Twitter is littered with athletes who are jockeying for your loyalty in the form of a follow, and it is difficult to know which athletes to follow on twitter.

As the Director of Social Media for the site here at sports-kings.com, I am in control of the twitter account for the most part, which is just code for saying that it is my job to troll twitter all day. If you are ever interacting with us via our twitter handle @realsportskings, odds are you are talking to me.

Athletes don’t have directors of social media (yet), so when you tweet Magic Johnson, you are talking to the legend himself, which above all else, is pretty damn cool. Some athletes really have a knack for how the world of twitter works, and I thought I would be the best person to count them down for you. Here are the top 10 athletes to follow on Twitter:

Want to give a quick honorable mention to Anthony Morrow of the Atlanta Hawks, who was way up on this list until a few months ago when he changed his handle from @Blackboipachino (epic handle) to the more casual @MrAnthonyMorrow. Whomp whomp, borrrrring.

Photo Credit: Freedom to Marry/flickr.com

10. Chris Kluwe: Punter- Minnesota Vikings (@Chriswarcraft)

Chris Kluwe is the perfect guy to kick this list off. I could easily just put every household name you know that has a trillion followers like LeBron James (who isn’t a particularly good follow for the record), and call it a day. However, the beauty of twitter is that we get to learn a little bit about these guys, if they are are willing to show us.

Kluwe doesn’t disappoint in that aspect. The Vikings punter is always willing to interact with fans, express his political views, including his support for gay marriage, and most notably, is an extremely proud self-proclaimed nerd. Hence the handle @chriswarcraft. His timeline also includes something most of these guys will have in common, a bunch of humor.

My dog just grunted at me because I didn’t make him a sandwich. Told him if he wanted one to go make his own. #sillylackofopposablethumbs

— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) July 14, 2012

Photo Credit: Nora Kuby/flickr.com

9. Jared Dudley: Shooting Guard- Phoenix Suns (@JaredDudley619)

Jared Dudley’s feed is filled with all of the great things about a twitter account, and he loves to interact with his followers. That is one of the most important components to this list in my opinion; there are guys that say interesting stuff constantly, but they never interact with the people that are following them. To me, interacting with our followers is half the fun of having a twitter account.

What I love most about Jared Dudley’s feed is that he has never meant a controversial subject he is afraid to address, and he will keep it real consistently. That includes colleagues as well. For example, Dudley didn’t hesitate to address the Dwightmare, and criticize Dwight Howard for his choices.

I don’t wanna get in Dwight Howard’s business but lol Why would you wanna play for the Nets over teams such as the Lakers,Bulls, and Mavs

— Jared Dudley (@JaredDudley619) July 2, 2012

 

Photo Credit: Keith Allison/flickr.com

8. Nick Swisher: Outfielder – New York Yankees (@NickSwisher)

Swisher would have been a little higher, except for the generic handle of just his name. Though, in his defense, Nick Swisher is a pretty cool name to have. Still, he was docked points for creativity, and I am the judge and jury of this list, so I call the shots.

Here are three simple reasons to follow Swishalicious as John Sterling calls him, he’s funny, personable, and you will get to consistently see pictures of his extraordinarily hot wife.

What more can you ask for? Do you want to miss the possibility of him accidentally tweeting a naked picture of her because you weren’t following? Yeah, me either.

Photo Credit: truthaboutit/flickr.com

7. Nyjer Morgan: Outfielder- Milwaukee Brewers (@TheRealTPlush)

Nyjer Morgan doesn’t tweet nearly as much as the guys above, but he made it this high on the list for two main reasons.

A. The handle, and the bio, in which he gives himself approximately 23924802846395823 nicknames, including but not limited to “Mr. Gotta B Startin Somethin”, and “Mr. Eazzy Brezzy” (2 z’s, or it’s just not the same.)

B. He always refers to himself in the third person, but not as Nyjer, but instead as simply “Plush”. C’mon, you can’t make this stuff up!

Oh, and this (I am convinced he’s actually completely serious)

When I grow up I want to be @justinbieber….Gotta Go!!!!!!

— Nyjer Morgan – T Dot (@TheRealTPlush) June 21, 2012

Photo Credit: Steve Paluch/flickr.com

6. John Axford: Pitcher – Milwaukee Brewers (@JohnAxford)

This guy is just simply a character. A self-proclaimed mustache aficionado, you will find Axford consistently tweeting about boobs, penises, and his dentist (who he isn’t to fond of…)

Discovered a great new diet. It’s called get your wisdom teeth out and lose weight cause you can’t chew S#!T!!!

— John Axford (@JohnAxford) July 15, 2012

Photo Credit: wikipedia.org

5.JR Smith: Shooting Guard- New York Knicks (@TheRealJRSmith)

Let’s just put it this way: Take everything you know about JR Smith as a basketball player, and try to articulate it. Welcome to JR Smith’s twitter account!

When he’s not having twitter wars with Joe Buddens and getting fined for it by the Commissioner, you can find JR tweeting about pretty much everything. What I love about JR’s twitter feed is that he gets into it with his critics just as much as his fans.

Here’s something JR Smith re-tweeted from a Knick fan:

@TheRealJRSmith @carmeloanthony get off my f**ken team; we want to build unselfish Ship teams with pass first PG’s like Lin, JR&Melo must go

— Jim(@NYGreenMachine) July 16, 2012

Photo Credit: secondstringfullback.com

4. Pat Mcafee: Punter- Indianapolis Colts (@PatMcAfeeShow)

If there is anything that twitter has taught me, it is that punters are really interesting people. Pat McAfee’s feed is as advertised in his bio when he says “Welcome to the show” because that’s exactly what it is. There is never a lack of sarcasm in his feed, and we all benefit from it. He will even tell you the condoms that he wears (trojan, in case you were curious), and has a real knack for current events. Here was his take on Elvis Dumervil’s arrest:

I’m gonna assume Elvis Dumervil decided 2 smile in his mugshot because he didn’t want to steal the “Sexy Glare” look given by yours truly.

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) July 16, 2012

Photo Credit: US Coast Guard/flickr.com

3. Logan Morrison: Outfielder- Miami Marlins (@LoMoMarlins)

If you want to know why you should follow Logan Morrison of the Miami Marlins, look no further than his avatar, which is some sort of animated half-naked picture of himself body-painted. I am not saying it’s going to appeal to you the way it does to my sister, but it just goes to show that Morrison is just a different type of dude, in a good way, not in the way some of our upcoming follows are.

Plus, he’s not afraid to walk a thin line or two….

Just spoke with a Latin employee here at the field for 10 mins. He told me all about his new “gaydar”. God I hope he meant guitar…

— Logan Morrison (@LoMoMarlins) July 13, 2012

Photo Credit: Keith Allison/flickr.com

2.Metta World Peace: Small Forward- Los Angeles Lakers (@MettaWorldPeace)

These next two guys are first-ballot twitter hall-of-famers, starting with Metta World Peace (which, for the record, I still have a hard time coming to grips with that ACTUALLY being his name.)

Metta World Peace’s account is just like him; entertainment at its finest. When that boy is tweeting, it is a joy to watch, as he will blow up your feed in a hot minute. Whether he is joking about getting traded, or just telling his fans how much he loves them, you can always count on Metta for some laughs.

Oh yeah, and parties, lots of parties:

Why am I partying harder than the Miami heat. I didn’t win a championship… I guess I will party for them

— Metta WorldPeace (@MettaWorldPeace) July 15, 2012

Photo Credit: Clay Seal/flickr.com

1. Chad Johns.. err.. OchoCinco  Johnson: Wide Receiver- Miami Dolphins (@Ochocinco)

Whatever his name is, Chad has been the twitter heavyweight champion of the social media world for a while now, and has yet to relinquish the title.

Here’s why: not only does he share similarities with all of the guys above, but he has managed to make himself into a brand via twitter. He is probably the most genuine athlete in the world, and you just feel like you really know him through his feed.

Most importantly, this guy has shown he really appreciates his fans via his twitter, whether it is taking his followers out to dinner or inviting them to his wedding(which he live-tweeted from), there is never a dull moment on the @Ochocinco twitter page. We can only hope it stays that way.

I officially crown Chad the Sports-Kings King of Twitter.