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B1G Final Up Next for the No. 9 Buckeyes Ohio State University

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The online abuse problem and Cotie McMahon’s surprise response to attacks
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“I love being the villain”

Ohio State women’s basketball junior Cotie McMahon has an affinity with the Grinch, the classic Dr. Seuss children’s book adapted into a television special and multiple movies. McMahon relates to the Grinch. When the affection went public, McMahon said the green who from Whoville was “misunderstood.”

The two have a lot in common.

“I love being the villain,” said McMahon.

McMahon is not talking about stealing toys from children or taking the last can of who hash, no. McMahon is talking about playing basketball and speaking her mind.

On the court, the forward goes to the rim with authority, frequently takes contact and when a whistle blows in her favor, hits another level of intensity. It results in screams, pounding her hands on the court or stomping her feet.

The two-time All-American Honorable Mention has frustrated other teams and their fans over the years with each made basket, whistle and celebration.

McMahon gets frustrated too and will respond as such both on and off the court. Just this season the Ohio State star blew kisses to Michigan fans, motioned towards a group of Minnesota fans who aggressively taunted Buckeye players during warmups, and sent two middle fingers to the Maryland student section on the final day of the season.

That openness spills into press conferences too. McMahon is not afraid to share her thoughts on a wide range of topics to the play of the Buckeyes, what needs to change for the team to improve, and when other teams disrespect Ohio State.

Ohio State’s junior forward gets it right back, but to another level. It is not during games or on the court, but with people on social media who hide behind a computer or phone screen.

“I mean, it’s ramped up a lot,” said McMahon.

Last year, the NCAA released a study that asked college athletes to send them disparaging mentions and direct messages from across their social media. NCAA women’s basketball players were the most impacted and it was not even close.

Artificial intelligence flagged 72,412 pieces of content across basketball, football, gymnastics, softball, baseball and volleyball, with 54,309 coming from March Madness. The study platform also received 5,020 verified cases of abuse or threatening content from athletes themselves. Basketball players and officials during March Madness accounted for 3,915.

That accounts for both men and women, but when broken down by gender women were three times more likely to be on the receiving end of abuse or threats.

Women’s basketball players were nearly 3,500 of those cases, with racism, sexism, sexual content and dogwhistles the majority of those verified pieces of abuse received online.

“It’s tough. We live in a day and age where anybody can say anything online, whether it’s about the program or about a specific player,” said head coach Kevin McGuff. “It’s really unfortunate for the young women in our program and across the country because we’re not unique to this. It happens everywhere.”

Ohio State provides resources in the form of social media training and general support from coaches and teammates. However, since Ohio State is a public university, any abusive responses to official channels cannot be muted or deleted unless it’s a direct threat to someone’s wellbeing.

“‘The less you can interact, the better’ is what our philosophy tries to be,” said McGuff.

Because of McMahon’s play and actions on the floor, she has become a magnet for online abuse. “I mean after every game probably it’s never ending,” said McMahon.

People’s responses became especially volatile and frequent after the Maryland game, when news outlets blew McMahon’s response to the student section out of proportion, publishing stories on news outlets with as large of a reach as Fox News.

When McMahon talks about the abuse being “never ending,” she does not say it with an attitude of being a victim. Not at all. The Centerville, Ohio-native has dished it out but she also takes it with the best of them.

“I love it. It’s very entertaining,” said McMahon. “You’re popping when you got people sending out death threats to you and wishing just the worst on you. They wouldn’t be doing that if they didn’t know who you were.”

Normally, McMahon does not respond to the people who reach out in public or through her direct messages, but when McMahon receives hate it “fuels the fire a lot.”

On Tuesday, that changed when McMahon shared an especially deranged attempt to insult the Ohio State star.



McMahon put the message on her Instagram story on top of a post from the same day where she confessed her stance as a “villain.”

“I look at it as if I wasn’t in this position, if I wasn’t doing what I was doing, if I wasn’t good at what I was doing then it wouldn’t be a problem,” said McMahon. “I mean it’s great.”

Inadvertently, McMahon has also shielded her teammates from the same kind of vitriol. While players do not always talk about the messages and tagged post attacks they receive, McMahon sees her teammates’ online presences and the comments thrown at McMahon are far worse.

Even so, McMahon’s teammates know who she is as a person. “She’s fine, she’s strong-willed, strong-hearted, so she’s fine,” said teammate and longtime friend Chance Gray. The Cincinnati, Ohio guard played AAU basketball with McMahon before leaving for Oregon for two seasons.

When that comment went live, Chance Gray sent McMahon a text to check in on her but with McMahon it does not go much further, but McMahon is not everyone.

Gray became part of the solution when she teamed up with UCLA Bruins’ guard Kiki Rice to partner with BetterHelp on a campaign to make the public more aware of the magnitude of the problem.

“As women’s basketball has grown, it’s definitely gotten a lot bigger when you’re one of the players just kind of in the spotlight, in and out all the time.” said Gray. “You definitely get the wrath of it.”

She also shared tips that worked for her like turning off her phone, not listening to anyone and remembering who you are as a person. McMahon is secure in who she is as a person, and she is glad that she can be there for her teammates, even if it means taking the brunt of the negative and hostile online attention.

“Not everybody’s going to have the same mentality, same strength,” said McMahon. “So I feel like I would definitely rather take it more than I would my other teammates for sure.”

The response McMahon and players receive is not always negative, although the malicious comments receive more attention than the positive. For all the attacks the players see, there are also fans who support and reassure McMahon and the Buckeyes.

“But also there’s a lot of good too,” said McMahon. “That’s why I give a huge shout out to Buckeye Nation because no matter what they really do ride for us just as much as we ride for them.”

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