Fair Play: The Tweetest day of Philippine Football

I NEVER really liked twitter because I always thought that posting “I am going to NBS,” “I am now in NBS,” I am now reading Calvin and Hobbes at NBS,” “I am laughing at Calvin and Hobbes at NBS,” “I am now closing the Calvin and Hobbes book at NBS,” seemed a tad too narcissistic.

But when the Azkals hit town I knew I had to join Twitter. So I signed up but since I realized I couldn’t limit myself to 140 characters, the account got ignored.

Then Myanmar hosted the AFC Challenge Cup and turned down requests for a live coverage (I heard, even their countrymen failed to see Myanmar’s games, live.)

But, we had our own live telecasts, thanks to the tweeted updates by Roy Moore through Craig Burrows account. When Craig left for Myanmar, he had around 30 followers. When I checked last night, he had 2,974

Roy did much of the tweeting, while Craig shot the pictures. During off games, Roy also hijacked Craig’s account while he wasn’t paying attention and started a Q and A.

For a while, I thought, “How will Roy give us the updates if Craig breaks his fingers?” Fortunately, Craig’s got a sense of humor and the fans who tuned in for the Bangladesh match got top class updates.

Here’s a sample, “Chieffy floats in a great right-footed cross but the keeper touches it just beyond the reach of James YH. Still 0-0 into the 7th minute.”

The update was well-described and timely that at one point I wanted to tweet, “It seems we’re getting an update from a well-versed English football expert.”

I’m glad I didn’t because we were getting updates from a well-versed English football expert.
But because people were also updating their Facebook statuses, not everybody were paying attention when Roy tweeted: “Philippines 1, Bangladesh 0.”

I was jumping and throwing my fists in the air like crazy as I approached MCB, another fan who tuned in to the telecast and she asked, “Goal na?”

Then I realized I may have misread it and was starting to feel stupid.

But Roy confirmed it with “Guirado with some nice play and the ball is loose. Araneta picks it up and fights hard. His shot is defected but it’s in!!! 1-0, Azkals.”

Kamille Ria, was luckier as she was at home when he read that report.

“How I reacted? I screamed and ran around the house like crazy, is what I did,” she told me.

One guy also posted in the Pinoyfootball fan page that he was with a client but was receiving updates provided by Smart, which wisely rebroadcasted the tweets as text updates for P1 per message. The guy said he was more controlled with the first goal and with the second, but by the third goal he couldn’t contain it anymore and had to explain to his client he was following the Azkal matches.

One guy also posted in Tagalog, “Didn’t fetch wife as planned because of the Azkals. Will have some explaining to do later.”

I also think the fact that a lot of people were following tweets belies the accusation that the new fans are following the Azkals because of their looks. You have to be more than a fangirl, fanboy or fangirl/boy to spend 90 minutes waiting for tweets.

And yep, a lot of fans were eagerly waiting and tweeting. We were trying to trend the Azkals to no avail. But when Ian Araneta scored, he suddenly became one of the worldwide trends. When Guirado scored, he joined the list. After another goal, his name was near the top.

The Tweetcast was a unique experience but I hope I won’t experience it again. I think I lost 10 pounds just by fidgeting and shaking.

Man, it really was a sweet victory

By the way, thanks to my Twitter tutors for the help--savethebanshes, aljcomia, cynthiaMoralez, iRvOaNnAe, superyanix.

You can follow these gals on twitter, just search for their names. I promise, if you ever have something to ask, they won’t reply, “Magreklamo ka sa lolo mo!”

Comments

superyanix said…
i was paying attention (remember i actually STOPPED working). hinay lang internet sa office
dugay naka refresh haha.
chesel said…
and I ended up laughing after reading your post. i was feeling the same way actually. when the tweetcasters posted about the first goal, i was screaming and clapping my hands as if i'm at the stadium watching the game live. hahaha.. crazy! i know right? then angel scored two more goals. my mama almost slap me [hahaha] because i was too noisy screaming. hihihi.. if you could just imagine that. :))
Mike Limpag said…
It really seemed Live. Kudos to Roy for the tweetcast
Mike Limpag said…
hehehe. Abi ra ba nako nasipyat ko ato

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