As you've all probably noticed, this week has been a huge week for basketball thanks to the annual NCAA March Madness tournament. It is around this time of the year that college basketball tends to take over the NBA, but as basketball fans, we Bulls supporters also enjoy the hype from the college ranks. The fact that the tournament is now in full swing has definitely made it seem like a quiet week in the NBA, as some of our Twitter campaigns found themselves talking more about the college game than the NBA.
Here is one Tweet from @Bulls_Jay that I enjoyed:
Time to see if Chuck is still awake.
As I mentioned early on, Jason Patt's targeted audience are well-informed basketball fans, who most likely live in Chicago and root for the Bulls. Having said that, basketball is much bigger than just the City of Chicago and there are many key figures throughout the sport that are known on a national level. "Chuck" is one of them. Chuck, short for Charles (Barkley) is a former NBA star who is currently a TV analyst for TNT and all the Turner networks. Anyone who has seen a national TV NBA game knows that Chuck is a very comical individual. In fact, his TNT crew is known for cracking jokes about each other more than talking about the actual game. In the past few years, Chuck has worked the broadcasts for the college tournament as well. Now, @Bulls_Jay's tweet could be either a jab at Charles Barkley's old age or his lack of interest in college basketball, but it appealed to pathos and certainly made me laugh because I too have been watching the pre-game, post-game and half-time shows with Chuck, and I must say he doesn't seem right in place when talking about the NCAA. See, @Bulls_Jay knows that his followers are watching the college games as well, as there are very few NBA fans, nonetheless Bulls fans who ignore this month's games. Yet, the majority of his followers still ultimately prefer the NBA, which is what makes @Bulls_Jay's tweet appropriate. Chuck is mainly an NBA guy that NBA fans get to laugh at and with and he seems to be one of the only individuals from the NBA community present in the collegiate one for the time being. So when a late night tournament game wraps up and the commentators announce that it is "time to head to back to the studio", it's nice to see a familiar face in Chuck and if he is still awake.
Our next tweet from @NickFriedell has nothing to do with basketball, but it's the kind of feel good story that every sports fan can appreciate. In Friedells' feed, mostly composed of Bulls related tweets, I discovered one, a tweet that posted a link to an ESPN feature story of the newly hired Kansas City Royals manager, Mike Jerschielle, who overcame a long journey to be in the position he is today.
Although this is a baseball story, it is also one about perseverance which is a theme that is shared in every sport. Aside form the the exiting home runs, slam-dunks, and touchdowns that sports fans love, we also enjoy the stories of passion and grit, which tend to occur behind the scenes. I understand that Friedell's targeted audience are mostly NBA Bulls fans, and the majority of his tweets are to be basketball related, but this recent tweet is one of the few instances where it is appropriate to move away from basketball. It is an emotional, heartfelt story and if you get a chance to read it, please do.
Lastly, we have a tweet from the @ChicagoBulls, which I believed to be very suitable for their targeted audiences of casual Bulls fans and Chicagoans:
Chicago Bulls
It’s exciting to see the growth of our new practice facility across from the @unitedcenter on Chicago’s West Side. pic.twitter.com/z5rdNyt8Cx
The Bulls are currently building a new practice arena in the heart of Chicago's west side, in an important area of the city located right next to where the team plays. The move was an important one or the team, who was able to relocate the team from Deerfield, IL (a suburb north of the city) to Chicago, and they were able to do so without the use of Chicago's tax dollars. Chicagoans welcomed last year's decision, and it now seems that the building is well on its' way to completion. As I have mentioned before, the Bulls are a very important part of the city and the new practice facility will even have a community center for local fans, further demonstrating the team's worthiness. Although I labeled the @ChicagoBulls as the least effective social media campaign, this image stood out from their plethora of boring tweets and the team needs to focus on posting more intriguing ones as seen above. In addition, this was the first time that I've seen a tweet coming from the @ChicagoBulls reporting on the progress of the practice facility. Not only will Bulls fans appreciate the improvements, but Chicagoans will as well and the Bulls must always keep the latter up to date, if they want to maintain their status as a premier ball club on and off the court.
Thanks for checking in this week,
Matt
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