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Want to follow folks in sports? Just tweet

Posted by jennicarlson
on May 13, 2009 at 11:07 am

Up until a few weeks ago, I made a point of avoiding Twitter.

I just didn’t get it.

In case you’re not aware, Twitter is this social networking site on the Internet that is similar to Facebook and MySpace. (In case you’re not aware of those sites, well, the rest of this might sound like gibberish!) The thing about Twittter is that you make posts can be no more than 140 characters long.

It takes the latest newspaper mantra of “be brief” to a whole new level.

Anyway, I just didn’t understand why anyone would want to be on Twitter. You’re supposed to go on there and tell people what you’re doing. I figured if I wanted to know what someone was doing, I’d ask them. Vice versa if someone wanted to know what I was doing.

But then I was encouraged to give Twitter a test drive. Since then, I’ve discovered many things about Twitter that I don’t like but many things about it that I do. At the top of the “like list” is the growing number of sports types who are on Twitter.

Among the Twitterheads: Shaq, Steve Nash, Paul Pierce.

Locals who have taken to the Twittersphere include Blake Griffin, Courtney Paris and Kevin Durant.

There are some fakes out there, of course, but something I’ve found helpful is the Twitter account sportslist. It is held by some folks who have a website out there called www.sportsin140.com. They basically make it their business to verify the legitimacy of sports folks on Twitter.

It’s a pretty cool thing.

And once you know who’s real, you occasionally see something interesting from them. For example, Courtney Paris revealed earlier this week that she was in her final day in Oklahoma. That led to a story that I did about the former Oklahoma basketball standout deciding to skip graduation because it was too close to the start of WNBA training camp.

There are other fun tidbits that we’ve come up with that will continue to pop up in columns and stories in coming days.

Listen, I’m not saying Twitter is for everyone, but take it from someone who fought hard against it, there is good stuff on there, even if it only comes in 140-character blurbs.

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Feel-good story from Bedlam series

Posted by jennicarlson
on May 11, 2009 at 2:04 pm
It was hard not to feel good for Kevin David on Sunday afternoon.
 
You’ve likely never heard of David, but you likely heard about what happened to him Saturday. He was playing behind the plate for Oklahoma State in the second game of the Bedlam series, and everything was going well until the ninth inning.
 
That’s when Cowboy pitcher Randy McCurry went all Wild Thing on David. McCurry throws some nasty stuff, and with the Bedlam juices flowing, he was particularly ramped up. That combination left David scrambling to catch up with McCurry’s pitches.
 
A couple times, he didn’t get the job done.
 
Four times to be exact.
 
David was charged with four passed balls in the ninth inning, allowing the Sooners to score not only game-tying run but also the game-winning and series-clinching runs.
 
It was a bad night at the ball yard for David.
 
But then came Sunday, a day that brought redemption for the Cowboy sophomore. He blasted a solo home run deep to left field in the fourth. It was a towering shot, a blast that was never in doubt. It put the Cowboys ahead 2-1 and ended up being the game-winning run in a 5-1 Cowboy victory.
 
Then, in the eighth inning with the Sooners threatening, David made a diving catch of a line-drive at first base. He played first instead of catcher, and even though he had an error on a routine throw-over earlier in the game, his diving catch was as nifty as they come. The ball came screaming toward him and would’ve ended up in the left-field corner if not for his handy glove work.
 
After the game Sunday, David didn’t flinch when asked about his troubles Saturday. He was even a little self-deprecating when asked about his linedrive snag. He joked that he made the play after booting a play earlier in the inning, then called his run-saving and maybe game-saving catch “lucky.”
 
Well, maybe David deserved a little good luck, a little positive karma. Saturday was a day that he’d just as soon forget, but Sunday was one that he’ll want to remember forever.
 
It was hard not to feel good about that.
 
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Pulling for familiar face in Cleveland

Posted by jennicarlson
on May 9, 2009 at 3:00 pm

I’ve decided to pull for the Cavaliers in the NBA Playoffs.
 
Now, wait just a minute. Before you find me guilty of first-degree bandwagon jumping, hear me out. This isn’t about LeBron James. This isn’t about the best team in basketball.
 
No, this is about for Joe Smith.
 
You remember Joe. The 13-year NBA veteran was one of the original members of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Spent much of the season here. Endeared himself to folks with his hustle and his smarts.
 
But then Smith and the Thunder reached an agreement for a buyout that allowed him to sign with another team and be eligible for the playoffs. Not long after, Smith signed with Cleveland, a team that reluctantly traded him away last summer.
 
Now, Smith is ever so close to winning an NBA championship.
 
And I couldn’t be happier for the guy. Smith seemed like one of the good guys in the NBA. He was often smiling and always quick with a hello. He never said no to an interview, and if Smith was that nice to the media, you can only guess what a good guy he was with his teammates.
 
Much like P.J. Brown when the Hornets first came to town, Smith was that solid, veteran presence that every locker room needs. And an extremely young team like the Thunder needed a guy like Smith even more.
 
Smith has been all around the NBA, playing for nine different teams. He’s been everywhere from Minnesota to Milwaukee, from Detroit to Denver. He’s been a mainstay. He’s been a reserve.
 
One thing he’s never been is an NBA champion.
 
Smith deserves to add that distinction to his resume. He isn’t a guy who goes around beating his chest, saying he deserves this or he is due that. He just goes about his business and takes what comes his way. Smith has always played the game the way it should be played. He plays hard. He does whatever needs to be done.
Here’s hoping he gets the ultimate reward for that work this year — the chance to hoist that NBA championship trophy.
 

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More from The Q&A with Felix Jones

Posted by jennicarlson
on May 9, 2009 at 6:14 am

Former Tulsa Washington High football standout Felix Jones is back in his hometown this weekend for a big-time event.

It is the Dallas Cowboys tailback’s inaugural charity weekend, which benefits the “Mentoring to the Max” program in Tulsa. And Jones didn’t start out small. He is doing a three-day event that is packed to the max. The schedule included a youth football camp, a concert at the BOK Center, a VIP gathering and an outing that involved Jones’ latest athletic endeavor — golf.

Jenni Carlson: How’s your golf game?

Felix Jones: I’m still working on that. I’m inexperienced, but I’ve been trying to practice. I’ve been hitting balls in my backyard and putting.

JC: I have to think with your strength, you’re pretty good off the tee.

FJ: If I can keep the ball straight, I’ll be real good at it.

JC: It’s your charity event. You should be able to have someone out there kicking it into the fairway.

FJ: I think I might use that. I might have somebody out there with another ball. (Laughs.)

JC: So, what’s the goal for the weekend?

FJ: You just want to show them a better way. That’s what I’m trying to accomplish — show them that if you do everything right right now, as you get older things tend to work out for you for the better. If you have someone there to tell you and show you, maybe it’ll be a lot easier. That’s my goal for the weekend — to maybe show them a better way.

JC: Your rookie season last year got off to such a good start before the toe injury sidelined you. Will you be ready to go when the madness starts again this fall?

FJ: Absolutely. I think I’ll be a hundred percent. I’ll be feeling great. I’ll be ready to roll.

JC: It had to be tough to end such a promising season with an injury.

FJ: It was. It was going real well with the team. Things just didn’t work out for me like I planned, but I believe it’ll help me out, make me better and a lot stronger than what I was before. I know at any time it can be taken away, so I think I learned a valuable lesson from this year getting hurt in how to take care of myself a little better.

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