Previous week’s games
12/05/09 SUNS 115, Kings 107
12/06/09 Lakers 108, SUNS 88
12/08/09 Mavericks 102, SUNS 101
This week’s games
12/11/09 SUNS vs Magic, 8:30 p.m., ESPN
12/12/09 SUNS @ Nuggets, 7 p.m., My45
12/15/09 SUNS vs Spurs, 7 p.m., Fox Sports Arizona
Here at the Suns Spot we like to focus on the good. Keep a positive vibe, if you will. So, with that said, we’re going to go ahead and brush over last week’s games and focus on one of the great Suns events coming up.
Next Tuesday, December 15, the Phoenix Suns will be hosting their second annual @Phoenix Suns Tweet-Up, presented by Arizona Grand Resort (@ArizonaGrand) as they face the heavily hated San Antonio Spurs at US Airways Center. The event is put together for the many Suns fans that follow the team on Twitter, and the evening will be filled with many special, exclusive activities for Tweet-Up attendees.
So, what’s a Tweet-Up? Jeramie McPeek, the Suns’ webmaster, fills us in.
“A ‘tweet-up’ is just a social gathering of people on Twitter,” McPeek says. “There are all different types of tweet-ups happening around the country, but our tweet-ups are held on a Suns game night, and give our followers a chance to attend a game at a discounted ticket price, and sit with fellow tweeps. We also try to come up with some unique perks for these events, because we want our followers to feel special. They are serious, hardcore, passionate Suns fans who are tweeting about us on a daily basis, so we want them to really have a fun experience.”
But, what if you don’t use Twitter, or you do, but just don’t follow the Suns? McPeek thinks any Suns fan should be a follower.
“Through our primary account, @PhoenixSuns, we tweet breaking news, behind-the-scenes stories, pictures or videos from practices and events, quotes from the locker room and courtside observations from games,” McPeek says. “We also provide a lot of information about fan events or promotions, and are regularly giving away tickets or merchandise to our Twitter followers. And, of course, we’re also interacting with our fans.”
At the Tweet-Up, tweeps will be granted early access inside US Airways Center (@SunsCrib) to watch Suns players warm up before the game. Fans will also be able to purchase discounted concessions during the pregame “Twitter Tailgate,” as well as receive a free Suns Tweet-Up shirt, only available to those fans that purchase tickets to the event, and have group seating with their fellow Twitter users.
During the game fans will be able to have their tweets shown on the big screen inside the arena as well as on the live game broadcast on FSN Arizona (@FoxSportsAZ). Anyone who currently follows the Suns on Twitter might be thinking, So what, the Suns post tweets during every home game? While that is true, fans that send in their tweets during the Tweet-Up will have a chance to win prizes for best Twitpic (picture via tweet), and who doesn’t love winning prizes?
Want some tips on how to win prizes for best Twitpic? Go all out. Wear some face paint. Do your face up half orange and half purple. Wigs are a nice touch as well. We’re playing the freakin’ Spurs, so it shouldn’t be hard for you to get up for this game and show everyone that you’re ORNG. Get a stuffed animal coyote, tie a rope around it’s neck and drag it around the Purple Palace. I’m pretty sure if you do any of those things and Twitpic them, your chances at winning a prize will be greatly increased.
The fun doesn’t stop at the end of 48 minutes, though. After the game, Suns tweeps attending the event will be invited to an exclusive question-and-answer session with All-Star forward Amar’e Stoudemire (@Amareisreal).
Tweet-Up ticket packages are available in the lower level for $64 — fans can save over $60, according to McPeek — and the upper level for $32 and can be purchased at Suns.com by using the password “tweeps.”
The Suns are also planning Facebook and PlanetOrange.net nights for later in the season.
Suns fans attending the Tweet-Up are highly encouraged to attend US Airways Center via the METRO light rail through the Ride Rail Event program, which allows fans attending a game to use their game ticket as light rail fare four hours prior to tip-off through the end of the transit day.
