Darrick Glen Baxter

Top 15 List of NFL Personalities to Follow on Twitter

By: Darrick Glen Baxter

As Darrick Glen Baxter has said in the past, “Twitter will change how we look at this year’s 2009 NFL season”.  Like a football profit, translating directly from the football Gods – Darrick actually spoke these words back in June of 2009, around the time the micro blogging tool really exploded.  Since then, Ocho-cinco, Warren Sapp, Rich Eisen and Marshal Faulk (both of the NFL network) have been professing the values of Twitter.  They simply had the foresight to see what I’ve seen in the past few months.

Well, I hereby recognize the major strives that NFL personalities have made in their quest for excellence.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Top 15 NFL Personalities to follow on Twitter.

1. Rich Eisen, NFL Network
www.twitter.com/RichEisen

Much to the dismay of the Joe Dirts of the world living in trailer parks – watching their favorite NFL team and occasionally switching to the NFL Network to take advantage of the $3.99 monthly charge to their cable bill – Rich Eisen constantly pimps his and the NFL networks twitter addresses.  Does Joe Dirt know, or even care what Twitter is?  I think so.  Can they live without it?  I think so too.  Really, take a look at what Rich reports on.  It’s the exact same thing that you see and hear on the NFL Network.  Favre watch, Vick’s legal turmoil, What Chad Johnson ate for lunch… its basically a 140 word recap the 60-90 minutes of $4 television that you just watched, but with one exception – you saved yourself 90 minutes.  Follow Rich on Twitter, give yourself some time back Joe.  For that reason alone – Rich Eisen is worth following on Twitter.

2. Michael Lombardi, NFL Network
www.twitter.com/Michaelombardi

Darrick Glen Baxter respects Michael greatly because he’s strait to the point and he doesn’t water anything down.  That’s not to say he isn’t a gentlemen scholar.  Sure he would rather follow beautiful female fans tweets from time to time, but who doesn’t.  Michael Lombardi knows football and has the background knowledge to back up his opinion.  He’s quick to draw in a gun battle.  He is one cat certainly worth following.

3. Warren Sapp EXNFLer
http://twitter.com/QBKILLA

Aside from being a womanizer in the truest sense of the word (take a look at who he follows), Warren actually has minuetly interesting and usually not so intelligent things to say about the NFL, its players and news stories.  Just like when he played his news is average and very slow to come out.  He mostly tweets about nothing.  Lately he’s been trying to get people to follow him, reaching numbers like 20,000 or 30,000.  It really doesn’t make a difference, most of his posts do not have substance, but did you really expect anything more from Warren Sapp?  No, neither did Darrick Glen Baxter.  Following Warren Sapp on twitter is like watching a 3 legged horse race in the Kentucky Derby, you know he’s not going to win but he sure as hell is fun to watch.  On that point alone, he’s worth following on Twitter.

4. Adam Schefter ESPN
http://twitter.com/ADAM_SCHEFTER

If you know football then you’ve heard of Adam.  He used to feed us the latest scoops from the NFL Network but will now gives his dish for ESPN starting this NFL season.  Why is Adam not number 1 on the Top 15 NFL Personalities to follow on Twitter?  Well, Darrick Glen Baxter is glad you inquired, you inquisitive little mind you.  Well, he’s only number 4 because he doesn’t use tweet to spill the beans.  Adam knows what pays the bills folks… he saves his dish for the big show.  Tune in to ESPN and listen to what Adam talks about.  You will undoubtedly learn a thing or two.   None the less, he’s still a must to follow on Twitter.

5. CommishChick FF
http://twitter.com/CommishChick

This gal dishes daily on twitter.  Her stories are local and relevant.  She tweets on mostly NFL Fantasy Football and for that the CommishChick conveys an almost Zen like quality.  At this very moment you can check her account and guess what you’ll see… That’s right!  She’s actually talking Football.  She right behind Adam Shefter on this Top 15 list and she is well deserved of the number 5 spot.

6. Matt Maiocco SF49rs
http://twitter.com/MattMaiocco

Matt follows the San Francisco Forty Niners NFL football club for the Press Democrat and blogs Instant 49ers.  He’s kind of nerdy but he’s usually on target with his take on things.  Unlike other twitter users he posts items that are not article related.  What does that mean?  Ok, he doesn’t use web tools to tweet – he posts from his phone much like a text message – these are real tweets.  For this alone is gold – he’s worth following.  After learning that he’s been selected as one of the Top 15 Sports Personalities to follow on Twitter, Matt had this to say… “Top 15 NFL personalities, huh? I’m flattered, I’m humbled, I’m touched . . . I’m wondering . . . What the heck were you thinking?”  Matt is dedicated to the great game of Football – expect to read his postings when the 2009 NFL season kicks off in September!

7. Brian McCarthy NFL
http://twitter.com/NFLprguy

Following Brian is like listening to your mother when your climbing on the refrigerator (What, you’ve never done that during a game of hide and go seek?).  This 9-5 white collar NFL PR guy is simply worth following because he’s the big brother of NFL players.  One look at Brian and you’ll know to always walk on the right side of the road and wear clean underwear.  On some level – I actually enjoy reading his ultra clean do’s and don’ts NFL postings.

8. Chris Mortensen ESPN
http://twitter.com/mortreport

Chris Mortensen (ESPN) is the poster child for job security.  If you stare at him long enough you start to feel like you’re living his life.  Wait! Stop! What are you doing?! Pull the razor away from your wrist.  It was all just a dream!  Splash some cold water on your face and snap out of it.  Maybe it sounds like I’m being harsh but if you read into his postings then you quickly realize that he’s the equivalent to Brian McCarthy (the PR guy for the NFL).  Clean cookie cutter sports announcer.  Chris Mortensen knows who’s signing the cheques at ESPN and has the foresight to play it ultra safe.  I bet if you checked his underwear you’d find a treasure trove of diamonds because his ass is squeezed so tightly.  Darrick Glen Baxter says if you like diamonds then Chris is fun to watch.

9. Greg A. Bedard JSOnline
http://twitter.com/Greg_A_Bedard

Greg doesn’t want to be wrong, he – at times reserves his judgment on issues relating to football.  This is something that Darrick Glen Baxter never does.  Listening to Greg is like tearing off a band aid.  You don’t really want to do it but its gotta be done… You might not like the way it feel but hey, at least it’s done.  Now quickly, throw the band aid in the garbage where it belongs.  With over 2,286 tweets, this guy is a trooper.  One thing I’d say to him is maybe dress up your twitter background a bit more.  It’s pretty lame even for JSOnline

10. Joe Reedy, Cincinnati Enquirer Bengals
http://twitter.com/joereedy

Joe is a trooper – when Utecht got hurt during an awkward hit Joe was posting minute by minute updates via Twitter.  Now that’s what we need!  Anyways, Joe covers the Bengals as he writes for the Enquirer in Cincinnati.  It’s a difficult job and not anyone can pull it off.  Think about it – Joe lives and breathes in a city that hasn’t had a winning team since they thawed out Carson Palmer and asked him to QB the 04 Bengals.  Alright – we’ve all have it tough?  Well consider this, when Joe has to cover a Bengals game he only uses Duracell. Mostly because “if” they actually win, he doesn’t want anything messing up.  Joe would be higher on the list if he covered more NFL football instead of the lowly NCAA, Basketball or Nascar.  Look for this guy to rise higher as the Bengals begin winning.  He can and will bring us Fantasy leads and sleepers FF fans if anyone has Bengal players on their roster.  Joe rightfully deserves number 10 and is worth the follow simply because he can and will use Twitter to cover what is important even if it’s coverage in Cincinnati!

11. Tom Pelissero Green Bay Press-Gazette
http://twitter.com/tompelissero

Toms been with the Gazette for about 2 years this March and does the Insiders blog and live chats.  It goes without saying that this guy is a nerd that stumbled upon the game of football.  What Darrick Glen Baxter means to say in no uncertain terms is that this guy spoon feeds even the laziest fans baby food information.  With other sports writers practicing “once in a while” journalism (Darrick Glen Baxter uses this term to describe other sports writers not writing their own stories), Tom Pelissero actually writes and researches his own stories.  How does Darrick Glen Baxter know this?  Well, I’ve shamed to say that I actually visited the Greenbaypressgazette.com site in the past and I have to say – It is crap.  I think I was looking for a hotel deal or a coupon for a 2 for 1 dinner at the local Old Country Buffet in Green Bay; I really can’t to remember.  Anyways, when I checked out the site… I immediately fell asleep and missed Tuesday’s fish and chips night at the Buffet.  Tom Pelissero of the Green Bay Press-Gazette is worth following on Twitter because he follows the NFL very well and knows how to use the tools in front of him.  Don’t expect Tom to follow you, like most folks he uses it to transcend information down the pipe.  Tom doesn’t care to read your posts regularly and chances are their not worth reading.

12. Andrew Brandt National Football Post
http://twitter.com/adbrandt

A relatively newcomer to Twitter; Andrew realizes the advantages of using Twitter.  Perhaps he heard the words of Darrick Glen Baxter when he mentioned that Twitter was going to change the 2009 NFL season.  In his most recent posts, Andrew is stuck on contract negotiations.  Not really an aspect of NFL football that brings us to our knees but important none the less.  Well, Darrick Glen Baxter says: “Contracts Smontracts”, Can we get a rundown of training camp?  How are the Eagles fairing with wide receivers?  Can they correct imbalances in offence and defense?  How are the fans coping with headlines that place Donovan McNabb on the trading block?  I mean, this has been swirling around for years right?  Well, what do the fans really think of this?  I must say, Andrew Brandt is like most reporters – he reports. There’s something about his superficial idiosyncrasies that don’t really seem genuine.  I can’t put my collectively fat finger on it.

13. Drew Rosenhaus Rosenhaus Sports Representation
http://twitter.com/RosenhausSports

Drew announced some amazing trades, signings, contact negotiations and a lot more using Twitter.  Drew came along at an absolute wonderful time for Twitter.  Can you believe that Darrick Glen Baxter hadn’t heard of him or his company before Twitter?  That’s what I call a game changer folks.  Drew is a deal maker in the truest scenes of the word.   This guy has a video on his site where he negotiates the price of his lunch on behalf of his gangly little friends.  It’s really something to read his postings.  But it’s strictly business for this guy and his 24,300 plus followers!  They appreciate it.  The Rosenhaus post is something that you want to scroll down to see.  I mean, if you can’t see it then you subconsciously begin to worry.  Thoughts go thru your head like “Did he block me from reading?  Should I create a fake twitter account just to follow him?”  I’m very serious – Drew Rosenhaus is the real deal when it comes to the dish on what’s on with the NFL and the players he represents.

14. Ross Tucker Sports Illustrated SI.com
http://twitter.com/SI_RossTucker

Ross is an easy pick because he talks in touchdowns, turnovers, sacks and PAT’s.  He knows football and that’s a major complement considering he reads headlines via the wire.  Wire headlines are usually pre-spun by affiliates at other networks.  Why’s that point important?  Well take it from Darrick Glen Baxter who’s got the inside Television experience!  He interprets the headline and extracts the 99% of BS.  Think of it as a pancake.  Why not just serve the same pancakes as everyone else?  Let me tell you why in plain English so each of you readers can understand.  Ross Tucker is nothing like John Tucker or Mary Tucker or Bill Tucker.  Actually, he’s more like Auntie Tucker.  Ross Tucker is a prognosticator of the obvious – far from a shaman of the NFL.  He takes the most outlandish statements and shoots them down.  For instance – Braidy Quinn and the 25 touchdown passes – probably won’t happen so he bets against it.  If it doesn’t happen he looks like a genius of epic proportions.  Meanwhile you and I know that it just boils down to knowing football.  Here’s Ross Tuckers formula. 1. Read the stories on the wire and; 2. Decipher them using his decoder from this morning’s cereal box 3. Pick the most outlandish story and 4. Shoot it down 5. Collect the pay cheque and look like a genius.  Slow and steady wins the race.  Ross Tucker is worth following on Twitter just b15ecause it’s almost entertaining to read his posts.

15. Michael Strahan EXNFLer
http://twitter.com/michaelstrahan

Michael Strahan is louder than ever now that he’s wearing a different kind of muzzle.  He used to be under the NFL’s rules of conduct and policies but he’s now retired and works in broadcasting in some capacity.  At any rate, he’s still pretty funny if you give him a few seconds to think of comebacks to jokes you made about him five minutes ago.  Wait about 4-5 minutes and cue the laugh track because this guy is going to come up with something funny.  I hate to say it but, Darrick Glen Baxter has quoted Michael once just last week.  I’m not going to go into details but he was funny.  If you’re looking for semi-news smothered in funny talk, then Strahan is right for you.

Well, that 15’s Darrick Glen Baxter’s Top 15 List of People to follow on Twitter.  The ideas posted here are those of my own and do not reflect anyone else but my own unless of course you agree with them and think their funny and want to pass them on to friends.

If you would like to follow us on Twitter then go to www.twitter.com/510dbax send me a message, I will reply to your message and say hello!

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