I got it from my momma

In the online world, the word “troll” is looked upon negatively. I get it. Trolls can be terrible human beings. But I think there are levels of trolling. Those who know me well know that I can be a pretty good troll, but it’s all in good fun. Plus, I learned it from my momma.

Let’s ignore the bad side of trolling (that deep, dark part of the internet where sexists, misogynists, homophobes and racists reside) and let’s focus on the good side of trolling. It’s more like a good ribbing. Joshing, if you will.

I have a clan of college friends in a group text message where we talk about all the important things in life, such as sports, internet memes and whether brunch is awesome or super awesome (we settled at super awesome). One of my favorite things we do is call upon “family time,” which is a time where anyone who is available hops online to play video games. That’s probably the best time for me to have conversations with my college friends who all live in North Carolina since I’m not much of a phone call guy.

My favorite part of family time is the trolling. There are days where we’re not in the greatest of moods, so when we play and lose, emotions sneak in. That’s where the trolling begins. I don’t consider myself an expert per se, but I sure am pretty good at annoying the heck out of my buddies. Eventually, it leads to some laughs. The greatest thing is I have another friend who is equally if not better than me at the art of trolling. So we tag team every so often to expand on the laughter.

So what does have to do with mom? Well as I said up top, I learned my trolling from my momma.

My mom has a great sense of humor. Every time I’m around her she makes me laugh, whether it’s intentional or not. I didn’t really know how funny she was until I grew up and started to catch how subtle her humor was.

A quick example. One day I was watching my favorite NFL team (Fly Eagles Fly!) play and we just gave up a touchdown. Mom walked by and asked me “why did they let them score? If they keep letting them score, they’re not going to win.” I told her “yes mom, I know.” “Well, then why are they doing that? They’re losing. They can’t do that.”

I was so annoyed. I wanted to tell her to go away, but I can’t. I mean, that’s mom. Which added to the brilliance of her trolling. There is literally nothing I can tell her to counter her obnoxiousness other than “yes mom.”

Eventually, I grew to appreciate it. After all, what’s the point of being mad for too long when there’s nothing I can do that would change the outcome of the game. The Eagles would have given up that touchdown whether I watched it on TV or not. Mom’s trolling was a gift. So I figured I’d adapt said gift.

Going back to the video game example, my friends don’t play for money. We all have “real” grown-up jobs. I’m friends with a doctor, a teacher, a physician, a chef, a rock star (OK, he’s in a band, but hey, one can dream) who does other stuff on the side, etc. So when I troll, it’s a good reminder that there’s really no need to be mad about something as silly as video games. As my chef friend Brian puts it in his best “trolly” voice, “oh hey, awesome, you’re better at pushing buttons than I am. Congratulations.”

Thanks mom. Your sense of humor has gotten me pretty far. I’m a better troll because of you.