I’ve purposefully tried to avoid talking about this ongoing twitter battle because it’s stupid. Visanthe Shiancoe (tight end of the Minnesota Vikings) and Darren Sharper are friends, and the twitter war back and forth between the two was supposed to be nothing more than a couple friends joking around. In my mind that was hardly newsworthy, and the media has totally blown this out of proportion. But then Shiancoe had to go ahead and drop the terrorist reference and now the story is getting heavy national exposure. For those of you that are lost, the Vikings and Saints play on Thursday, September 9th in the season opener and rematch of the NFC Championship. Sharper used to play for the Vikings, and had a lot of relationships from his time there, including one with Visanthe Shiancoe. To catch you up on what went down, below is the documented back and forth of their twitter trash talk:
Darren Sharper: Well y’all seen Brett had surgery on that ankle we got after in the championship game. Come Thursday night 1st game. X marks the spot. I’ve seen him play on one leg, but not against the WHO DAT nation.
Visanthe Shiancoe: “That’s all good. But Sharper had surgery, too. And it was a knee. If ‘X’ marks the spot on Brett, I wonder what marks the spot on Sharper?”
DS: So visanthe stankoe X marks the spot on me, how bout X marks the spot for how many catches and TDs you’ll have come Thursday night. X = zero
VS: You went for my legs twice in the championship game.. it was mano y mano, I would think that the mighty “Sharper Shaker” wouldnt shy from a little thudding.
DS: If you feeling yourself put your game check on it. No TDs and less than 3 catches you give me your game check. Now whose talking.
VS: TRUE STORY! Before target practice a soldier suggested a custom target for me. Guess he wanted to start my engine early for the SAINTS game! “X- marks the spot”.. Loved the idea, ehhh so I went for it http://twitpic.com/1t6nor
DS: ok homeboy you done went too far, making me out to be something that has brought this country alot of heartache. Imma bust you right under your chinstrap from the first play on. I don’t care about the fine. F the money Imma do it for the red,white&blue. And you’ll see me cuz I’ll be dressed in black & gold. Protect your neck that’s all the warning you get.
VS: Those statements were the epitome of a crooked politician.. have some class “homeboy”. That target was already set up for me… No insult was intended to anyone. You are the FURTHEST thing from a physical safety.. even you know that your sofT with a capital “T!” You remind me of a growling chihuahua. don’t get your jaw broken trying to be a tough guy. Stay “sofT” and be yourself.. a ball hawk
My take is it’s still just two friends jarring at each other that got a little personal. This kind of talk happens for entire games on the field. The only difference with this is it’s posted on a social network and it’s in plain sight for all to see. Trust me, much worse gets said by the second on the football field. You think this is offensive? Spend 2 seconds in an NFL locker room or huddle. The back and forth does add a little hype to the game… I’ll give it that. I’m looking forward to seeing how Sharper performs and what kind of stats Shiancoe puts up. But I don’t recommend reading anything into these comments. Did Shiancoe take it too far? Maybe, maybe not, but that’s the direction their back and forth was headed if they kept going. It’s not like Sharper is free of blame because he started all of this to begin with.
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