Roberto Luongo wasn’t anybody’s anything following the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Warranted or not (it wasn’t), he caught the majority of the blame for the Vancouver Canucks’ seven-game loss to the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup. He was constantly being dangled in trade rumors, had young upstart backup Cory Schneider nipping at his heels, and had every armchair psychologist from Victoria to the Maritimes questioning his mental toughness and stability.
So how did Luongo deal with the darkest time in his professional life? He started tweeting. A lot.
Well, sort of.
Somebody was, anyway, at this random, nonsensical twitter handle.
This strange account kept tweeting very self-deprecating, humerous, and topical quips, things that, I don’t know, only a beleaguered big-time goaltender of the Vancouver Canucks would know about. Word began to spread. Hockey fans and insiders whispered about this Twitter account with a secrecy and comraderie I haven’t seen since people found pro wrestlers’ AIM screen-name in the late-90s. So the legend grew. 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 followers. If this person was who we thought he was, surely he’d have at least half-a-million followers. After all, he was the person of interest for all the talking heads for months after the cup finals.
But, alas, nothing. Eventually, it happened. It had gotten out of control, and Roberto Luongo, NHL goaltender, multi-million dollar athlete, numerous award-winning superstar that was one game away from winning a Stanley Cup was asked about a strange Twitter account with a nonsensical name with an avatar of a man with his head in a urinal. Luongo simply replies that he’s heard of the dude and that he’s pretty funny.
A blue checkmark.
Five years ago, nobody would have given a shit about a checkmark surrounded in a blue background. However, these days, it’s all some people care about. Ask Amanada Bynes, Justin Bieber, or Chris Brown how empty their life would be like without the checkmark.
Therein lay the problem.
That blue checkmark is a beacon for tween freshmen, bored housewives and everyone in between. You, as a person, have verification that you are who you say you are. You are THE JOE HOLLYWOOD and even Twitter says so!
Unfortunately, you are you who say you are. Once that checkmark is attached to your picture, you get no mulligans. You don’t get a do-over. There are no foul balls. You don’t get the luxury of saying something horribly short-sighted on your account, because you wanted evverrryybbbooooddyyy to know who you are and where to reach you.
This is reason 1/8303 why Roberto Luongo is smarter than Amanda Bynes. Plausible deniability sounds ominous and seems like it should be in an interrogation room with a swinging lightbulb and a sweaty detective. In essence, all plausible deniability is, is a wink and shrug. Is this Twitter account Roberto Luongo’s? Maybe. Probably. We think so. He’s certainly called out his own franchise on multiple occasions. He’s talked about his struggles with the Bruins (whom Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup to) and the Blackhawks (who’ve long tortured Luongo) when they met in the Stanley Cup finals, and recently is giving his take on the Draft/Free Agency period. So, you’d think that every pro athlete would like to have the kind of freedom that Luongo enjoys, being able to speak their mind without the repercussions that come from having that blue checkmark affirming their point of view, right? Or is the future of social media a guy like Luongo saying what’s on his mind, saying what many fans are thinking, saying what a troubled athlete trying to relate to the fans what it’s like to be in his situation, and when asked about it…can give a wink and a shrug?
I hope so.
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