Promotion for Mavericks event

On Feb. 13, when Bachelor star Colton Underwood abruptly left a charity event at Mavericks in Pacific Beach, many took to social media to discuss the sequence of events that made national news on Valentines morning.

Underwood apology

“I’m sorry if you didn’t get a picture at the event last night,” Underwood posted on his Instagram Story, “but at one point during the event I was grabbed and touched inappropriately while people were throwing cameras in my face. I am the type of person who would have stood in line for hours to make sure anyone who supported the event got a picture, but once that happened, I had to do what was best for me as a human being, I didn’t sign up to be a piece of meat or a zoo animal.”

“Leave the poor sweet innocent 27-year-old virgin boy alone,” Lala responded. “He’s a good guy. #MeToo goes both ways.”

A 23-year-old female from San Diego wasn’t so sympathetic. “I literally waited in line for hours to get a pic,” she commented, “and every single time I got to the front, you walked off or blocked people from getting pictures. I looked forward to meeting you and all I got was a picture of the back of your head on the second floor to show for it.”

Underwood as Chargers linebacker

Others posted similar comments with sad-faced-emojis and a handful said they waited “in the rain” at the 10,000 sq./ft. indoor and outdoor venue on Garnet Ave. (a block east from Crystal Pier).

Pre-sale tickets sold out at $25 apiece the day before the event, according to Mavericks’ Facebook page. I reached out to an employee of Mavericks (via Facebook) that was promoting the Underwood event; I didn’t receive a response.

On Feb. 18, Mavericks posted in part on their Facebook: “Thank you to everyone who came out …. Together we were able to raise over $13,000 for Colton’s Legacy Foundation!”

“People were pissed they wasted money,” commented a female ‘IG-er’.

A mom then got in the “gram mix.” “Whether you were able to meet @coltonunderwood or not, the purpose of the event was to raise money for CF (cystic fibrosis),” she commented. “So I am not exactly sure that it was a waste of money. It actually went towards a much greater cause than people throwing a hissy fit about not getting a freaking picture with the bachelor so they can post on their Instagram to look cool. The majority of these comments are absolutely ridiculous. Has nobody stopped to think about the event itself and what it is supporting and raising money for. My God, there are bigger problems in the world than not getting a picture with @bachelorusa #spreadpositivity.”

Teri is an Uber driver that picks up Mavericks patrons. “The ‘Bachelor’ show seems pretty sexually charged,” she said on a Facebook direct-message, “however, for him to be groped at a public event like that was completely inappropriate. He shouldn’t be 'victim blamed' any more that young women for what they decide to wear or act.”

Teri remembers when Underwood signed for the then-San Diego Chargers as a “reserve/future” linebacker in 2014. “I’m not sure who he specifically backed up, but I know that year we had Donald Butler as a linebacker.”