If something terrible were to suddenly happen to commissioner Roger Goodell, the NFL probably isn't going to announce it with a random tweet. Which is why when the official NFL Twitter account actually DID announce the passing of Goodell on Tuesday, everyone kind of assumed it was a digital prank.
Make no mistake: Roger Goodell is very much alive.
But for a minute people were very confused when the following (since deleted) tweet showed up on everyone's timeline.
It was almost a borderline obvious joke, except no one wanted to, you know, joke about it. (Shoutout to the 749 people who quickly LIKED THE TWEET.)
Fortunately the league office stepped in, with NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy tweeting that Goodell was alive and well.
The @nfl Twitter account was hacked. @nflcommish is alive and well.
— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) June 7, 2016
Whoever hacked the account had a bizarre set of intentions. Clearly the perpetrators knew they wouldn't get much time with the account and decided the way to go was to report Goodell was dead? Just a bit morbid there and not exactly the merriest of pranks.
When the NFL didn't immediately seize control back, the pranksters fired out a couple more tweets, which blatantly were the best they could come up with on short notice and, really, not that impressive.
You've got to have three bullets ready to fire in that gun just in case you get the option, guys. Come on now.
At least now we know the NFL uses the same kind of password encryption as President Skroob.
