PACKING A PUNCH: Packers guard T.J. Lang sent out profanity-laced messages Monday night on Twitter, blasting the NFL after Green Bay lost in Seattle on a controversial last-second Hail Mary ruling. (Getty Images)
Packers guard T.J. Lang had a couple choice words for his closest 100,000 friends late last night, and now he has the NFL and all its surrounding environs completely a-Twitter.
Lang and his teammates were swindled in front of a national TV audience during Monday Night Football when a last-second Hail Mary to Seahawks receiver Golden Tate was ruled a touchdown by the replacement referees, giving Seattle a 14-12 win. It was a play that seemed clear to most of the nation as one that should not have stood.
So Lang took out his frustration after the game with his thumbs, tapping out two messages on Twitter that have become among of the most recognized statements in the history of the social network.
“[Expletive] it NFL,” Lang tweeted around 1 a.m. “Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs.”
As of last night, that tweet received over 92,000 retweets, which according to the blog TwitSprout, is now the second-most retweeted message in the history of Twitter. It is second only to boxer Floyd Mayweather’s calling out of Manny Pacquiao on Jan. 10.
Including a third tweet in which Lang said Seahawks players and coaches who think they won the game had “zero integrity as a man”, his three tweets sent following the game had been retweeted a combined 184,000 times.
About an hour before Lang’s tweet about being fined — which he likely will be — came his first loose-lipped malfeasance, when he wrote, “Got [expletive] by the refs.. Embarrassing. Thanks nfl.” That drew the national attention to a man who before yesterday was mostly an unknown grunt in the trenches.
It also got Lang a spot on a radio show in his native Detroit, where he continued his tirade and went so far as to make threats about boycotting competition.
“Whatever it takes, it’s just a total embarrassment to everybody watching the game, the players in the game; it’s not fun to be part of something like that,” Lang told the “Valenti & Foster” show on 97.1 The Ticket. “If it keeps going on, it’s going to get ugly.”
Lang did say he regretted “using the F-bomb” in his tweets, but stands behind the sentiment 100 percent.
“Personally, I think more people need to speak up,” Lang said.
The NFL released a statement yesterday about the play, saying that Tate should have been called for offensive pass interference, but the catch he made in conjunction with defender M.D. Jennings still should have been a touchdown.
“It was kind of embarrassing to be part of it,” Lang said. “Everybody was furious. A lot of guys are trying to take the high road, but it’s hard to do when there’s that much emotion into one game. To have the win actually stolen? It’s frustrating.”