Mike McCarthy’s debut season as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys could not have gotten off to a more disastrous start through seven games. The team is in a downward spiral thanks to an embarrassing 2-5 record.
It’s hardly surprising that the embattled McCarthy is getting slammed by irate Cowboys fans, but it’s downright comical how a man whose name is only somewhat similar to the Cowboys coach is receiving an inordinate amount of hate on social media.
What makes the situation that much more amusing is how the man unfairly under fire on social media is actually a prominent sports agent with an esteemed roster of NFL players.
Mike McCartney, 56, represents several NFL players, including Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee and Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. He also serves as the director of football at Priority Sports & Entertainment.
The agent appears to be enjoying himself amid the case of mistaken social media identity. McCartney has been responding to a handful of fans who are erroneously spewing vitriol in his direction to troll them.
McCartney recently opened up about being misidentified as McCarthy on Twitter, and it sounds like it’s been going on for some time.
“It definitely started when Mike was in Green Bay a few seasons ago,” McCartney said, per ESPN. “I’m on Twitter and I just remember a person tweeted at me as if I was the coach. And it was in-game. I was like, ‘Are they really that clueless? Our names are spelled differently.’ But then I thought it could be fun to reply as if I’m Mike McCarthy.”
McCartney’s experience certainly is not the first time such a thing has occurred on social media when a person’s name is similar to that of a more prominent personality in sports, entertainment, politics or otherwise.
That doesn’t prevent it from being amusing each and every time it occurs … although there have been cases when the victim doesn’t find it as humorous as McCartney clearly finds the situation.
The real Mike McCarthy, meanwhile, will look to somehow get the Cowboys’ nightmarish season back on track with an NFC East showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.
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