Rubbing salty language into the wounds of a rival team turned out to be a bad move for a New Hampshire basketball player, who lost a prestigious high school award because of the ill-advised tweet.
Pembroke Academy guard Pat Welch was stripped of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association boys Division II player of the year award after he used a Twitter hash tag to direct an obscenity toward the team he and his teammates beat for the state championship two weeks ago.
Though Welch deleted the tweet aimed at Portsmouth High within 15 minutes of posting it March 15 after his team defended its state crown, the New Hampshire Basketball Coaches Organization rescinded its original decision and gave the award to another player.
"They can give it to him," Welch's coach, Matt Alosa, told The New Hampshire Union-Leader. "But as far as I'm concerned, Pat Welch is still the player of the year."
Welch was also removed from the roster of two postseason all-star games.
Welch, who scored 15 points in the championship game, traveled to Portsmouth to apologize to the team and also expressed contrition in interviews.
