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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dikembe Mutombo joined Twitter on Wednesday and instantly made a splash, sending out a picture of him with Bill and Chelsea Clinton as his first tweet. That's a strong Twitter debut.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What a wonderful day with The Clintons #CGI2013 pic.twitter.com/g8UzOq1y1D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Dikembe Mutombo (@officialmutombo) September 26, 2013&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That got us thinking, what were the first tweets of some now-Twitter-popular athletes? Retweets don't count.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Blake Griffin&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;out in L.A. for the weekend just had a late birthday celebration for my brother at my agents house. happy bday taylor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin32) May 1, 2009&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whats up everybody. Had a yogo session this morning, a four hour photo shoot now we're headed to the jimmy kimmel show. Just another day ...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin32) May 2, 2009&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Heading back to San Francisco for workouts. Had a great time in LA but its time to get back to work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin32) May 3, 2009&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When Blake Griffin started using Twitter, we didn't know him to be the funny athlete he is today; he was a superb college basketball player waiting to be picked by an NBA team. Therefore, his thoughts were rather boring. At least he said happy birthday to brother Taylor in his first tweet. Aw, sibling love.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Kobe Bryant&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The antisocial has become social #mambatweets&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 4, 2013&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thoughts of self doubt Am I done? Is this how my career will end?? I REFUSE to give in to these thoughts. #strongwill #countonchallenges&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 5, 2013&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kobe Bryant shared some honest thoughts from the start. He knew his reputation as a quiet type off the court, and he recognized the people doubting that age hadn't affected his play. Bryant has since posted some legitimately substantial thoughts on his account, but nothing as introspective as that second tweet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Wes Welker&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;thank you @rocklive&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Wes Welker (@WesWelker) December 20, 2011&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;@ochocinco has me trying out this twitter thing. How many followers will I have by this Saturday's game?! Thanks och!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Wes Welker (@WesWelker) December 20, 2011&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't tell Bill I'm on here! Thanks! Hahaha!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Wes Welker (@WesWelker) December 20, 2011&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He was boring in his first tweet, but that third one's fantastic. Welker was the first popular Patriot to get a Twitter account--Tom Brady wasn't doing that--and say anything remotely interesting on it. These days, Welker mainly plugs his sponsors or roots for alma mater Texas Tech.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Chipper Jones&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hello all! Yes, the ol man finally got the twitta! Shame on the posers. Thx to all the followers already. No fans like braves fans!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) July 24, 2012&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nice win by the bravos! Huddy dealt, kimmy closed it out. Need a W tmrw to finish out a good trip. Lookin forward to getting back to the ATL&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) July 25, 2012&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For u hunters out there, I'm no longer on BC full time, tho u will see me on some shows. Major league bowhunter is my new baby on sportsmans&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) July 25, 2012&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chipper talked about hunting and used the word \"poser\" in his first few tweets. Naturally.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Tiger Woods&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Welcome to my new Twitter page at: www.twitter.com/TigerWoods&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) June 26, 2009&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check out my new Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/Tiger&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) June 26, 2009&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check out my new official Web site at: www.TigerWoods.com&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) June 26, 2009&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thanks for letting us know we're at Tiger Woods's Twitter page, Tiger Woods.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Lindsey Vonn&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Just started this tweety bird thing... We'll see how it goes. Still skeptical&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) June 27, 2009&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Just laying in bed watching law and order. Thinking about going to the pool later but the weather is still bad...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) June 27, 2009&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Just posted some new pics on my website in the gallery under the heading summer '09&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) June 27, 2009&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lindsey Vonn was a little more interesting than Tiger Woods, although she seemed to have a habit of starting her tweets with \"just,\" as if they were on a time delay. (She kept doing it.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Maria Sharapova&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your ultimate sugarmama has arrived #myfirsttweet pic.twitter.com/QbC9DRLR&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) January 14, 2013&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Everyone got dressed in the same closet, wearing yellow on court at aus open.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) January 15, 2013&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Browsing Pre-Fall collections...loving the masculine black and white combos esp Stella McCartneys look 9 pic.twitter.com/kzprWAH2&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2014 Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) January 16, 2013Sharapova figured out how to attach a picture on her first tweet! (Or, more accurately, a handler did it for her.) Either way, solid start.&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2013/09/30/a-look-back-at-athletes-famous-first-tweets>