How to talk to a woman wearing headphones, women’s soccer edition
So proud of this girl!!!! @alexmorgan13 BABY HORSE!!!! https://t.co/EN1T0niRqK
— Megan Rapinoe (@mPinoe) January 23, 2016
2. A couple months after that first tweet, on the occasion of the unveiling of Lyon’s new stadium, Aulas tweeted pictures of the occasion at Morgan, her U.S. teammate Kelley O’Hara and U.S. Soccer:
@OL @ussoccer @ussoccer @UWCL @alexmorgan13 @kohara19 the best women team in Europe is Olympique Lyonnais pic.twitter.com/xTghlwnKJs
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) March 4, 2016
3. Three days later, Aulas replied to his previous tweet with the message: “The best American players could play with the best European team: Olympique Lyonnais”
@OL @ussoccer @UWCL @alexmorgan13 @kohara19 @mPinoe meilleures joueuses américaines pourraient jouer avec la meilleure équipe Europe : OL
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) March 6, 2016
4. Aulas managed to hold out nearly three months before tweeting at Alex Morgan, this time to tag her in a reply to the announcement of Lyon winning a title:
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) May 29, 2016
5. The Lyon owner managed to last nearly two more weeks before replying to a Morgan tweet about France winning its opening Euros match by sending more pictures of his stadium:
you can play In the best team In Europe with Olympique Lyonnais In the nicest stadium pic.twitter.com/hEHa6kBPzA
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) June 11, 2016
6. Aulas managed to keep himself from tweeting at Morgan for the rest of the Euros. Then the Olympics happened:
and after Rio road to Olympique Lyonnais in the best team In Europe …. We are waiting …..
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) July 30, 2016
7. At the same time, soccer culture means different things in different contexts. The desire to be a proactive president isn’t exactly an explanation for why Aulas continued to be a doofus on Twitter:
yes to Rio but it' s more important #road to OL in Lyon
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) July 30, 2016
8. As you may remember, the Olympics did not go particularly well for America’s women. This had the solitary upside of giving Aulas less fodder for his Twitter obsession. He held off until team photo day, when he gave in to the urge to share the picture at Morgan:
@alexmorgan13 pic.twitter.com/hYRYYxhgyg
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) August 24, 2016
9. On Friday, Alex Morgan tweeted about the TV adaptation of her book for children, so Jean-Michel Aulas saw fit to reply with his normal plea:
the best women's team in Europe is Olympique Lyonnais the most ambitious game is also with OL … Welcome in Lyon
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) September 9, 2016
I don’t think he set out to all but harass Alex Morgan on Twitter. These tweets are, in many ways, the logical extension of Aulas’ public persona — a persona that, by in large, is an upgrade over most soccer team owners. Here, however, it is disastrous. Thinly couched in the logic of “it’s only soccer,” Aulas has turned into every annoying man on Twitter. Alex Morgan may well have him muted or filtered, but that doesn’t really change anything; this pursuit is as much for public consumption as it is hers. Transfers in football are often analogized to public courtship, but that has become all too literal in Jean-Michel Aulas’ weird obsession with Alex Morgan. It needs to stop.

David Rudin is an editor at Howler. When not tweeting as the magazine, he can be found at @DavidSRudin