Twitter showing dubious face of convicted NFL star?
The Cleveland Browns' Donte Stallworth, jailed for manslaughter, is officially contrite when he is banned for the season by the NFL. His Twitter feed, however, suggests he is not all that somber.
Donte Stallworth, wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns, recently served 30 days in jail for the DUI manslaughter of 59-year-old Mario Reyes in Miami. Stallworth's blood alcohol level was 0.126, far in excess of the legal limit.
Last Thursday, the NFL suspended him for the upcoming season.
Stallworth officially accepted his suspension with good grace. His public statement read: "Regardless of the length of my suspension, I will carry the burden of Mr. Reyes' death for the rest of my life."
It continued: "I will use the period of my suspension to reflect, fulfill my obligations, and use this experience to make a positive impact on the lives of those who look up to NFL players."
However, Stallworth appears to have a Twitter page, twitter.com/D_Stallworth18. It links through to a MySpace page that appears to be his. NBC's respected ProFootballTalk also confirms the Twitter page to be his.
Indeed, since Stallworth's tweeting was first revealed, neither he nor his PR handlers have done anything to refute the suggestion that the Twitter page is his. So let's assume this is, indeed, the work and thoughts of Donte Stallworth.
If there's one thing we know about Twitter and other forms of networking socially, it is that they can bring out the real person from behind the slightly less real one.
So it was instructive to waft over to the Stallworth Twitter to get a sense of the depth of his remorse.
Here's what he tweeted Thursday after his suspension was announced: "I'M A LITTLE WOUNDED, BUT I'M NOT SLAIN; I WILL LAY ME DOWN 4A WHILE 2 BLEED, THEN I'LL RISE & FIGHT WITH YOU AGAIN" -John Dryden"
Indeed, he is not slain. But Mario Reyes is. So perhaps some might find Stallworth's choice of literature to describe his own painful predicament more than a little, well, unfortunate.
Reyes' family is mourning his death. While Stallworth, who is currently in home confinement but allowed to work out, is using Twitter to communicate publicly with athlete friends such as the Los Angeles Clippers' Baron Davis and the San Diego Chargers Shaun Phillips, as well as celebrities such as Kim Kardashian.
Indeed, in this period of reflection, Stallworth reflected last Wednesday, to both Phillips and Kardashian, on, well, hair: "new hair doe is the shit <----do u="" n="" camp="" SP...="" i="" see="" ya="" Kimmy...="" looks="" good,="" for="" how="" long??"="" <="" p="">
Stallworth's tweets are full of LMAOs and LOLs.
So perhaps you will wonder with me whether it is entirely wise for Stallworth to use the public forum of Twitter to reveal something more of his character and current mood than perhaps might suggest a period of somber reflection.
As one Twitterer offered his fans just recently: "please be safe & make smart decisions!!! LOVE YALL GOODNIGHT".
Oh, yes, that was Donte too.
But he continued, offering tweet after tweet that can only make people admire him more.
Take this from Sunday: "a quote 4 YOU!! "Those who have few things to attend to are great babblers; for the less men think, the more they talk" -Charles Montesquieu".
I think I'm going to think about that.