(Featured Image courtesy of Jon Rothstein’s YouTube (a handsome man by the way))

A great atrocity occurred on Friday night. CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein blocked me on Twitter.

Now Jon catches a lot of flak for being “corny” or a “dork,” but I respect his grind and the fact that he’s truly married to the game.

He’s the type of guy to stop by St. Mary’s foreign trip practices in the Virgin Islands during his honeymoon. You have to respect that.

I was having a great Friday until around seven o’clock when I sent out a harmless joke to who I thought was a close acquaintance in the college basketball world.

Jon Rothstein was watching West Virginia battle Bowling Green in an exhibition game. As old chaps do, I made a little joke about the dirt on Jon’s keyboard. It looked like that thing hadn’t been within 1,000 feet of a duster or a wet wipe. The result: an instant block from Jon.

Many would wonder why I would spend my time caring why Jon would block me. But I would counter with the fact that I’m a massive college hoops fan.

And nobody does college basketball updates on Twitter like Jon Rothstein.

How will I know what month it is? Is Villanova still going to be a Fortune 500 company without Jay Wright? How will I find out how consistent Mick Cronin is this year? Will a trip to the Siegel Center be more life-altering than a ten-day trip to Europe this year? Is Xavier basketball Hell in a Cell (of course not)?

The answer to these questions are trivial to most, but it makes my days infinitely better.

I’m also confused by Jon (who I thought was an acquaintance) decided to block me now. I’ve had a few more tweets that were way more “block-worthy.”

In early 2021, he claimed UC basketball was at an “all-time low.” An idea that felt like a stretch. They had a 3-win season in the 1980s. So after UC’s win over Illinois last November, I was petty and decided to tweet this:

I won’t lie. That was maybe unnecessary, but it felt good after a huge win. You could argue I toed the line on a block-worthy tweet. However, that one feels more egregious than the keyboard tweet.

There was another time when Jon Rothstein referred to Brian Gregory as an “excellent coach.” While every man is entitled to his opinion, I scoffed at this. I’m sure Gregory is a nice guy, but he had made two NCAA tournaments at Dayton, Georgia Tech, and South Florida in a 14-year span at the time of his tweet.

Another tweet I’d argue that is more block-worthy. I mean no-ill towards Jon. It’s just two passionate college basketball guys engaging in some dialogue (in this case, a one-way dialogue). But I respect Jon and his craft.

My only point was that Jon is a man that could invest in some Wet Wipes for that Macbook keyboard. I meant no disrespect and I’d love nothing more than to get “unblocked” in time for the start of college basketball season.

Everyone else sleeps in May but it looks like I’m in bed by November this year.

PS:

Jon,

If you’re reading this, let’s get this guy a catchphrase ASAP. I swear I will buy a T-shirt. Thank You.