Jesus, Jocks, and the Jukebox

Twitter makes watching sports more entertaining.

There. I said it. And I know all of you sports traditionalists out there are shaking your fists at me, but it's true.

When I first came across Twitter, I was very skeptical about the purpose of it all. But when I actually got connected with it, and eventually started following some very informative people, I started to encounter the endless potential that Twitter seems to have.

To explain further, let's take a look at the general format of standard sports programming.

First of all, there is the pregame show. Before the game starts there are usually interviews with the players, coaches, and other personnel. During this time there is also usually analysis from different sports personalities such as former players and coaches, as well as journalists with an expertise that is relevant to the sport that is being played.

After the pregame show comes the game itself. The presentation of the actual game is complimented usually by a play-by-play announcer and one or two colour commentators that are for the most part made up of either former players or coaches.

The other piece to a sports broadcast is what happens during the intermissions. For example, in hockey during each period there are brief interviews with the players, but for the most part there is more analysis of the game made by a panel made up of various sports personalities.

Generally, this is the routine of almost every sports broadcast you are going to see, which isn't a bad thing at all. But here's the thing: Twitter has all of that, and then some.

When you're on Twitter you can get all of the very same insight but from even more current and former players and coaches. You can also get insight from the sportswriters and personalities that you want. What's even better is that you get this all game long, and you don't have to wait for intermissions to see what people think, and have their opinions directed or censored by producers or executives.

Twitter gives your favorite personalities in sports the freedom to speak their mind, and when they do that, it really makes the experience of watching a sporting event that much better. On top of that, you're actually going to find that some of these athletes are not the robots that the post game scrums make them out to be. Some of them are actually really funny and entertaining!

I can talk about how great Twitter is for a while, but that won't really help persuade my readers into trying it out for themselves. The reason for that is because not everybody uses Twitter constructively in the perspective of a sports fan. Many athletes and sports personalities will flood your newsfeeds with useless updates, and observations that many people could care less about. But that's the purpose of this post; to direct you.

I'd love for people to experience Twitter the way I'm beginning to, so here are the top Tweeters that every sports fan should follow:

Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) and Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger)
Both of these TSN insiders are great people to have on your news feeds. Their upside is that they are very connected, and often will deliver you the latest NHL news before it is ever reported on air.

Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun)
Pierre LeBrun, like the TSN insiders, is very connected and well respected in the hockey community as an NHL columnist for ESPN.com

Greg Wyshynski  (@wyshynski)
Greg Wyshynski is the editor of the very popular and well done Puck Daddy Blog and through Twitter he updates his readers with current news as it happens and links to his blog entries as they are posted. On top of that he often delivers the news in a clever and funny manner.

Bill Simmons (@sportsguy33)
Bill Simmons works for ESPN, and over the years has become one of the most popular sportswriters in the United States. Simmons writes for ESPN, but has also ventured into becoming the Editor-in-chief for his own website grantland.com. He's a great follow because he's the biggest sports nerd I've ever seen in my life, and with all of his knowledge and credibility, he still approaches sports from a fans perspective, which is very entertaining.

Paul Bissonnette (@BizNasty2point0) and Bobby Ryan (@b_ryan9)
As far as current players go, these are the guys to follow. The Anaheim Ducks forward Bobby Ryan is one of the premier youngsters in the NHL, and also hilarious to follow on Twitter as you can imagine by watching the video posted below. As for Paul Bissonnette, well, on ice he's a fourth-line enforcer (or as he would say "1st line bench") who plays on the Phoenix Coyotes. Bissonnette gets about as much ice time as the dude singing the national anthem. But, when it comes to Twitter he is hands down the MVP in the league.




Jay Onrait (@JayOnrait) and Dan O'Toole (@tsnotoole)
If you've ever watched TSN's Sportscentre, you will have gotten a taste of the hilarity these two sportscasters are capable of. Thankfully, their sense of humour translates very well to Twitter.




To tell you the truth, I really could go on and on about the sports personalities to follow on Twitter. I am following about 130 people, and probably close to 100 of those are sports related. The list really goes on and on. So if you read this post and are looking for more Twitter recommendations, then feel free to leave a comment and I will get right on that for you!

The new hockey season starts in about a month (and hopefully the basketball season as well...stupid lockout) and I truly hope that if you don't have Twitter, you try it out. I'm fairly certain that if you're following the right people, the way you watch sports will never be the same again.

-Joey Traa