So if you aren’t on Twitter, you’re missing out.
It’s hard to remember what life was like on a busy night of high school sports before the internet and social media.
On any given night, fans can get up-to-the-minute updates on prep events. And we use Twitter to keep fans plugged in.
And as an added bonus, fans can also get a little bit of the flavor of the evening, even if they can’t get out to the games.
I’m lucky enough to have more than 1,200 followers on Twitter. Our 360preps handle has more than 3,800 followers.
Just won the Wendy's High School Heisman! Could not be here without the support of so many people. Love you all?? pic.twitter.com/jO9kcJ9BEv
— Nolan Henry (@Nolan_Henry12) December 13, 2014
It’s also the best way to receive and send out news.
For instance, on the night of the announcement of the High School Heisman, the public relation folks from Wendy’s said they would let us know when the winner was announced.
They did not. Luckily, Nolan Henry used Twitter to announce he had won, and he tossed in a reaction to the honor.
That’s how we first found out that the Union senior won the honor.
The following day, on his tour of New York, Henry tweeted a picture of an image of himself that was projected in lights at Times Square. It read “Nolan Henry, Camas, WA.”
So I replied to Nolan: “Camas!?!?!?”
Nolan came back with: “I guess they didn’t have room for ‘West Camas.'”
OK, now that’s funny.
On Monday night, when the Woodland boys basketball team played at Kelso, the first we heard of Ryan Sturdivan’s amazing game-winning, half-court basket was on Twitter.
And no sooner than we were commenting in the office that it would be great to see a video of the shot, one showed up on Twitter.
Aaron Shoup posted the first Vine video of Sturdivan. From there, the shot went viral, eventually landing its way on SportsCenter.
Then on Tuesday at the Skyview-Prairie girls basketball game, an odd thing happened between the referee and the scoreboard operator. From what I’m told, it started like this.
Up on the board at Time Square? pic.twitter.com/5vVV8sbYtb
— Nolan Henry (@Nolan_Henry12) December 13, 2014
Referee: “Give me another horn.”
Scoreboard operator: “Why? All the players are on the floor.”
Referee: “Because I said so.”
Believe it or not, it disintegrated from there.
Columbian reporter Paul Valencia tweeted what happened next:
Now Paul was trying to be respectful of all involved and didn’t share the names of the official or scoreboard operator involved.
Then former Prairie standout Ashley Corral got on Twitter.
Stuck in the office, but not wanting to be left out of the event on Twitter, I chimed in with:
And that was just last week on Twitter. Imagine what’s going to happen this week.
Tourney time
Schools may be on holiday break. But that doesn’t mean the prep action has stopped.
A game official just removed the official timekeeper. I think both are accusing the other of being rude. #360preps
— Paul Valencia (@360PaulV) December 17, 2014
Basketball fans can get their fill of hoops action without going far.
It starts Monday with the Falcon Holiday Classic at Prairie High School. The boys basketball action ends Monday with a couple of boys basketball games: Evergreen vs. Woodinville and Prairie vs. Eisenhower of Yakima. But the day is full of freshman and JV basketball action at Prairie.
The event concludes Tuesday.
If you like girls basketball, the Evergreen Girls Tournament starts Friday and features a full day of varsity games involving several local teams. The tournament continues Saturday with another full day of action.
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached at (360) 735-4538, tim.martinez@columbian.com or follow his Twitter handle @360TMart.
Searching for an administrator to take over the clock. Seriously. Never seen this!
— Paul Valencia (@360PaulV) December 17, 2014
That awkward moment when you dad gets kicked off clock duty for yelling at refs... And none of his children attend high school @h_corral
— Ashley Corral (@acorral24) December 17, 2014
If I were scoreboard operator: "Sorry, ref. I can't (HORN) hear what you're (HORN) saying because the (HORN) horn keeps (HORN) going off.
— Tim Martinez (@360TMart) December 17, 2014