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UNC Now is your place for Tar Heel sports. Beat writer Andrew Carter has up-to-the-minute news and analysis. Columnist Luke DeCock also contributes. Follow us on Twitter at @_andrewcarter or @accnow.

One N.C. State fan and his relentless Twitter heckling of Dexter Strickland

Submitted by Andrew_Carter on 01/25/2013 - 14:12
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Thanks to one N.C. State fan, Dexter Strickland for a while has known exactly how many days remained before North Carolina's game against N.C. State. ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — After Dexter Strickland said some things about N.C. State before the season – you know, about how the Tar Heels beat the Wolfpack “every single year” (and that has, in fact, been true for a while) – he told me during an interview that he’d been hearing just about every day from one N.C. State fan who sends Strickland messages on Twitter, counting down the days to Saturday, when the Wolfpack and Tar Heels play at PNC Arena.

I spoke with Strickland the other night after UNC’s victory against Georgia Tech, and he said that same fan had continued to send him tweet after tweet (most of them, it turns out, taking shots at Strickland’s jumpshot). That N.C. State fan is Ryan Forcina, and the majority of his tweets, going back to October, have been directed at Strickland.

Forcina deserves some credit for his relentlessness. It can’t be easy to talk smack day after day after day. He even managed to wish Strickland a happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, all the while making fun of Strickland’s jump shot or, in the case of one tweet, writing simply, “You’re a scrub, bro.” I've reached out to Forcina but haven't heard back.

Of course, Strickland deserves some credit, too, for being a good sport. He told me he hasn’t even blocked Forcina.

Anyway, here’s what Strickland has been hearing from this guy for the past two months. This list doesn’t include every tweet, but most of them:

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This guy's parents must be proud.

Tue, 01/29/2013 - 22:25 — opiecunningham

Thank God for Google, so I can keep dipsh*ts like this out of my organization.

Andrew, did you look into

Sun, 01/27/2013 - 08:01 — titannc

Andrew, did you look into the background of this Forcina guy before you did this piece?

Some of his comments are borderline IMHO.

Rivalry?

Sat, 01/26/2013 - 13:34 — uncwgrad00

This State fan has a lot of time on his hands. Strickland is right...each of the past few years we hear about NC State and how they are going to take the ACC by storm, but each year, UNC, DUKE, UNC, DUKE. State fans have NOTHING to say until they can actually win a couple games.

Trash talking Strickland on Twitter

Sat, 01/26/2013 - 10:20 — Jimbb12

I enjoyed the story. It was funny. The relentless nature of the State fan in a good natured razzing and Strickland having fun with it in a classy way shows why in a small way why the State - Carolina rivalry is so special. For me stories like that are interesting side notes leading up to the big game and not cause to get all bent out of shape because its not a journalistic masterpiece. Some people just need to lighten up......keep up the fun stuff Andrew.

Thanks for checking it out.

Sat, 01/26/2013 - 13:39 — Andrew_Carter (author)

Thanks for checking it out. Glad you enjoyed it.

agree

Sat, 01/26/2013 - 12:36 — Surfer

Well put.

This is a Non-Story and Pointless

Fri, 01/25/2013 - 17:41 — gregghia

Andrew Carter, you get paid for this? This is a non-story and I just wasted 30 seconds of my life. WTF is your point other than trying to create some controversy for tomorrow's game. Twitter is public and it happens all the time to sports figures. Do you have an ending for this stupid piece?

Relax. I thought it was

Fri, 01/25/2013 - 19:00 — Andrew_Carter (author)

Relax. I thought it was interesting. And it is. It took me all of 15 minutes to put together. It's something off-beat and different ahead of a rivalry game tomorrow. There's a real story I wrote, posted below this one, that goes into great detail about Marcus Paige and his development. Not a chirp about that, anywhere, yet people love talking about silly things like this on Twitter.

And though athletes do receive a lot of smack talk on Twitter from fans, I'm not sure many have received it nearly constantly for three months from the same guy.

I must agree

Fri, 01/25/2013 - 19:48 — ericmac20

I must agree with greg...Not only did this pathetic fan take the time out to troll a college athlete, who I'm sure is better at the sport than this fan. But you as a writer took your timeout to print screen this twitter rant. Hes your friend right? Trying to get him publicity? Man the N&O has fell off lately, hey you guys hiring? I know how to use print screen and twitter as well.

I don't know the guy. The

Fri, 01/25/2013 - 20:11 — Andrew_Carter (author)

I don't know the guy.

The main thing I'd say in response to your post, and other criticisms, is this: I found it interesting that a rival fan took the time to tweet at Strickland just about every day for three months. Simple as that, really. The tweets aren't dirty. They're not profane. Juvenile? Sure. But I think it's interesting to show what these players go through and what kind of stuff they hear from fans on Twitter. That's all.

This wasn't meant to be some bastion of journalism. It took me about 15 minutes to put together, and I only did so because Strickland talked (repeatedly) about hearing from this guy. He mentioned it again the other night, so I looked up what kind of stuff Strickland had been receiving and found this guy who'd been directing all these rants at Dex.

If I were out at a bar with some buddies, I'd tell them about this, because, again, I find the level of obsessiveness interesting. And, as I noted above, Dex didn't even block the guy. So ... not that big of a deal.

i liked it

Sat, 01/26/2013 - 12:39 — Surfer

I agree, it is interesting. I do sorta feel bad for the State fan though. Kinda makes him look like a Juvenile idiot. Oh well.

i liked it

Sat, 01/26/2013 - 12:39 — Surfer

I agree, it is interesting. I do sorta feel bad for the State fan though. Kinda makes him look like a Juvenile idiot. Oh well.

AC, I'll at least give you

Fri, 01/25/2013 - 20:36 — gregghia

AC,

I'll at least give you credit for replying, thanks. The usual Sports Writers at the N&O won't defend/explain their crap. My point was it's known that everyone at the N&O has a stance, we've become use to it so when there isn't a stance taken on writing, we don't get it. I'll read the other piece while I'm here.

Happy to respond. Thanks for

Fri, 01/25/2013 - 20:47 — Andrew_Carter (author)

Happy to respond. Thanks for reading and writing. Again, I just found it interesting. That's my only stance here.

forcina

Fri, 01/25/2013 - 17:11 — belwood

It's pretty easy to be a smart mouth. How a 1 on 1 with strickland for, say, a couple grand?

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About the blogger

Andrew Carter is the University of North Carolina beat writer for the News & Observer.
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