Mark Sanchez is the most recent football player to receive death threats via Twitter

It takes a "special" kind of repugnant punk to throw death threats at athletes via social media, and when such things happen as we all still have recent events heavy on our hearts, it's particularly disgusting. Yet, it seems as if there are "human beings" so infantile and stupid that it will actually occur to them that threatening the lives of athletes based on their negative exploits on the field is a really neat idea.

So it was for someone who has the Twitter handle @BraveGrancru, whose account is still somehow up as we publish this post. (Twitter, you might want to look into that). As New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez was turning the ball over five times in the Jets' 14-10 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Monday Night Football, the aforementioned moron was tweeting stuff like this:

This person then published a picture of himself on his account, with the note: TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT YOUR KILLA WEDNESDAY NIGHT NIGHT

Given this individual's clear hunger for publicity, we'll skip the step of publishing his picture. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said that NFL security has followed up with the Jets organization regarding this matter.

[Also: Mark Sanchez turns the ball over five times, ends Jets' playoff hopes]

Sadly, this jerk will get his 15 minutes, According to his Twitter timeline that shouldn't even be up anymore, he's received inquiries from several members of the New York football media. He offered a half-hearted apology to the reporters who caught up to him, and we'll leave it at that.

Sanchez isn't the first NFL player to get death threats on Twitter. San Francisco 49ers receiver Kyle Williams received several after he fumbled twio returns in the most recent NFC championship game, and Washington Redskins receiver Josh Morgan was the recipient of similar threats when a penalty called on Morgan was a key factor in Washington's 31-28 September loss to the St. Louis Rams.

We'll avoid the soapbox here, except to say that if you actually think this is a reasonable or right idea, there's obviously something very, very wrong with you. and we've seen what happens when such alarms go unnoticed. The NFL needs to step up, work with the appropriate authorities, and make a serious commitment to doing something proactive about this.

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