By Jim Owczarski Sports Editor Published Apr 24, 2012 at 11:00 AM Photography: David Bernacchi

It can happen in an instant, a seemingly living, breathing thing created out of thin air in the electronic primordial soup known as Twitter. The spark that gets everything moving can be a singular play, a phrase that captures the vibe of the contest, or just the feeling from one fan in one place that connects with others. Then, it can snowball.

Mike Grahl and Nick Monroe know this, and are constantly on edge waiting for the next flash of life to come across their phone or desktop.

Grahl is the interactive marketing manager for the Milwaukee Bucks and Monroe is on the senior sales staff, yet the two help coordinate and manage the team's Twitter feed – which includes keeping up on and even promoting the quick wit of fans.

A great example was the popular #FearTheDeer movement, which started organically, somewhere, and became a rallying cry for the fans and eventually the team during its playoff push two years ago.

"We're always taking a fan-centric approach," Grahl said. "It's always got to be from the fans because we know that where we're really successful and where we can really be successful is in insulating ourselves from the variables we can't control, so the more we can involve fans in the conversation the better off we're going to be."

In Milwaukee, the Bucks and Brewers have been able to capitalize on a fan base that wants to be involved, so they take to the cyber streets with their thoughts, feelings and potential catch phrases. This season alone, trending Bucks hashtags included #Ersanity and #RunMKE along with the team-generated #BeMilwaukee campaign.

In 2012 alone the Brewers have already featured multiple trending topics from Opening Day at Miller Park to George Kottaras' heroics last weekend.

"Milwaukee is very social savvy, technical savvy, digital savvy," Grahl said. "That helps us immensely in growing our following and creating conversation. We've got an audience that is incredibly engaged not only in our product, but in the medium as well."

The Brewers staff wasn't made available to discuss its digital campaign, which includes a Twitter feed for Bernie Brewer, but the team has been racing to catch up in terms of interactivity.

A social media blog tracked usage over a two-year period and noted the Brewers were the top-growing team on Twitter in all of Major League Baseball, perhaps due in large part to the accessibility of its players.

"It's really cool," pitcher Kameron Loe said about the interaction between athletes and fans. "It's a safe way. Everybody's comfortable with it. It's fast. It's easy. It's just super convenient. It serves a great purpose, I think."

It's an avenue most of the pro athletes in Milwaukee and Green Bay have taken to in order to better communicate with not only their fans, but with each other.

The result has been some discussion between teams and players about what they should and should not do – but usually regulation comes after the fact in the forms of deleted tweets and a lighter bank account.

It's why it's a good bet that if the feed is officially verified, all tweets are coming from that player.

"In the NBA, it's not that common (to have ghost tweeters) – they can't pay that fine for you," Bucks forward Larry Sanders said with a laugh.

Added Bucks teammate Tobias Harris: "You really just tweet at your own risk. You have a lot of fans watching and everybody is connected to it, so you kind of just have to be aware."

There is also an opportunity for teams and players to interact directly with the fan base, whether it is through official promotions and contests, sticker campaigns or just being able to show a bit of personality not seen through traditional forms of media.

"I've come to really enjoy the interactions with fans (and non-fans)," said Green Bay Packers tight end Tom Crabtree in an interview done exclusively with Twitter's direct messaging feature. "It's cool if one of us gets in a heated argument or says something hilarious on there."

When asked about if competition reigns in the locker room over the number of followers – especially since Aaron Rodgers is nearing 600,000 – Crabtree exhibited a bit of humor.

"And as far as other guys on the team having so many followers, we don't really compare numbers or anything. What really counts is Tweet quality," he said. "My tweet quality far exceeds that of my teammates. I am constantly turning down ghost writing opportunities for them."

Sitting courtside at Bucks games, Monroe's attention can't help but be diverted. The excitement from the game is one thing, but he has to take a look to see if that is translating into something more powerful online. A hashtag's life cycle can be fleeting, gone nearly as soon as it appears, but every now and then, it gets its legs and evolves into something much more.

"I don't think there's a more exciting experience then when you're in the middle of a close game and you right down court side and it's a wild Bradley Center and you've got to inbound to hit a game winning shot and it goes to Ersan (Ilyasova) and you're able to win the game – and that's your job, to report on that and talk about that," Monroe said. "It's a great experience and it's a lot of fun."Tweet, tweet
OnMilwaukee.com caught up with a couple of players regarding their Twitter accounts. Here is what they had to say.

OnMilwaukee.com: When did you start tweeting?

Tobias Harris: I joined in the early stages when it first came out (in 2006). It wasn't as popular. It started getting popular when I was going through the (college) recruiting process with a lot of college fans following me.

Tom Crabtree: I joined Twitter in the summer of 2010. I joined because I had been hearing about from friends and in the news. I found it to be a cool way to get news and hear from interesting people.

Kameron Loe: Honestly, at first, it started off as a media kind of thing just to get information. I was just kind of following people for probably three or four months before I even started Tweeting. I would follow some of my favorite bands, a comedian or two, maybe a politician or whatever. So I just kind of, at first, wanted to know stuff so I'd check my Twitter account.

OMC: What would it take to get Scott Skiles on Twitter?

Larry Sanders: Probably a paycheck. (Laughs)

Harris (exhaling and rolling his head back with a smile): I don't know, man. I don't know.

OMC: Do you compare follow numbers with teammates?

Sanders: We don't compare but Brockman would get us all. I wouldn't want a bunch of bad followers. I like my (seven) thousand fans.

OMC: What's your approach with tweeting?

Harris: There's the entertainment that you want. It's like Google – you can search for pretty much anything you want on there. And having fans on there that follow what you're doing and keep track of you in the ways that you want them to.

Sanders: I like to tweet lyrics or inspirational quotes. I look at it as if a 9-year-old could be looking at your account.

OMC: When do you decide to reply or retweet?

Sanders: If (a tweet) catches your eye, or if they're supporting the team, or if it's someone's birthday. Something like that.

Harris: If it's just something that catches my eye, if they're looking out for you. You get lot of haters and every now and then I'll reply to one of them but not really. I just reply when I'm looking at it or if it's something that appeals to me.

Find your favorite Brewers, Bucks or Packers player on Twitter here.

Milwaukee Brewers
John Axford: @JohnAxford
Yovani Gallardo: @itsyotime
Manny Parra: @MannyParra26
Francisco Rodriguez: @El_kid_rod57
Chris Narveson: @sleep_trick
Mat Gamel: @JMGamel
Carlos Gomez: @C_Gomez27
Nyjer Morgan: @TheRealTPlush
Kameron Loe: @KameronLoe

Milwaukee Bucks
Brandon Jennings: @BRANDONJENNINGS
Jon Brockman: @MrJonBrockman
Drew Gooden: @DrewGooden
Carlos Delfino: @cabezadelfino
Jon Leuer: @JLeu30
Tobias Harris: @Tobias31
Larry Sanders: @LarrySanders
Ersan Ilyasova: @erSova7
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute: @mbahamoute
Ekpe Udoh: @EkpeUdoh

Green Bay Packers*
Aaron Rodgers: @AaronRodgers12
Tom Crabtree: @TCrabtree83
Desmond Bishop: @Desbishop55
Diondre Borel: @D1_Beast12
Bryan Bulaga: @BBulaga
Morgan Burnett: @MoBetta_42
Jarrett Bush: @Jarrettbush
Randall Cobb: @rcobb18
Mason Crosby: @crosbykicks2
Ray Dominguez: @Ray73D
Donald Driver: @Donald_Driver80
Jermichael Finley: @JermichaelF88
Sampson Genus: @SampsonGenus
Brett Goode: @BGoode61
Alex Green: @AGreen_20
Tori Gurley: @TGurley81
Lawrence Guy: @thatLGUY
Anthony Hargrove: @A95Hargrove
A.J. Hawk: @OfficialAJHawk
Jon Hoese: @J_Hoese
Davon House: @devo_31
Greg Jennings: @GregJennings
Brad Jones: @bejones00
Johnny Jones: @JohnnyJonesIII
T.J. Lang: @TJLang70
Anthony Levine: @Alevine_34
Tim Masthay: @TimMasthay
Clay Matthews III: @ClayMatthews52
Marshall Newhouse: @MNewhouse74
Charlie Peprah: @CharliePeprah
B.J. Raji: @rajifreezer90
Brandian Ross: @BrandianRoss
Derek Sherrod: @dsherrod78
Sam Shields: @stickyshields37
Josh Sitton: @jsitton71
Shaky Smithson: @ShakySmithson
James Starks: @James44Starks
D.J. Williams: @dj45williams
Tramon Williams: @HighRizer38
C.J. Wilson: @cjwilson95
Jarius Wynn: @slickwynn94
Frank Zombo: @FZombo58

*Active roster players as of April 23.

Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.

A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.

To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.

Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.

In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.

Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.