In Pablo Escobar’s Columbia, scoring a big goal—into your own net—would get you shot.  Just ask Andres Escobar (no relation).  In modern-day Los Angeles, missing a big shot could also potentially be life-threatening, for you and your family—if any of the Twitterverse trash-talkers back up their smack, that is.  

Just ask Lakers guard Steve Blake, whose late missed 3 cost L.A. Game 2 in Oklahoma City.  Amongst the barrage of hate thrown his way, some O.G. called JAMESALLONYOU (whose account has since been deleted) tweeted that he hopes Blake’s family gets murdered, while also calling him the n-word.  Nevermind that Blake is white, that’s still some nasty business.

And hey, it’s not like he can take all this stuff lightly when he plays in the Gang Capital of the Nation.  L.A.’s murder rate might be down of late, but after a SWAT team officer was shot in 2008, it’s hard to say that anyone is untouchable in the City of Angels.  That said, murdering a professional athlete over a poor performance would certainly be unprecedented—in North America, anyways.