Twitterific

Okay, I think it’s time to admit it. I finally went ahead and registered. I logged onto that cool little site with the blue clouds and birdies; all you have to do is enter a username and password and you can “Discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.” Not only that, but I can get “short timely messages” from just about any athlete I might want to stalk. That’s right, I got a Twitter.

You see, Twitter is probably the best thing a sportswriter could dream of. When I was younger, all I wanted was for my Penny Hardaway poster to talk back to me. Well now, I have instant access to thousands of professional athletes’ inner thoughts, opinions, suggestions, style tips, hairstyle advice…I could go on for hours. I did have some trouble getting past the teen surge of Justin Beiber appreciation, but after a little sight navigation, athlete stalking is as easy as typing “@.”

And hey, what more could athletes want? After they’re bombarded with grilling press conference questions about locker room tension and domestic issues, they get to go home and tweet about how they’re craving a Milky Way, or how they love that new Drake song or just the fact that they have so much swagger.

After browsing Shaq’s page, I’m beginning to think that the program was invented solely for the Big Aristotle himself. Shaqtus has been, without a doubt, the king of hilarious one-liners. As alias The_Real_Shaq, twitter gives him the chance to make people laugh even more. Check out this Shaq tweet I found:

“If you look up in the sky you can see stars, if you keep looking, you may even see pluto,but dats why pluto is pluto it can neva b a star”

Wait, what? What did the Big Daddy just say?

The more athletes I follow, the more hilarious it gets. Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair has his fair share of funny tweets. On May 2, DeJuan45 tweeted:

“Mortons steak house?? NAW!!!!!! Maybe 2 morrow! ROOM SERVICE? NAW too much 4 on thing!! Haha! I guess I'll eat dinner n the mini bar haha!”

Oh, right.

If there’s one tweeting trend to notice, it’s that these athletes have no care for grammar, or even making sense. But for us sports lovers, it’s the best chance to see into their lives, no matter how hard it is to actually comprehend.

Of course, Twitter can get athletes in trouble. These guys can be incomprehensible, but some things just shouldn’t be put out there for the world to see. The NFL is beginning to fine athletes for inappropriate tweets or tweets that are made during a game. Meanwhile, wide receiver Santonio Holmes was recently suspended, and subsequently traded from the Pittsburgh Steelers for tweeting drug related messages. Where was his head @?

Still, if athletes mind the rules and keep their cool, this Twitter thing is a dream for us sports admirers. I’d still give anything to have my Hardaway poster compliment me on my kicks, but I’ll take Twitter for now.

*Originally printed in The Dickinsonian

Did you recently join Twitter nation? Here's a link from Mondesi's House that provides all the twitter pages of Pittsburgh athletes, news sources, coaches, personalities, and pretty much anything else dealing with PGH sports.

Mound-umental Debuts

Last night, on his new stomping ground at Nationals Park, Steven Strasburg took his spotlight and turned it to max voltage. Behind the flashing lights and eye-popping stats is a monumental turning point for two rebuilding organizations: these teams aren't only opponents in this series-they're parallels.

The flamethrower phenom pitched 7 innings of nasty gas, striking out 14 Pirates and walking none to show the control, power, and domination of a premier pitcher in the National league. Never before has a pitcher zapped 14 batters without giving up a free base in their MLB debut. Never before has a Washington Nationals pitcher had 14 stikeouts. Never before has a MLB player taken this amount of pressure and clearly exceeded expectations.

No, the kid didn't pitch a perfect game. He didn't get a shut out either, thanks to one swing of Delwyn Young's Louisville. But given the circumstances, Steven Strasburg has answered the individual hype, unheard of in the team oriented MLB, with a magnificent performance that puts him atop the Nats' rotation and on pace to become one of the top pitchers in the NL. It was just one game, let's remember-but that stuff was N-A-s-T-y.

Hidden under all the hype, however smothered it may be by the radar gun reads and fanning bats, is the crucial middle stage of rebuilding for the Nationals and the Pirates. The Nationals have finally unveiled the centerpiece of their organization, while the Pirates are in the process of calling up the young guns to put together some of the pieces of their multi-year molding plan.

Let's not forget that these teams just drafted some incredible talent in the MLB Draft. The Nationals drafted 17 year old slugger Bryce Harper and highly touted pitcher A.J. Cole in the first and fourth rounds. The Pirates had a similarly successful outcome, snagging high school standouts in projected Ace Jameson Tallion and fastball king Stetson Allie. Who knows if these guys might have their own stunning debuts in a couple years.(more on the draft coming soon)

As for Pittsburgh, Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker are already established (see previous article), but the night after Strasburg's debut, Pittsburgh will send out some of it's own young talent in pitcher Brad Lincoln and outfielder Jose Tabata.

Lincoln is no Strasburg, lacking the ace material and command to put on any performance similar to the kid from San Diego. Still, Lincoln has the stuff and confidence to establish himself atop the Pirates' rotation. Tabata has dominated at the plate for the Pirates' AAA team, earning him the chance to surge some offense into the Pirates' lineup.

That's not to say that tonight's game will be anywhere near as spectacular as last night's debut, but it's certainly a much more important game for the Pirates' organization. The Nationals had their turn, and now it's the Pirates' chance to see just how far they are in rebuilding to a successful franchise. These teams have a lot of talent brewing in their organizations, and watching these young prospects make their appearances in the Majors will be a quite the spectacle in the coming years.

Walker, Cutch, Maholm, Oh My!

The Pirates may have one of the worst line-ups in baseball. The Buccos are stacked with other teams’ draft busts, young players with “upside,” and middle aged players that have already established themselves as inconsistent; Jeff Clement, Andy LaRoche and Aki Iwamura serve as prime examples to this one-two-three punch. But for the first time since Aramis Ramirez’s transformation into a decent power hitter, the organization’s farm league efforts have finally come through in the majors-And it all happened with one game-winning bucco blast.

When Neil Walker smacked his first career home run over the left field wall, scoring himself and emerging star Andrew McCutchen to win their second straight game against the Cubs, fans at long last saw a glimpse of light from the organization’s minor-league labors.

The 2000’s era has been worse than dismal for the Pirates’ farm efforts. Management has watched 1^st round draft picks fail early and often, with Bryan Bullington never reaching higher than AA and John VanBenschoten producing next to nothing in the major leagues.

Regardless of the team’s lackluster lineup, the Pirates continue to build from the bottom up. They continue to fill their farm system with talented prospects through the draft and trades-the proven method for rebuilding a team without access to premium spending money.

Andrew McCutchen is undoubtedly an emerging star in the game, and he had the potential to be the leader of the team if it reaches a playoff-caliber level. Many scouts have voiced their opinion that he could be the best lead-off hitter in a year or two. His speed, consistency, and knack for occasional power hitting make him a threat to any pitcher. Ultimately, he’s the only Pirate on this year’s roster that could start on any MLB team’s roster.

Paul Maholm (drafted in 2003) has also stepped up as the team’s most consistent and reliable starting pitcher. Although he doesn’t have the power of Duke, the pitcher drafted has developed a skillful command on the mound. He also has a good combination of pitches to keep batters guessing.

And don’t discount Neil Walker’s recent emergence. The Pittsburgh native has finally reached the majors, and he’s making the best of it. Although he struggled with attitude and consistency in the minors, the Pirates were patient with him and brought him up at the right time. Now, it seems as if he’s rewarding them. He’s already proven that his promotion is a major upgrade from Aki Iwamura at second base, and his power has given McCutchen a chance to move back to the leadoff spot.

These three guys are major league signs that the buccos are beginning their ascent to decency, but it is in the minor league system that the organization is making sure that they have the players to continue this positive movement. Sure, the Pirates had the emergence of Nate McLouth and Jason Bay as of late, but the minor league depth two years ago was next to nothing compared to its current level. There is no question that the combination of current emerging talent and depth of upside prospects has this team headed in a great direction.

With Pedro Alvarez and Brad Lincoln headlining the team’s valued prospects, the Pirates will continue to bring up young players to fuel the team in the next couple of years. Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen were only the beginning. Not only are these young prospects improving their skills in preparation, but they’re shining in their own leagues. Pitcher Tim Alderson just won the Eastern League pitcher of the week, while Brad Lincoln won a similar award just a couple weeks prior.

Maybe they won’t reach .500 this year, but 2010 will be a telling season for the Pirates. With talent popping up from the minors and young players developing in the majors, the team is moving in the right direction, and fans can finally see that fact.