Twitter is a great resource for receiving news and information on the things you love - dog pictures, Justin Beiber's whereabouts, jokes, and - oh yeah - Boise State football. The Broncos have a big presence on the social network, thanks to some intrepid reporting by the local media and some intrepid Twittering by in-the-know fans. You will be smarter for using Twitter to supplement your Boise State fandom. You will be really smart if you follow these people I handpicked for you.
My exhaustive list of Boise State twitterers is after the jump, and I'm sure it is not nearly as exhaustive as it could be. Fill in the blanks with any Twitter accounts I missed in the comments.
(Ps. Read to the end of the story if you have no idea what Twitter is.)
Your three best sources for Bronco news (Nos. 1 - 3)
Chadd Cripe, Idaho Statesman beat reporter - @IDS_BroncoBeat
Brian Murphy, Idaho Statesman columnist - @murphsturph
Dave Southorn, Idaho Press-Tribune beat reporter - @BSUDave
Local newsies (Nos. 4 - 12)
Jeff Caves, KTIK radio arguer - @JeffCaves
J Bates, former sports guy turned local morning host - @KBOI_J
Troy Oppie, Channel 2 sports person - @GoodBadOppie
Don Day, KTVB.com webmaster - @DonLDay
Joe Jaszewski - Idaho Statesman photographer- @joeja
Jay Tust, KTVB sports reporter - @KTVBSportsGuy
Chris Nettleton, KBOI Channel 2 sports director - @KBOIChris
Will Hoenike, former sports anchor and current Steelheads guy - @WillHoenike
Ryan Larrondo, KTVB sports reporter and live broadcast apologist - @7SportsGuy
Geniuses who happen to be associated with SB Nation (Nos. 13 - 17)
SB Nation College Football, news and links from the mothership - @SBNationCFB
Jason Kirk, SBN college editor - @jasonkirksbn
Luke Zimmerman, EDSBS joke machine and college football writer - @lukezim
Joe Southwick sounds like a cigarette spokesman from the 60's.
— Luke Zimmermann (@lukezim) August 21, 2012
Bill Connelly, football stats genius - @SBN_BillC
Mark Ennis, expert on everything Big East - @Mengus22
National college football writers (Nos. 18 - 29)
Pat Forde, Yahoo columnist and Boise State's People's Champion - @YahooForde
Stewart Mandel, Sports Illustrated columnist - @slmandel
Andy Staples, Sports Illustrated columnist - @Andy_Staples
Kids, this is why you go to college. RT
— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) August 18, 2012@jschipper00: 'Social Dancing' at CCU. 20 girls and 2 guys. I just danced with hotties every class.
Bruce Feldman, CBS reporter and free man - @BFeldmanCBS
Ivan Maisel, ESPN columnist - @Ivan_Maisel
Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports columnist and author of Death to the BCS - @DanWetzel
Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com national college football writer - @dennisdoddcbs
Matt Hinton, former Dr. Saturday and current CBS blogger - @MattRHinton
Andrea Adelson, ESPN's Big East blogger - @espn_bigeast
Pete Thamel, New York Times college football writer - @SIPeteThamel
Chris Dufresne, LA Times columnist and Boise State fan - @DufresneLATimes
Tony Barnhart, SEC writer and general college football source - @MrCFB
People with mustaches (Nos. 30 - 31)
Brett McMurphy, current ESPN reporter and former CBS reporter extraordinaire - @McMurphyESPN
Robb Akey, Idaho Vandal head coach and living, breathing caricature - @RobbAkey
Vandals got good work done today. Competing well, getting better!! Merry Easter
— Robb Akey (@RobbAkey) April 7, 2012#GoVandals !!
Real life OBNUG commenters (Nos. 32 - 37)
Loque - @LoqueBSU
OBNUG Intern - @OBNUGIntern
Nate Peters - @xBLEEDBLUEx
Dr. Jrig - @DrJrig
Drofdarb - @Drofdarb23
greekpadre - @greekpadre
Real life Drew Roberts (No. 38)
Drew Roberts - @mybrainissmart
College football bloggers / basement dwellers (Nos. 39 - 46)
Spencer Hall, lead writer at Every Day Should Be Saturday - @edsbs
Holly Anderson, Sports Illustrated college football blogger - @Nastinchka
Clay Travis, founder of outkickthecoverage.com, SEC homer, Kellen Moore fan, @ClayTravisBGID
Paul Myerberg, proprietor of the Pre-Snap Read blog - @presnapread
Chris Brown, owner and operator and strategy nerd at Smart Football - @smartfootball
Dan Shanoff, used to run a complete Tim Tebow site, now runs Quickish - @danshanoff
Graham Watson, the new Dr. Saturday - @Yahoo_Graham
Local Treasure Valley people in the know (Nos. 47 - 52)
Rafter17, the man behind Boise State's Scout.com message boards - @Rafter17
BroncoCountry Will - @BadWillHunting
Brian Gailey - @BSUBronco
Mike Sharp, keeper of the radio at KINF - @Sharp208
Alex Guerrero, former Boise State DL and current entrepreneur - @GridironDreams
Bart Hendricks, former Boise State QB - @barthendricks
Recruiting news, information, and voyeurism (Nos. 53 - 54)
Brandon Huffman, Scout.com's west regional recruiting manager - @BrandonHuffman
Blue Turf, Boise State's Rivals.com home - @BlueTurf
Mark May (No. 55)
Mark May - @mark_may
Happy days just been voted Boise St fans Public Enemy No.1 AAAGAIN !
— Mark May (@mark_may) June 23, 2012
Mountain West media folks (Nos. 56 - 64)
Jeremy Mauss - Jeremy Mauss - @JeremyMauss
Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury-News writer and MWC rumor source - @wilnerhotline
Kelly Lyell - Colorado State reporter - @KellylLyell
Mark Anderson - UNLV reporter - @markanderson65
Frank Schwab - Air Force reporter - @GazetteAirForce
Robert Gagliardi - Wyoming reporter - @rpgagliardi
Mark Zeigler - San Diego State reporter - @sdutzeigler
Ferd Lewis - Hawaii reporter - @FerdLewis
Chris Murray - Nevada reporter - @MurrayRGJ
Former Boise State players in the NFL (Nos. 65 - 79)
Gerald Alexander - @GAlexander21
Austin Pettis - @Austin_Pettis
Titus Young - @TitusYoung
Jeron Johnson - @showoff_32
Chris Carr - @triplcarr
Daryn Colledge - @DarynColledge71
Ryan Clady - @RyanClady
Brandyn Thompson - @BThompson_BT
Doug Martin - @DougMartin22
Shea McClellin - @SheaMcClellin
Billy Winn - @Billy_Boi_90
George Iloka - @OcohoDaRebel_8
Tyrone Crawford - @T_Crawford40
Tommy Gallarda - @TGallarda
Jarrell Root - @BigchocRoot
Current Boise State players banned from Twitter (No. 80)
There are a whole bunch of Bronco players on Twitter, not that it does you any good to follow them right now.
Famous and semi-famous people (Nos. 81 - 92)
Bill Simmons, ESPN.com writer and Grantland.com editor, @sportsguy33
Chris Fowler, College Gameday host - @cbfowler
Erin Andrews, attractive person - @ErinAndrews
Desmond Howard, College Gameday personality - @DesmondHoward
Darren Rovell, CNBC sports business reporter - @darrenrovell
Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN national columnist and boring football hater - @GenoEspn
Mark Schlereth, ESPN analyst and maddening Vandal alum - @markschlereth
Thanks, the bible tells us to have the faith of a child"
— mark schlereth (@markschlereth) August 21, 2012@thereal_fif:@markschlereth ur a horrible analyst.u have the brain of a 5 year old"
Jim Rome, radio personality - @jimrome
Gregg Doyel, CBSSports.com columnist - @greggdoyelcbs
Tim Brando, CBS College Football Today host and radio commentator - @TimBrando
Jason Whitlock, Fox Sports writer - @WhitlockJason
Mike Humes, ESPN publicist and occasional College Gameday Tweeter - @MikeHumesESPN
People or things who defy a category (Nos. 93 - 99)
Fake Coach Pete, fake Coach Pete - @FakeCoachPete
SI Vault, classic photos from Sports Illustrated archives - @si_vault
College Gameday, ESPN show - @CollegeGameDay
Bronco Sports football, the official Twitter feed of Boise State football interns - @BroncoSportsFB
Mountain West, the official Twitter for Boise State's current conference home - @TheMWC
Blue & Orange Store, Bronco stuffs - @BlueOrangeStore
Seinfeld Tweets - @helloooooonewman
Well, I'm Out!
— Seinfeld Tweets (@hellooooonewman) July 25, 2012
OBNUG (No. 100)
OBNUG - @obnug
How to use Twitter if you have never used Twitter before
Sign up for your free Twitter account if you have not done so already. Then, visit the people that I've linked here in this post. When you're looking at someone's profile, click the "Follow" button, and that person's Tweets will then appear on your home page every time you visit Twitter.
Eventually, you will have a homepage so full of stuff that your eyes will bleed just thinking about it. That's when you switch to lists, which help organize the people you follow into manageable chunks. Consider getting started with some of the OBNUG lists if you'd like.
Note: You can be on Twitter and never send a Tweet. In fact, that is my preferred method of Twitter use. Just read what everyone else writes. It's not creepy, it's resourceful.
Your turn
What Twitter accounts do you think should be on the list? Any players, commenters, local media, or others that I missed? Do you have some pro Twitter tips to share? Let me know in the comments.