This Serena Williams picture made that guy too hostile

Today in sports reporters blogging out of line, I bring you Greg Couch and his effort to serve up vitriol for Serena Williams and a recent, short-lived Twitter avatar. Her crime? Being sexy and attractive … and inspiring new waves of stalkers?

But I’m here to talk to you about Twitter stalking, particularly, the kind of stalking most reporters engage in on this microblogging social network. It’s presumably innocent — but is it, really?!

Hidden within masses of often anonymous followers, reporters gaze at their timelines for updates and information that the subjects they write about willingly volunteer. In some instances, it’s just good sleuthing; it’s silly to neglect a readily-available resource for gathering intel.

In this case, with Couch’s criticism of Williams, however, it’s an invasive insinuation into someone’s psyche, without authorization or credibility. It’s a drawn conclusion without a true conflict ever presented, outside of the suggestion that Williams cares more about her sexuality and celebrity status than a storied tennis-playing career.

A 20-time champion can’t be sexy, apparently. Yup. If only Serena took more care to shield her assets from predators, she might have completely avoided that stalker who was arrested outside her Florida home last week.

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I’m all for sports writers blogging their unfiltered and unedited thoughts. It helps us see who they are when they’re not handcuffed to style guides or publisher preferences. That has its benefits. The problem is that not everyone’s thoughts are gems.

Like this one:

I’m guessing Erin Andrews might be uncomfortable with the Twitter avatar, having had a stalker peep at her in her hotel room through the peephole. This view of Serena might not be too far off of what he saw of Andrews.

Seriously, Greg? C’mon, man. It was clear after the lead that this was all grasping at straws, but invoking the reprehensible Andrews scandal and correlating it to Williams’ silhouette is a vain attempt to connect non-existent dots.

And make of this nugget what you will:

Women’s tennis has been selling sex for decades. And this avatar — even just the talk of it – and all of Williams’ other sex(y) photos and videos lately will draw more TV viewers to women’s tennis…

Still, Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic photos are never quite as gritty as Serena’s.

Because their sexy is classier than a photo he deemed “somewhat artistic.”