UA kicker gets Twitter threats after failed field goal
- Critics turned to Twitter after UA%27s 28-26 loss against USC.
- Kicker who missed field goal is target of critical tweets.
- Fans are defending kicker on social media.
The football game wasn't even over Saturday when Twitter followers began unleashing their fury on the University of Arizona's kicker.
The comments quickly got worse.
One woman tweeted: "@cskowron11 i hope your entire family dies of cancer you (expletive)."
Another added: "I hope you get ebola."
One person urged Skowron to leave town. Another told him to stay in school, adding, "NFL never calling."
Fans, and even USC supporters, quickly jumped to the defense of the redshirt junior and urged others to support him. Some of the offending tweets have since been removed.
Adri Encisco, a UA alum who graduated in 2000 and lives in Scottsdale, said it's not unusual for fans to take to Twitter to criticize Wildcats' players after games.
"I wasn't too surprised by the comments until I started seeing the severity of some of them," he said.
UA Athletic Director Greg Byrne stepped in to defend the kicker in a tweet. "Proud of Casey Skowron ... great kid and glad he's an Arizona Wildcat. #BearDown."
The USC Trojans Twitter, @ReignofTroy, condemned the poor sportsmanship aimed at Skowron, who attended Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix before enrolling at UA.
"Anyone tweeting Casey Skowron anything remotely degrading is despicable. Arizona fan OR USC fan. This is football. We're all human."
"You bout to get bullied for missing that kick," someone tweeted to UA's Casey Skowron, who missed a field goal with 17 seconds left in a key game against USC. The Wildcats lost 28-26.
Saturday was a key game for Arizona, coming after the Wildcats beat California on Sept. 20 and then-No. 2 Oregon.
Arizona receiver Austin Hill shared his thoughts with the Associated Press after the game.
"Kickers tend to feel all the weight is on them when he should have never been in that situation in the first place," Hill said. "He needs to realize more of the weight is on the rest of the team."
A representative from UA Athletics said Tuesday that Skowron and UA's athletic director Byrne were not commenting beyond Byrne's tweet.
UA alum Paul Danek took to Twitter to defend the kicker this week, telling him that "true Wildcats have your back. We are lucky to have you."
Danek said it's important to remember that college athletes are kids.
"People take sports too seriously and social media, especially Twitter, gives them an instant outlet to be bad fans," he said.
Reach the reporter at 602-444-8072 or anne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com
