There are an awful lot of ESPN haters out there, especially amongst real sports. I am certainly an unabashed critic of Bristol, and we at Chat Sports now have a challenge where you can pick who gives you better coverage, us or ESPN. But the original ESPN critic is the legendary twitter handle @NOTSportsCenter and its creator @NOTSCWill. While NOTSportsCenter has moved onto a more satirical look at sports in general, it nonetheless remains as hilarious as ever - if not more.
BREAKING: With Melo, JR, & Metta on the same team, the #Knicks have decided to change their name to the more appropriate New York Bricks
— NOT SportsCenter (@NOTSportsCenter) July 15, 2013
BREAKING: MLB has awarded the AL home field for the next 50 years to punish the NL for giving up a triple to 400 pound Prince Fielder #ASG — NOT SportsCenter (@NOTSportsCenter) July 17, 2013
[caption id="attachment_396" align="alignright" width="230" caption="The Onion SportDome was brutal"]
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Without further ado, my interview with Will, creator of NOTSportsCenter:
Where did the idea come from to start the @NOTSportsCenter handle?
It actually started off something of a dare. I was watching Onion SportsDome and got a text from a friend who said "you could write better stuff than this." A couple texts back and forth later and I was on twitter making this handle. Never thought I'd end up where I am now with it.
How long have you been tweeting from @NOTSportsCenter?
Since January 2011. It took quite a while for me to figure out what the hell I was doing, parody pages weren't nearly as prevalent as they are now. Took me 5 months before I had 500 followers. I get that often in a day now, which is still surreal to me. (I swear that's not a humblebrag but I know my personal followers will disagree haha)
Which came first, the twitter handle or the website?
The handle, by far. The website wasn't even in the conversation until about 6 months ago. It originally was just a thing to keep me entertained while I tried to find a law job. Now I'm practically married to it; might even be able to make it my career. This is why you don't just willy nilly accept "dude I bet you won't sleep with that girl" dares. You end up married thinking "where did the last 20 years go?"
How many people know you’re the person behind the @NOTSportsCenter handle? Do you try to stay somewhat anonymous?
Quite a few. Guys like the guy behind @PeytonsHead know who I am, in addition to my 4,600 personal followers. I've never actually advertised who I am but I often retweet myself (that sounds...weird) and I actually have my name listed in the main NOTSC bio, but that would require reading. Twitter doesn't like to read. But I'm starting to open up more about who I am with what's going on with the website.
Did you see the handle growing to this many followers when you first started?
Definitely not. I mean I've always been confident in my ability to make people laugh and my knowledge in certain sports like the NFL and NBA (despite what some of my followers/unfollowers/random commenters/haterzzzz might think) but I never thought "oh around 200,000 people will follow me some day." I met one of my followers at a Magic game and the guy acted like he was meeting a celebrity. I'm just some crazy fool that started a twitter account.
Any unique things you did to grow your following?
I assume you don't want to hear about the things the FCC would fine you about so I'll stick to the PG things. Mainly trade retweets with other big accounts. It's like a cross promotion. Once I hit 100,000 suddenly like everyone wanted to do that. Now it's rapidly just getting bigger and bigger and bigger (that's what she said).
[caption id="attachment_397" align="alignright" width="261" caption=""Sweetness," Walter Payton"]
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If you could interview anyone dead or alive, who would it be and what would you ask?
Dead, Walter Payton. I'd ask him what he thinks of all these prissy little diva athletes that play now compared to his era. He's the one I grew up loving that made me a Bears fan and a sports addict to begin with.
Who's your dream retweet?
Olivia Wilde. I mean LOOK at her. Nuff said.
Favorite follower?
I'd say Andre Dawkins (guard on Duke's basketball team). Dude's been a loyal follower for a very long time, retweets a lot of what I tweet. I try to give him Follow Friday shoutouts on my sports list...problem is I keep forgetting about the sports list. D'oh!
Do you have any famous followers?
Name dropping time: Colin Hanks (Tom Hanks' actual verified son, not some crappy inspirational quote tweeting parody), Finesse Mitchell (Saturday Night Live), a Real Worlder (I forget his name and forgot to follow him back), Donald Trump Jr., Mpho Koaho (Falling Skies/Saw), Mackenzie Phillips (sadly I actually don't know what she was in but I know she's an actress). Numerous athletes (Ed Reed being probably the biggest name, some other NFL, NBA, MLB players, a golfer, even a couple WNBA players even though I basically never say anything nice about them ha). Some verified musicians as well (Lil B might be the most recognizable name). Most of the verified people I follow follow NOTSC. Extremely grateful and would like to say thank you based God for every single one.
Has anyone with ESPN ever contacted you?
No. I know they know it exists because I talked to someone who lives (maybe "lived") with a SportsCenter producer and wanted me to follow him (and I do). But the main names stay away from it for the most part. People like Jemele Hill have retweeted me a couple times but I see them interacting with other parodies and I know if I wasn't parodying SportsCenter they'd interact with me more. That's alright though, can't really complain because I'm sure the SC name has helped me more than it's hurt.
[caption id="attachment_400" align="alignright" width="361" caption="ESPN's twitter tries WAY too hard"]
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Do you think it’s possible for the ESPN or SportsCenter handle to ever be entertaining?
With who is writing them now? God no. But otherwise? Yes. If they weren't so corny all the time (example: "Lots of Thunder in the forecast tonight in OKC"...come on.) it would help. I don't think they really care, because people still RT the corny stuff. I'm sure some unpaid intern is busy taking shots of Jack Daniels saying "I've got the best job in the world" and tweeting about this stuff. I say Jack because SportsCenter will often have to tweet things out 3 times to get it right. It's sloppy.
We saw The Onion Sports Network not do so well on Comedy Central, do you think parody sports news just doesn’t work on TV or is that something NOTSportsCenter might be able to succeed at?
Like my friend said, "I could write better stuff than them," and it's turned out to be true, I have more followers now (just ignore the whole "the show has been off the air for like 2 years" part). I think I could make a successful TV show, I wouldn't want to give away too many secrets (if any TV producers are reading this send me a check and let's talk $$$$) but the problem with The Onion (and some others) in my opinion is that they just don't know as much about sports as they do about being funny, so it came off as too corny. I think one of the biggest reasons people enjoy my (and my other writers who write the smaller single-sport accounts) stuff is because we actually know sports really well. You can't joke about Dwight Howard's horrible free throw shooting ability if you don't even know who Dwight Howard is.
- Dean Thompson
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