Milwaukee Brewers All-Star reliever Josh Hader tweeted some sensitive tweets about seven years ago and is facing discipline from Major League Baseball. Yes, you read that right. Hader is being punished for some things he tweeted out seven years ago.
Hader had tweets from seven years ago surfaced just a few weeks ago. When this happened, the MLB had to do something about it, so they put him in sensitivity training. But since it happened so long ago, is the MLB making too big a deal of this?
Hader should not get away scotch free, but at the same time it was seven years ago. People change. When are we going to ever understand that?
I am not defending Hader's tweets in any way, but at the same time it was so long ago and he was younger and less mature. Just because he did not go back and delete those tweets does not mean that he still has the same feelings, or at least would tweet something like that now.
Yes I believe that what Hader tweeted out was wrong, but do we even know if he tweeted it? I mean it could have been a friend who stole his phone. It was so long ago that it seems a little harsh to bring this subject back up and lash out on him so much.
This is not the first time this has happened though.
Remember 2016 NFL first-rounder Laremy Tunsil, the 13th pick in the draft? Yeah, he was originally slotted to go number one before the Titans traded back, and then he was supposed to be drafted at number six or eight. But what happened was his Twitter account was supposedly "hacked" and there was a video posted of him smoking a bong.
While he probably should not have been smoking a bong in the first place, that is his personal life and it was not supposed to get out. He was punished and lost money by not being drafted as high because of something that was tweeted out due to his account being hacked. While this is a completely different circumstance, it was something that he was punished for when not all the details were known.
The NFL's number seven overall pick this year, Josh Allen, has something similar happen to him as Hader. Right before the draft, racist tweets from six years ago just so happened to surface, and he took a lot of heat for it. Allen was on the verge of getting drafted, and it seemed as though people were trying to belittle him in the midst of it all.
The same thing happened to MLB's Trea Turner and Sean Newcomb with tweets from six or so years ago resurfacing. Turner was an All-Star Final Vote candidate three weeks earlier and Newcomb had just come one pitch away from throwing a no-hitter that day. It seems as though many of these guys have targets on their backs just as they have something good happening in their lives.
At the same time, what you tweet can always resurface, and you can face consequences for it. While it can be very unfortunate, it is the way it is. I learned that in one of my first journalism classes in school, that every single like, comment, tweet, etc. can resurface at any time when you are looking for any job.
In the end, you need to remember to always watch what you say and where you say it. You never know who is listening and when it will come back to bite you. Before you tweet out anything, as if it is going to be worth it in the end, because you never know who is watching.
I don't agree with what was said by any of these athletes, but I also believe that they have changed and matured. They should not necessarily take the heat they are for their tweets, but they are responsible for their actions. If they would have gone back and deleted the tweets, all would be well.
People change, but policies don't.
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