Blog Examination Focus: Bulls

Hey everyone,

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am a diehard Chicago Bulls fan, so I thought it would be both fun and interesting to go forward and follow three individual Twitter/Facebook accounts that revolve around the team and its activities.

The first individual who I chose to follow is a guy by the name of Nick Friedell. An Orlando native, and graduate of Syracuse School of Journalism, Friedell is one of three main beat writers for the Chicago Bulls. He works for ESPN's Chicago branch, and he was hired to give an unbiased report on the team. He is an appropriate man for the job considering the fact that he is not a Bulls fan himself, but rather a journalist who is paid to cover the team and only the team during the NBA season. Part of Nick's duties are to travel with the team, and write both pre-game and post game-reports. He is also very active on Twitter, which is where I will be getting most of my information from. The fact that he brings and objective account sometimes draws the ire of big fans such as myself, but how can I blame him? He tells it how it is whether the team is playing well or poorly; whether you want to hear it, or not.  Nick can be followed on Twitter @NickFriedell. He has 57.3K followers.

The second individual who I will be following during the course of this assignment happens to be a fan and follow the Bulls too much like myself. This person, who goes by the name of Jay Patt, covers the Bulls as a hobby and gives a very bias take on the team. Patt writes for the independent sports blog site SB Nation and is very well-informed regarding the Bulls and the NBA. If the Bulls happen to be playing well, Patt is quick to credit both the players and perhaps even the front office of the origination, but during the team's struggling times, he relentlessly critiques the Team, especially owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who isn't exactly a fan favorite. I honestly don't know too much about Jay Patt, but I remember seeing his tweets being retweeted and favorited by other Bulls guys, and I figured that I'd follow him myself. Since then I have enjoyed seeing his fan's perspective and tend to find myself more in accordance with him rather than Friedell, even though he can be less pragmatic. Jay can be followed on Twitter @BullsJay. He has 1.8K followers.

Lastly, I will be following the official Twitter/Instagram accounts of the Chicago Bulls. These accounts tend to be very biased as well, but in a different manner. For example, when the Bulls have an impressive win, the staffers who run the accounts bombard my news feed with joyful analysis, statistics, and photos of happy Bulls fans who got their money's worth. Then, when the team loses a game it had no business losing, all you get is a tweet showing the score and maybe a stat or two. This account also tends to repost reports by Sam Smith, the official beat writer for the Bulls. Smith's writings/tweets tend to always credit the team, and he never criticizes the organization, this is understandable because the org. writes his paycheck. The Bulls can be followed at @ChicagoBulls. They have 1.3M followers.

I am looking forward to following both Nick Friedell and Jay Patt, as well as the Chicago Bulls during the course of this assignment. As of right now, the Bulls are 21-20, with about 42 games remaining until the playoffs in April. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out for the team, because it will most certainly have a ripple effect on the Twitter side of things. I really hope the Bulls finish strong, otherwise this blog will turn to a place where I lament my frustrations.

Just Kidding.

Matt