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Today, we have a special edition of Twitterverse. Instead of the usual Bruin Twitterverse, we going to take a look at the Bruins Nation Twitterverse. So, instead of looking at what notable Bruins are tweeting, we will look a little closer at what Twitter is saying about Bruins Nation. But, before we begin, we want to bid adieu to OC Register UCLA Beat Writer Ryan Kartje.
In case you missed it, Ryan announced recently that he would be moving on from the UCLA beat to cover other sports news. We would like to thank Ryan for the excellent job he has done covering UCLA Sports since he took over and we congratulate him on his new position!
Ryan announced the change recently on his Twitter account.
Pumped to share that, starting soon, I'll be moving from the UCLA beat to working on sports features/enterprise full time at the Register.
— Ryan Kartje (@Ryan_Kartje) March 2, 2015
Well, we also found out who was going to be replacing him.
But, before we get to that, let's take a look at some of the criticisms that have been leveled against this site on Twitter by some Bruin fans. Now, we almost never respond to these or even really look at them, but, today, we decided to make a very rare exception.
We found this one.
@BruinNation @UCLACoachAlford @UCLACoachMora We would expect nothing less from you undercover Trojan lovers at "Bruin" nation.
— Bruin4Life (@Bruin4Life27) December 6, 2013
And then there was this one. Fair warning: her Twitter account is NSFW. She describes herself as a model/porn actress.
Dear all UCLA recruits...players fans @BruinNation is run by idiot SC fans posing as Bruin insiders...please unfollow
— Holly West (@hollywestxxx) February 10, 2015
Then, there's this one from last Fall during football season.
@BruinNation Damn you must a Trojan! The season is not even over!!!!
— Harold Martinez (@rbeachdude) October 13, 2014
And, finally, one more for good measure.
@BruinNation This site has to be ran by Trojan fans
— I'mjustheresoidon'tg (@Dembruins1) February 7, 2015
By now, I think you'll see a theme to these tweets. They all try to claim that this site is run by Trojans and/or Trojan fans. Well, to those poor, misguided Bruins who have chosen to believe that, I'm not sure there's anything we can do or say that will change your minds.
But, there is a way for us to properly respond to these individuals and it's all thanks to the Orange County Register.
Speaking of the Register, we thought we'd share with you the news of who the new Register UCLA Beat Writer is. He sent out a tweet of his own informing the readers of the Northwest Herald in McHenry County, Illinois that he would be joining the OC Register to cover UCLA Sports.
Later this month, I'll be joining the @ocregister to cover UCLA football and basketball. Stoked to be back in L.A. covering college sports.
— Joey Kaufman (@joeyrkaufman) March 4, 2015
So, who is this guy the Register hired?
Well, his first article about UCLA was published last night. But that article isn't going to tell you much about the Register's new Bruin beat writer. However, you may have read some of his work on another SBN Blog. Or, maybe this was the article you saw. If not, perhaps you read something from him at this other site. If that's not enough, try reading this article he wrote.
By now, you may be confused. Why would the OC Register hire someone who actually is a "graduate of Southern Cal" (and I do use that term very loosely), to be the UCLA Beat Writer?
To be honest, we don't know. We tried to answer that question ourselves for the past few weeks and we couldn't figure out an answer except that, perhaps, after covering high school sports outside of Chicago, the guy is willing to work cheap because the Register's financial problems are pretty well-known.
But, this brings us back to our answer to those tweets above and to anyone else who wants to claim that the writers and editors of this site are Trogan lovers, SC fans or anything else to do with the University of Sleazy Cheaters.
Very simply, our answer is "You're clearly mistaken. It's the UCLA Beat Writer for the OC Register who is the Trojan who writes about the Bruins."
And, the morals of today's story, my fellow Bruins, are "Don't mistake tough love for hate" and "Don't mistake Bruins for Trojans" and vice-versa.
What I find most interesting about this is how Kaufman manages to downplay his Trojan association in his introductory article. How TroJoey will be able to write objectively about the Bruins is a mystery to me.
All I know is that I think I'm going to rely on Zach "The Intern" Helfand from the LA Times for my print media Bruin news, even if the Times makes him get to UCLA by scooter. I wonder if he and his scooter are back from Houston yet....
GO BRUINS!