Justin Fields: ‘At least I didn’t swing and miss’

Subtlety is a lost art in the modern world.

All too often, people feel compelled to go way over-the-top for attention when a less-obvious route would be far better.

Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields has seemingly taken that lesson to heart.

Tuesday evening, Fields tweeted a video of himself on the golf course. It’s not clear who he was playing with, but last year the team’s quarterbacks went golfing together during the summer.

“We did a little QB golf outing in the summer and it was my first time golfing, actually golfing instead of going to Top Golf and stuff like that,” Fields said last November. “So it was pretty fun and I wasn’t as bad as I thought I would be. So I’ll probably pick it up more and more as I grow and get older because I definitely like the game of golf and I wasn’t bad at it. I think I was pretty much the best player on my team, I think.”

Fields is something of a natural athlete. In addition to being a Heisman finalist as a football player, he was also a highly-touted prep baseball prospect. So it’s not surprising to see him excel on the golf course as well.

But the subtlety to his Twitter game is awe-inspiring. The tweet he sent read, “Got a lot of work to do, but at least I didn’t swing and miss.”

Any beginner who has been to the driving range knows the humiliation that comes with a whiff. But Ohio State football fans with long memories might remember the phrase “swing and miss” from another context.

On December 22, 2018, Tate Martell tweeted and later deleted, “word of advice: don’t swing and miss… especially not your second time.”

It was not too tough to figure out that those words had an audience of one: Justin Fields. That was right when Fields was contemplating a transfer from Georgia to OSU, and Martell was pretty clearly not thrilled about it.

While he later denied that the tweet was aimed at Fields, in the days before the Rose Bowl he also said, “Why would I leave for somebody who hasn’t put a single second into this program yet? I’ve put two years of working my ass off into something that I’ve been praying for and dreaming of my whole life. To just run from somebody that hasn’t put a single second into workouts or anything like that and doesn’t know what the program is all about, there’s not a chance.”

Of course, Martell did put his name in the Transfer Portal less than two weeks later.

While Fields placed third in the Heisman voting and led the Buckeyes to the College Football Playoff, Martell finished 2019 with just seven yards passing and seven more on the ground for Miami.

This isn’t the first time Fields has taken a subtle jab at Martell on social media, either. Shortly after transferring to OSU, Fields followed Martell’s sister, who frequently posts risque photos on Instagram. Fields did not follow Martell himself.

Got a lot of work to do, but at least I didn’t swing and miss. ?? pic.twitter.com/70kiCYGWmb

— Justin Fields (@justnfields) April 7, 2020