Ball Don't Lie - NBA

Ball Don't Lie

Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:00 am EDT

Basketball will not keep Charlie Villanueva from tweeting

By J.E. Skeets

Tas and I touched on this unusual bit of news on Monday's podcast, but after further review, it was decided it deserved its own post, complete with an amateur-hour Photoshop. (I'm also interested to hear your take on this, so fire away below.)

On Sunday afternoon, Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva sent a Twitter message — a "tweet" if you will — during halftime of the Celtics-Bucks game. I haven't confirmed it with '"Guinness," but it is believed to be the first instance of a professional athlete using the increasingly popular social networking service during an actual game.

Villanueva, who's Twitter handle is @CV31, tweeted this exact message to his 1,000+ followers from the locker room, game tied at 41:

"In da locker room, snuck to post with my twitt. We're playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up."

And "step up" he did. Villanueva scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Bucks pulled away for the upset win. He also experienced one hell of a rush from his sneaky twitt/tweet, admitting post-game that it took some real "gangstaness" to do what he did during halftime. (Yes, Twitter is so gangster. Somewhere, Al Capone and his obsessive telegramming is smiling.)

Now, while firing off the message probably took CV no more than 10 seconds, PR in Sports (and others) wonder where this new athlete-fan online connectedness leads. Will Bucks coach Scott Skiles have a reaction? Should he be upset? And what about the league? Gilbert Arenas once caught a lot of flack from fans for admitting he played video game poker at half — is CV's tweetin' any different? Let's hear your thoughts.

*****

Note: For those of you in the technologic dark, Twitter is an online service that allows users to send out 140 character messages called "tweets." A few NBA personalities currently on Twitter are the Suns' Shaquille O’Neal (@The_Real_Shaq) and Steve Nash (@The_Real_Nash), the Raptors' Chris Bosh (@chrisbosh) and Ball Don't Lie's J.E. Skeets (@jeskeets). Ah-em. Follow me!

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76 Comments

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  1. Silas
    1. Posted by Silas Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:30 pm EDT

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    I don't think this is neccessarily WRONG, but anything that takes "like 10 sec" and "didn't interfere" cannot be described as "gangstaness." Interfering is the whole idea of gangstaness. That and eyebrows.
    Hiyo!
  2. Brian K
    2. Posted by Brian K Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:12 pm EDT

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    If tweeting during a meaningless game on March 15 is wrong, I don't wanna be right.
    It would have been cooler if he said something like "On my next free throw chance, I'm gonna shout out to my twitter followers."
  3. skyer
    3. Posted by skyer Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:54 pm EDT

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    CV need to step it up if he wanna crack the top 10 nba tweeters.
  4. mcwelk
    4. Posted by mcwelk Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:14 pm EDT

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    Yeah, everybody knows about Apocrypha Capone and his obsessive telegramming.
  5. Ray
    5. Posted by Ray Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:01 pm EDT

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    That's either a Kindle or CV31 needs to step up his phone game.
  6. Fighting Maroon
    6. Posted by Fighting Maroon Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:09 pm EDT

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    What a Twit..
  7. deang
    7. Posted by deang Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:12 pm EDT

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    cool
  8. Big Ben or Big Boy
    8. Posted by Big Ben or Big Boy Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:06 pm EDT

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    Kevin Durant is at: http://www.twitter.com/ksmoove35
  9. Greg W
    9. Posted by Greg W Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:13 pm EDT

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    Gangstaness? The only thing less gangsta than declaring your gangstaness on Twitter is living your life looking like Uncle Fester.
  10. Matthew
    10. Posted by Matthew Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:29 pm EDT

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    The NBA should make the best players and coaches twitter during every game break. Alex, the east has 3 of the top 4 teams in the NBA, the west has 6 of the bottom 7. The only reason .500 teams don't make it in the west is that they have so many punching bags to beat up on.
  11. Kevin B
    11. Posted by Kevin B Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:48 pm EDT

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    worst photshop ever. ;)
  12. Lajames W
    12. Posted by Lajames W Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:06 pm EDT

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    Mathew, Your assertion that the East is stronger than the West is not well thought out. The East has made huge strides this year but is still behind the West in teams and Talent. The Suns would be the four seed out East and aren't even getting into the playoffs out West. This is a cycle that perpetuates itself through eras. When the top team is from the East, the other teams in the conference make trades to up their talent level in those trades they usually give up draft picks to lesser teams from the opposite conference. Once those early picks develop the Power shifts back. i.e. Tim Duncan in the West, Shaq out East (as rookies), The Lakers then the Celtics then the Bulls (Pippen from Seattle), Pistons (Sheed from Portland) then the Lakers and the Spurs (West teams trading for JKidd and Shaq trying to keep up). It will go back East soon. Free agency has changed this a lil bit but hasn't derailed the cycle completely.
  13. thebigjar
    13. Posted by thebigjar Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:03 pm EDT

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    So long as he isn't doing it when the coach is talking and establishing a game plan, who cares? Same with the video poker. Maybe the video poker relaxes Gilby, and maybe the twittering motivates CV to play harder. Let them do it so long as it doesn't interfere with their coaches or teammates. Plus the fans love it, it is another way for them to feel a bit more involved.
  14. mrphil84
    14. Posted by mrphil84 Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:28 pm EDT

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    He was true to tweet and stepped up his game. Grounds for a better contract?
  15. Travis
    15. Posted by Travis Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:13 pm EDT

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    Fantastic. Twittering is a pretty unique discursive opening and it really does have the potential to help players and fans engage in a new, more substantial way. I have no problem with a player taking ten seconds to send a message (or even 2 minutes while resting) during halftime.
    And for all you who will complain about texting and new technologies, remember that they're only what people make them. Forget your notions of technological determinism. Rock on, CV31.
  16. glok
    16. Posted by glok Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:10 pm EDT

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    so one day when i was walking down the block i ran into this guy and he told me he was going to the local store to get toothpaste and he-- oh i'm sorry this has no relevance to the NBA kind of like your stoopid article. skeet skeet skeet deez n%ts!!!
  17. Miranger
    17. Posted by Miranger Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:45 pm EDT

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    Tweet deez nutz in yo grill
    hows that for "gangzsterz"
  18. milwaukee.sports.fanatic
    18. Posted by milwaukee.sports.fanatic Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:52 pm EDT

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    bkan...how is it a meaningless game...the bucks are the 8th seed trying to get in and the celtics are vying for home court advantage.....moron
  19. Coley
    19. Posted by Coley Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:32 pm EDT

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    1) Twitter's wack
    2) There's NOTHING gangster about twitter/tweeting
    3) Shaq's the man
    4) This isn't a big deal at all, if he had said something stupid maybe but saying I gotta go play better and then doing so via twitter is good old fashion quality basketball in the 21st century
  20. milwaukee.sports.fanatic
    20. Posted by milwaukee.sports.fanatic Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:52 pm EDT

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    and how are you gonna make fun of a guy for a disease??? he has alopecia its not like he shaves himself.
  21. milwaukee.sports.fanatic
    21. Posted by milwaukee.sports.fanatic Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:52 pm EDT

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    oh yeah and go bucks....charlie v is the man
  22. Rick
    22. Posted by Rick Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:51 pm EDT

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    Charlie V IS gangsta!! CV31 MVP!!
  23. Terrance
    23. Posted by Terrance Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:01 pm EDT

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    they need to rising him for next season
  24. tmoon
    24. Posted by tmoon Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:12 pm EDT

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    Bkan #3 you're a dumbass, it's not a meaningless game, see #22

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