Bucs' tight end gets tossed from practice, promptly engages Twitter trolls
Austin Sefarian-Jenkins wasted little time responding to his Internet critics
By
Ryan Wilson
•
1 min read
Buccaneers tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins was kicked out of practice Thursday because, according to his coach, "He didn't know what he was doing."
Here's the moment starting TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins was told to "Get out of here" by #Bucs coach Dirk Koetter. pic.twitter.com/UQVqc2lC8D
— Paul Ryan (@WFLAPaul) June 9, 2016
In the scheme of things, this isn't a big deal. Player get tossed from practice for any number of reasons, and it's rarely indicative of anything beyond having a bad day. So while Sefarian-Jenkins seemed unconcerned about the incident ...
Can't let negative stuff get to u. Let it happen and move on!
— Austin Seferian J (@Aesj88) June 9, 2016
... He did himself no favors by engaging Twitter trolls in the minutes and hours after he got the boot.
In response to this tweet from user @REscobio's -- "U see bro this is y u will always be a scrub. Instead of taking this as motivation u take this as me talking about ur mom. #B-TCH" -- Sefarian-Jenkins suggested they meet at team headquarters: "come to 1 buc at 2pm Monday and say something bout mother and i promise u. 1. You'll be trespassing 2. You'll eat through a straw".
And a short time later, the tight end added: "See this is why your gf or future gf will love me and tell YOU she loves u".
Look, we understand why Sefarian-Jenkins is frustrated -- social media is inherently ... frustrating. But rarely does anything positive come from calling folks out on Twitter, though Sefarian-Jenkins explained recently why he chooses to engage them.
"You troll me, I'm going to troll you," he told the Tampa Bay Times last week. "I'm a normal person. You say something about me, I'm going to say something back, funny or not. I'm just going to be me. It's nothing against them. I'm just doing what you do to me."
Sefarian-Jenkins directed mom and wife jokes at several other Twitter users who questioned his commitment, though he also retweeted this, because Friday references are always acceptable:
It's Friday...... Wait Thursday https://t.co/JCtDTUJw0t
— Austin Seferian J (@Aesj88) June 9, 2016
We're guessing the Bucs don't find any of this funny or acceptable. The team's next practice is on Tuesday, and the Times' Greg Auman doesn't expect Sefarian-Jenkins to be made available to the media unless it's to offer an apology. In the meantime, the media can probably direct all questions to his Twitter feed because we know he reads that.
