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Today’s UK fan on twitter spotlight is Jacob Kiper, who goes by @jacobkiper.

Jacob is relatively new to twitter, with just 700+ tweets, but he has used the tool to make certain people (myself included) aware of certain information he believes to be important, especially when it comes to the Cats.

A recent tweet: “According to Sagarin, 75% of your football teams are worse than all but 2 SEC football teams. #BigEastApplicationQuestions”

Here is Jacob’s submitted bio:

I’m originally from Leitchfield, KY. However, I’ve been living in Owensboro, KY since 2007. I was born in KY, but lived in several different states. I moved back to KY when I was 9.

For work, I am the Treatment Director at the Yewell Home for Boys. We are residential treatment facility for teenage boys in the custody of the Kentucky Department of Community Based Services (DCBS)… otherwise known as “social services.” Our residents are victims of abuse and neglect, as well as status offenders. I am a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with a specialty certification in working with juvenile sexual offenders.

I’ve been on Twitter for approximately 2 years. It serves as a way to keep up with UK recruits as well as the most current UK news. I don’t post on Twitter frequently. However, I’ve gotten pretty good at launching media awareness campaigns when there are major issues going on with UK sports. If you want to reach millions of people in 2 seconds… Twitter is the way to do it. Nearly all of the sports media is on Twitter, so it’s an easy way to reach the media. When I do post on Twitter, I make it count.

My father raised me to be a UK fan… so I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember. I remember living in Tennessee as a small boy and listening to Happy Chandler sing “My Old Kentucky Home” on vinyl record with my father. My father died of cancer in November 1992, so the infamous Duke game was the last UK game he ever got to see. My fanhood is definitely due to my father.

Continue reading ‘Spotlighting UK fans on twitter: @jacobkiper’

Today on UK fans on twitter, we spotlight Alena Nichols.

Her twitter handle is @ruralkentucky.

Tagline: “Forty hours a week at a desk makes for ample tweeting.”

And many of those tweets are about Kentucky basketball. In fact, Alena also has a tumblr page dedicated to UK basketball. You can find it here: heckyeskentuckybasketball.tumblr.com.

Recent tweet: “I’m so old that I only know one person nominated for Best New Artist at the VMA’s.”

Her bio:

Little known fact; I was born in Sanford, North Carolina. Geographically, Sanford is just south of Raleigh and dangerously close to the two schools that shall not be named. By the grace of God, my family moved back to Kentucky when I was just four months old, thus blessing me with the privilege of cheering for the right color of blue. I grew up in Paintsville, a small town about 2 hours east of Lexington. Many Kentuckians can’t place Paintsville on a map but they can readily name it as the hometown of Wildcat great John Pelphrey. I saw him at Pizza Hut once and was too nervous to ask for his autograph.

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In our spotlighting UK fans on twitter, today we single out Michael Rudolph, or @MRudolphComedy on twitter.

Michael’s tag line: “I’m a Stand Up Comedian and winner of the 2011 Funniest Person in Cincinnati contest. UK basketball fan, FSU football fan.” Check out his website by clicking here.

Michael has over 12,000 tweets to his credit. A recent one: “Facebook has informed me that my wedding anniversary is Sept 6, and suggested I send my wife a message…Thanks Facebook..I got this”

Here is his requested bio:

Michael Rudolph Clos aka Michael Rudolph – When I’m on Stage!!!

Comedian by Trade, Wildcat by the grace of God

I was born and raised in Bracken County, KY, yeah that’s right I was a Polar Bear…class of 1997. I know you don’t see too many polar bears running around Kentucky but Crusaders and Juggernauts aren’t very plentiful either..so don’t judge. I have been a fanatical member of this thing we call Big Blue Nation for my entire life. From Kenny Walker to Rex Chapman, Roger Harden to Wayne Turner, Ron Mercer to Jodie Meeks…I have always loved the Big Blue.

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In our series about UK fans on twitter, today we spotlight Cameron Moore. His twitter handle is @chmoor2.

He’s relatively new to twitter, having about 150 to his credit. His tagline: “husband, dad, avid UK sports fan, once an athlete now a weekend warrior” And a recent tweet: “@UKCoachCalipari coach, we need you to cheer harder for the @Reds #weareuk”

Click the continue line to read his twitter story.

Continue reading ‘Spotlighting UK fans on twitter: @chmoor2′

We begin our third week of spotlighting UK fans on twitter with Carly Messmer.

Her twitter handle is @carly_jane.

Carly has a healthy 1,429 followers, and has over 6,130 tweets to her credit.

Her tagline: “charleston transplant. kentucky native. seo manager @visiture. co-owner @GreenDogLove. kentucky wildcats enthusiast. coffee lover. food aficionado.”

Her requested bio:

I’m a Kentucky native, but I currently call Charleston, SC home. I grew up in Northern Kentucky and attended the University of Kentucky. I like to say I was at UK during the ‘dark years’. I graduated in 2008 and would have given anything to witness the resurrection the basketball program has seen over the last two years. However, I was able to see some incredible football wins (and College Gameday!). After college I made the move to the Lowcountry and have been lucky to find a great group of diehard Kentucky fans to watch games with.

Continue reading ‘Spotlighting UK fans on twitter: @carly_jane’

We wrap up our second week of our UK fan twitter spotlight feature with Wayne T. Hunter II.

On twitter he is @hunteriiwayne.

Tag line: “Christ follower, Husband, Father of 2 beautiful girls. C-A-T-S CATS CATS CATS!!! Am for any team against UL, UT, UF, UNC, and dUKe! #BBN”

He has 2,456 tweets to his credit. Here’s a recent one: “Umbilical cord just fell off of our newborn girl. #ThingsYouDontExpectToSeeWhenCheckingDiaper”

(He’s a new father, as you can see from the pic and from his bio below.)

Wayne’s requested bio reads:

I was born and raised in Winchester, KY, where I still live. I’m married to a beautiful woman, AnnE (@AnnEAHunter) and we have two gorgeous daughters, Stella (Ellie) Marie (almost 3) and Emery Clair (5 days). I love being outdoors whether I’m playing sports stalking prey through the woods or dropping a line in the water.

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For our UK fans on twitter feature today we spotlight Matt Powell. He is known on twitter as @SirMattPowell. As of this morning, Matt has 6,712 tweets to his credit and 140 followers.

Recent tweet: “I see the Bengals are just now catching onto what I already know. @DQcalikid55 is The Truth” BTW: @DQcalikid55 is DeQuin Evans.

Sir Matt submitted the following bio:

I am a 29 year old life long UK fan from Corbin, KY and am employed by FedEx. I have been on twitter since the beginning of 2009 but really got started tweeting heavy towards the end of that year. I bleed blue for all sports but despite the “basketball state” stereo type, Kentucky Football has always been my #1 passion. As long as I can remember, I have been attending UK football games. My earliest memories begin with my grandparents taking us over to the corner of Cooper and University in their RV early Saturday mornings and sometimes Friday nights to get the tailgating started. I think it is safe to say that I’ve bled blue since I was in the womb. Although I have always went to games, this is my 9th year as a season ticket holder. There is nothing better than Purple Lot tailgating all morning followed by watching the Cats with my Big Blue Family in Section 118. (Shout Out to Pinky, Flounder, and Naitch!)

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We start the second week of spotlighting UK fans on twitter with Mack Perkins.

You can find him @MackSmacks.

Recent tweet: “Remember when we ripped TJ last year? He played out his mind in the beginning, UK fans then expected it everytime out.”

Mack is a contributor to Nation of Blue, and it should be pointed out that he helped me with a column I did on the tragic death of his online friend Jonathan McIntyre. As of earlier this morning, he was credited with 7,536 tweets.

And some submitted bio info:

I was born in Knoxville, TN then my family quickly moved my infant person to Monticello, KY. 12 years later, my family moved my middle school person to the western part of the state, Hopkinsville, KY. Hoptown is where I learned how to get beat up on a regular basis without doing anything to anyone. Ah, those were the days. As I started high school we moved one final time to London, KY. There I played ball (not very well) and recorded music (also not very well). I currently reside in Clarksville, Indiana with my very attractive wife and our 2 awesome kids.

Continue reading ‘Spotlighting UK fans on twitter: @MackSmacks’

We wrap up the first week spotlighting UK fans on twitter with Brad Jeffries.

He’s @bradjeffries91 on twitter.

His tag line reads: “Wildcats, Bengals, MMA, Reds, Bulls, in that order. Yep, that about sums it up.”

Plus, he has been pretty active with 2,497 tweets as of early this morning.

Recent tweet: “Has anyone heard anything from Randy Shannon. He’s a lucky man so far.”

When asked for a bio, Brad e-mailed:

My first real memory of UK sports is Cedrick Jenkins tip-in from 1987 and the coach that had the perm/fro hairstyle. Rex Chapman was my hero and I cried when I found out that he was leaving to go into the NBA. I was 7 at that point. From then on it’s been an obsession. I lived in Louisville for around 4 years when they were in their football heydey. I hated Louisville before this. Having lived there, only increased the hatred to the point where I rarely wear red and black. A lot of UK fans despise Duke. I don’t like Duke, but that’s was for one game really. My level of hate is: 1)Louisville, 2) Tennessee, and 3)Duke.

I added up my clothes and between, t-shirts, long sleeve tshirts, sweatshirts, and sleeping pants, I own around 35 articles of UK clothing. I own 5 anti-Louisville and one shirt that simply says “I still hate Laettner”. On game days I wear blue shoes and I’ve been known to not shave during superstitious streaks. My girlfriend has learned to be ok with it. She’s really supportive.

I’ve witnessed the Laettner’s shot, the Bluegrass Miracle, and many other stomach-punch games, especially in football. I’m one of the people that cares just as much for the football team as I do the basketball team. I wish that the football team had the same level of support that basketball does. I enjoy going to the football games more than basketball because at the football games, all the fans treat you like family, while a lot of the basketball fans are very arrogant.

I’m a Reds and Bengals lifer also, so UK is really all that I have as far as watching and supporting a winning team. It feels good to be back on top of the college basketball mountain. In football I only wish that the non-conference schedule was tougher. I’d rather go 5-7 and lose to a quality program, than go 7-5 and a bowl game by beating Charlestown Southern or whomever. To build a better program I think that you have to play better programs.

Previously: @CMD_77 - @bradcundiff - @WyldcatGirl - @LeeWeatherly

In our fourth installment of spotlighting UK fans on twitter, we profile Chris Dawahare.

He’s @CMD_77 on twitter.

Tweets as of this moring: 2,753. Followers: 186.

Recent tweet: “World Wide Wes just walked right in front of me. I never believed he was a real person until now. ”

When I asked for a bio, Chris supplied the following:

I was born in Pikeville, KY but I can consider Lexington home. I’ve lived here since 1989 and attended Lexington Catholic High and UK for college. I currently work for Equibase Company as their Manager of e-Business Operations & Development. That’s a long winded way of saying I manage Equibase.com, mobile development, retail sales, etc.

I’ve been a UK fan for as long as I can remember. When I was three years old, I would walk downstairs in the morning and watch Sportscenter hoping to catch UK highlights. When I was seven or eight years old, my family drove up from Pikeville to watch UK play Auburn at Rupp. They had Charles Barkley on their team and I desperately wanted to go, but my dad took my brother instead because he was older. What did I get out of the trip – new bunk beds. I still remind my parents about that trip and how mad I was; I deserved to go to the game because I was the bigger UK fan. I still don’t think it was fair.

When we moved to Lexington in 1989, my dad got 2 season tickets for UK basketball games. I’ve been going to just about every home game ever since, but I will be the first to admit I now take it for granted a little bit. I would never miss a game during the Pitino era, but over the course of the Tubby era I became more and more okay with missing a game or two. My greatest sports moment came in 1996 when I attended the Final Four in New Jersey. First of all, just witnessing UK winning the national title in person was something I’ll never forget, but after the game there was a celebration at the team hotel we were able to attend. It was definitely the greatest sports night of my life.

I’m a huge football fan as well, and that really picked up when Hal Mumme arrived. His tenure corresponded with my college years, and it was just a great time to be at UK. During college, and now post-college, my closest friends will take an annual road trip for one of UK’s away games. We’ve been everywhere in the SEC except for Starkville and Gainseville. It’s a tradition that has forged life long friendships.

I’ve been on Internet message boards since 1990 (I was 13 years old at the time). I was a frequent poster on the Prodigy message boards, and I quickly formed a group of friends that chatted about UK sports on a daily basis. No one had any clue I was just 13 and I conveniently left that piece out of my bio. Over the years I migrated around from service to service, and then eventually to the various message boards (Alliance Sports –> Wildcat Lair –> Cats Pause & Wildcat Faithful). There are a handful of posters I have been communicating with for more than 20 years, and I’ve never met a single one of them. I don’t even know their real names, but I know their online handles.

I’ve been on Twitter for two years or so; I can’t recall the exact timeframe. Within the first two weeks of using TweetDeck, my methods for consuming information changed. I used to go from message board to message board, check my RSS feeds to see what stories were out there, etc. I quickly realized that all news was starting to break on Twitter. For the most part, there is never going to be a piece of information available on a message board, or an article that I’m interested in, that I won’t first hear about via Twitter. I now spend less than 10 minutes per week on message boards and RSS feeds are useless. I don’t tweet all that much, mainly because I have less than 200 followers and most of them probably don’t really care about what I have to say.

When I’m away from my computer, I probably check Twitter on my phone every five minutes. My wife hates it when I say, “Give me a few minutes, I need to get caught up on Twitter”, but it’s what I have to do when I’m away from my phone for a few hours. Okay, let’s be honest, when I’m away from my phone for anything more than thirty minutes. I’ll be the first to admit it – I am addicted.

Previously: @bradcundiff – @WyldcatGirl – @LeeWeatherly