Phil Jackson’s first tweet, explained: It was a joke and a promotional tool (Video)

When legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson joined Twitter on Wednesday, his opening salvo — "11 champ;ipnsikp[ ringhs" — seemed like a bit of a swing-and-a-miss for the ol' "Zen Master," what with all the typos and odd characters making it seem like Phil had elected to tweet in Sanskrit rather than in English. Or, perhaps, like he'd gotten into a bit of the ol' peyote that Rick Carlisle referenced after the Dallas Mavericks swept Jackson's Los Angeles Lakers out of the Western Conference playoffs in 2011.

It also seemed especially odd that Jackson just left that mangled collection of characters up — you'd figure someone who's written a handful of books, including the forthcoming "Eleven Rings," would be a bit more of a stickler for clarity and spelling. And yet, up it stayed, with nary an explanation or follow-up ... until just before 3 p.m. Eastern on Thursday.

Much betteraol.it/10lkjGj

— Phil Jackson (@PhilJackson11) March 28, 2013

What, pray tell, is much better? Check 'er out:

Putting up a typo-laden tweet that would be explained a day later with a joke about the difficulty of typing while wearing the championship rings you reference in your Twitter handle and in the title of the book you are about to release as a means of promoting said Twitter account, which will be used (presumably) largely to promote said book? Oooh, you devious trickster, you!

Quite the high-quality zing and goof, Mr. Jackson. We should never have doubted you. Clearly, you have much to teach us not only about the precepts of the Triangle offense, coaching all-time great players, managing the myriad personalities in an NBA locker room and how best to lead an organization toward success and fulfillment, but also about social media #strat. Suddenly, the return of the mustache makes sense — you're basically Alex Blagg with more rickety leg parts. What an epic #win by you; truly, sir, you have #pwned us.

Now that we've gotten the introductory promo bit out of the way, Phil ... how about live-tweeting tonight's Lakers-Milwaukee Bucks game? I bet you'd get a ton of favs. (Just don't say anything too critical about Kobe. Lakers Twitter doesn't take too kindly to Kobe haters.)