In the social-media age, even the most innocent misstep can have unintended consequences, as one NFL rookie recently found out the hard way.
Keenan Allen is a talented wide receiver from Cal who was selected in the third round of last month's NFL draft by the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers and Oakland Raiders share one of the NFL's fiercest rivalries, which is why a random fashion choice by Allen this weekend stirred up plenty of backlash from San Diego fans.
When Allen made a trip to In-N-Out, he posted a Vine video to document the occasion for his many fans. The problem? He wore a Raiders hat. He's since deleted the video, but this screenshot via the San Diego sports blog LobShots.com lives on:
A thoughtless move? Sure, although Allen probably just wore the hat because it looks cool and matched his black shirt. But that didn't stop some fans from posting comments like these to Twitter:
Keenan Allen, WTF is the deal with the Raiders gear? Ass-wipe!!!!!— Bill Petty (@BillPetty40) May 20, 2013
@utkevinacee @lobshots Bullshit! If this is recent, I'd seriously rather not have him on the team because of this shit.— Gabe (@beestmode) May 18, 2013
@utkevinacee @lobshots if that's post draft, that kid is an idiot. I won't be rooting for him.— Justin Graham (@habitualistic) May 18, 2013
And according to one San Diego sports reporter, Chargers teammate Eric Weddle took note of the inadvertent bit of disloyalty as well:
Keenan Allen said Eric Weddle pulled him aside on the Raiders hat situation & told him "Don't wear that shi* again."— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) May 20, 2013
Allen, it seems, learned his lesson the hard way, using his own Twitter account to set the record straight after deleting the controversial Vine:
I get it fans!!!! Won't happen again!— Keenan Allen (@KAAdeuce1) May 18, 2013
I apologize!— Keenan Allen (@KAAdeuce1) May 18, 2013
Gone are Keenan Allen's carefree college days when a hat was just a hat and a logo just a logo. Now he's in the NFL, where his every move will be analyzed and reanalyzed by the Internet's sports peanut gallery. As they say: Mo' money, mo' problems.
Did Allen screw up, or did fans just overreact? Give us your take in the comments.
[via LobShots]