Re “Padres face onslaught of social media hate, often fueled by gambling” (Aug. 21): Annie Heilbrunn’s article appalled me but didn’t shock me. Vitriol from commenters on the team’s fan pages is commonplace. I sprang to Tyler Wade’s defense when a man trash-talked him in response to a favorable comment I’d made. The man verbally accosted me on another post, where I complemented Wade. I explained to him that players are humans and can’t be perfect every day.
The gambling aspect never occurred to me. Do people feel so entitled that they expect sports figures to win and make money for them? After inevitable disappointment, they feel free to unleash their inner monsters. Perhaps most of them are bluffing, but that doesn’t make threats and hateful comments any less unsettling. I rarely comment on fan pages anymore because of the hatred. Baseball is just a game, not a matter of life and death.
— Elizabeth Barrow, La Jolla