That's exactly what the Staffordshire Police did during Sunday's Euro 2012 quarterfinal match between England and Italy, though. The central England police department's unexpected stream of sarcastic, partisan tweet-puns became a hit with many fans, and stories of the cheeky posts spread around web the after the match.
England was eliminated from Europe's every-four-years soccer championship on penalty kicks -- the team's curse -- and for many fans the tweets from @StaffsPolice may have been the best part of the match. Some of the posts had a funny take on national team fandom:
Balotellishould be in the Olympics - Italian diving team— Staffordshire Police (@StaffsPolice) June 24, 2012
The department also retweeted messages of support and amusement from followers. But it's most popular tweets used soccer and crime fighting to deliver a series of pun-based warnings and messages:
Change of tactics for England - seems to be working. Our tactics are to stop violence!— Staffordshire Police (@StaffsPolice) June 24, 2012
Great tackle by Terry, we'll be tackling repeat offenders— Staffordshire Police (@StaffsPolice) June 24, 2012
Action at both ends, may be penalties - don't get a penalty from us for being drunk and disorderly!— Staffordshire Police (@StaffsPolice) June 24, 2012
This year's tournament has had a strong digital emphasis. Twitter last week launched a curated destination page to corral relevant Euro 2012 tweets from around the web, building off a similar feature it announced for a NASCAR race in May. UEFA -- the governing body of European soccer that puts on the Euro tournament -- also recently told us how digital and social media have changed the way it covers the event. And England star Wayne Rooney shared a rather curious Spotify playlist before his first appearance back from suspension.
Do you think the tweets from @StaffsPolice were a creative example of how to use social media well -- or should the department's time have been spent elsewhere? Share your opinion in the comments.