Brown parody Twitter account still able to make fans smile
Micah Warren wondered if Brett Brown’s Aug. 24 firing might signal the end for his popular Twitter account.
With Brown no longer coaching the Philadelphia 76ers, would folks still care what Warren as Brown had to say?
What he found out is they do. Warren tweets phonetically the way Brown speaks, emphasizing the Maine native’s New England accent to the delight of his 4,200 followers.
For example, when the Sixers learned they would be have the top selection at the 2016 NBA draft lottery, which allowed them to choose Ben Simmons, he tweeted, ““Numbah one pick!
Numbah one pick! The plan wucked! It wucccccckkkkked!!!!”
And then there was this in August: “Fiyud. Wondah if I can get COVID unemployment. ... I saw a ‘help wanted’ sign at Walmot. Employees save fifteen puhcent on in-stuah puchases so theyah’s that. #sixers Fayahwell, Philadelphia!”
That tweet elicited numerous responses, including “Really gratefauw for yuh—yuh are dah clam chowduh of twittah” and “I’m dead. Bro … please don’t leave us even if the real BB is gone.”
Warren came up with the idea for the @SixersBrown Twitter account, which bears the photo of a serious-looking Brown, while listening to Brown on the radio after being named the team’s coach in 2013. Since Warren’s grandfather and father are from Boston and he, like Brown, graduated from Boston University, he knew the accent well.
“I heard him and I was like ‘Oh myGod. I have to create a Twitter account and I have to tweet the way he speaks. This is hilarious,’ ” Warren recalled.
When a group of reporters showed some of the early tweets to Brown and the coach reacted by saying “what a world we live in,” Warren was relieved that Brown had no problem with the account.
“I never wanted him to think I was poking fun at him,” said Warren, a 43-year-old co-founder of a PR firm living in Centerton, New Jersey. “I would feel terrible [if that had been the case]. It made me feel so good. I’m a Brett Brown fan. I like him as a teacher of basketball.”
When Warren, who ran the web site offtherecordsports. com for 10 years and hosted a radio show with former Eagle Garry “G” Cobb, sat in the stands at Sixers games, he sometimes emulated Brown’s speech. He’d say things like “that is nawt the play I ran” as rows of fans looked at him.
These days, @SixersBrown is acting as if he is consulting with the team’s new coach, Doc Rivers.
On draft day last week, he tweeted, “Ok, Twittah, let’s get this #NBADraft stotted! Talked to Rivahs and told him I don’t know who any of these playahs ah. He told me nawt to worry about it. That’s why we make such a great paiyah! #TeamWuck #Sixers”
Earlier that day after newpresident of basketball operations Daryl Morey traded veteran big manAl Horford to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Warren tweeted, “Weeyah getting rid of Huahfud!!! Why couldn’t anyone do this when I was heeyah??? No, YOU calm down, Josh!”
What really makes Warren laugh was how often he received twitter responses as if this was the coach’s account despite references to staying at “Howud Johnson’s” and consuming cans of “Millah Lite.”
Following his tweet about Brown losing his job, some thanked the coach and said things such as “I hope you’ll find something new and good for you. You are a great coach even if mistakes happen.”
“Thank you, coach,” read another. “Farewell we will miss you on the sidelines.”
Warren just smiled when he/his account were told how “dumb” he was for not playing Zhaire Smith and Jonah Bolden, among other players, and had his game plan referred to as “TRASH” over the past seven years.
“Do you know how many times I got tweets like ‘You (messed) it up again. You’ve got to go. You’re the reason this team stinks,’ ” Warren said. “I think it’s awesome. This is so much fun.”