Trick-or-tweet with T.J. Houshmandzadeh

[August 07, 2009]  RENTON, Wash. (AP) -- Tweeters, beware!

"TheRealTJ84" on twitter.com is not the real T.J. Houshmandzadeh, No. 84 and star wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks.

Screen names "tjhoush" and "houshmandzadeh"? Those aren't him, either. They're bogus monikers created by impostors on the popular social networking site.

"I know it's not me," Houshmandzadeh said after practice Thursday evening.

Problem is, many don't know who really is behind the keyboard on Twitter.

Houshmandzadeh's tale of trick-or-tweet is a cautionary one for fans and the NFL, as the league encourages its players and teams to use Twitter to connect with the public.

Stars Matt Hasselbeck, Walter Jones and Nate Burleson are among the handful of Seahawks who have legitimate Twitter accounts.

Aaron Curry, Seattle's unsigned rookie fourth overall pick, has one, too. But he hadn't tweeted in six days as of Thursday night, since a message was posted on his page that he was "having a great time" with his fiancee and dogs and "loving life" on the day his teammates began training camp under a hot sun.

The NFL estimates about 300 of its players are on Twitter -- at least the league thinks so. As tweeter T.J. Duckett says, how can it know for sure?

"It's kind of impossible," the Seahawks running back said of trying to thwart online impostors. "There's no way to know. You can sign up and create a user name with my name, and how do I know?"

Maybe that's one reason some teams, including the Miami Dolphins, have urged their players not to tweet. Other teams are more lenient about the use of social media, including the Seahawks, owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

Hasselbeck fancies himself as a tweeting pioneer, having had his own page for two years "before anyone else was on there."

"Yeah, it's me," he says of MatthewHass008.

The witty quarterback constantly updates his page. Last month, he posted from a trip over the border to Vancouver, British Columbia, to work his bulky back out with the trainer for two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash. Hasselbeck tweeted that he would reward the first person he saw wearing Seahawks gear on the streets of that hockey-mad city with his cleats and a football. Two hours later, he "found a guy on Joe Sakic Way w a Seahawks backpack!"

Wednesday, Hasselbeck tweeted: "Raced back to facility for 2:45pm practice-- only problem is practice is at 6:15pm."

Turns out, the only reason Hasselbeck has his own twitter page is because someone was pretending to be him.

"It just seemed kind of shady," he said.

So the three-time Pro Bowl passer took tweets into his own hands.

"I got the guy who runs my Web site and he helped me get rid of everybody -- get rid of the fake people who were saying there were me -- and then there was one real 'me,'" Hasselbeck said.

Initially, the security-conscious Hasselbeck kept his page closed to everyone but his closest friends. Eventually, he expanded it and had 9,984 followers as of Friday morning, almost double the number of followers for any other Seahawk on Twitter.

Hasselbeck said the site now has people who validate athletes' pages. There is also a site listing all supposedly legitimate accounts, twitter-athletes.com.

Duckett's had Twitter impostors, too, causing awkward moments this week with fans.

"Yes, I'm 'DuckDeez,'" he said, chuckling. "The sad part is people actually take (the fake page) as you, and you don't even know. I've had people who have their own page who are getting bogus comments back from 'me.' Then I meet them out here and they are like, 'Why didn't you respond to me?'"

He likes Twitter and MySpace for the same reason most do, to keep up with friends. But how does Duckett guard against being impersonated online?

"Hopefully, your real name will spread what your real name is," he said.

Hasselbeck is the one who encouraged Darryl Tapp to get his own Twitter page. Now the fourth-year defensive end is devoted -- or worse.

"It's a little bit addicting," he said of his posting twice each day.

The jovial Tapp doesn't worry about online impostors. And he can't believe some teams are discouraging players from tweeting, as if guys would post sensitive information like injury updates or strategy.

"Really? C'mon!" he said. "I can't see players really doing that. I can be wrong. But football is the main thing we all do, Twitter is for fun."

Houshmandzadeh isn't a part of that fun. It's not as if he doesn't like the concept of Twitter -- after all, he's the one who got Chad Ochocinco, his outgoing former teammate in Cincinnati, into tweeting.

"I just don't feel like doing it," Houshmandzadeh said.

As for being impersonated online, he just shrugs, knowing he can't control cyberspace.

"I have no problem with that," he said.

[Associated Press; By GREGG BELL]

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