This Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIV pits the Indianapolis Colts against the New Orleans Saints in Miami. Here, for your convenience, is a list of all currently verified Colts and Saints players on Twitter as well as local media for both teams.

Tag your Super Bowl related tweets with #SB44 to ensure they appear in live streams. Read what other fans are saying on the NFL’s new #SB44 homepage.

Indianapolis Colts

WR Pierre Garcon
LB Cody Glenn
CB Jerraud Powers
FS Travis Key

Eric Hartz, Editor of ColtPower.com
John Oehser, Editor of IndyFootballReport.com

New Orleans Saints – @NoScom

QB Drew Brees
RB Reggie Bush
RB Pierre Thomas
WR Courtney Roby
FS Darren Sharper

Jeff Duncan, Saints beat writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune

These are the only confirmed player and media accounts that I have listed in the directory on this site. If you know of other confirmed accounts, please post a link to them in the comments.

Peter Robert Casey (@Peter_R_Casey) was the first media credentialed micro-blogger in college basketball history. Labeled a “pioneer” for altering the composition of St. John’s press row, Peter’s story of social media success was featured in the New York Times, and on the pages of ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, Mashable, and AOL’s Switched.

Both a student of the game and the business surrounding it, Peter enjoys writing about the interplay of basketball, social media, and marketing. His work has appeared on the websites of ESPN The Magazine, SLAMonline, and Bounce Magazine. He blogs at the Huffington Post and PeterRobertCasey.com.

Sportsin140.com recently sat down with Peter to discuss his new position covering St. John’s basketball and his assessment of the sports industry on Twitter.

What is your current position and how did you come to be credentialed to cover St. John’s hoops this season?

I’m starting a boutique sports marketing agency with 5 other partners in early 2010–SmashLife, LLC. We’re focusing on mobile marketing, social media activation and monetization and sponsorship generation.

Mark Fratto, Sports Information Director at St. John’s, hatched the idea of credentialing my Twitter feed back in mid-August. He had the vision, creativity and courage to make it happen. I was honored by the opportunity and immediately seized it.

What advice can you give other aspiring journalists or “superfans” interested in covering a team in a similar way? Do you think your position and responsibilities will become the norm as we move into 2010?

Great question. I covered this topic recently on Darren Rowse’s site, Twitip: “Tweet Your Way to Press Row.” The four pieces of advice I shared were:

• Listen: Monitor the online conversation; study community norms; find out who the influencers are; and know who’s following you.

• Focus: Focus on building trust, relationships, and influence, not followers. Focus on being helpful, and creating practical, value-added content. Focus on one sport or one team, and own it.

• Go off Twitter: As valuable as Twitter is, 140 character messages cannot replace the authority of a well-positioned, content-driven blog, vlog, or podcast. Long form media separates the desirous from the dabblers, and allows a publisher to hone and test their chops.

• Make the ask: If your local college or professional sports team hasn’t approached you yet, it may be time to make the ask; but, only after you’ve listened intensely; established trust and productive relationships; focused on being a valuable and caring member of your Twitter community; shared helpful content and contacts; and built a well-recognized and respected, easy-to-find personal brand across various social channels.

I hope to see more bloggers and tweeters on press row in 2010 and I think we will. After St. John’s contacted me, there was interest from the Northeast Conference, Madison Square Garden (for collegiate tournaments), and the NBA. I think that’s an indication that media relations professionals are open to the idea.

You’ve built a network of more than 55,000 followers in only a few short months on Twitter. How did you do this?

I’ve been extremely active, and I’ve tried to add as much value as I can to my niche community. It doesn’t hurt to have a strong blog, Facebook, and LinkedIn presence. Integration and cross-promoting your content are also vital to growing your network.

Do you believe there is a difference between a personal brand and a traditional brand? In what ways does Twitter and other social media sites make the two comparable or different?

In Seth Godin’s words, a brand, whether personal or traditional, is a “promise of value over time.” If you agree with this definition like I do, than it’s hard to extract any large differences between a personal and traditional brand. Humans, products, and organizations all possess brand attributes, and all should have a unique value proposition.

Social media are the tools and platforms we use to share (and sometimes deliver) our brand’s promise and converse with consumers. In that regard, I don’t think these channels make a traditional and personal brand comparable or different. They’re simply tools that we (you and I, and brand managers) can leverage to establish trust in a brand, build and engage a community, and connect with like-minded people.

In the past we’ve seen some teams and even college athletic conferences ban Twitter from the press box. These decisions have generally been met with much criticism. In many ways your arrangement with St. John’s is the exact opposite of these examples. What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of using Twitter to cover a team?

Banning Twitter is a shortsighted approach to protect corporate interests. In fact, I think it’s counterintuitive. If more people are having conversations about your team, particularly if the sentiment is positive, it will increase brand awareness, provoke more people to tune in on TV/Radio/online, and drive ticket sales, sponsorship value and multimedia subscriptions.

The pros of Twitter team coverage are enormous: real-time content distribution and feedback, increased awareness (of events, games, and coverage), and building a community of engaged and loyal fans.

The only con that stands out is the potential to say or do something damaging to your brand or team’s brand. I advise that people treat Twitter like they would a radio or TV interview. If you wouldn’t say it on the radio or TV, don’t say it on Twitter. It’s that simple.

There are ton of graduate assistants in athletic departments across the country, and influential bloggers/tweeters that would jump at the opportunity to cover a team via Twitter. It’s only a matter of time before it becomes more accepted.

Who are some of your favorite athletes and sports related people to follow on Twitter?

I enjoy following Keno Davis, Shaquille O’Neal, Bill Simmons, Gary Parrish, Andy Katz, Mike DeCourcey and Seth Davis, among others.

What do you foresee in terms of the future of sports marketing on Twitter?

I see wider Twitter adoption from the sports marketing community, more experimentation and understanding, and hopefully more goal-aligned strategies to using the service. The larger brands must become more interactive, authentic and transparent in their efforts. It’s important to show a human-side of your brand. Sports marketers must understand that they no longer control the message. Everyone has a voice on Twitter.

Outspoken Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco is in the headlines again. This time, though, the headlines aren’t about him.

Less than a month after the debut of his eponymous iPhone application, Ochocinco announced the “Ochocinco News Network” on Twitter this week.

Ochocinco said he intends to break NFL news via Twitter by contacting friends around the league for news about their teams. While many beat writers and reporters post tweets about the teams they cover, Ochocinco’s proposal may be the first time a player has sought to break news through personal contacts.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love made headlines in June when he broke the news that head coach Kevin McHale would not return this season. ESPN and other media outlets reported on Love’s tweet and the Timberwolves issued a formal statement announcing McHale’s departure a short time later.

Come NFL Sunday do you think Ochocinco will be scooping the major media or is this just another card in the Ochocinco entertainment deck? What do you think?

This season you can experience behind-the-scenes access like never before by following all your favorite players, teams, front office personnel and team beat writers on Twitter. The list of NFL stars on Twitter grows by the day. If you’re looking for confirmed NFL players on Twitter, click on the “Complete List” tab at the top of the page and then click the NFL tab, the second tab on the bottom.

For a directory of NFL media on Twitter, click the “Media” tab at the bottom of the same screen and scroll down to the NFL list. Happy Opening Weekend 2009!

ESPN Talent Producer Jason Romano is our guest for the second Sportsin140.com Sport Management Q&A. You submitted your questions via tweets, comments and emails and Jason graciously took the time to answer them. Thank you to Jason for agreeing to sit down with us and to ESPN for allowing him to do so. Read on to learn more about Jason and his work at ESPN and see how he thinks Twitter’s emergence is similar to a certain NFL dynasty.

Jason Romano at Super Bowl XLIII

What is your current title at ESPN? What are your current responsibilities? What are some of your former positions in the sports media industry?

My current title at ESPN is “Talent Producer.” My responsibilities include coordinating, booking, pre-interviewing and lining up interviews on ESPN shows. Currently I’m working on ESPN’s First Take as well as handling the NFL Project booking players and coaches on all of our ESPN shows. From 2000-2003, I worked as a radio producer on the ESPN Radio Network working on shows like Mike and Mike, the former Dan Patrick show and GameNight on ESPN Radio.

What is the most surprising thing about your job?

I think the most surprising part of my job that many people may not realize is how much time is put into producing the content. The perks are incredible but thanks to cell phones and PDAs we are constantly checking our email, in contact with athletes, agents, writers, etc, and always keeping an eye on the news to see what the next story/guest/segment might be.

In what ways have the sports media industry changed in the last 10 years? What changes do you think we will see in the next few years?

The sports industry has changed considerably in the past 10 years as far as technology and access to athletes. When I first got to ESPN in 2000, hardly anyone had a Blackberry or a TREO and texting was non-existent. Now, it’s a main source of how I do my job. With the Internet, blogs, Twitter and Facebook, everything is so instantaneous. It wasn’t like that 10 years ago.  As far as changes in the next few years, I think you’ll see even more growth on the technology front. ESPN is just now starting to do interviews via Skype. It’s an incredible tool to use and is extremely cost effective. I think we’ll start to see more of that in the future.

You’ve worked for a variety of different shows during your tenure at ESPN including news shows like SportsCenter and daily feature shows like Cold Pizza/First Take. How do these shows differ from a producer’s perspective? What is your daily schedule like when working for a show that airs live daily?

From a producer’s perspective, First Take/Cold Pizza is a guest driven show, more of a “Today on NBC” type show for sports. SportsCenter is our staple here and we try to stick with what made SportsCenter the cornerstone of ESPN (news and highlights). Outside the Lines is another show I work on and producing that can be difficult because the topics are often controversial. ESPNews is another area I’ve worked and that is also very guest driven but mostly driven toward the news that is happening that day. The one thing all of these shows have in common is that they are of the highest quality and extremely fast paced.

Currently working on ESPN’s First Take, I come in at 7:30 AM everyday. First Take comes on at 10 AM and goes to 12pm on ESPN2. From 7:30 AM to 10 AM, I’m following up on any guest requests from the night before. While the show is on the air, I’m making sure all of the guests I’ve booked are on time and ready to go for their interviews. I’m also doing research, keeping up on the First Take Twitter page, and handling any guest pitches that might come our way. At 12:30 PM we have a post show meeting everyday to go over that morning’s show and look ahead to the next day’s show. This meeting is where we formulate our ideas of what guests we might go after for the next day. From 1 PM to 3 PM I work on booking guests for the next day. At 3 PM, we have an update meeting to go over how we’re doing as far as guests and content for the following day’s show. From 3:15 PM to 4:30 PM I continue to work on booking guests. At 4:30 PM I usually go home but with the PDA, I’m usually checking email and texts and working any leads or angles for guests from home. I usually stop looking at my PDA around 7 or 8 PM.

How did you first learn about Twitter? What was your initial reaction to the site? In what ways have your thoughts on Twitter changed as you’ve used the site more?

I first learned about Twitter during the Presidential campaign last year but didn’t really take the time to learn about it until February or March of 2009. My initial reaction to the site was “wow this is confusing” but the more I [used] it, the more I learned about it and once I created my own Twitter, I really got into it. Now I’m on the site all of the time.

My thoughts on Twitter have changed completely. Twitter is a social networking site, but it’s also a source for news, it’s a way for athletes and celebrities to connect with fans (1 on 1) without ever leaving their home or having to pickup a phone. I’ve even booked a couple of guests via Twitter to appear on ESPN.

In the past five or six months, the number of news headlines that have broken on sites like Twitter have greatly increased. As a member of the media, what is your take on this phenomenon? Do you think this trend is likely to continue? Why or why not?

I think as a member of the media, we have to embrace new technology. We have to be where the news is, and if it’s on Twitter, then we need to be there.  Same with the fans, if there are millions of sports fans on Twitter, then we need to be where the fans are.  I think it’s a trend that is going to continue and the sky is the limit. I think, especially for athletes and writers, Twitter has become a way to connect with the average person, the average fan, and the way it’s continuing to grow, I don’t see anyone stopping its run right now. Twitter is like the Patriots in 2001, we weren’t sure how good the Pats were but clearly they’ve built a real dynasty up in Foxboro. I see a similar thing happening with Twitter.

Who are some of your favorite teams and athletes to root for and/or cover? In what ways does working at ESPN change your “inner sports fan” if at all?

I’ve been a fan of the Dallas Cowboys, NY Mets and Boston Celtics since I was a little boy. My sports heroes were Larry Bird, Darryl Strawberry and Tony Dorsett. I had the pleasure of escorting Darryl Strawberry around the ESPN campus in May for an ESPN car wash and it was very difficult not to act like a 10 year old boy, asking him question after question. I’ve also had the privilege of meeting Tony Dorsett while he made a visit to ESPN a few years ago as well. Both Darryl and Tony were very cordial. I’ve yet to meet Larry Bird but I hope that day will come sometime soon.

Working at ESPN has changed my “inner sports fan” to some degree. I’m still as passionate about my teams today as I was before I started working at ESPN but in working and dealing with athletes on a consistent basis, I’ve developed friendships with many of these guys, some of them playing on rival teams of my teams. In meeting these athletes you realize they are people just like you and me and most of them–and I stress–most of them, are really good guys. I’ve struck up a really nice friendship with Super Bowl hero David Tyree of the Giants. Now, as a Cowboys fan, I never thought that would happen but David is a really great guy with a heart of gold and a faith in God that is really strong. We met during his trip to ESPN after the Super Bowl in 2008 and have stayed in touch since.

What advice can you give a current student or recent graduate struggling to enter the sports and/or media industries? If you were just starting your career, what might you do differently given the opportunity?

Best advice I can give is the old Jimmy V motto: “don’t give up.” If you have a desire to work in this business and you are willing to work hard and do the things that help you stand out, good things will happen for you.  Not only do you have to work hard but networking and building relationships are so, so important in breaking into this business. If you have to volunteer, intern, whatever, do it. All you need is a foot in the door and then it’s up to you to break that door down.

If I were just starting my career over again, I’m not sure I would do anything differently to get to where I am now. Out of college, I volunteered at a radio station in Albany, NY (where I’m from) for 3 months, got a radio producer job full time (paid me 15,000 a year back in 1997) and worked there for 3 years until coming to ESPN in 2000. Interesting side note, I interviewed for a job at ESPN in 1998. I made the trek to Bristol, met some people, and ended up not getting the job. But in 2000, the same job came up, I applied, came to Bristol, interviewed with many of the same people, and was blessed by God to be offered the job this time around.