Scott Van Pelt Hates Anonymous Internet Garbage

It is amusing to watch a guy like Scott Van Pelt, one of the better ESPN personalities and a guy we certainly have our fair share of history with, struggle with the Internet. He is a Web guy, but he hates the Web; he fears becoming what he most despises.

Apparently, Van Pelt posts regularly on Terrapin Times, and, like has happened to so many of us, he ended up in a flame war that he later regretted.

SVanPelt, Saturday, 9:21 pm Title: You Are So Weak so far today you have trashed....one of our feature backs...and a kid whose dad frequents the board...and someone else in a thread that got pulled. You are the worst thing about internet sites...an idiot with 10 bucks a month. You claim (in caps no less) to love UM football and basketball. Really? You are a piece of garbage and I loathe you and all your kind.

Heavens! Van Pelt, reached by DC Sports Bog's Dan Steinberg about the incident, said that fans shouldn't rip college scholarship athletes if they're struggling, which we find a highly questionable sentiment. But regardless: Van Pelt, to make sure he doesn't have any public outbursts like this, tells Steinberg that he'll change his Terps board name so that it's more anonymous. In the same breath, though: "I think it's incredibly pathetic for a guy just to anonymously rip on a scholarship athlete who's doing the best he can. And by the way, I think I'm right.... It's fascinating to read what fans say. The Internet gives all these people a voice. What's the old saying, freedom of speech just makes it easier to identify the idiots? That's never been more true than in an Internet chat room."

See, Scott, we think you'd just be happier if you'd embraced it: Let your Web freak flag fly. We know you want to scream anonymously across the Web and call people "garbage." Just do it. It feels good. Let it go ... let it gooooo.

On Message Boards, Scott Van Pelt And Fandom [DC Sports Bog]