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I’m a mild fan of Darren Rovell and I hope that doesn’t incite a riot among our readership.  I like business, I like sports, I use Twitter, and I don’t mind the excessive usage of hair product, so Rovell is okay with me despite the avalanche of tweets that come from his Twitter account.

Every day there are some insightful bits of information that I enjoy reading from Rovell although finding the good stuff is similar to sifting through a bin of $3 DVD’s at your local grocery store at times. (White Squall! Beverly Hills Ninja! Best $6 I’ve spent in a long time!)

But over time Rovell has become the center of Twitter created controversies in addition to reporting on actual stories of substance. The past couple of days have highlighted Rovell’s transition from sports business reporter to highly opinionated Twitter Czar and self appointed king of all new media. 

Judging by the reaction on Twitter, I liken Rovell to a modern day Radio Raheem from Do The Right Thing in that he saunters around town making way too much noise for the neighborhood. His boombox (Twitter account) is louder than anyone else’s on the block and he doesn’t take kindly to criticism or objections to the CONSTANT stream of music that he emits. If only he needed D batteries to keep going.

This week, Rovellmania on Twitter has kicked into high gear. First, he became the subject of his own Super Bowl prop bet on how many tweets he’ll send out on Super Bowl Sunday.

But the bigger story involving Rovell is the wrath of Twitter coming down on him for commenting that this year’s Playboy bunnies were not that impressive at their annual Super Bowl party. You can be the judge below… (and if any of the bunnies need a shoulder to cry on for not meeting Rovell’s standards, I’m here to listen and maybe later we can watch Beverly Hills Ninja).

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For those wondering, Rovell is married and has taken a LOT of crap for interjecting his personal opinions of the bunnies. In fact, further showing Rovellmania is in full swing, Deadspin is all over the Rovell v Playboy Bunnies feud, which features Miss January 2010 and favorite playmate of the sports blogosphere Jamie Edmondson furiously calling out Rovell. Edmondson took a few swings at Rovell and tweeted out this story telling why Rovell dissed this year’s bunnies:

“What really sparked the rude comment that  made (because I was there) is that when he asked to take a photo w/ me on the red carpet, the closest person to us was on the phone and advised they were unavailable because they were in the middle of handling an issue at VIP check in and to see if someone else could take it…he then said to me in a snotty fit “Oh not even for my 175,000 Twitter followers” and stormed away.”

Apparently Edmondson cut the muster for Rovell, although according to her it seems he believes his Twitter following entitles him to special VIP treatment. Rovell offered up only this in response.

In what could be the biggest sign Rovell has truly become the center of the sports tweeting universe, ESPN recently quoted one of his tweets while dancing around who it actually came from on SportsCenter. Hmm a CNBC Sports Business Reporter…… I wonder who that could be?

You know you’ve arrived when you’re being quoted on SportsCenter and the mothership goes to great lengths to avoid saying your name for fear of further promoting you.

And to think I started this article by saying I’m a fan of Rovell… I guess I still am although engaging in feuds with Playboy models isn’t winning him any popularity contests. Who else tweets out a picture of a cute kitten on accident to nearly 200,000 people to only blame it on a mysterious rogue error. I guess at the end of the day, Rovell is a cat guy and just isn’t a fan of bunnies. 

About Ben Koo

Owner and editor of @AwfulAnnouncing. Recovering Silicon Valley startup guy. Fan of Buckeyes, A's, dogs, naps, tacos. and the old AOL dialup sounds

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