Bernard Berrian to Amputee War Hero John Kriesel: “Sit Down and Shut Up”

Bernard Berrian has gotten into it with his Twitter followers before, often in amusing fashion, but on Sunday the back-and-forth got a little bit ugly and left Berrian looking like a complete fool. The unfortunate exchange began when current Minnesota State Representative John Kriesel invited his tweeps to follow Berrian, saying “If you want to follow a hilarious twitter account, try @B_Twice (Bernard Berrian) who says that he’s open a lot and should get the ball more.”

I’m sure Berrian has heard worse, but for some reason this particular shot got his goat more than most, prompting him to fire back, “@johnkriesel Anytime u wanna watch the film with me. Not just one game but all of them. And if not sit down n shut up!!”

Those familiar with Mr. Kriesel’s life story already understand how severely Berrian put his foot in it with that last remark. For those who don’t know, Kriesel served with the Minnesota Army National Guard in Iraq, and in 2006 lost both legs in an IED attack.

Surely Berrian apologized to Mr. Kriesel immediately after realizing his mistake? Uh…not exactly. When called on his jerky remark, Berrian became even more defensive, firing at one of his critics, “Shouldn’t have opened his mouth. Especially bout something he knows nothing about. How classy is that of him??” When another follower suggested Berrian should show more respect to Mr. Kriesel, who is not only a war hero but a legislator attempting to help the Vikings get a new stadium, Berrian replied, “[Respect is] earned not given. So NO.”

Very mature Bernard. And all this after you finally had a few more people coming over to your side after making a big catch during the Vikings’ exciting if ultimately failed comeback attempt against Kansas City. Well we shouldn’t really be surprised. Berrian has demonstrated on multiple occasions that he can’t handle even the smallest criticism without losing it. And the more upset he gets, the more delusional he seems to become about his situation.

Is Bernard Berrian ever to blame for his own failures? Or is it always the quarterback or the team or the coach or the critics who “don’t really know what’s going on?” Whatever. Berrian is useless and every sane fan and media member knows it. I’ve attempted to go easy on Bernard this year – it is a pretty terrible offense after all, and yes it’s hard to catch balls when the QB is routinely sailing them three feet over your head – but this latest stupid incident shows again that B Twice isn’t worth defending. The Vikings should cut his sorry ass and be done with it.

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