The internet can be an awful place. There’s harassment, there’s racism, there’s sexism, there are bad people out there looking to do bad things to good people. This latest incident doesn’t fall into that realm of seriousness, though it’s just as annoying.
If you’re an avid Twitter user, and one that follows the NFL with any regularity, you’re familiar with Ian Rapoport, a reporter who breaks news on the fly to his 861k followers. About 10 to 15 times a week (that’s a terrible guess, it’s probably more), someone on Twitter pretends to be Rapoport, tweeting out injury info, coaching changes, what have you.
Generally, it takes a single click to figure out that the person responsible for said info is an impostor. But in this day and age of real-time info and retweets and favs, things get lost in the shuffle.
On Sunday afternoon, Baltimore Ravens WR Steve Smith hurt his lower leg on a non-contact injury. By all accounts, the injury appeared to be an Achilles tendon. Smith even pointed to the spot as soon as the play happened.
He was ultimately carried off the field by trainers.
Now, this is where it gets a bit weird. During the CBS broadcast, reporter Jamie Erdahl said that Smith’s injury was indeed a torn Achilles tendon. She got that info from…you guessed it, a fake Ian Rapoport Twitter account.
Oops.
https://twitter.com/mynewhate/status/660923884628127744
https://twitter.com/hbonynge/status/660923952189960192
https://twitter.com/Mjc492/status/660923996473528320
It should be noted that almost all fake Ian Rapoport accounts are started by 15-year-olds. Because as we all know, teenagers are worthless.
