USA – Yo Charlie – Da locker room ain’t no place for Twitter

MILWAUKEE (NBA) - The Twitter craze that is sweeping America has entered the Milwaukee Bucks locker room and landed forward Charlie Villanueva in hot water.

Word reached Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles that Villanueva had used his mobile phone to send out a “Tweet” – a message on his Twitter feed - at half-time of Milwaukee’s game against Boston on Sunday.

The post said: "In da locker room, snuck to post my twitt. We're playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up."

Skiles warned Villanueva and the other Bucks not to send out any more “Tweets” during games again because it may lead some to think that the players are not focused on their jobs.

"My personal opinion is, it doesn't have any place in the locker room," Skiles said.

"The locker room's a private place for the players, a sanctuary for the players. But once you walk out of the locker room or whatever, I'm not into getting into guys' personal lives."

The Villanueva story has fuelled interest in his Twitter Feed.

He uses his initials and jersey number in his screen name CV31, and by Wednesday morning there were 4,413 people monitoring his posts.

On Tuesday, there had only been 1,600.

Villanueva defended his Tweet message, saying “it actually motivated me" in a subsequent post.

"That's why I did it, plus of course to keep you guys in the loop of some live action."

Villanueva did play well against the Celtics, pouring in 19 points as the Bucks won.

FIBA