Hear from a Braves fan that broke the Yasiel Puig news
Brian Chandler is now a certified Braves insider
Unverified Twitter user and Braves fan Brian Chandler broke the Yasiel Puig news on Tuesday.
The blue checks got locked out of Twitter on Wednesday.
In a way, Chandler’s Tweet foreshadowed the verified lockout, which was a wonderful couple of hours in my life.
I have a blue check. It was bestowed upon me when I worked in a local newsroom for a station owned by a corporate entity.
It didn’t arrive in an oaken box with a monogrammed golden key.
I didn’t hear a trumpet blast from the heavens when it showed up next to my name.
One day, I got an e-mail, and it just showed up.
Tight 🤙
Anyway, long story short, Twitter got hacked and someone tried to steal all of Elon Musk’s Bitcoins. Twitter then decided, if you have a blue check, we’re going to let you view Twitter, but you won’t be allowed to tweet.
Given that pretty much every reputable news outlet has a blue check Twitter account, it was a wild strategy. But everyone without a blue check enjoyed it, and danced in the Twitter streets.
I enjoyed the break. Participating on Twitter can be exhausting these days. Getting locked out felt like getting home from the office or a wedding, taking my dress socks off, and scratching my ankles.
Freedom, son.
No-Blue-Check Wednesday spoke to a pretty pervasive feeling that was humorously shared by many unverified Tweeters, but also seriously by others:
Just because you’re verified, it doesn’t mean your tweets are more important than mine.
From the outside looking in, I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching Andy Dufresne lock the warden’s office while he blasted Mozart through Shawshank’s speakers.
No, I’m not saying unverified Twitter = prison. But as soon as my lock came off, I reminded everyone how powerful all of verified Twitter truly is!
… before ultimately sharing my true feelings on this subject, from my heart. Twitter removes any hope of nuanced human interaction. I don’t put it on a pedestal. It’s a tool that helps me tell stories and share stupid memes.
Which takes me to the entire point of this post.
Brian Chandler (unverified), broke the news that Yasiel Puig was in The Battery at Truist Park on Tuesday.
During a pandemic, there’s probably no legitimate reason for Puig to be near the Braves’ facility, unless he is signing with the club.
“Usually when people walk by you, I don’t think you take much notice,” Chandler said.
“But Yasiel Puig’s not regular. That’s a big man. He has big muscles. The nicest clothes. Blonde hair. When you see him, it’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s Yasiel Puig.’”
After Brian’s tweet, verified reporters shared their own reports. But history should look back and honor Brian with the credit for breaking this story.
I reached out to Brian Tuesday evening, the night before unverified Twitter took over for a couple hours.
Even then, I loved this story-behind-the-Puig-story.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there in this information age. I couldn’t help but smile when a normal, no-blue-check guy was the one to share some actual sports news with all of us.
Just because you’re verified, don’t think someone else can’t step in and play your records.