Top-20 DMV Sports Twitter Follows:

This week, SI.com came out with their Twitter 100 list.  They polled hard-core Twitter users within SI and asked them which feeds they consider essential for their daily routine of finding news, information and entertainment from throughout the sports world, you can read the list here.

Congratulations to Cindy Boren (@CindyBoren) from the Washington Post for making the list.

Well, this got us thinking at Ball Hogs, who do we consider to be essential for our daily routines of finding news, information and entertainment in the DC/MD/VA sports world.  So I (@ABradley5) asked some of the other Ball Hogs: @WilkesonWarpath, @THERealKRE and one of our guest hosts @TrettyTret, all of which our avid Twitter users to help me create a Top-20 #must follow list for DC/MD/VA sports (players not included)… It proved to be much harder than we thought to narrow it down to just twenty, but here you go:

 

Ratings are as such: 4-stars (showed up on all four of our lists) 3-stars (showed up on three out of the four lists), etc…

4-Stars:

Dan Steinberg (@DCSportsBog): Gives tweets on things that everyday folks like to read about, he’s like the Washington Post’s Sports Style Section.  Also a great place for all the mistakes and botchery found in DC Sports (which keeps him very busy).

Hogs Haven (@hogshaven): Maybe these guys made the 4-star list because we’re good friends with them or maybe they made it because they cover the Skins in a funny, in-depth, all stones unturned approach for SB Nation… I’ll say it’s probably a little of both. Nonetheless for GREAT Redskins coverage, engaging fan discussion forums, Hogs Haven brings it!

EB from the Junkies (@EBJunkies): EB is as entertaining on Twitter as he is on-air with the Sports Junkies.  From the words of TrettyTret, EB “keeps it real” and is always willing to give you his honest opinion on a whole range of subjects.  He is also ranked very high on the “reply back” meter, he’ll chat it up with you, always an important component to being a great #follow.

Rich Tandler (@Rich_Tandler): When you’ve tweeted over 10K tweets as Rich has, you can tell Twitter is important.  The Redskins blogger for CSN Washington and RealRedskins.com, this guy knows his stuff and continuously offers insightful and educated perspectives on the happenings with the Redskins.  Curious what the Redskins are thinking?  Check out Rich’s Twitter timeline, he’ll fill you in…

Grant Paulsen (@grantpaulsen): Grant has been on the show which automatically gives him a few extra bonus points but I can tell you he’d been a 4-star on our list regardless of his appearance.  Since he’s been covering sports since birth, one sport is not enough for Grant as he covers the Redskins for 106.7 as well as baseball for MLB Network Radio.  He’s also willing to go the extra mile for Twitter including when he researched every playoff game for MJ just to prove that MJ never did what LBJ did this past playoff, now that’s Twitter commitment!  And, another LBJ hater is always fun to #follow

Alan Stein: (@AlanStein): Following Stein on Twitter makes you want to run through a brick wall or fight a grizzly bear, or at the very least quit your job and pursue your dream of becoming a pro basketball player.  His relentless pursuit to motivate you and make you a better person is evident the moment you begin to follow-him.  Stein who was the head Strength and Conditioning coach at Montrose for 7-years and is now with Dematha, has worked with all the big names: Lebron, Kobe, CP3, Durant, etc… from his work with Nike and ESPN.  He makes a commitment to respond to EVERY tweet that comes in and profusely apologizes if he’s delayed in responding, that’s awesome!

Amanda Comak (@acomak): Amanda is the Nationals Beat Writer for the Washington Times.  She’ll provide you daily updates, inside access to all that’s happening at Nationals Park and about the team, including loads of info in-game.  Not to mention she’ll respond to your tweets and has a killer Boston accent.  A former Red Sox fan who was assigned to cover the Nats, she at least should get a sympathy #follow.

 

3-Stars:

Mike Wise (@MikeWiseGuy): Obviously his resume and experience tells you he knows what he’s talking about but the coolest part of following Wise on Twitter is that he’s willing to go back and forth with you over a good subject or two, that’s always fun.  Wise is the type of guy that you just want to hear what he has to say, sometimes you agree, sometimes you don’t but you appreciate and respect his honesty.  Not to mention, his style of humor cracks me up, I’m sure it’ll get you laughing too…

Mike Prada (@MikePradaSBN): This guy is an absolute machine, he grinds out columns and tweets like its no ones business, he has over 23K tweets #WOW.  As the Senior Editor for SBNationDC and lead editor for Bullets Forever, it’s safe to say Prada has his finger on the pulse of DC sports and what the fans are saying & thinking.

Bret Oliverio (@BretRadio):  Oliverio is a funny follow, expect a little of everything from this follow.  As the Executive Producer of the Junkies he’s constantly giving inside tidbits of what’s happening with the Junks and the show which are always entertaining.  You can also expect to hear his thoughts on random movie subjects, pop-culture news and  look for the occasionally twitpic of smokin hot ladies (that’s always a nice change-up).  Although Oliverio isn’t sports all day/everyday as this list was focusing on, he talks enough sports and is entertaining enough to beat the system, so give the guy some credit.

Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee):  As the Wizards beat writer for the Washington Post, Lee has more access to the Wizards than almost anyone else in the media and he’ll share that access with you through his Twitter page.  Lee gets paid to try and communicate the psyche of Javale McGee, Andray Blatche and Nick Young to the public which is an entertaining task for us the followers, that alone is worthy of a follow.  We also like that Lee, like us, “use to like hip-hop,” will the good hip-hop please stand up! #randomnote.

Burgundy Blog (@burgundyblog): Our friend from BB has been covering the Redskins for many years from North Carolina (Panthers Country – I hope they don’t call it that down there, that sounds so lame).  BB offers up strong opinions and insight about all the happenings with the Redskins and is willing to have lengthy back and forths with you about any and all Skins topic, only thing missing is a nice cold beer and a hot bartender.  His online interviews with various Redskins players also provide some nice insight into the lives of our favorite players.

Holden Kushner (@HoldenRadio):   Holden is a busy man, a 6 days-a-weeker, a blue-collar-type guy.  He not only holds down the fort from 10:00-2:00 with Mike Wise on 106.7 but he also hosts Sirius/XM MLB Radio Sunday.  He’ll bring you his thoughts on ALL of the todays sports news, he’ll conversate with you on the regular and he’ll throw out the occasional tweet about non-sports related news as a simple reminder that there is life outside (and many times) more important than sports.   He’s also the only person who was cooking dinner while doing a guest spot on our show and had to jump off once his chicken finished in the microwave (or oven), not sure how he cooks it up?  #funfollow

JP (@JapersRink):  Covering the Washington Capitals for SB Nation, Japers Rink is the ultimate fans guide to the happenings of the Washington Capitals.  His Caps Clips can be your one-stop-shop for all Capitals news over the web on a weekly basis, which proves to be a huge time-saver for the average working man, thanks JP.  Following JapersRink is extremely helpful when news gets out about Sarlyack Gormenov, the next big thing from Russia and you’ve never heard of this man before, nor do you know how to pronouce his name and you can’t even spell it out to search it on Google, chances are Japers Rink already has done it for you.

John Auville (@moneymetalcakes):  AKA: Cakes from the Junkies.  If Cakes wasn’t entertaining on Twitter that would be the ultimate let-down because he’s hilarious in the morning on 106.7, but don’t worry my friends, Cakes is just as entertaining in the Twitter world as he is in the radio world.  Cakes is also the most followed individual on Twitter in the City of Olney, MD, according to my Twitter Census Data.  That alone should warrant a follow for Mr. Cakes…

Dan Hellie (@DanHellie): This NBC4 sports anchor has the inside access to all the local teams and loves sharing that access with his followers.  Quoting one of the Ball Hogs “he’s a local guy, family man, responds to a ton of tweets, covers sports for a living, I’m jealous of his life, bottom-line…”   Sorry for getting emotional with you but when its all said and done, Dan Hellie is a great #follow and very worthy of being in the top-20.

Ivan Carter (@WashPostLive): Carter is a Twitter guy which is proof with his over 13K tweets.  He obviously knows his sports (he has own show on CSN) but Carter just seems like a cool guy, a guy you’d like to kick it with, have a beer, chat it up, etc… those always make for great Twitter follows.  His Twitter style has a knack to stir up the DC sports community on variety of topics and get the public thinking and bantering back and forth.  In addition, he is probaly the biggest DC United fan on this list, or at the very least, the biggest DC United tailgating fan on this list.

Steve Whyno (@Swhyno): For the Ball Hogs we share our Capitals time between the Washington Times Capitals Blogger Steve Whyno and Japers Rink.  It’s kinda like David Letterman and Jay Leno, both are awesome, it’s just a matter of which one you flip to first but you’ll end up watching both.  Whyno is a Twitter machine approaching 20K tweets, he knows his Caps, has the the access and more than happy to share it with you.  If you Rock the Red, give our boy Whyno a follow and then impress your friends with your Capitals knowledge.  Not to mention he gets major thumbs up from our Caps writer (@MrHerson)

Ben Standig (@benstandig): Ben is a freelance sports writer in the DC area who writes for a list of sites including CSNWashington…  Sometimes its difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes a person an enjoyable follow, besides for the fact that they just are!   Ben just is.  He provides a great balance between insight, humor, information, conversation banter, etc… which is a nice addition to your Twitter timeline.  His banters with our Kevin Eaton are also enjoyable.   I’ve never seen a championship squad without quality role players… #justsayin

Mark Zuckerman (@markzuckerman): Zuck’s (I’m assuming his boys call him that nickname, so I thought I’d throw it out there) covers the Washington Nationals full-time for CSN and NatsInsider, so it’s safe to say, he knew where Riggleman was headed for his post-game drinks.  Zuck’s covers the Nats all the way down to the farm and back (true story), providing insight on prospects in the farm system as well as giving you everything you need from Nats world.

 

That completes the Top-20 List

As I mentioned earlier narrowing down this list was no easy task, it meant that we had to leave off folks that some of us truly enjoy following but we had to do it.  So… with that said, here are the remaining names that showed up on our various top-20 lists:

 

• @asadnagviDMV (Wizards Extreme)
• @bulletsforever
• @johnkeim
• @RussellMania980
• @VogsCaps
• @masnBen
• @NatsEnquirer
• @AdamKilgoreWP
• @Lizz_Lockeroom
• @dandalyonsports
• @ChadDukes
• @TestudoTimes
• @NatsNewsNetwork
• @LindsayCzarniak
• @LindsayFox5
• @Nats_Prospects
• @Half_Street
• @SkyKerstein

Just like anything your performance warrants your recognition, so this list could change at any moment.  Who did we miss?

Find us at @ballhogsradio

 

 

 

 

 

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