I don't know a lot about Curtis Woodhouse but I will say this, I think he's a pretty awesome guy.
Earlier this year Woodhouse, a British boxer who also played pro soccer, decided he had enough of being harassed over Twitter and hired an investigator to track down the man who tormented him and said all kinds of horrible things about Woodhouse and his family.
After losing his title in a fight in March, and getting the subsequent harassment from his Twitter troll, Woodhouse went to the man's house and asked him to say these things to his face.
Fortunately, there wasn't any sort of physical confrontation but the man in question, James O'Brien, did at least admit to being in the wrong and went on British TV to apologize.
I thought of Curtis Woodhouse after hearing about the recent fine for Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant.
After a frustrating loss to Montreal, Durant had enough of people sniping at him on Twitter and apparently told one of his followers where to go in a rather colourful fashion. The CFL deemed his comments to be in violation of their social media policy and fined Durant an undisclosed amount.
I get that the CFL and other sporting leagues cannot condone their players going on social media and swearing at fans. And I get the argument that if these people don't want this type of abuse, they can simply get off Twitter, or whatever social media forum they might use, and not be subjected to this crap.
But I would counter that argument by saying why should they have to?
Just because they are public figures playing professional sports, why should these people have to give up something as simple as their Twitter account?
Perhaps the broader question is why do so many people have to act like such savages?
I'm a huge fan of Twitter and follow the accounts of a bunch of different athletes. I respect the fact many of these guys use Twitter to make themselves more available to their fans.
On the other hand, I'm not sure why they do it because the majority of them face a horrible amount of abuse from people whose courage is enhanced by the fact they are thousands of miles away from the person they are slagging.
I have seen some awful comments made towards these athletes. Over the weekend, Bobby Ryan of the Ottawa Senators tweeted a picture and asked fans their feelings about it. One hero said to Ryan, "you look like you are the product of domestic abuse." That comment alone is pretty awful but even more so after the recent documentary on Ryan and the less than ideal situations he grew up with.
I don't get what drives a person to say something like that. I'm not saying my comments on Twitter are all sunshine and lollipops but the idea of saying something so awful just doesn't occur to me.
Personally, I think the solution is freeing up the athletes to respond to these trolls. Sure there would have to be limits to this, but why not? I don't think these people should be fair game just because they have put themselves out there.
All these leagues do when they fine athletes like Durant is embolden the cretins. They know they can fire all kinds of bile at the athletes and they can't answer back.
Of course, there are some people who have refused to sit back and take it. Paul Bissonnette, who is probably the most followed NHL player on Twitter, recently had a follower who sent dozens of nasty tweets to the Phoenix Coyotes tough guy. Bissonnette did a little research into his troll and posted a story about the man's arrests and other wrongdoings. Within minutes the guy deleted his Twitter account.
I think what Bissonnette did is great. I hope other athletes take note and hold these people accountable for their garbage.
After all, it might make for some interesting reading.
