By Stephen Litel / @stephenlitel
The Minnesota Lynx are taking to the social networking site Twitter to raise money for charity, as well as trying to get fans in the seats. With a WNBA-best number of their players on Twitter, the team selected their matchup with the New York Liberty on Aug. 8 for this interesting event.
“We’re trying to raise awareness for different charities and foundations like Charde Houston’s,” said Lindsay Whalen. “Money goes to their charity with each ticket that we sell through Twitter. We’re split into two teams, so we’re kind of going against each other and we’ll see who comes out on top. It’s just a fun thing to raise money for some good causes.”
The Lynx are divided into two teams to fight for ticket sales and bragging rights. The teams are Seimone Augustus (@seimoneaugustus), Charde Houston (@charhouston), Monica Wright (@monnie22), Rebekkah Brunson (@twin1532) and Hamchetou Maiga-Ba vs. Lindsay Whalen (@lindsay_13), Nicky Anosike (@nickyanosike), Quanitra Hollingsworth (@qhollingsworth), Rashanda McCants (@msmccants) and Nuria Martinez.
“We’re recruiting people to buy tickets to the game,” said Seimone Augustus. “Buy tickets for the game for kids who may not have the funds to purchase tickets. This is an opportunity to help them to be able to come to the game, as well as to raise money for charity. Right now, I don’t have a charity, but I’m trying to get the Multiple Sclerosis one going for my Dad, but until I get that done I’m going to support Charde.”
Players have begun the process on Twitter and are pulling out the stops by appealing to their college fans. With UConn, Tennessee and LSU all represented, they hope to sell a lot of tickets. In situations where people may not be able to attend the game because of their proximity to Minneapolis, they can forward the ticket to the Lynx online. The team has a partnership where they provide tickets to children who would not normally be able to attend a game. This is a wonderful opportunity to give to charity, as well as to children who would truly appreciate the chance to attend a game.
“Nicky (Anosike) has fans in Tennessee and Charde (Houston) has fans in Connecticut, so if fans buy a ticket and are far away they are still giving to a good cause,” said Lindsay Whalen.
While the players trash-talk on Twitter about which team will win, they also have more ideas on the way to get fans to join the cause.
“There’s a number of different tactics,” said Nicky Anosike. “A number of us are appealing to our college fans and we’re also offering autographs and different things if you buy tickets. Whatever people want, but those are probably the top two ways we’re doing it right now. I’m sure we’ll get more creative as time goes on.”
With the competitive spirit these players possess, it is not surprising to discover that they have internal bets as to which team will win. Although they have not decided on the “prize” for winning the internal bet, you can be sure that there will be more to it than bragging rights.
“We have a competition going on between the two squads,” said Seimone Augustus. “It’s kind of been a competition of me and Nicky (Anosike). It’s the Lady Vols fans vs. the LSU fans, so it’s just one big competition that is ultimately going to a good cause. We already know who is going to win, so we don’t need any bets. I have the LSU family involved and everybody loves Charde (Houston) with the things she does after the games and what she does for the kids, so we’re going to win.”
Some of the charities and foundations represented in the contest are Charde Houston’s Project Y.O.U., Quanitra Hollingsworth’s “At Your Best” scholarship foundation, Feed My Starving Children and Shoot for the Cure. Each is a wonderful cause, very deserving of the money raised and the Lynx have come up with a wonderful idea to provide a service and get fans in the seats.
“It’s one game,” said Nicky Anosike. “We’re not asking people to buy season tickets and we’re not asking people to come to every game. We’re just asking you to come to one game and see how you like it. For the people I’ve told that, they came to one game and haven’t stopped coming since then. We’re not asking for something huge or a lot of people’s time. We’re asking for two or three hours, come to one game and we’ll go from there.”
If you would like to join one of the players teams, check out their Twitter pages and follow the link they provide. The links are unique to each player, so choose wisely. Bragging rights are on the line.
