like that. My wife will be the first to admit, I was way more enjoyable during last night's G6 than Saturday's G4, and the biggest reason is because I didn't have those jokers nagging at me. Life has been a lot more fun without it, for sure.

 

I would like to see a thread called "Why doesn't Williamson have Twitter?" because I am sure 100% of you guys have sought me out there and wondered this, but none of you have made the thread. It hurts, honestly.

 

That's true. I always assumed you stayed off twitter because of the lack of Hartenstein content.

 

I have a hard time believing anyone is genuine on social media

do it makes you happy and take care of your family

 

But Ben's story should serve as a cautionary tale about the type of twitter followers you might encounter. Is it worth it?

 

I was disappointed to learn that the cat is not really left the twitter for good...tsk tsk tsk

 

Cuz you made it and are living what most dudes feel like a Dream Job or "easy job."

We've all felt we could do better than what most sports writers/pundits put out there, but Twitter is a doubke edged sword for you guys. The nicer or more honorable/accessible you are, the more a jealous or soulless minority out there will use it to pull you down a peg or give you a few lumps to make themselves feel validated.

Some people do that here with Insiders or members with far less notoriety.

Kudos for trying to manage that and share your passions, but keeping a tough skin while opening yourself isn't easy to scale. I guess the douchier personalities out there get away with it because they don't care and use Twitter as a means to an end?

 

I don't want to get a twitter. I just want you guys to want me to get a twitter.

 

Much respect!!

 

You made the right call. People are ridiculous about sports all too often. Life is too short to be miserable about something that should be fun.

 

hey ben, i'm sorry i said all those things

 

Glad to hear you’re doing well. Hope to see you back on Twitter soon.

- Shy S

 

I really appreciate you acknowledging the difficulty. Some folks act like it's so easy to just "stop being sensitive."

Not asking for a pity party, but in the last couple years, my wife and I have lost three of four parents, mostly unexpected. Two of them during COVID, which meant no immediate services. (None died from COVID, for clarity.) The last one was in the hospital dying during the February freeze, and her house totally flooded when she was gone from a burst pipe, which became our responsibility. Simultaneously, our own house that we were selling in Houston had the same thing happen... literally one day before the closing. We had to coordinate a memorial service during the peak of Delta with folks coming in from around the country because it was too late to cancel. Oh, and in the same general period, we had one dog that needed radiation therapy to ward off a brain tumor (that's Buttons, for those who follow me on Twitter or IG!) and another that needed a pacemaker. We dealt with it and somehow got through it all, but given the context, I have an especially low tolerance at the moment for anonymous hate mail on Twitter and/or people who know nothing about me acting like I'm devoid of life perspective.

Again, not sharing that stuff for a pity party. Life is hard, I'm sure many of you have plenty of your own hardships that you're working through. I'm no better than you. But holy ****, when you've been dealing with that stuff and total strangers are trying to give you condescending life lectures because they don't like something you tweet, it gets so ****ing old.