More photos » by Denis Poroy - AP

3 months ago: San Diego Chargers' Antonio Cromartie, left, laughs as he talks with Darren Sproles, right, during their NFL football training camp held at the Chargers facility in San Diego, Friday, July 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Browse more photos »

From time to time, I will write open letters to players, coaches or front office members of the San Diego Chargers.  I'm not stupid enough to think that these people actually read BFTB, it's just a way for me to get things off my chest.

Antonio,

Let me start this letter by saying I'm a big fan.  Although I've criticized your play on the field a bit during this last season and a half, I admire your toughness (playing with a broken hip) and think that you have incredible potential.  If you could consistently play the way you played against the Broncos two weeks ago, I'd be screaming from the highest mountaintops that the Chargers should lock you up with a long-term deal.

However, I'm not writing this letter to talk about that.  We need to talk about Twitter.  More specifically, we need to talk about why 18,765 people are allowed to follow your Twitter account and I'm not one of them.  I have sent a request to follow your Twitter "officially" (more on this in a second) a handful of times and access has never been granted.

The only thing I can imagine that I did to ruffle your feathers was when I wrote this paragraph:

HOLD ON.  I need to interject here.  Somebody needs to tell Antonio that he's costing himself money with his Twitter account.  Right now he's posting non-stop about Mike Vick, and he's siding with the guy!  Let the man prove that prison has changed him before you proclaim him a new man.  Before this Vick mess, Cro has used his Twitter account to fight ("@weavons3 man who the fuck are you nigga that's my girl nigga don't ever disrespect me."), show off his diet of greasy food (Popeye's, Roscoe's, Cheesecake Factory), admitted to some criminal activity from his high school days (put sugar in a teacher's gas tank, robbed 3 people, threatened a teacher, maybe sold drugs) and admitted to getting into FSU without ever taking a foreign language.  Slow down Cro!  Although....I do like that he's coming to camp with a mohawk.

That had nothing to do with me trying to out you or what you were saying.  At that time, only a couple thousand people were following your Twitter account and it hadn't made news yet.  You hadn't even gotten fined by the team yet.  I was trying to help you out, give you some advice, in case you actually read this little blog.  After the Tila Tequila incident, it became very clear that A.J. Smith keeps tabs on his players and doesn't like to keep guys on his team that could potentially be trouble.  Other GMs in the NFL feel the same way. 

When you're up for a new contract, you're going to want to talk about your picks, returns and big plays.  You'll find the negotiator on the other side will want to talk about your past, specifically the crimes you committed in high school and your admitted presence at dog fights.  They'll want to talk about all of those kids with all of those women.  They'll want to know who your friends are.  Everything that could possibly bring your price down, they'll want to find it. 

I'm not saying don't have skeletons in your closet, because you can't change the past, but don't put the spotlight on those secrets on your Twitter and then ban me because I pointed them out and told you to think before you tweet.

For the record, banning me doesn't really accomplish anything.  You don't know the kindof super-nerd you're dealing with.  I see every tweet you make and even voted for your baby girl Jordan on the Gap casting website.  I appreciate that you've started tweeting less, and tweeting bible verses when you do.  It's a couple steps above bragging about what you were able to get away with because of your incredible skill-set.  It makes me think that either you're over Twitter (which may be for the best), or you've decided to only tweet when necessary.  Either way, I'm sorry if my advice offended you.  Now it's time to end the charade and un-block me.

I'm in the process of building and managing a list of all Chargers-related Twitter accounts.  Players, PR people, everyone.  I'm going to try to incorporate it into the site so that the community here can keep an eye on what everyone is doing/saying/thinking.  The problem with this list is that, as long as you block me, you cannot be a part of it.  So, for the benefit of Charger fans who haven't offended you, I ask for your assistance in the matter.

John