So in the Vick/Favre/Plaxico excitement of the week, we managed to miss some important entertainment from everyone’s favorite player/blogger Chris Cooley.
Cooley posted a pair of videos at his website, where he and a masked man dressed up as Jason Witten a/k/a “J-Wit Dog” and Tony Romo, respectively. (Tim McMahon of the Dallas Morning News has the videos on one convenient page and believes Colt Brennan is playing the part of Romo.)
The content of the videos is amusing -- decide for yourself -- but the reaction to posting them is even more interesting.
It turns out that a number of Cowboys fans have commented on Cooley’s blog about it, and he’s not happy about it.
“If you’re a Cowboys fan don’t try to make a point by asking when the last time the Skins won the Super Bowl,” Cooley writes. “Instead ask yourself when the last time Dallas won a playoff game.”
Burnt! [Editor’s note: Actually, “Boom, roasted!” is the preferred usage in the PFT Style Book, but we’ll make an exception.]
Cooley also went off about the culture of negative commenting in general.
“If you don’t like the content on our website, simply don’t read it. Calling me a douche and an idiot does not hurt my feelings and neither do fabricated stories. All you do when you comment garbage is offend normal fans and readers. And seriously, the videos are just for fun.”
Cooley goes on to say that he and “Wit Dog” are actually friends, but not before Cooley makes sure to defend his ability compared to Witten.
“I don’t want to give gratification to guys who call me the biggest douche they have ever met. Guys who comment to show their uncanny knowledge of football by telling me that Wit Dog is not only an unbelievably superior player (he is not -- go watch game film), but a better teammate.”
Agree with Cooley’s broad points or not (we do), the interaction is fascinating.
A decade ago, it would have seemed insane for pro athletes to be issuing responses to opposing fans who didn’t like the athlete’s trash-talking, self-made videos. (Light-hearted trash talking at that.)
Now, it’s just part of a world where athletes start their own web shows, and head to Twitter to fight battles with the media or to let us know that a meeting is boring.
A lot of folks think this marks the end of civilization as we know it, but it seems like a lot of fun to me.