And so this is how Gilbert handles the world of Twitter: he signs up, while telling the world that he won't use the service until he attracts a million followers, an absurd and impossible number for a non-Tweeting D.C. athlete to ever reach. Aside from a few videos, he honors his pledge, slowly creeping to about 9,000 followers, fine by obscure blogger standards, but embarrassingly low for an NBA franchise player. At that rate, he would have retired before hitting a million.
But then, on New Year's Eve, a matter of hours before international controversy will spill into his life, he starts Tweeting like crazy: writing things bizarre, provocative, hilarious and somewhat blue. And when, on New Year's Day, all sorts of gun stories about him take over the Internet, he posts 20 updates in seven hours, addressing long-ignored rumors of his fiancee's infidelity, igniting a torrent of angry responses, and attracting more than 2,000 new followers, a number that will continue to climb over the next few days.
For you non-NBA fans, there was a standoff (with unloaded guns, supposedly) over Christmas in the Wizards' locker room. I think there are probably guns in every NBA locker room, but the Wizards want to void Arenas' contract. Arenas may very well get to a million followers.
Update: The Arenas situation turned very sour very quickly (and very sad, I think) and now he's been suspended indefinitely, and I actually think that his career is on pause, probably for years. True Hoop's round up of reaction tweets from other's in the NBA is a fun read.
It looks like his life is so miserable this time! I feel bad for him.
Posted by: Weight Training Blog | January 07, 2010 at 11:48 AM