Videos by OutKick
Claiming he is worried about crypto bots spamming his Twitter comments, 2022 OutKick Woke All-Star Challenge contestant Darren Rovell absolutely infuriated Tennessee Vols fans on a beautiful Friday afternoon by locking his comments after tweeting about UT making a “purchase” of baseball player Maui Ahuna.
And BOOM, you have a war.
Vols fans were already juiced up over this weekend’s Super Regional showdown against Notre Dame as the bad boys of college baseball look to punch their ticket to Omaha and then along comes Rovell.
FIREWORKS!
Anyone who has a pulse on social media knows that Vols fans — who haven’t had a whole lot to cheer about over the last several years — are ready for a fight, especially with outsider Rovell dipping his toes into the Tennessee River water. Wrong move, ticket stub boy!
For context, Ahuna hit .396 with 16 doubles, eight home run and 48 RBI for Kansas this season. Rovell has been at war with universities for what he perceives as schools purchasing players in the name of Name, Image, Likeness rules.
Then turns off comments when he’ll be challenged.
Tennessee not only spending major NIL money on football….heard this was a decent size purchase. https://t.co/LIqczna6If
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 10, 2022
To the state of Tennessee, my replies are turned off because of an issue I’ve had with crypto bots, which I’ve been working on with Twitter for a month. It’s not because I’m scared of what you are going to say. I’ve been interacting on Twitter since some of you were in preschool.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 10, 2022
One notable battle from today’s antics came when Rivals Vols reporter Austin Price who wanted a piece of blue checkmark ticket stub boy.
Folks, this is how you end up in the Woke All-Star Challenge. Combine Rovell’s COVID stance and his antics towards blocking commenting by Vols fans and you have Enemy No. 1 status in Tennessee.
So your reporting is confirming this wasn’t tied to an NIL deal. Just making sure.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 10, 2022
Yeah Darren!! That’s exactly what I’m telling you. Could he earn NIL opportunities? Sure as any player can but he doesn’t have any at this moment but continue with your silly nonsense. Why not go ahead and claim @ClayTravis made it all happen while you are at it. 🙄 https://t.co/c0ZHqg7Iev
— Austin Price (@AustinPriceless) June 10, 2022
A quick check of Rovell’s tweeting history over the last 24 hours shows that the comments have been turned off on two tweets:
• The Vols purchasing a player
• A tweet about the LIV golf tour where he addressed the Saudis having “No concern for return on investment” for their expenditures.
So, two posts that were going to get heated and Rovell had the comments turned off on both. Otherwise, commenting was all good on everything else.
You make the call. What’s Rovell afraid of with those two tweets?
But… the replies are turned on for every— you know what, nvm https://t.co/ue69of8Fx0 pic.twitter.com/erLFttRzs7
— Clint Lamb (@ClintRLamb) June 10, 2022
Darren Rovell is the most annoying person to use the internet on planet earth. Also is extremely scared of Tennessee fans and is too fragile to have replies on. https://t.co/c4fFAekxBt
— Vol Herald (@VolHerald) June 10, 2022
Bro has replies on at least 5 other tweets I checked. Imagine talking shit about a program and then being scared of the fans on TWITTER 😂😂😂 https://t.co/56952tbK3b
— Carter (@carter_Vawl) June 10, 2022