Following Shaq and other pro athletes on Twitter can be an adrenaline rush for fans. 
When Shaq sent a Tweet to his followers while in Orlando for a game in March 2009 saying, “I’m at the fashion sq mall, any1 touches me gets 2 tickets, tag me and say yur twit u hv 20min.” the economy turned for the mall with the lots filling up and fans piled in trying to find the Phoenix Suns star. Shaq’s Twitter account, @THE_REAL_SHAQ had 208,000 followers that day and at the time of this article had 3,010,357.
This past week some of the hottest news surrounding these Tweeting jocks was Chad Johnson, aka, @OGOchocinco on Twitter announcing he was paying out $10,000 to his 1,000,000 follower. Tuned in for a story, I sat on Twitter following Ocho-5 for much of Sunday morning as his follower numbers moved like a confused stock market on its shakiest day, going up then down then back up again.
Potential followers and maybe some of his current followers were removing themselves when the number got closer to the mill, hoping to re-follow at the right time and pounce on the opportunity to collect a free 10 G’s.
There are a lot of fake athletes on Twitter too like the Adrian Peterson impersonator that was called out by the real Warren Sapp whose account is @QBKilla. When the @AdrianP28 first started up, the account Tweeted a photo of A.P. running over D-back William Gay Tweeting this message along with the photo, “Trucking steelers William Gay!!”
Sapp was quick to discover the imposter,saying this in a response Tweet:
“No Real Player Would Ever Post Such a Thing. FAKE FAKE!!!! RUN!!! RT @AdrianP28: Trucking steelers William Gay!!
Later when a few others began following this @AdrianP28 account, Sapp kept the pressure on from him QBKilla Twitter account sending another Tweet that said:
“@AdrianP28 is a Fake!!! @Atlanta__Sports #Unfollow Him!!!!”
The following day the Adrian Peterson account was deleted.
Getting back to the real athlete accounts like NFL Green Bay Packers Clay Matthews. @ClayMatthews52 spills it out however he wants with one of his recent Tweets saying: “Bout 2 watch Alice n Wonderland. Some1 tell me… can I watch this w/out eating mushrooms and still enjoy it? Lol”
Some of the other verified pro athlete accounts include, @AaronRodgers12; @reggie_bush; @DanicaPatrick; @terrellowens; and @shawnemerriman.
If you’re looking to follow your favorite sports analysts, the verified accounts include @Troy_Aikman; @JayCrawfordESPN; @RealSkipBayless; and @ESPN_Michelle the hot blond that stands alongside Colin Cowherd on SportsNation.
Other accounts who clearly are fake but fun to follow have been @LeBronsElbow, an account that was The King’s injured elbow Tweeting to fans during the playoffs and a new one that just popped up, @Favres_Brain where fans can follow what Brett Favre’s brain is actually thinking as it makes its indecisive way into preseason.
Some Tweets from @Favres_Brain have offered a laugh including, “@FakeFatJamarcus Since you got your game going, wanna be my back-up if I play in Minny this season? We can endorse that “Purple” drink” and “Coach Chilly is cool. He lets me do whatever I want.”
Whether you’re following @OGOchocinco while he Tweets to his followers through all hours of the night or keeping tabs on @ChrisJohnson28 and his latest contract squabbles, enjoy your Twitter account and remember, people aren’t always who they say they are. And if you’re looking for your favorite NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL athletes to follow on Twitter, you want to find and follow the ones with the blue “Verified account” check next to their names.
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