Celebrity ReTweets 24-20

The retweet challenge continues! Here's attempts 24 through 20...

Tuesday, April 3rd. @TurnerSportsEJ

Ernie Johnson is the figurehead for Turner Sports. He does it all for them - from the NBA to major championship golf. He's best known for being the straight man for Inside the NBA on TNT, a studio show for which I professed my love recently. Side note: Johnson earned the nickname "Elevator Ernie" for his impressive leaping skills during a slam dunk contest back in the '80s.

My Tweet: Hey @TurnerSportsEJ can I please get an RT for wishing I had mad Elevator Ernie hops?

Response Time: Within 1 hour.

Additional comments: none

I think the mention of his athletic ability earned me the retweet. I was impressed with this one even though it appears that this act of kindness is something that Ernie practices frequently.

Wednesday, April 4th. @franknobilogc

It's the day before the Masters tournament begins and I can't get enough coverage. Earlier in the day, I was impressed with the reporting of Frank Nobilo, a former professional golfer from New Zealand who is now known better for his stylish beard and his outstanding analyst skills he puts on display for Golf Channel.  I happened to notice that I was sitting on 999 tweets.  So, I paid tribute to Frank with my next tweet.

My Tweet: I'm dedicating my 1000th to hardworking @FrankNobiloGC in hopes he'll retweet me from Augusta.

Response time: Within 15 minutes.

Additional comments: "Nick, any tweet like that guarantees a response. Cheers"

How cool is Frank Nobilo?!?!  I received a retweet from a widely-known analyst from the site of the best-known golf tournament! I was blown away with Frank's kindness!

Thursday, April 5th. @richthomaswsfa

Rich Thomas has been the lead meteorologist for WSFA in Montgomery for 162 years.  And he has not aged one day.  I was suffering from allergies and wished for a big rainstorm to wash away any remaining pollen. Any time I make weather wishes, I think about Rich Thomas.  So, I looked him up on Twitter.

My Tweet: My allergies have STILL got me down. A retweet from @richthomaswsfa would make me feel MUCH better!

Response Time: None.

Why I think Rich didn't respond: A look at Rich's timeline reveals that, just like in real life, he's strictly business.  He only communicates weather updates and reminders about his upcoming TV segments through his Twitter account.

Friday, April 6th. @TheRevAl

Al Sharpton has been in the news recently for the same reason he is always in the news: for playing the race card and not letting racism die in this country.  This was Good Friday and if there was any day that the good pastor could drop his defenses and actually do something positive, this would be the day.  It was late in the day but I was going to offer an olive branch via Twitter.

My Tweet: As Good Friday concludes, I ask for a retweet from @TheRevAl to improve race relations and mankind.

Response Time: None.

Why I think Reverend Sharpton didn't respond: He was probably too busy searching for his next opportunity to be on TV.  He's been doing that a long time, ya know. 

Saturday, April 7th. @HighlandParkAL

This one is a little questionable, but I'm going to count it.  Shortly after tweeting to Reverend Sharpton on the 6th, I tweeted that, on the following day, I would be playing a round of golf at Highland Park in Birmingham, which happens to have its own Twitter account. 

My Tweet: Playing @HighlandGolfAL with @Claymb tomorrow. #GoLow

Response Time: 15 hours

Additional comments: None.

When I received notification that Highland Park had retweeted me, my playing group was third in line to tee off on a very crowded tee box.  I felt this logjam was a product of the course's recent decision to require all carts to remain on the cartpaths.  I bit my cyber tongue at the time but did voice my disappointment after the round.

My Tweet: Had a good time at @HighlandGolfAL but wish they would rethink cartpath-only decision. Loooong round.

Would you believe that this comment also got a retweet?

Response Time: 2 days

Additional comments: "Glad u had a great time! Carts on path help keep our course in the best shape possible 4 our golfers. Hope 2 see u back soon!"

I will say that it's good of the Highland Park management staff to respond like this.  But it doesn't make me think that they'll be dropping their new rule anytime soon. 

Thanks again for reading.  This has been a very interesting experiment.  Check out 30-25 if you missed and and come back soon!

Celebrity ReTweets 30-25

Towards the end of March, I decided to send a retweet request to one random celebrity (or brand) each day for 30 days.  Unlike Facebook, Twitter allows everyday people the opportunity to interact with their favorite celebrities.  Celebrities can retweet, or share, humorous musings or calls to action from their followers.  Getting retweeted by a celebrity is considered the technological equivalent of a passing conversation on the street.

Retweets can also go very badly.  Ask Spike Lee.

I've detailed the first five of my 30 retweet requests below.

Thursday, March 29th. @RealJayWilliams

Jason Williams was one of the most talented Duke Blue Devils to ever play point guard.  An All-American and National Champion, he's best remembered for leading an unfathomable comeback against Maryland in 2001.  A motorcycle accident after college derailed his NBA career before it even started but Jason has found steady work covering college basketball for ESPN. 

My tweet: Can I get a RT to gain some followers? Your studio skills are making folks forget about your court skills!

Response time: Within 2 hours

Added comments: None

I was really stoked after this retweet!  This is going to be easy!

Friday, March 30th. @DocGooden16

Dwight Gooden was a rising star for the New York Mets in the 1980's before drugs and alcohol brought him back down to Earth.  But before his fall, Dr. K was the best and I wanted to reach out to him.

My tweet: Wishing you the best today! I'm a big fan of yours and 80's baseball. Can I get an RT?

Response Time: No response given

Why I think he didn't respond: Doc's not the most active Tweeter.  I don't imagine that he's savvy enough to know when he receives a mention on Twitter either.  This was actually a long shot, but at least I tried.

Saturday, March 31st. @JakeTrout

Peter Jacobsen is known for being a decent PGA Tour Player in his day but probably more identified as a great TV analyst these days.  He still plays on the Champions Tour and because of his popularlity and persona, he is endorsed by several top-shelf golf companies.  Srixon features Peter in their TV ads for their Q-Star ball, a ball geared toward amateur players.  After seeing this ad during a commercial break while watching a tournament, I decided to seek a retweet from Jake Trout.

My tweet: I'll run out right now and buy 2 dozen Q Stars if I can get a RT from you Jake!

Response Time: within 1 minute

Added comments: none

I was totally shocked at this quick response.  Spoiler alert - I did not go buy the golf balls.  I hate not keeping my word.  Maybe I'll buy some this summer. Peter is a new favorite of mine.

Sunday, April 1st. @Gatorade

I was not feeling particularly well on this date.  In an attempt to flush a virus from my body, I drank copeous amounts of this sugary, syrupy crap.  I thought that I could get a retweet for my efforts.

My tweet: Can I get an RT for drinking 128 ozs of @Gatorade today? #hydrate

Response Time: No response given

Why I think I got no response: As a brand, Gatorade really doesn't give out too many RTs unless you're some sappy runner who gives praise to Gatorade for providing the enzymes needed to complete a double marathon. Or they probably didn't believe that I really drank that much of their terrible product.

Monday, April 2nd. @MoesBBQBham

Moes BBQ in Birmingham serves the best BBQ'd meat in the area.  This is not a fib.  That's saying a lot considering that there's a BBQ joint on every corner here.  As a brand, they do a great job of communicating via Twitter.

My Tweet: Can I get an RT for convincing my friends that @MoesBBQBham is the best BBQ in Bham??!

Response Time: Within 1 hour.

Additional comments: "yes thanks!"

I may have sucked up to get this response, but it worked. It's true what I said - most of my friends are now convinced about Moe's BBQ.

I'll post the next 5 attempts at a celebrity retweet soon! Thanks for reading!

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Happy Graham. Julie and I took Graham to Camden for the very first time last weekend. I didn’t know what to expect from him during the drive down and I have no experience caring for a child in my boyhood home. But the weekend could not have gone any better! Of course, we had a great time visiting with my parents but I was very proud of the way Graham behaved. He slept almost the entire time in the car, he slept all through the church service (so did Julie) and he was very happy and content during the rest of our visit. Look at this face and tell me he wasn’t happy!

This week, I love The NBA on TNT. Now that the college basketball season is concluding, we can focus on the NBA. The regular season will feature lots of battles for the few remaining playoff spots and the talent level in the league has never been this high across the board. What I’m really looking forward to is more installments of The NBA on TNT, a highlight show broadcasted live from the TNT studios in Atlanta. The host, Ernie Johnson, is accompanied by former players Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille Oneal. The chemistry on the set is unbeatable. Ernie does his best to do play-by-play analysis of game highlights while Chuck and company chip in their expert observations. But most of the time, it’s three guys talkin’ smack over Ernie, which is hilarious! There are a lot of fun segments in the show too. This is the best NBA entertainment television since the days of Ahmad Rashad and Inside Stuff.

This week, I don’t like the run-down conditions at Roland Cooper State Park’s golf course. I played this 9-hole golf course countless times in high school. And even though it has never come close to resembling Augusta National Golf Club, the grounds crew always did their best to manage the course. I played “The Coop” last weekend while in Camden and I was amazed at how run-down the course had become. But it’s not really a surprise, I guess. The State of Alabama funds the upkeep of the course and Wilcox County is responsible for the roads leading to the course (which are in horrible shape too). Here’s the funny thing though: there were a lot of people playing golf this weekend in Camden. Granted, these were the caliber of players that didn’t mind such poor conditions and many were sporting clothing and hats that signified their allegiance to a certain in-state college football team. So, I guess as long as the locals don’t mind and the State is out of money, “The Coop” will remain in this condition.

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Magic Johnson. When people think of Magic Johnson today, they think of him as a successful businessman, a studio personality for basketball coverage on TV and one of the all-time greats from the NBA. But to everyone twenty years ago, Magic Johnson was synonymous with the HIV virus. I was reminded of this when I watched The Announcement, an ESPN documentary that helped viewers relive that stunning moment when Magic told the world that he was prematurely retiring because of disease that we didn’t really know much about in 1991. You need to know that this historical event occurred during a time in which I was very into the NBA. I was thirteen and was destined to play in the NBA myself (or so I truly believed at the time). I liked Magic then because he was tall enough to be a center but was the best passing, best dribbling guard in the league. As I watched the documentary, I couldn’t help but be amazed how Magic has gone on to doing much bigger and better things since the day we all instantly assumed that he was going to die from his disease. I like Magic because he was Dr. Cliff Huxtable in a basketball uniform. He obviously didn’t behave off the court but he is showing everyone that he’s still a champion.

This week, I love juice fasting. After watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, I am seriously considering participating in a 10-day juice fast. I wasn’t very knowledgeable about juice fasting before watching this film but it has caused me to do some further research. From what I’ve read, juice fasting will help me quickly lose that last 25 pounds I need to lose – with emphasis on “quickly”. The heaviest I ever weighed was in December, when we were in the hospital with Graham. Since then, I’ve lost 8 pounds by reducing my intake. I don’t have the time or means to exercise but I need to lose another 25 lbs so that I won’t have so much flab around my waist area (which is linked to stroke and heart disease). In addition to weight loss, juice fasting is also a strong way to revamp your body with a big blast of nutrients. I’ve watched a documentary and read some web pages – I know what I’m talking about. I’m still researching juicers but if I decide to do this, it will begin on April 1st. I will keep you posted.

This week, I don’t like picking losers. I’ve filled out multiple NCAA Final Four brackets every year since I was in junior high school (those things were hard to come by back then!). But I won’t be doing that this year. Why? Because I am a terrible prognosticator. I finally admitted recently that I stink at predicting outcomes – especially sporting events. It’s almost as if the Universe gains awareness of my predictions and the cosmos changes to alter events so that I will ALWAYS be wrong. Superbowls, Final Fours, Match Play tournaments – heck, even the guy I voted for didn’t win the Alabama presidential republican primary the other day. To make matters worse, my good friend who doesn’t like to be mentioned by name ALWAYS beats me when it comes to picking winners. He was the only person in the entire southeast United States that picked UConn to win the national championship last year. He’s not nearly educated as me on the sports/games/contests on which we predict but somehow, he always makes the right picks. It’s all so frustrating that I’m giving it all up. I’ll continue to have a preference for particular teams or players but I’m not participating in any office pools ever again.