One of the original pioneers of the sports blog game appears to have unexpectedly returned after disappearing for several years, and the internet has lost its collective mind.
Brooks Melchior, founder of the once-popular sports media site Sports By Brooks, has not tweeted in nearly five years. His site was highly successful from the early-2000s until around 2012, when he went away and left countless people wondering why. On Wednesday, he tweeted for the first time since Nov. 11, 2013.
From one of my favorite movies. Love this scene. pic.twitter.com/loZWD49Ngv
— SPORTSbyBROOKS (@SPORTSbyBROOKS) September 26, 2018
For those of you who don’t get the reference, that scene from “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” shows when Wonka resurfaced after going into hiding. There were lots of rumors about him, so when he opened his factory to Golden Ticket winners everyone was wondering what he would be like and whether the rumors were true. Wonka limped out and pretended he was in rough physical shape before busting out a somersault to the delight of the crowd.
Assuming his account wasn’t hacked, it seems like Melchior is sending a clear message. There have been rumors about him for years, including when Jeff Pearlman wrote a piece about Brooks that he decided was not appropriate to run. He explained the decision on “The Chris Mannix Show” in 2016.
“I wrote the story. I literally have on my computer a 10,000-word Sports by Brooks story that I busted my butt on hardcore,” Pearlman said at the time. “I wrote it for Bleacher Report and one of the editors said, ‘I just don’t feel comfortable with this because it feels like a mental health illness.’ I did not find him, as in we did not have a face-to-face encounter. I found out, basically, what has become of him. And I’ll just say that I think my editor is correct in that it was the right thing not to … I’ll just say sometimes people go away for a reason. Not just because they fade out of prominence.”
Brooks’ tweet on Wednesday was met mostly with disbelief:
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) September 26, 2018
— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) September 26, 2018
Me trying to remain calm now that Brooks Melchior is back in the Twitter game… pic.twitter.com/xTnnJGvWGD
— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) September 26, 2018
This would be more appropriate, don't you think? pic.twitter.com/G9WJX0qOIX
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 26, 2018
It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Brooks has planned for the future.
