So I heard Tuesday Clint Trickett was in some hot water for a Tweet and I just assumed it was this one, which, seriously, was no big deal. I guess he could have devoted another 140 characters to it to provide context and explain he’s known Jimbo forever, but he didn’t.

And that’s fine.

Jokes and tweets are for the people who get them and not for the people to whom you must explain them. This isn’t calculus and you don’t have to show your work. I don’t need to stop proceedings to explain why I’m hysterical. I won’t.

But he nevertheless clarified his message and intent after the tweet became, for some reason, news and not just the product of a guy with Twitter and a sense of humor.

In regards to the tweet to Coach Fisher, it was an OBVIOUS joke, he is a family friend and I have known him since I was 4 years old.

— Clint Trickett (@ClintTrickett9) July 22, 2014

I sighed because I bet he bad to drag himself toward that conclusion. Maybe he was encouraged in that direction. Either way, the outcome didn’t fit the offense.

Turns out that that was not the tweet in question. The tweet in question was a little more questionable. That one … I can understand the attention that one got. But I also know Twitter is a sideline for people and many of those people don’t understand what they say there is anticipated and devoured and oftentimes news.

Reverse the order of these two tweets and I have to think the “worse than death” one never even happens.

But I can also see that he made a Chris Brown joke — this one, not that one — and then went a touch too far, but with the tongue far in the cheek.

Bad form? Sure. This isn’t the place you’ll read a breakdown of what he said and what it meant.

Bad guy? He’s not. No way he sat there and said, “Yo, I find your commentary uninformed, offensive, disloyal and nonculinarian. It reminds me of the one time I died, except this is worse. I shall take thee to task on the Twitter.”

Then came the apology on Twitter and delivered via WVU email at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday.

“I sent out a tweet on July 17 which was misunderstood. I apologize for any confusion that the tweet has caused. I never intended for it to be derogatory or hurtful, but rather a tongue-in-cheek comment, while watching a CFL football game with a female family member. Again, I am sorry that my tweet was misunderstood, and I will use a better choice of words in the future.”

I didn’t even sigh this time. Skipped right past that response.

I hate unnecessary apologies because, for starters, I think some people report with the intent of creating something and earning an apology, and also because it becomes the next thing people dissect. Oh, confusion you say? Misunderstood? How were those words not meant to be derogatory? Some family member you are! There’s no way out of that cycle.

Both tweets have been deleted, and I’m going to level with you. That worries me.

Late last season, WVU beat TCU and afterward I asked Clint something about the game, one that really could and maybe should have gone the other way. I don’t remember what I asked, but my question wasn’t based in flattery, which to him probably seemed odd after a win. He looked at me and asked me why I always ask about the bad stuff. He was cool about it. It wasn’t a thing at all. More of an expression. Dude, we won. I’ve got one arm. And you hit me with that?

I got it and in more ways that one. It’s a hell of a thing to lay on a beat writer, and it stuck with me in a good, constructive way.

So for the final few Tuesdays and Saturdays I started off by complimenting his Nikes or his hair or by asking about hunting … and then I got to the bad stuff.

My point here is that we sometimes forget these players, these young adults, these kids have totally separate and frequently different lives. Now, they forget that, too, sometimes in spectacular and disastrous fashion, but sometimes in harmless and irrelevant fashion. And a lot of times they really enjoy being able to get away from one life to reside in the other, and they find that place they seek to be a shelter and comfortable and isolated. I wish we’d remember that and understand the line and not reach too far for something when it’s sometimes not there.

And above all else, Clint’s Twitter is hilarious. It’s not contrived or haughty. I mean, he interacts with his fake coach, and when he doesn’t, it’s just stuff he sees and thinks and I doubt much of it goes through a filter. And that’s great.

It’s not great if that’s gone or going away. So please, Clint, don’t change who you are off the field on Twitter. Choose your words better? Sure, we all can, and believe me when I tell you I know of what you speak. But don’t choose your hobbies or your outlets any differently.