As he said in his blog post (https://38pitches.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/the-world-we-live...), he considered the first couple of comments just harmless joking around, and that's what his "threats of violence" were as well.

  I want to date your daughter, I want to take your 
  daughter to prom, I want to hit on your daughter etc., 
  those? Those are guys being dopes and saying what guys 
  say. This stuff? This is so far off the radar it’s 
  pathetic.

It's pretty easy to read his "i have many friends that are in or former special forces....." in the same light; joking around, maybe pushing the boundaries a bit but nothing that's egregious. It's a pretty normal response from a father to someone who's being a bit too forward with his daughter.

Graphic descriptions of rape and violence against a minor are a completely different ballpark.

Should he not have made the "special forces" comment? Maybe. That's what showed people that they could get under his skin by making comments about his daughter, so some people took that and escalated quickly. But I don't think anyone would read that as any actual threat, and the people who escalated and graphically described raping his daughter are fully responsible for their own actions.

I didn't read it like threats of violence. It was stating a fact: _"If I were a violent person, I could be at your doorstep in less than 4 hours"_

Then he explained that's not an option for him.

His replies sounded like he was defending his family to me.

I was going to say the same thing, he is just a father protecting his family. I think any father would do the same or say the same thing in this type of situation.

It struck me that he was doing something similar to what he's complaining about.