Of course we are also on Twitter as well A10softballblog we will live tweet games that we attend this year, in addition to tweeting other things.
CoachDeVos 49erSoftball Charlotte49ers: Charlotte does Twitter right. 49erSoftball and Charlotte49ers are the official team and athletics Twitter account and they do a nice job of keeping everyone up to date on Charlotte softball. The best account to follow of these three is definitely CoachDeVos, she frequently tweets and usually posts interesting things.
DaytonFlyers: the official Twitter of the school's website and hopefully home to live tweets during games!
bridgetorchard FordhamSoftball FordhamRams: Fordham frequently live tweets on its official accounts during games (FordhamSoftball and FordhamRams) though the best account to follow is PaulTracker. PaulTracker is a parent that live tweets almost every game for the Rams. His tweets are informative and witty, definitely worth a follow in our eyes. Coach Bridget Orchard is new to Twitter (bridgetorchard), but she has gotten off to a great start with her tweeting and we would encourage a follow.
GW_Sports: is a pretty standard athletic department Twitter account. They would do well to follow the live-tweeting softball lead of some of the other school.
GoExporers_com: they do a solid job over covering LaSalle's basketball teams and hopefully that will translate to softball as well. They are definitely all over the #hashtags.
UMassAthletics: does a great job with in game tweeting, as they post updates after every inning that a run has been scored, as well as posting in game pictures and video interviews and highlights after games. The only critique we have of this account is that they could post a few more updates during games.
GoRhodyRams: this account infrequently posts and rarely if ever does in game updates, certainly never for softball. This is the one account that is not worth a follow in a league that does social media well.
BonasSoftball Go_Bonnies: BonasSoftball is the official Twitter of Coach Mike Threehouse and he does a nice job of tweeting. His tweets are funny, informative, and just plain worth a read. Go_Bonnies is the official Twitter of the athletic department is more or less the standard athletic department Twitter, although they are very good at retweeting.
SJUHawks_SB SJUHawks: SJUHawks_SB is fairly new to Twitter, but they have done a nice job so far at tweeting and posting updates about preparations for the 2012 season. SJUHawks is the official athletic department Twitter account and they do a nice job of covering softball games at home.
SLUSoftball SLU_Billikens: SLUSoftball is new to Twitter, but they have done a very nice job so far and they have posted interesting tweets, especially with regard to the 2012 season that is right on the horizon. SLU_Billikens is your typical athletic department Twitter account, although they do not live-tweet softball games.
Owlsports_com: is a fairly standard athletic department account. They could a do a better job of live-tweeting softball in our opinion.
Your poll is missing "game day live blogging", which would be my vote.
ReplyDeleteI've heard SLU plans to have live game-day updates on their Twitter account, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. I like the live blogging, too - the Cover It Live chats. Wasn't there a UMass or Fordham fan last year that would describe every pitch? It would be great if every school had a committed fan like that. It's almost as good as being at the game!
ReplyDeletePaulTracker (for Fordham) describes each at-bat (and tries to include each pitch leading up to the play). It would be great if the Athletic departments could work with students, perhaps studying communications, to perform this service, perhaps as independent study for credit. That might help maintain some continuity from year to year.
DeletePaulTracker! That's the guy! Yes, I agree, it would be great if each school could find someone to do this during games. Your idea of a communications student is excellent! For those of us out of state, it is a life line to the games. There were so many games last year that there was absolutely no coverage for. No Gametracker, no live stats, no tweets, nothing. It's very frustrating. Also, it would be nice if each team could put up a webcam on the backstop, or the press box, or a light pole or somewhere. Even without any commentary, being able to see at least some of the action would be appreciated. That couldn't cost that much. Many schools already have 24 hour webcams placed around campus. Even a cell phone or laptop set up behind home plate could transmit some video.
ReplyDeletePaultracker has occassionally streamed video, but due to bandwidth limitations on the aircard, it doesn't always work so well and can disrupt the tweeting which is deemed more critical. Some schools or conferences have contracts with professional media outlets (i.e. CBS Sports) which preclude anyone else from streaming video. Sometimes it is offered online at no charge, but often you have to subscribe. Fordham has been fairly liberal and generous in allowing Paultracker to operate on campus unfettered. There have been times when his video was the only one available for home games. Away games are often more problematic for video due to the need for AC power to support the higher quality camera. If a webcam is used off of the laptop, it causes a more rapid drain on the battery, at the expense of being able to tweet longer, again the priority.
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