Most of us who watch a lot of internet video and love sports have had this video forwarded to us again and again and again.
Brian Collins, the poor Ball State student who had the misfortune of delivering that sportscast has already graduated, and thanks to Deadspin, in addition to the Dan Patrick Show, we now have an update on Brian’s whereabouts and what he’s up to. This morning, Brian Collins joined Dan Patrick to talk about his internet stardom, explain how that all happened, and updated everyone about his new full time job in TV news in Waco KXXV-TV. Listen to the interview below.
Dan: How are you Brian?
Brian: I’m doing pretty good.
Dan: Are you sure?
Brian: (laughs) uh yeah, I’m very happy with where I am right now.
Dan: Ok, but take us back to… the night you did the sportscast you were filling in. When somebody said “Brian, we need you to do it”, what was your reaction?
Brian: Well, you know, it’s been, obviously it was back in my freshmen year so it’s been four years at least… uh… it was, you know, what had happened was the person who was supposed to do it came in and was sick and at the last minute we needed to fill in the position so I took over, and you know obviously that probably wasn’t the best decision at the time being that I had never been on air really before.
So that’s really what kind of happened and once I got up there, we had some technical problems and that just kind of led to more problems and yeah, that’s college sometimes for ya.
Dan: But it ends up on YouTube. It’s one thing to do this in a professional manner and make a mistake as we all have, but here you are freshman in college and now everybody is watching this on YouTube. What went through your mind?
Brian: Ehhh… you know to be honest at the time I had no idea what was gonna happen with it or anything. That was just about the time that YouTube was really starting to grow and videos online were really starting to become popular and then all of sudden a couple weeks later when it gets posted, that’s when I really begin to see the change.
You’d be walking down the street and people would start looking at you. That’s an instant fame that you don’t really expect and a lot of times I don’t think people automatically want.
Dan: Well there’s a difference between being famous and being infamous. Did you feel like you were one or the other?
Brian: It’s hard to say because with fame, a lot of times that comes with happiness. You’re happy that you’re out there for whatever it is, but not necessarily always with the internet now. In my particular case, I don’t know if I would uh, if many people would consider themselves proud for being out there for a screw-up. (the grape lady is an american treasure) Now I kinda am because, you know… how many people get to meet the people that I’ve gotten to meet?
Dan: Who did you meet?
Brian: Oh let’s see… David Letterman. I’ve talked to fellow sportscasters. I’ve had people calling from all over the country, at the time. I mean it’s been awhile, but at the time I had people calling from all over the country to say “hey keep going”.. stuff like that you know.
Dan: Well you’re known as “Boom Goes the Dynamite” guy…how’d you come up with that expression?
Brian: I got it from Mario Kart. (there’s a hidden path in the ghost track) Me and my friends back in college, we played video games like most college kids do today. You know, we’d throw catch phrases at each other. I think everybody does something that’s kind of goofy and that was our thing. At the end that college show, I thought, well you know, might as well throw that little joke out there for the rest of my friends not thinking it would really go anywhere, but that’s kind of what ended up happening.
Dan: It’s weird how those catch phrases become organic with what you’re trying do. When Olbermann and I did Sportscenter, we tried to do it to entertain ourselves using things we’d used before, whether it’s playing a wiffleball game or strat-o-matic or you’re playing Madden. You sort of throw in those comfort zone catch phrases and “boom goes the dynamite”….they probably started using that on Sportscenter after you did didn’t they, as a tribute to you?
Brian: Yeah, you know, I saw a couple of sportscasters start using it. It was interesting to see, when you’re going from a college level, first time on air, and all of a sudden a couple weeks later you’re hearing professionals using it on ESPN, it definitely takes an effect on you.
Dan: He’s Brian Collins joining us on the Dan Patrick show, and he’s got a new full time sports gig at KXXV-TV in Waco, Texas. Did the YouTube clip help you get the job or hurt you in getting jobs?
Brian: I would not say really that, well…. let me rephrase. It helped me in the sense that it made me have to grow up. I think there’s a lot of a times with college people… I’ve even heard four year colleges be heard as, uh, you know….daycare for kids. Once they get to college, it’s their first time away, but there’s so much, you know, protection out there that I don’t know how much I’d really consider it breaking out from your parents or anything. (aside from the student union or the healthcare clinic, I don’t think of college as having “so much protection”) Once that had happened, although I think college mistakes should be allowed to happen, it forced me to say “hey if I want to continue down this path, I need to realize what comes with it”. It made me grow up very quickly, a lot quicker then I imagine most people have to. (you didn’t go to war Brian, you bombed to an internet crowd of millions)
Dan: Did you meet women due to the YouTube clip?
Brian: I’m sorry, excuse me?
Dan: Did you meet women due to the YouTube clip?
Brian: Uh…no. The opposite.
Dan: The opposite?
Brian: I would say that women strayed away from me because of it. (women stayed away from me too, and I didn’t have a nationally-known internet bombing, unless you count this blog… maybe it was something else)
Dan: Awwww… that’s not fair.
Brian: Yeah, but that’s sometimes what comes with being a YouTube star at the time.
Dan: I want to give you a chance. I’m giving you a mulligan. I want you to do the highlight for me right now.
Brian: Uh, no thanks.
Dan: Awww, you can’t do the Reggie Miller.
Brian: “The Reggie Miller?” I don’t even know what you’re talking about at this point. (Take that Reggie Miller. You’re dead to Brian.)
Dan: No, no, isn’t that “reggie the man”?
Brian: (pause) Uh I think so. You know honestly it’s been so long, I haven’t even seen the clip for a year or two. (sure…..)
Dan: Oh you haven’t, ok. Reggie became “the man” there, and I even joke with Reggie about being the man.
Brian: Yeah. (translation: Fuck off Dan!)
Dan: Well….
Brian: You actually referred to me as a sports reporter earlier, and actually I’ve switched from that. Now I do news reporting. (Typical radio journalism….Brian’s a serious newshound now. Get it right Dan.)
Dan: You were part of an investigative team in Indianapolis weren’t you? Were you working for the news….
Brian: Yeah, I was an intern with Channel 13 in Indianapolis. Great station. Everybody there was very nice and very good at what they do. Yeah I was allowed to intern there. I worked with Bob Segal and I really got to learn some things. (What are the odds that Bob Segal is a 40-year anchor with a drinking problem who doesn’t allow the interns to make eye contact…until he molests them in the news van? He just got a fear/respect shout out on national radio.)
Dan: You’re going to do news in Waco? You’re not going to do sports?
Brian: Mmmm, that’s correct.
Dan: What if they ask you to fill in though Brian?
Brian: I’ve gotten a lot better. I feel a lot more comfortable if things go wrong. The other day for example, you know, we rarely have things go wrong, but something did… the package dropped at the last minute, and I ended up having to read the whole package on air. People could probably tell that something was going wrong, but I’d say it’s a big difference then when things started out for me. Things go wrong, now I understand the people at home probably…. you know, they’re human. They understand there are technical glitches. I just roll with it.
Dan: And that’s the key because you’ve already gone through what will be the worst part of your career.
Brian: I hope. (Not me…You’re internet gold Brian)
Dan: No, it will, because you know what… to do that as a freshman, to have it out there is one thing. Then all of a sudden you want to stay in this business, and to be able to do it…congratulations. You had to stay with and that shows the perseverance you have to have to be in this business in the first place.
Brian: Well I’ll tell you one of the things that did upset me about it, was that it kind of sparked conversations about what should people be doing in college. (really?) I heard some sports broadcasters on radio (those don’t exist) asking if I should even be up there because I was a freshman. I think it’s not necessarily a yearly sort of thing, where it deals with if you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior…whatever. To me, what surpised me was that I always thought of it as a “are you ready for this” type of thing. You can put somebody that’s been around TV for a long time, but if they’ve never been on TV it’s two different things.
Dan: I agree. Good luck in Waco. I’m up against a commercial break, but congratulations, and thanks for joining us.
Well if you made it through that thing, I have to say I was mostly impressed with Brian. He did say some rambling stuff towards the end that I didn’t really understand and he ducked the Reggie Miller question, but I’m proud of him.
One last note…I worked in radio at the time of the video hitting YouTube, and I never once heard anyone using that video as a platform to discuss putting freshman on college TV stations. Hell I didn’t even know he was a freshman when it happened, until I heard it today.
Nobody cares who they put on college stations except college students. If I was going to take a side, I’d root for the students who would do the worst job possible. I, like every other shitty “radio talent” used it to laugh at another person’s misfortune in broadcasting because I am, and was, a dick like that. It didn’t matter that it was a video, that somehow I thought translated to audio. I got mine.
I now write this blog that 12 people read and the “alternative rock” station I was on plays Barry Manilow. Good for him though for bouncing back.
It’s not the Cavs, but Ball State is close enough to Ohio that I’m counting it. Listen, it’s my blog. Go fuck yourself.
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