Four Washington Redskins Nearly Got Catfished

In December, around the same Manti Te'o was supposedly learning he had been the victim of a hoax, the Redskins director of player development Phillip Daniels was uncovering a mystery of his own. Who was Sidney Ackerman, aka @RedRidnH00d, the beautiful woman who had been communicating online with four separate Washington players for months?

NFL.com's Jeff Darlington has the story, and since we've learned in the past week that there are no women on the internet, you can guess how it turns out. There was no "Sidney Ackerman," and the photos were of porn star C.J. Miles (above), occasionally doctored. Daniels posted a memo in the locker room warning players about her.

"If you think about it, a lot of them are single guys, and they see somebody who looks good in a picture or something," Daniels said. "In many cases, it involves someone who is a fan of the team, so they'll start talking about the team. You have to recognize that something just isn't right.

"But you're talking about a lot of guys who are single. I don't fault the guys. I fault the people who are doing this crazy stuff, causing these problems."

Daniels said the players had corresponded with "Ackerman" on and off for months, receiving photos via MMS, Twitter, and Instagram. Some had made plans to meet with her, but weren't able to follow through. The woman, who the team discovered was actually a woman and a Redskins fan, never asked for money, and the players never formed any sort of emotional attachment with her.

Darlington brings up @RideAndDieChick, another fake Twitter user who also uses Miles's photo for their avatar. He says 22 NFL players and six NBAers follow @RideAndDieChick, which shouldn't come as a surprise to any of us on the internet. Pro athletes mostly use Twitter to get laid, and the occasional fake potential road beef is the price of admission.

Washington Redskins duped by woman with fake online identity [NFL.com]