St. Louis Cardinals Manager Sues Twitter

Erik Linask : Sports Technology
Erik Linask
writer

St. Louis Cardinals Manager Sues Twitter

tony la russa.pngColleagues and friends sometimes tell me that their Facebook "friends" include big-name sports personalities and celebrities, such as Clint Eastwood, Sarah Jessica Parker, C.C. Sabathia and Manny Ramirez.
 
It's a strange phenomenon and - to me - an unusual desire to want to establish a virtual relationship with a total stranger, even if that stranger is an Oscar-winning director, star of an HBO series that features women imitating the worst behaviors of men, New York Yankees pitching savior or disgraced former Boston Red Sox World Series MVP.
 
Part of what's so puzzling is that there's no way to tell whether the Facebook account was actually set up by the person you think it was. The mega-popular social networking site - which has 200 million-plus users now - has safeguards in place to report identity fraud, but that's also difficult to track, and new accounts can be created all the time.
 
In some cases, the ID thieves that hijack high-profile names end up causing problems, as with a problem that's emerged involving St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa and micro-blogging's Twitter.
 
Jim Salter of the Associated Press reports that La Russa, 64, is suing San Francisco-based Twitter because an unauthorized page makes light of a tragedies involving a pair of Cardinals players and an embarrassing incident for La Russa himself.
 
Baseball fans will remember that seven years ago, Cards pitcher Darryl Kile died following what probably were misdiagnosed heart complications, and two years ago, when relief pitcher Josh Hancock died in an auto accident. It was later revealed that his blood-alcohol level was high.
 
Just before the 2007 season, La Russa - a stats whiz who has managed the Chicago White Sox and Oakland A's and is among those credited with leveraging statistical analysis to inform in-game decisions - was arrested and ultimately arrested for DUI when he was found sleeping in a running SUV.
 
According to the lawsuit, as Salter reports, one April 19 tweet (translate: short status update) says: "Lost 2 out of 3, but we made it out of Chicago without one drunk driving incident or dead pitcher."
 
Let's be clear: That is not even one bit funny. And it's hurtful, and thoughtless, no matter how inappropriate La Russa's own transgression.
 
La Russa's suit - filed last month in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco - seeks unspecified damages and, according the AP, claims that the unauthorized page caused emotional distress and damaged his reputation.
 
Salter reports that lawsuit includes a screenshot of tweets with the heading "Hey there! Tony La Russa is using Twitter," with a picture of him. That page, the AP says, also includes this note: "Bio Parodies are fun for everyone."
 
No, actually, they're not.