A Twitter Death That's Real?

On Friday morning, word spread quickly that Adrian Peterson's, Minnesota Vikings' running back , two-year old son died. Which NFL fans later found out was the personal reason Peterson missed practice on Thursday. The child, whose name has not been released to the public, was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday night after being found unresponsive and later determined to be in critical condition. He was under the care of his mother's boyfriend,  Joseph Patterson. Patterson ended up with two counts of aggravated battery of an infant and aggravated domestic assault according to ESPN. Even with this situation on his mind, Adrian played today in the loss against the Carolina Panthers with a total of 83 yards on the day which is a quiet day at the office for him. However, he had the support of many fellow athletes and fans on Twitter the day his son went in the hospital and the day he passed.

Many fans and athletes from other leagues also posted supportive tweets over the weekend. Some of the common hashtags that I saw were  #AP, #PrayingForAP and #SickForAP. Adrian did not let the attention on his tough time go unnoticed. He addressed the condolences, asked for fans and fellow athletes to be respectful and not post pictures on social networks and the son that he had living with him, Adrian Peterson Jr., was healthy.

The pictures that were being posted were of Adrian Peterson and Adrian Peterson Jr. While I understand that fans, who I'm assuming posted the pictures, where just trying to show support, did not know which son they were posting, but I have only seen two pictures of Peterson and a young child during the time the story has unfolded. However, the two pictures that were floating around Twitter did have quite a few retweets and favorites because they showed how much care there was for the child in them, but it also showed you how quickly things can move over social networks and who all has access to them. Peterson's tweets showed us that celebrity status does not make you any less human. Fans' tweets showed that we can keep a story going even before and after we get all the details. But, in all seriousness my thoughts and prayers go out to Adrian Peterson.


ESPN article #1
ESPN Article #2