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Sunderland fans have sent Darren Bent nasty, distasteful, threatening messages after learning the news about Aston Villa's supposedly improper approach for their striker. After the Black Cats' owner, Niall Quinn, and manager, Steve Bruce, alleged that AVFC had approached Bent long ago, the rage Sunderland fans had barely been able to contain boiled over, and they made their feelings known on Twitter:
One tweet said: "Hope you die painfully, remember what we did for you." Another stated: "Judas. Go and die." And a third said: "Hope you break your neck." Bent had said he would avoid Twitter because he expected to be "annihilated" by Sunderland fans.
Thanks, Sunderland fans*. You know, I used to like you guys. You seemed pleasant enough, rather unobtrusive, never really coming to mind when I considered fan bases. But since the news broke about Bent, you've been absolutely horrible. I realize that when a star player leaves, many fans feel betrayed. Villans went through this with James Milner. But as far as I know, he received no death threats.
Football isn't just a game anymore. It's also an entertainment industry, and as such, players earn millions and millions. To earn these millions, they move to other clubs. I know it's hard to wrap your tiny little brains around, but footballers want money. Aston Villa had some money and were in a crappy situation, so they waved a lot of it at Bent and Bent couldn't resist. Would you be able to resist?
So again I say thanks, Sunderland. I realize that most of Darren Bent's twitter is probably just random. But I love it when players use social media. It makes them seem human, even if it leads me to believe that I probably don't actually like them. I'd looked forward to tuning in to the mundane thoughts of @db11tt. Maybe he'd be another Carlos Cuellar for us. Thanks to a few minor death threats, he's staying away from Twitter.
(*I'm sure that there are nice, pleasant, reasonable Sunderland fans out there. It's just that I've heard from maybe two of them in the last few days. I'd love to hear from more).