September 2009 Archives

A more condensed version of this article can be found on Neon Tommy.

Peter Robert Casey loves basketball. He also loves social networking.

So how could he turn down a front row seat at one of the world's greatest basketball arenas, free food, and insider access to a Big East basketball team, all while using the micro-blogging platform Twitter?

He couldn't.

Even though he lacks any formal journalistic training, Casey will join other New York media on press row this season at Madison Square Garden and Carnesecca Arena for St. John's Red Storm men's basketball home games.

Bringing his 50,000+ Twitter followers, Casey is believed to be the first primarily Twitter-based blogger (@Peter_R_Casey) to be credentialed for any major collegiate or professional sports team. What will Casey bring different to the press area?

"Three first names. We're a rarity in basketball," he joked. "Seriously, there's nothing that I do online or offline that someone else can't benchmark. At the same time, my passions for both basketball and social media are genuine and intense."

Formerly teased with the nickname of 'Uncle Jesse', because of the way he and the John Stamos character from Full House both meticulously groom their jet-black hair, Arash Markazi sat with a shaven head talking to friends and family for the duration of a six hour treatment.

In a reclinable hospital chair with a needle stuck in the top of his hand and a variety of drugs flowing through his veins, Markazi was fighting against cancer for the second time in his short 25-year old life.

Though it would seem like a strange fit, Markazi wrote about the experience in one of his columns for Sports Illustrated's online publication. The 2006 article was an open letter to Boston Red Sox rookie pitcher Jon Lester, who had just been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the same type of cancer Markazi had battled twice.

In an eerily similar situation, the USC Trojans ran into an eerily similar outcome.

Just like last year in September when the Trojans had a huge let down losing to Oregon State the week following winning a huge game over Ohio State, USC lost to Washington, an unranked, double-digit underdog after coming from behind to beat Ohio State last week.

Just like last year when the Beavers' combination of James and Jacquizz Rodgers destroyed USC's national championship hopes, Washington featured a brotherly duo at running back and receiver (Chris and Jordan Polk) that helped to demoralize national championship talk in Los Angeles.

But unlike last year, there was a completely different element of coverage.

Apathy is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language as "lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal.

This week in Los Angeles, it could have easily been defined as the public's response to the live feed of President Barack Obama's speech about public health care.

To put it bluntly, no one cared. And really, why would the general public?

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