On Tuesday morning, an unusual tweet came from @suntimes_hoops, a verified account with the bio of “The official source for @suntimes coverage of the Chicago Bulls and other area basketball teams.” That’s The Chicago Sun-Times, and the tweet is seemingly in response to Jimmy Butler being named to the All-Star team in his first season with the Miami Heat, and for the fifth time in his career (after doing so three times with the Chicago Bulls and once with the Minnesota Timberwolves).
Jimmy Butler was right about the young Bulls players back in '17, he was right about Fred Hoiberg, he was right about the softness in Minnesota, he was right about Philly being a team divided. 'Bout damn time Butler getting the credit rather than being painted the villain.
— Joe Cowley (@JCowleyHoops) February 11, 2020
The tweet is getting plenty of response, and not necessarily because of the point being made- Butler indeed keeps producing (right now for a very impressive 35-18 Heat team), and the teams he left behind have been worse without him. But this kind of tweet coming from something labeled as a newspaper account rather than a personal account is more unusual.
https://twitter.com/Crawf33/status/1227383462434349062
Who wrote this, Jimmy Butler?
— Shimbo Hanono (@TheNotFatJew) February 11, 2020
Then again, this Twitter account appears to be as much (if not more) of a personal account as a newspaper’s official basketball account. This account appears to be primarily used by Sun-Times sportswriter Joe Cowley, and it’s printed by his name in the paper:
He also responds to tweets naming him there.
The next time @LaurenceWHolmes has me on a podcast, we'll name names.
They know who they are. https://t.co/UEFRshNgvs— Joe Cowley (@JCowleyHoops) February 11, 2020
If you’re thinking, “Joe Cowley… how do I remember that name?” Maybe it’s from 2012, when Cowley sent out many sexist tweets and ended up deleting his Twitter account.
“I’m more likely to see a Squatch before I see a hot flight attendant. Then again, I think the airlines are hiring Squatch’s to do that job.”
“Chick pilot. Should I be OK with that or am I just a sexist caveman?”
“it’s a fact women followers stay attached to me longer.”
“hottie up that pic”
Even after all of the criticism Cowley took for these tweets (among other things), he kept his job with the Sun-Times and has been writing there since. And it seems the newspaper also let Cowley turn their basketball account into his new personal account.
