Twitter celebrates in 10th birthday Monday. In one decade, the social media platform has been the venue for global discussion on such sporting events as the David Tyree catch, Landon Donovan's goal and LeBron James' The Decision. But Twitter also missed a century's worth of sports content.
Here are the top ten sports tweets never sent:
1. Babe Ruth, 1932
Social media could have proven one Babe Ruth's "Called Shot" one way or another. At least in this interpretation, the Great Bambino claims he was pointing at Cubs pitcher Charlie Root's head.
2. Herb Brooks, 1980
If Twitter were around, the world would have learned of Herb Brooks' advice for his team on social media long before Miracle hit theaters. The coach would have pumped up the team and the fans. However, remember this game was seen by most of the nation on tape delay. Imagine Twitter running wild with the upset ahead of the broadcast.
3. Stanford Band, 1982
Imagine the Vines this would have set off. More importantly, the Cardinal band would have needed to apologize to John Elway and the football team they blew the game for.
4. Bill Buckner, 1986
In real life, Buckner could hide himself for two days after blowing Game 6 of the World Series for the Red Sox. In the Twitter Era, he would likely pop onto Twitter for an apology mixed with optimism (and fans would bash him). Oh by the way, the Red Sox lost Game 7.
5. Chris Webber, 1993
Would Twitter erupt more over the missed travel call or the timeout?
6. Robert Kardashian, 1994
Remember when Kardashian read that note on television that seemed a lot like O.J. Simpson's suicide note? Nowadays, he probably would have held off on the press conference and just tweeted about it. Also, how amazing is this picture?
7. Michael Jordan, 1995
You think NBA writers are crazy right now. Imagine if this tweet was sent. Jordan announced his return to the NBA after his attempt to play pro baseball with a faxed press release that simply said, "I'm Back."
8. Jeffrey Maier, 1996
By leaning over a railing, Maier, a month short of his 13th birthday, became a cult hero in New York and an enemy to Baltimore. Unfortunately, we never got to see a Maier-Tony Tarasco Twitter war.
9. Evander Holyfield, 1997
Remember how boring last year's Mayweather-Pacquiao was? Yeah, Holyfield-Tyson II wasn't like that. Ear-biting memes would make Crying Jordan memes look like a weak joke.
10. Ron Artest, 2004
Ron Artest was in a deep hole after Malice at the Palace. Metta World Peace tries to play the nice guy on social media, but in 2004, he was in way too deep of a hole for David Stern (@CommisStern).
-- Follow Jeffrey Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband.
