Brain Matters

Spring 2012 Tiger twitter rankings

April 18, 2012

It is no secret that I love to follow all the Tigers buzz on Twitter. Last winter I composed a twitter list sorted by number of followers. It is interesting to see the differences in the amount of attention that different accounts receive. Now I have updated this numbers so we can look at how the follower total for these accounts have changed.

By way of introduction here are some criteria for who I included.

The account must have primarily Tigers content. I’ve made a couple of exceptions with the FSN folks.
Players must have played in the Majors this season. Sorry Jacob Turner. There are many minor league guys on twitter. I hope to do a profile on those next month.
Since my last rankings there have been 100,000 new Tigers parody accounts. I am only including new ones I find entertaining. However if they were on my last list they have been grandfathered in even though they might suck.
If you find a violation of these rules, tough shit, it’s my list.
If you are tourqued your account wasn’t included please comment or tweet me to be included in the summer rankings (if I think you are worth including, ha!)

I have organized the tweeps by the number of followers. I also included their previous number of followers and their previous rankings along with the percent change and rank change. One more interesting note; in 2011 the number of twitter users grew by 31.9%, so it is almost expected that most established accounts would grow by at least that amount annually. (this percentage growth is just for one quarter obviously…do your own math)

Spring 2012 Rank	Handle	Spring 2012 followers	Winter 2011 followers	Winter 2011 rank	% Change	Rank Change	snarky comments
1	@JustinVerlander	145,714	88,849	1	64%	0	The ace of the staff. I’m pretty sure some faceless PR company is running his account. Follow his brother @verly32 too.
2	@Tigers	95,006	39,469	3	141%	1	The Tigers consolidated their accounts, smart move. Now front office and marketing are under one account
3	@FoxSportsDet	25,675	19,823	4	30%	1	This is – Fox Sports (or so I’ve been told)
4	@RodAllen12	22,129	17,708	6	25%	2	I see ya big fella.
5	@JohnPaulWhite	19,938	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	A new comer. Half of the musical duo The Civil Wars and a big Tigers fan
6	@mario_impemba	17,912	13,542	8	32%	2	Abbott to Rod’s Costello
7	@tigersMlive	16,736	15,119	7	11%	0	The comments are more entertaining than the articles
8	@bobwojnowski	15,839	11,457	9	38%	1	I left him on, but not so much Tigs content lately
9	@Detroit4lyfe	14,464	2,825	22	412%	13	I can’t say I read Detroit4lyfe. May have to start
10	@beckjason	12,615	9,966	10	27%	0	If you are afraid of Jason Beck you aren’t paranoid, you’re smart.
11	@FSDetroit_Girls	10,592	5,920	13	79%	2	Now a threesome! (no not with you, you perv)
12	@DannyWorth29	9,694	6,681	11	45%	-1	Danny Worth can tweet with his glove on, he’s that good.
13	@Ballystar40	8,277	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	Collin Balestar.
14	@Dan_Dickerson	8,115	6,502	12	25%	-2	The voice of the Tigers. Great recaps after each game.
15	@freeptigers	7,945	5,708	14	39%	-1	Tigers news from the Freep
16	@Max_Scherzer	7,025	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	Max is a good tweeter. Just needs to do more.
17	@Tom_Gage	6,651	4,813	15	38%	-2	Measurer of spring training home runs
18	@drunkmiggy	6,258	2,821	23	122%	5	One drunken oops and you get a twitter account. Burp
19	@philcokesbrain	5,813	3,090	21	88%	2	Yours truly
20	@JohnKeatingFSD	5,590	3,479	18	61%	-2	He looks bigger in person
21	@SmylyD	4,909	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	#5 in the rotation, #1 in our hearts
22	@RyanFieldFSD	4,864	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	Ryan Seacrest
23	@FatCatPrince	4,747	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A
24	@Lynn_Henning	4,548	1,217	34	274%	10	He has 273% more followers. Can’t argue with results
25	@Shannon_Hogan	4,354	2,781	24	57%	-1	I love me some Shannon Hi Shannon!
26	@blessyouboys	4,318	3,436	19	26%	-7	So good! I’m kissing up so I can be on the podcast someday
27	@fakeleyland	4,221	2,209	28	91%	1	These remarks are total bullshit. Who does this crap?
28	@iamtrevort	4,124	2,657	25	55%	-3	Tell me about how [starting pitcher] looked to you today?
29	@RodAllenQuotes	3,827	3,381	20	13%	-9	Can’t get enough Rod. #twss
30	@Chris_Iott	3,515	2,480	27	42%	-3	Chris’ twitter is awesome. A must follow. Always fun.
31	@suss2hyphens	3,236	2,488	26	30%	-5	JOKES!
32	@ChrisVannini	3,070	1,978	30	55%	-2	He’s doing more Tigers stuff again now. Was super Spartan all winter
33	@Stareagle	2,468	2,161	29	14%	-4	A very fun and informative feed, a must follow
34	@FSDwakiji	1,934	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	She’s on hockey a lot, but more Tigers stuff later I would guess
35	@Cmo_27	1,907	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	Craig Monroe – The guy knows how to wear a suit
36	@billfer	1,879	1,834	31	2%	-5	The Godfather of Tigers bloggers, may call in a favor any day now
37	@spacemnkymafia	1,837	1,635	32	12%	-5	He stays up late, he tweets about baseball – what more do you want?
38	@AdamWilk58	1,686	661	52	155%	14	This is the real Adam Wilk – there are no Adam Wilk parody accounts
39	@PapaGrande46	1,659	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	This is the real Jose Valverde – there are 100 Valverde parody accounts
40	@iancass	1,592	1,481	33	7%	-7	He writes about the National League. It’s like we don’t even know him anymore
41	@newstigers	1,467	1,152	37	27%	-4
42	@EasyPapaGrande	1,421	201	73	607%	31	Parody Valverde account
43	@matthewbmowery	1,363	1,076	38	27%	-5	Love Matthew. Great sense of humor.
44	@TigersFanZone	1,248	1,183	35	5%	-9	No idea
45	@rdsanti39	1,236	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	The real Ramon Santiago has fewer followers than 4 parody accounts
46	@jamesscheml	1,227	762	47	61%	1	HELP! SEND VOWELS!
47	@SKORNACKI	1,199	1,009	39	19%	-8	Still on vacation in Fiji or something.
48	@BR_DETTigers	1,194	1,177	36	1%	-12	If it’s on Bleacher Report and not written by @iancass, don’t read it
49	@WalkoffWoodward	1,183	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	Mr. Doc Worn and grown his blog and twitter very well. Good work!
50	@catswithbats	1,165	901	42	29%	-8	FKA @littlestclouds Nothing Tigers related escapes her gaze. She’s the Sauron of Tiger’s tweeters.
51	@Life_In_The_D	1,154	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A
52	@Justin_Rogers	1,122	826	45	36%	-7
53	@tigersblog	1,071	959	40	12%	-13	No idea
54	@ScoutTigers	1,023	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A
55	@JohnLowe86	1,018	936	41	9%	-14
56	@norunsupport	998	742	48	35%	-8	Everyone’s favorite moderately grumpy baseball girlfriend.
57	@DailyFungo	994	887	44	12%	-13
58	@Big_Al_TWFE	980	896	43	9%	-15	BlessYouBoys podcaster extrodinaire!
59	@RoarTigers	978	568	58	72%	-1	Half the images in any Tigers related Google Image Search are hers
60	@DNR_Rogo	964	575	57	68%	-3	Half the hits for any Tigers related term + any swear word link to his blog
61	@ColangeloTigers	920	649	53	42%	-8	He works for the Tigers. I don’t know if he can play 2nd so don’t ask.
62	@tigstown	911	708	49	29%	-13	TigsTown is a very good blog for people who aren’t poor.
63	@TigsTownMark	903	797	46	13%	-17	TigsTown!
64	@TigersScorecard	873	690	51	27%	-13	A Tigers Blog!
65	@MakeAveKurt	791	624	55	27%	-10	Donner’s manservant and chieftain of BlessYouBoys
66	@DisplacedTgrFan	763	502	60	52%	-6	I wish I had his beer budget
67	@TweetingTigers	721	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	@bilfer compiled a list of Tigers Tweeters
68	@AceRHPDonKelly	677	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	A parody account that isn’t. Good stuff.
69	@MotownTigers	676	605	56	12%	-13	This is some kind of message board where the old people go.
70	@TonyPaul1984	600	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A
71	@Jkunkel7	590	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	New to the list is our new bullpen catcher!
72	@TigersWTF	566	506	59	12%	-13	WTF?
73	@JohnJParent	561	465	62	21%	-11	His big cheezy grin profile photo always gets my attention
74	@Detroit4lyfeRob	557	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	Rob
75	@mlbtrtigers	539	441	63	22%	-12	Trade rumors
76	@tiger337	535	408	64	31%	-12	NUMBERS!!
77	@JAYRC_MCB	520	280	67	86%	-10
78	@DeeTownTigers	506	490	61	3%	-17
79	@Garretkc	494	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	When I was his age the Expos existed.
80	@FakeGeneLamont	491	349	65	41%	-15	meh
81	@NotRyanRaburn	399	297	66	34%	-15	meh
82	@TigersGameday	384	252	68	52%	-14
83	@StachOBally	363	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	A tweeting mustache, that’s rediculous
84	@Tigerdog_1	331	203	72	63%	-12	Y U NO FOLLOW @TIGERDOG_1?!
85	@FakeLloydMcC	295	231	70	28%	-15	meh
86	@SabreRoseTiger	288	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	She recently unblocked me. Good source for Latin baseball news
87	@PrettyBoyBoesch	286	214	71	34%	-16	meh
88	@Tigercub33	279	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A
89	@tokarzontigers	245	190	74	29%	-15	If A=B and B=C then Tokarz is a nerd.
90	@FakeDombrowski	238	176	75	35%	-15	Meh
91	@eliatthetigers	238	138	76	72%	-15	Never listens to my giveaway suggestions
92	@DSN_Sports	230	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	New to the list is our new bullpen catcher!
93	@DaveDumbrowski	224	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	meh
94	@FakeAndyDirks	210	114	77	84%	-17	meh
95	@MCB_johnverburg	206	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A
96	@VivaTigres	205	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	She’s hellbent on figuring out who I am.
97	@MattinToledo	196	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A
98	@ComericaParkDJ	161	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	AKA @djleej – tweet him your requests to hear them at CoPa
99	@ChampaignCaviar	158	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A
100	@DFASchlereth	152	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	meh
101	@angeladawn26	138	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A
102	@AlmostHenning	137	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	A rising star among parody accounts. It helps to have an easy target
103	@RestOfPhilCoke	135	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	So yeah, this exists
104	@Theghostofrocky	130	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	Must follow for the semi regular Tiger Haiku
105	@FakeRodAllen	114	95	78	20%	-27	meh
106	@TheBrowski	90	66	80	36%	-26	meh
107	@CntryStrongTigs	78	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	Travie has been working on his blog and has good interviews.
108	@TAATigers	77	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A
109	@CokeAddicts40	61	53	81	15%	-28	My poor, poor fanclub
110	@Tigers_ebooks	39	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	If you follow this, you belong to a secret club of nerds
111	@SarahDrielts	37	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	A fan!
112	@April_in_the_D	37	N/A	N/R	N/A	N/A	A blog by girls!
	@OFFICIAL_TIGERS	0	59,212	2			This account became @Tigers. And @Tigers became @Tigers_former in order to phase it out. Got it?

	Exiting
n/a	@willrhymes		18,004	5			Moved on to Tampa Bay’s organization, still small though
	@RobbieW19		4,313	16			No big league appearances, off the list.
	@Jacob_Turner22		4,238	17			See you back on the list soon.
	@ZumayasElbow		695	50			Sorry, so very sorry
	@Wbetemit		629	54			WILLLLLLLSOOOONNNN
	@Not_AJackson14		239	69			Account deleted, I think.
	@lilWillyRhymes		72	79			Big Will is gone, so is little Will

UPDATE:

This is portion of the blog post where I apologize to the people I missed.

@MelissaHeyboer, 729 followers, She composes the link “round ups” at Bless You Boys. It’s always a good way to waste 1-2 hours at work

@DanFenner, 436 followers, reporter for the Oakland Press

@ChrisDallasTX, 77 followers, his avatar scares me

@jwagnerblade, 825 followers, Mr. Wagner does a terrific job covering the MudHens. He is a great follow if you are interested in callups/transactions/minor league notes and the like.

Correction - @CntryStrngTgrs, 1202 followers, Travie Wade’s account and blog. I had the wrong handle and greatly undersold him.

Last one. I am adding @Brandon_Inge to parody account probation. He has 510 followers. I’m pretty suspect.

Troll Music

April 13, 2012

An important part of the ball park experience is the music, especially the walk up music. A good music selection can pump up the crowd and set the stage for a terrific performance. HERE is a list of the current Tigers’ music selections.

Now most selections are players’ favorite songs. Joe Lemire of Sports Illustrated has a more comprehensive article HERE. It does seem to me that selections are always consistent with the players’ race. Just once I’d like to see Andy Dirks walk up to my favorite walk up music of all time — Omar Infante’s choice when he was with the Tigers — Alegria by Tono Rosario:

But going with the expected is boring. Everyone knows Raburn is going to roll out some lame song about his truck or tractor or camouflage or inbreeding. Everyone knows Austin Jackson is going to walk up to a rap song that the Comerica Park DJs have to take and carefully dissect out the swears like a sushi chef preparing Fugu.

And then there are the pranks. Perhaps you remember this troll of Kelly Johnson:

Recently Max Scherzer took to Twitter to solicit suggestions from the masses. The choice most frequently suggested was this:

Har Har…See it’s funny because…nevermind.

So about about some more Tigers prank walk ups. Any of these could probably happen with a couple crisp benjamins in a hand shake with @ComericaParkDJ.

Perhaps Lynn Henning would like to see Prince Fielder walk up to this classic:

How about Papa Grande getting fired up to this apropos tune?

Drew Smyly

MLive Commenter might suggest this on when Brandon comes back (skip to :46):

Perhaps this one is actually too cool to have for Duane

Ryan Raburn could possible squelch some of his distractors with this choice:

Brennen Boesch needs this one. The perfect combination of cleverness and terrible music.

Too obvious for Peralta?

Donnie Kelly NEEDS THIS SONG SO MUCH!

Now it’s true that Phil Coke’s whole self runs out to Nickleback. If I had my way, this is what we’d run out to:

Opening Day Rage

April 6, 2012

Weren’t able to attending opening day? Here’s what you missed.

Hopening Day

April 5, 2012

So much to talk about on Opening Day there is no way I could tweet it all. While Phil’s body has been to many Opening Days this was the first one I was really fully present! Let’s get to some observations:

My brain-internet link was really shady. Thanks for nothing Verizon. I was hoping to tweet more, but that worked about as well as a rollerblading Raptor.
The crowd is unlike other regular season crowds. First of all there are zero kids. This makes sense because why would you drop $200 on Stub Hub to drag along some kid who’s going to bitch about it being cold and who wants to leave after the 7th inning. Also many fewer women, this makes sense because why would you drop $200 on Stub Hub to drag along someone who’s going to bitch about it being cold and who wants to leave after the 7th inning. So, you’re left with a lot of sausage.
The girls I did see were very talented…and drunk.
Speaking of sausage. Nothing screams ball park like the smell of vendors grilling those damn sausages. They could be filled with beef tail and hog anus, STILL WANT!
People are very friendly on opening day and are eager to show you how smart they are about the team. I smile and nod a lot while ignoring their nonsense.
Opening ceremonies were very nice. I missed some stuff because I was preoccupied with needing to pee. Oops
Flyovers are cool. If you don’t flyovers you don’t have a soul.
The videoboard is legit! Very impressive. The shot where the show the on deck hitter from below with the city skyline in the back is simply gorgeous. It really adds to the experience without being obnoxious. I appreciate they go easy on the “fan propts” and other rediculous gimmickary on the board. Very well done.
Above the videoboard is a large script “TIGERS” wordmark. The photos made it appear to me that this would be a static sign, but it was lit up with LEDs and had a number of dynamic images on it. I initially bitched because I thought it would be better to mount an olde english D, but this was very cool. My favorite was when they showed the flames because it was nice to warm up a little.
I love me some Heather Nabozy (so sexy!) but the outfield grass looks a little crummy. It looks like Brennen was playing in is own special box (TWSS).
My new theory is that the more people crab about Brandon Inge the less attention they pay to Jhonny Peralta and the more he hits to poop out of the ball.
Justin Verlander is good at pitching.
Austin Jackson’s strikeout’s look really weird this year. They kinda look like hits.
Don Kelly played in the game. I’m less than stunned.
I did warm up a little in the bullpen. I figured stretching and moving around was more appropriate than lighting something on fire for warmth.
WTF is wrong with people who leave the game early!? Why even bother! Is your schedule so packed and your money so plentiful that you have to run off to something else after paying for the privilege of attending this game? WTF!?
Eat ‘em up Tigers guy is not dead.
While I have a spot in a beautiful parking structure it seems that the parking situation sucks. If only Detroit had unused real estate available and a host people who could use jobs and money to assist with parking. I guess it’s hopeless.
Unfortunately I couldn’t join the pre or post party but it looked like people were having fun. And by “having fun” I mean drinking until they think Brandon should be the backup catcher.

I may add more things as they come to mind, but it was a unique experience and we got the win. What could be better!?

Opening Day Scavenger Hunt

April 1, 2012

Rookie:

A group of 4 or more college bros flexing and ordering two beers at a time
An overweight woman wearing an Inge jersey
A fan taking the Dunkin Donuts race WAY too seriously
Me spitting
A man sitting in the upper deck wearing his glove the entire game
A Cabrera or Fielder home run
An assertive African American man offering to “watch your car”
Fans excitedly screaming for a routine flyball
Someone delighted by the “Where’s the Remote?” Comcast video board promotion
Someone wearing Chicago Cubs gear

Journeyman:

Someone learning for the first time that Cecil’s son is on the team.
A fan wondering where Magglio Ordonez is
A man over 75 keeping score
Paws playfully rubbing a bald man’s head
An usher taking his job way to seriously
Jim Leyland with the tips of his fingers tucked in to his pants
Shannon Hogan

All-Star:

A fan referring to Miguel Cabrera as “that Spanish fellow”
A Chris Shelton jersey
A Boston fan who thinks 3rd place in the AL East is a fair projection
A member of the “DTE Engery Squad” falling down a flight of stairs

Hall of Fame:

Rogo
Phil Coke’s Brain
A Brandon Inge hit

Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law

March 29, 2012

Craig Calcaterra at NBC’s Hardball Talk has broken down the new MLB social media policy. He says, “The policy itself is more of a legal document, but it basically consists of a list of ten prohibitions.” Being a brain, I can get away with a lot, but let’s sample some tweets to see how I’ve well I’ve done abiding by the policy.

Players can’t make what can be construed as official club or league statements without permission

Hum, not so good here. I break news all the time such as:

Tigers shut down Johnny Damon talk due to “dead arm”

The Twins have officially released former Tiger Joel Zumaya back into the wild.

Miguel Cabrera has also been cleared to resume mental, social, and spiritual activity.” - Still no word about sexual activity. I’ll see what I can find out.

MLB simply will not tolerate racial insensitivity unless it is in the form of racing meat products.

Players can’t use copyrighted team logos and stuff without permission or tweet confidential or private information about teams or players, their families, etc.;

Let’s see:

Did you hear Craig Monroe bought new tires? Yeah, they were steal belted.

Rod Allen is getting himself ready for the season by making comments about people getting coffee at Starbucks.

Mafia snitch eager to start his new life as David Pauley.

The D is probably copyrighted huh?

Players can’t link to any MLB website or platform from social media without permission;

Does Becks’ blog count? I totally didn’t ask first. oops

No tweets condoning or appearing to condone the use of substances on the MLB banned drug list (which is everything but booze, right?);

Not too bad here, I leave this to @TrippingOlney

No ripping umpires or questioning their integrity;

Jeez, Joe sure knows how to put the cunt in Country Joe West. – oops

No racial, sexist, homophobic, anti-religious, etc. etc. content;

I agree that it’s really important that MLB do more to add female fans, we’re almost out of sandwiches.

Rex Ryan was eager to land Tebow and learn more about “washing each others feet”.

It’s nice to see Lin and Tebow take this “Where two or three are gathered in my name” thing seriously.”

Does making fun of BYU count? “I bet BYU always wants abandon the zone to play moreman defense” “BYU looks like they are on a mission!”

How about little people? Jamey Carroll looks like Wee-man on MTV’s Jackass.

No harassment or threats of violence;

Does this count? I like my coffee like I like my woman…Ground-up and in my freezer

How about: There is a big vortex of suck in Michigan right now. But enough about Bill Simonson, look out for that tornado.

Nothing sexually explicit;

Explicit? I don’t know, judge for yourself.

Just a reminder ladies, Don Kelly can handle any position. Happy Valentines Day!

New game: Find the dirtiest sounding thing that doesn’t have an Urban Dictionary entry. “Musty Kumquat”

I don’t get what Adele means by “Rolling in the Deep.” Maybe it’s because I’ve never made love to a large woman, who knows.

When it comes to sex you want a girl who is a Gus Johnson, not a Joe Buck.

Nothing otherwise illegal.

I got the last one perfect!

So, overall how did I do at abiding by the policy?

Time to get geared up

March 22, 2012

Opening day is exactly two weeks from today. If you factor in shipping time for purchases at the MLB shop it is time to get your butt in gear and decide what you are going to wear to the park! But PCB, you might say, isn’t picking out clothes kinda for girls? Pshh, have you seen Project Runway? There are a ton of guys on there.

I put the question of “what to wear” to Chris Iott at Mlive and his only suggestion was, “Clothes, please”. He says that like someone who has seen people chose an alternative. Huh.

So what options do we have? Well, if you are over 75 you are going to wear blue dress pants, a long sleeve plaid shirt, a cardigan sweater and an ancient baseball cap even if it is 80 degrees out.

Another popular choice to rock the jersey of their favorite player. This is sound but uncreative decision. 9 out of 10 jerseys are going to be Verlander, Cabrera, or Inge. Yawn. Sure, you may have to pay the long dollar for something custom, but here are better choices.

This is the jersey of bullpen catcher Scott Pickens. If you don’t know who that is you are obviously unworthy to wear the jersey. Showing up in this on opening day is showing the crowd that you know what’s up. Plus, people might actually think you are Scott Pickens and ask for your autograph. NICE!

This is another very solid choice. Paying $100 for an intentionally misspelled jersey of a player who is super streaky shows that you have the chops to be a superfan.

All of these choices pale in comparison to this beauty.

Jason Beck, among his other reknowned feats, is known for spotting obscure jerseys among the throngs of unwashed masses. Show up in this bad boy and you are certain to get an epic tweet out of ol’ @beckjason. That’s worth $100, right!? Darn right it is.

"Yes it is"

Up to this point I’ve totally left out the fairer sex. How can women dress that suggests they are serious fans but also shows off the curvature of their sweater monsters? MLB itself has some suggestions for you. Are you a big fan of David Chadd? How about this one?