Tyler Herro had to go through a lot of hate from Wisconsin fans when he decided to decommit from Wisconsin and commit to Kentucky.
You won’t believe half of the stuff he had to endure according to this Bleacher Report article.
The Herro family woke up around 9:30 a.m. one morning and saw red—everywhere. Red spray paint on the side yard. Red spray paint on the green grass. Red spray paint on the tree branches, which, for good measure, were also laced with toilet paper.
FUCK B.B.N.! GO WISCONSIN! the spray paint read, on that summer day last year.
Then there were handwritten letters, routinely delivered to Tyler Herro’s high school, Whitnall of Wisconsin. His coach, Travis Riesop, carefully combed through them. Most were too vile to let Tyler, then a senior, read. One was from a man who said he hoped Herro injured his leg the way Gordon Hayward did—a particularly gruesome fracture.
All because Herro decommitted from Wisconsin to go to Kentucky (whose fans make up the aforementioned Big Blue Nation).
Then the death threats began. First on Twitter and then in real life. One afternoon, Herro was pumping gas into his tan Chevy Malibu at the BP gas station near his home when someone approached him. The man stepped close. Nose-to-nose close. “Walk across that street,” the man said, turning to the road. “I hope you get hit by a truck!”
Eighteen-year-old Herro was no longer a kid, but what could he do? Laugh or shrug or run? His car was egged, as were his family’s front door and garage. Tomatoes were thrown at his father Chris’ Chevy truck. Tyler’s mother, Jen, feared someone might physically harm Tyler when he went to Applebee’s with his friends around 10 p.m. for half-price appetizers on weekends.
Fans would bring stuffed-animal snakes to games, as well as giant poster boards with Herro’s face plastered onto a snake’s body. He was called a backstabber and a traitor.
Read “HATE TYLER HERRO ALL YOU WANT, BUT IT’S HARD TO HATE HIS GAME” by clicking here.
If you didn’t hate Wisconsin before, I am pretty sure they had to move up the hate list after this article.
