The young guard for the Washingon Wizards, Bradley Beal, wasn’t even watching the Cardinals game Friday night when they were coming back on a stunned Nationals teams and their fans, but when we saw the Cardinals won he reached for Twitter. He is from St. Louis after all.
STL turnupppp !!!
…I guess that’s means something to the effect of “I’m happy the Cardinals won.” because that’s how most of Washington-area fans took it, and it did not go over particularly well.
“I was hearing threats and everything, like, ‘Watch your back,’ “ Beal said on Saturday before getting his first start of the preseason against Cleveland. “People were like, ‘I’m not going to cheer for you.’ I was like, whatever. It was cool, though.”
Beal was openly rooting for the Cardinals before the series began and has worn the team’s cap to practice all week. He decided to send out a series of tweets to explain his position.
“People forget I’m from St. Louis ! Lol#STL,” Beal wrote. “It was a great comeback for my home team, am I wrong for cheering them on?”
He then explained, “Just because I cheer for my team doesn’t mean I don’t support the Nats.”
Here’s Beals tweets from that night:
…and here’s a sampling from the D.C. fans:
Poor guy can’t even root for his own team? That’s cold D.C., but Beal is taking the shots in stride:
“It was probably moreso the timing, but at the same time, it’s my city,” Beal said of St. Louis. “It’s not going to affect the way I play. I got to do something to redeem myself, I guess.”
Do what you gotta do man, just don’t be like the other D.C.-area rookies and turn in to a douche.