Darren Rovell was crushed on Twitter Sunday for criticizing those who put up a billboard celebrating an accomplishment by LSU’s women’s gymnastics team.
LSU’s women’s gymnastics finished second in the Four on the Floor national championship event Saturday, behind Oklahoma and ahead of UCLA. This was the third time LSU finished second in the NCAA the last four years — a tribute to the excellence of the senior class, even if they fell short of their ultimate goal of winning it all.
A billboard even went up celebrating the team’s runner-up finish:
Thank You, Baton Rouge! pic.twitter.com/WUYlt18kP9
— LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) April 21, 2019
The billboard received extra attention from Rovell, the former ESPN sports business reporter, who lambasted LSU for celebrating a second-place finish.
No, you can’t put up a billboard for coming in second. https://t.co/wxDPqBNzNr
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 21, 2019
Rovell’s tweet was so poorly received that he ended up getting “ratio’d” on Twitter, meaning he was bombarded with negative feedback. He even heard it from members of LSU’s team, like Sarah Finnegan and Ashlyn Kirby.
I’m not even going to entertain you, Dan, Derek, David, Dicky, whatever your name is.
Queens don’t look down.
— Sarah Finnegan (@sfinnegan37) April 21, 2019
Sounds like someone was runner up in their Easter egg hunt. There’s always next year, Dave. https://t.co/QfVqsvkIv2
— Ashlyn (@Ashlynkirby98) April 21, 2019
We’re just here for the replies…
https://t.co/ZTMsBmMFdC— LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) April 21, 2019
Others pointed out how this was no different than celebrating a Final Four or College World Series appearance by hanging a banner, but Rovell disagreed. Then someone threw this little factoid back at him:
The guy saying second-best-in-the-nation LSU doesn’t deserve a billboard? He placed 21,463rd in a marathon and got the shoes he ran it in plated in gold. https://t.co/QFiZ0gJDRw
— Lauren Hopkins (@LaurenHopkins96) April 21, 2019
Rovell is so completely wrong here it’s not even funny.
The LSU team may have not won the national championship, but to say they’re not deserving of recognition, celebration and accolades is shortsighted. They won the SEC meet and had two individual national champion trophies. They finished ahead of a UCLA team that featured two Olympic gold medalists. That’s not something worthy of being proud? I guess anyone who has won a silver or bronze medal at the Olympics should just throw them away.
John Wooden, arguably the most successful coach in sports history, defined success the following way:
“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”
I didn’t see anything in there about success being defined by winning a championship and nothing less. I’m sure Rovell won’t understand that, though he’s probably used to being smacked down for his poor opinions.
