As we are all well aware in 2017, mixing sports and politics rarely leads to cordial conversations. Most recently, politicians have even been inserting themselves into college football coaching ordeals. Taking things to the next level, we now have a politician mixing it up on Twitter with a high school football player over his decision on where to play in college.
Earlier this week, Oregon coach Willie Taggart left after one season to take his “dream job” as head of the Florida State program. As often happens in these situations, incoming recruits who were partial to the head coach or a specific assistant on that coach’s staff reconsider their commitments and open their recruitment back up. Such was the case for Braden Lenzy, a four-star talent from Tigard, Oregon, who announced that was opening his recruitment back up.
Re-Opening my recruitment, NO INTERVIEWS pic.twitter.com/BBDQStoifZ
— Braden Lenzy (@blspeedy21) December 5, 2017
Lenzy has previously committed to play for Notre Dame before spurning them to commit to Oregon. Per OregonLive, he holds offers from California, Colorado, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Oregon, Oregon State, Purdue, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Washington State. He also said that the Ducks remain in the mix even though he rescinded his verbal commitment.
Of course, because college sports bring out both the best and worst in us, Lenzy has had to deal with a few jerks on social media, taking the kid to task for changing his mind. One of those jerks just so happens to be Oregon state representative Bill Post, who decided to give Lenzy a piece of his mind on Twitter following the de-commitment.
Hey kid: #GoDucks will be fine, life lesson: don't think of yourself as "all that". Thanks.
— Bill Post (@TheBillPost) December 7, 2017
Just in case anyone thinks Post might try to pull a Donald Trump and claim his bad tweet was written by someone else, his Twitter profile says, “Tweets are ALWAYS by me not staff.”
Lots of Oregon fans took Post to task for his comments.
An elected state representative trolling a local high school kid isn’t a good look. Glad you aren’t from my voting district. #noclass
— Greg Rohr (@BruinJumps) December 7, 2017
This post is bad and you should feel bad. So creepy when grown adults tweet kids going through making life altering decisions.
— MQ (@MychalQ) December 7, 2017
Rep. Post, you are in no position to lecture young Mr. Lenzy on life, manners or behavior. He is a credit to his family and Tigard HS.
— Dale Newton (@RivalsNewton) December 7, 2017
For his part, Post didn’t back down about his criticism of a teenager making a personal decision, citing the classic “I’m a season ticket holder” defense.
A 19 year Oregon Duck season ticket holder who LOVES his Ducks helping a high school kid understand life skills is actually what was done. #GoDucks
— Bill Post (@TheBillPost) December 7, 2017
Oddly, Post doesn’t seem to hold any ill-will towards Taggart for leaving Oregon after one season, understanding that the coach made a personal decision to better his own career.
It's painful to say but #willietaggart I don't blame you man. Have a great life and enjoy being close to home the #GoDucks will survive this and prosper! #DidSomething
— Bill Post (@TheBillPost) December 5, 2017
Ultimately, Lenzy can go wherever he wants and is allowed to make the best decision for himself and his family. He doesn’t owe Oregon Ducks fans anything, even if he’s from the area. As Post proved, they’re just as likely to turn on him at a moment’s notice as they are to cheer for him. At the end of the day, the kid is going to take care of himself, and in the shady world of college athletics, that’s all any player can do. The last thing they should ever do is listen to what biased fans think is best for them, especially ones like Bill Post who don’t actually care about the kid’s well-being.
What is the point in 3900 following this kid on twitter along with a blue check mark? Kudos to him for getting even that many despite being so cosmically irrelevant.