My childhood and present day heroes found room in one tweet this past June, and the moment solidified my appreciation for what some consider an insignificant social medium.
When the Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) were neck deep in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2011, I noticed that Atul Gawande, M.D., (@Atul_Gawande) was chiming in on Twitter when the game was nerve-wrackingly close:
Or when a key goal was scored:
This made my day. For one, I was 1,000 miles from Boston, my home of the past nine years, in a bar north of Chicago where you had to close your eyes to avoid seeing Blackhawks paraphernalia. I was left with texts and tweets from friends and family in N.H. and Mass. to serve as in-game banter. The patrons and staff at The Firehouse in Evanston, Il., were more concerned that the Bulls were out of the playoffs. Second, it was Atul Gawande. I am sure that you are familiar with the man but his qualifications as the hero of a mid-30s American male are just: surgeon, author, and staff writer with The New Yorker. If he was also a starting Bruins right winger playing in the game then he might be only slightly more remarkable.
Once Nathan Horton scored the goal that Dr. Gawande lauds above, the B’s were on the way to Vancouver for the finals. My weekday place at the Firehouse was established by this point, and the crowd was more Boston-friendly now. At the very least they were Vancouver-unfriendly. ‘Hawks fans have no love for the Seditious Sedins and their mates who bounced the 2010 champs from the Western Conference playoffs this year.
The Bruins v. Canucks series went to seven games. Maybe it was the elation of seeing the team I grew up worshiping get so close to the cup, but I took a small chance and sent a tweet Dr. Gawande’s way. His response was giddy:
Speaking of giddy, I was like a kid with a signed baseball from batting practice, and the exchange only made the shine on the Bruins big silver chalice even brighter.
What other means could I have used to connect with Dr. Gawande besides Twitter? I can’t think of any that would be as effective. In this instance, I think it comes down to the low-involvement, conciseness and the openness of the system. It also means that when I sit down to read Dr. Gawande’s latest New Yorker piece, I’ll know that the esteemed author eats popcorn when he watches hockey.
The True Gen 