Brian Wilson Tweets Himself Some Controversy

Twitter makes life difficult for Giants pitcher

By JOSH ALPER

Updated 9:25 AM PST, Tue, Apr 28, 2009

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Lying in bed is what Brian Wilson said he was doing on Saturday night. The reason he was being asked about what he was doing on Saturday night was because his Twitter account had him enjoying a night out in Scottsdale. Wilson tweeted about some issues he was having with overaggressive males at 1 a.m. Sunday, a tweet that would have been totally innocuous if not for the fact that Wilson blew a save against the Diamondbacks later that day.

The San Francisco Chronicle picked up the story, which led to Wilson tweeting that he spent the night eating room service which led to more questions about where he was which, ultimately, led to the demise of Wilson's Twitter account.

"This Twitter crap, I’ve obviously got to stop because people are taking it too serious. My aspect of that is I write a bunch of stuff that’s not true. It’s made up. Obviously I’m not doing things like going toe-to-toe with a ninja. Find me a ninja, for one."

If someone does find a ninja and is able to set up a fight with Wilson, we'd all be appreciative if someone, somewhere would tweet about it.

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Seriously, though, the whole incident makes clear that Wilson and all other people in the public eye have to remember that people are paying attention to their tweets, Facebook pages and anything else they're putting out there. Assuming everyone is going to know what's a joke and what isn't is a dangerous game to play, even if you're talking about ninjas.

It also makes clear that technology is the worst enemy of an athlete going out on the town. Baseball players hit the town on the night before day games in the past and Olympic champions took bong hits at college parties for many years before camera phones and tweets outed them to the public. Such is the price of fame in the 21st century.

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.