B.J. Crombeen, Twitter And You

by Brad Lee on Jul 6, 2009 9:48 AM CDT Comment 7 comments

Even though the Blues have been fairly quiet with just the signing of Ty Conklin as backup goaltender, there are some other player issues facing the team right now that we're waiting on.

B.J. Crombeen and Roman Polak remain two players from last year that the team has expressed interest in returning and have made the necessary steps to make it happen. Both have gotten qualifying offers meaning both are restricted free agents with the Blues holding the right to match any offer sheet or receive compensation if they let the player walk. And while Crombeen and Polak aren't exactly household names even in St. Louis, they did play important roles for the Blues during the course of the last season.

Last night, vigilant commenter Hildymac (SPOILER ALERT: You'll start reading her more often as an author around here shortly) made a fanpost last night saying several people on Twitter posted that Crombeen had signed a two year deal. This morning I look around the Internets and I don't find anything official. Only one Twitter person tweeted (I know, it sounds ridiculous) that Crombeen had signed. That person apparently read a post on that one hockey rumors site that we don't like to link around here because the guy with the fake name who runs it is right almost 3 percent of the time. And that's it. Well one tweeting by a person who's account name is BluesHockey (not the official Blues Twitter account) got retweeted by some people. It made it through the chain to our friend Norm Sanders at the Belleville News-Democrat who weighed in on the fact that Blues fans love grinders when they probably should love 30-goal scorers more. All that happens and it appears the Crombeen signing still isn't official.

With Polak, we've seen discussions based on the Twitter account with his name on it. Odds are it's a fake account based on some of the things posted on it. But some fans (many fans?) took it at face value when he said a contract had been worked out and details would be coming in a few days. Why? Because more and more of the hockey world has embraced Twitter as a way to get news broken and have instant analysis. The NHL draft was huge on Twitter with people like James Mirtle and Puck Daddy and guys from TSN breaking down picks in just seconds. When free agency opened last week. I didn't have TSN open on my computer, it was Twitter.

What's all this mean? Couple conclusions. First, sports fans (especially in hockey) love rumors. They want to know who is talking to who before the deal is done. Our most popular story on this Web site since the Blues were elminated was Gallagher's breakdown of a possible Dany Heatley trade to St. Louis and what a deal could look like.

Second, there are some good, valuable Twitter feeds for the NHL. Hell, you can follow me (GTBradLee) or Game Time (StLouisGameTime) or any number of reporters or bloggers. You can also follow the fake Brian Burke and Gary Bettman. There's a fake Chris Pronger. The Pension Plan Puppet guys say all sorts of nasty things about the Senators and Canadiens. Twitter is what you make of it.

But finally, just remember that when it comes to rumor and "breaking news," remember the source.

Commenters, what do you think of the Twitter? Who you following? Us? Let us know down below.

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Comments

Usually I find Twitter more useful than other sites...

… just because it’s damn quicker. I know that a lot of it’s bunk (which is why in my fanpost I mentioned that when I found the link I’d post it and I made it pretty clear that it was just reported on Twitter and not elsewhere), but during free agency there is nothing better than a Twitter feed of people like Mirtle, Custance, Dreger, The Fourth Period, the guys from Puck Daddy, the teams’ feeds (though they’re the last to tweet b/c they can’t say anything until it’s official or else they’ll get fined), teams PR guys, and even Kukla’s Korner.

Actually, out of all of those, I’ve found Custance to be the most balanced about a lot of stuff. You do have to keep an eye out for fake feeds. I found a site somewhere (I’ll see if I can find it again) that has the real NHLers feeds on it. Alas, the Polak feed was not listed, which disappoints me and surprises me at once. It’s disappointing because it was just so damn funny I wanted it to be him and it surprises me because someone actually took the time out to make a FAKE ROMAN POLAK TWITTER ACCOUNT. WTF?

I do enjoy Martin Havlat’s account if not for the soap opera drama of it all. For fun, Bangin Panger and Cycle Like the Sedins are good peeps.

Reporter: There`s a "stamp out the Beatles movement" underway in Detroit. What are you going to do about it?

Paul McCartney: We`re going to start a campaign to stamp out Detroit.

by hildymac on Jul 6, 2009 10:15 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I love Twitter

I’m following you guys…Darren Drager…Lighthouse hockey.

For non hockey, fun stuff, you can’t beat the great Brent Spiner (who is currently tweeting about being trapped behind the mirror whilst the “Spiner in the mirror” is walking around…lol)

BLUE SKIES - new St Louis Blues hockey blog.

"If you prick me, do I not...leak?"
"I could be chasing an untamed ornithoid without cause."
RIP Lt Commander Data

by drfrankentweed on Jul 6, 2009 12:17 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I won't be getting a Twitter account . . .

until I get a good enough mobile device, paired with unlimited internet access.

Somehow, I don’t think a three-and-a-half-year-old cell phone with, like, 5MB of data usage per month will cut it.

As you all can imagine, I can’t wait for the iPhone to get cheaper.

"The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, a man is lucky to get out of it alive." -- W.C. Fields

by Donut King on Jul 6, 2009 12:45 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Ditto! and I'd love an unlocked version.......

The Artist formerly known as "DenverCardsFan" .

"If you can get a fraction of (Boston's) Zdeno Chara, that's upside. That's what we try to aim at, rather than somebody that's average across the board. I'd much rather take a chance at something than just go for safe or average. You can pick up average players from the waivers."

--Jarmo Kekalainen, St Louis Blues Assistant General Manager and Director of Amateur Scouting

by HockeyHippie on Jul 6, 2009 2:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

There are some pretty impressive desktop Applications.

I use Spaz, which I adore – it’s kind of like a scrolling IM. Tweetdeck is good too – I only use the iPod Touch version, but it’s still pretty handy.

Reporter: There`s a "stamp out the Beatles movement" underway in Detroit. What are you going to do about it?

Paul McCartney: We`re going to start a campaign to stamp out Detroit.

by hildymac on Jul 6, 2009 2:32 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I just can't do it

Until they can pipe the feed directly into my brain, I’ll just keeping listening to the others voices in my head.

Suffering St. Louis Blues hockey withdrawl since April 22, 2009.

by Pagan on Jul 6, 2009 3:04 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Pension Plan Puppet guys say all sorts of nasty things about the Senators and Canadiens. Twitter is what you make of it.

And their fans!

Twitter’s great during the deadline/draft not only because you get quick access to information (if you are discerning) but it’s also much quicker than TSN.ca. Someone at the draft can tell me the pick about 5 minutes before TSN.ca has a story up.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Jul 6, 2009 1:50 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs