Sideline Scoop: Selfie Jerseys on the Way

You read that headline correctly. A baseball team will wear a jersey full of selfies for an upcoming game. All this, plus a more NHL news and a team (finally) taking advantage of Snapchat, this week on the Sideline Scoop!

1. Baseball Team to Don Selfie Jersey

Baseball teams are know to have some crazy promotions, and this latest one may be the best combination of social media and sports yet. The Kalamazoo Growlers, a collegiate summer baseball league team, are inviting fans to post selfies on social media that will be used for a jersey the team will wear and later auction off.

2. NHL Player Collapse, Social Media Responds

Earlier this week, Dallas Stars center Rich Peverley collapsed on the bench during the first period of a game and was taken to a hospital. Social media (particularly other NHL teams) immediately began selling well wishes to Peverly and the Dallas Stars took the time to respond to every team that tweeted at them.

3. Saints Scoring Big on Snapchat

Snapchat is still a relatively new media that many teams are struggling to understand a way to fit into their social media plans. The New Orleans Saints may have figured out a blueprint for other teams to follow though. Here, we find an extensive interview with Alex Restrepo of the Saints to learn how the team got involved with Snapchat and why they have been so successful with it (as of January, the team had more than 36,000 followers on the site).

Social Sideline: How the NHL is Changing the Game

The National Hockey League has gone through tough times in recent years, thanks to a lockout that hurt all momentum the team once had. The league needed a new way to connect to and bring back fans and saw an opening in social media. Where many leagues and teams kept their social media accounts, particularly on Twitter, as professional as possible, the NHL began to write tweets in the similar fashion as a fan. Here, we take a look at just three examples of the league bucking the trend and breaking out from the crowd.

1. The Los Angeles Kings' Twitter Account - the Originator

The trend began to gain momentum during the Los Angeles Kings' Stanley Cup run in 2012, when the Kings' Twitter account started poking fun at the teams they eliminated and their fans. The team's Twitter followers skyrocketed, and the rest is history.

2. Twitter Fights Galore

One of the most popular parts of the game of hockey are the fights, so it only makes sense that teams take part in "Twitter fights." Take the rival Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks throwing Twitter jabs at one another. They will even pick fights outside the hockey world - see the Dallas Stars vs. Justin Bieber fans (Round 1 and Round 2).

3. They are more snarky than professional at times

Snarky is defined as "sarcastic, impertinent, or irreverent in tone or manner." This is where the "tweet more as fans than professionals" comes into play. Take, for example, this list of three examples the NHL has the best Twitter accounts (according to brocouncil.com). ESPN has been a popular source of snark for NHL Twitter accounts as well. SportsCenter has a reputation of ignoring hockey to focus on other sports, and some teams like to poke fun at that every now and then.