I go through the same routine every Saturday and Sunday morning. I wake up at about 9:15 a.m., put on a hoodie and walk up the street to one of my favorite coffee houses in Oakland called Farley's East. I grab my latte, momentarily gaze at the fine women that are jogging in the neighborhood, and walk back home. I turn the 51" Hoshitoshi on to whatever football goodness is ready to be consumed. Then I do probably the most important thing of the day.
I turn on Twitter and allow my favorite follows to entertain me with their personal football commentary. This is what makes social media great.
The TSFJ scribes have collaborated to bring you our 17 favorite Twitter personalities that you should definitely follow during the football season. Some are phenomenal journalists, some are egregious parody accounts, and some are people we're proud to call our friends. Be sure to check out their times and a major thanks to TSFJ contributors Joe Simmons, The Rev, Phillip Barnett, Dillon Friday, The NFL Chick, Shad Craft, Bryan Crawford, Mark Trible, Kenny Masenda, Jason Clinkscales and Justin Tinsley.
(Ed's note: This list was initially inspired by the good folks over at Ball Don't Lie and their list of Indispensable Must-Follows, but then SI came out with its Top 100 and Deadspin's worst 67. Now making a list is damn near bastardized. However, just realize that our list of 20 is pretty damn personal, and we f*cks with almost all of these folks in real life.)
Name: Brannin
Twitter: @MrBrannin
As a Cowboys fan and often a Cowboys apologist, Brannin keeps me highly entertained with his sarcasm and enthusiasm. Honestly every time I think I have hit a new low as a Cowboys fan, he either picks me up with his enthusiasm or he says something so funny about the team that I can't even be mad that we are playing bad anymore. -- Crazy Joe
Name: Timothy Burke
Twitter: @bubbaprog
An editor over at Deadspin, but more importantly, a media guru who provides gifs and videos of all of the big plays for both the NCAA and the NFL. He's a great follow and has a great sports mind. -- Phillip Barnett
Name: Jarrett Payton
Twitter: @PaytonSun
Son of Walter -- yes, *that* Walter -- who is now on ESPN's college football version of SportsNation on Saturday mornings. He'll tweet out some inspirational stuff, couple Instagram photos here and there, and get some football info just to keep things relevant. Great follow, even better dude. -- BC
Name: The Duo of Richard Boadu and CJ Clayborne
Twitter: @6magazine and @THE_BROCCOLI
Two dudes with an appreciation for southern football similar to how Paula Deen loves butter. One is a uniform aficionado, and the other was the first person I ever heard talk about how dope Cam Newton was. Be warned though, Richard is sensitive about his height and one out of every four tweets from CJ need translation. -- Ed.
Name: FakeWIPCaller
Twitter: @FakeWIPCaller
This one is more for Eagles fans, but anyone who has ever listened to sports talk radio will appreciate this humor tweeter, who tweets all the ridiculous things you would hear callers say on your favorite sports talk radio station, a la Philadelphia's 610/94.1 WIP. Consistently cracks me up on a daily basis, especially during NFL season. -- The Rev
Name: Jessica Danielle
Twitter: @NFLGoodwitch
Although I should give her more grief because she's a fan of both the Eagles AND the Falcons, her blog is generally pretty entertaining and her perspective gets my attention, especially since she wrote this piece on NFL players taking loans from folks loosely related to Dame Dash. Rocawear Financial maybe? -- Ed.
Name: Steve Rushin
Twitter: @steverushin
Rushin writes mostly for SI.com but contributes to the mag as well. He's not NFL-centric, but he puts the "wit" in Twitter with gems like this: "Spent the last hour shagging flies. I wonder what a British person makes of that sentence." -- Dill
Name: Dawn Greene
Twitter: @mississippiDAWN
I started following as a referral from @Lizzs_Lockeroom about chicks who dig college football. Her timeline is hilarious and informative at the same damn time on Saturdays. Her humor and knowledge make her an easy follow. Plus she's hot! -- The NFL Chick
Name: Dragonfly Jonez
Twitter: @dragonflyjonez
Dragonfly is a great follow for both casual fans and hardcore ones. He knows his stuff in any of the big three sports. He's probably the best all-around follow out there, in my opinion. -- Shad Craft
Name: Michael Felder
Twitter: @inthebleachers
Mike writes for Bleacher Report, he walked on at UNC back in '03, and he's a great X's and O's guy, just like Stephen White. The best thing about Felder, like Dragonfly, is that he does a great job of mixing humor with analysis. The entertainment factor from both guys makes them top-notch follows. -- Shad Craft
(Ed's Note: One time for the photo of Felder's showing his support for #TheMorningJones and his latest appearance on #theUCshow. H/T to @edsbs.)
Name: Jose Romero
Twitter: @RomeroJoseM
From the writing about all things football-related at FOX Deportes to teaching the kiddies how to become better journalists (can I enroll for a class?), the chicano brethren Jose Romero knows what he tweets. Although the man did go to school at Oregon, I'm still cool with him. Plus, the man wrote a piece about A.C. Slater and Mark Sanchez. Unbelievable. -- Ed.
Name: Dwyane Dunham
Twitter: @thelibraicon
Week in and week out he provides us with more score updates from every single game than anyone else you're going to follow. If you can't get to a TV and want to know the scores of every game and how TDs were scored, just run through his timeline. Just make sure you unfollow that damn Celtics fan the second after the Superbowl ends, hahaha. Kidding. Kind of. -- Phillip Barnett
Name: Adam Caplan
Twitter: @CaplanNFL
If you like knowing the inner workings of the NFL and what it all means, follow Caplan. He will frequently let you know about league-wide roster moves and the impact they have. He also produces excellent insight during the games and in regard to fantasy roster moves. Two years ago, his breakout player was Arian Foster. Last year, it was Jimmy Graham. -- Trible
Name: Steve White
Twitter: @sgw94
Stephen White is probably the most versatile football follow on my TL. The man played the game at the highest level, but he is still a fan at heart. Trust, when there is Tennessee Volunteers/Dallas Cowboys/Tampa Bay Bucs on, he is the man to pay attention to. -- Kenny
Name: Alfie Crow
Twitter: @alfieBCC
This is totally a homer selection, but it's 100% warranted. Alfie is an editor for Big Cat Country, SB Nation's Jacksonville Jaguars blog. He keeps it as honest as possible when it comes to Duval's favorite football team, even when folks have no idea what in hades they're talking about. Plus, his avi's are always hilarious. -- Ed.
Name: Chelsia L.
Twitter: @LLCoolChels
A Cowboys fanatic whose wit and sarcasm is on 1,000 on Sundays, whether the Cowboys win or lose. If you don't want to lose a football argument with a girl, I suggest you don't try her. -- The NFL Chick (Ed's Note: No one's afraid of Chels. Still love you though.)
Name: Ty Schalter
Twitter: @tyschalter
I'd recommend Ty from Bleacher Report and his own "Lions in Winter" blog. Certainly an unabashed Lions fan and a third-generation Spartan alum (Michigan State), Ty probably is the second true blue Lions fan I've encountered since Barry Sanders retired. On a serious note, he's as versed on the business of the game and the advanced metrics as dropping the old standby "what the hell was that pass?!?!" He actually passed up watching an episode of Dance Moms to appear on the NFL preview edition of The Exchange earlier this month, so he gets more respect from me. -- Clinkscales
Name: Heidi Burgett
Twitter: @heidiburgett
When it comes to the latest and greatest that comes out of the Beaverton hype machine that is Nike, Heidi's always got that new new. From new shoes, new jerseys and interactions with everyone on the Nike Football side in between, her feed is always a good one to keep an eye on. -- Ed.
Name: Not Walt Frazier
Twitter: @NotWaltFrazier
Think about how awesome Walt Frazier is with the lingo. Now imagine that being put to sports. And there you have this glorious but often overlooked Twitter account. It's not the real Walt, but it's the closest we're going to get, and that's perfectly acceptable. Re: Darrelle Revis' season ending ACL injury ...
Inconsolable and uncontrollable over the bruise of this Revis news. Time for some Ben 'n Jerry's scoopin' and Adele album loopin'!
— (Not) Walt Frazier (@NotWaltFrazier) September 24, 2012
F*cking awesome. -- J. Tinsley
This list is only 20 deep, but do you have any suggestions for other dope follows? Let us know in the comments sections with your top choices. Maybe in 2013 we'll add them to the list.
