The Random Ramblings of a 28-Year Old

Posted on October 9, 2014 by brent

Well friends, this is my first Thursday since turning a year older. However, I am not going to let my senior status get in the way of my weekly tradition of running down random topics. So since I am not getting any younger, how about we get right to this Thursday’s wild menu?

Birthday Recap – Yesterday I celebrated my 28th birthday. After a nice day at work where my co-workers recognized my day of birth, I hustled home to get the evening festivities started. Sidney and I went to an Italian restaurant called Ciao for dinner. Just a little hole-in-the-wall joint on Kings Highway that requires you to make reservations, we arrived for our birthday date at 7:30 p.m. I had chicken limone while Sidney had fettuccine alfredo. We then went back to her place and I opened up my gifts. Next I Skyped with my family as they sang “Happy Birthday” to me right before I blew out the candles on my cake. Ah yes, my cake…Sidney baked what she called a “Candy Bar Cake.” Chocolate with a white frosting mixed with Hershey bars, I had two big slices. I had a very pleasant birthday.

Sidney and I with the Candy Bar Birthday Cake she made me.

Licensed – I am now an official licensed driver of the state of South Carolina! After jumping through some hoops and making three different trips to the DMV, I was finally presented with my South Carolina license plate on Monday. Notice how I just said “plate.” In this state you are only required to have a plate in the back, thus allowing you to have pretty much anything you want in the front. After flirting with the idea of having a custom front plate displaying my social media handle and my blog address, I decided to support my school instead and I purchased a cool looking Coastal Carolina University plate. Although a great conversation starter with total strangers who had never seen Washington state license plates before, I finally removed them on Monday night.

I am not a licensed driver of South Carolina.

I am now a licensed driver of South Carolina.

Weekend Plans – I am ecstatic to return to Clemson this weekend. Just like last Saturday I will be watching a big football game in Memorial Stadium. However, things will be just a tad different. Instead of rocking the Clemson orange again, I will be wearing red as I cheer on the Louisville Cardinals. I have the honor of watching the game with my good friend Kenny Dow. It just so happens that his uncle is Bobby Petrino, the head football coach of Louisville. Kenny is coming to Clemson all the way from Seattle to watch this game! When we meet on Saturday it will be the first time that I have seen someone I actually know since before I made the move to Myrtle Beach. After almost six months living here in the South, it will be nice to see the face of someone familiar.

I purchased this shirt online to wear on Saturday.

Candy Corn M&Ms – On Sunday morning, Sidney and I ate at a Cracker Barrel in Simpsonville, South Carolina. Because of my sweet tooth, I had to purchase a new kind of M&M’s that I spotted in the restaurant’s store. Although I have never liked candy corn, it didn’t stop me from buying a bag of Candy Corn M&M’s. I am happy to report that the candies tasted nothing like candy corn. Instead, it tasted exactly like white chocolate. Although not bad, I still prefer peanut or peanut butter M&M’s.

The package of Candy Corn M&M’s that I purchased.

Niece Update – Mikayla is now five weeks old. After work today I got to Skype her and my sister. The whole time she made cute noises as she laid on her back and moved her little arms all around. Although her grandma reported that she wasn’t very cooperative when she went to get her month old photos taken this past Saturday, she acted like a little angel during our Skype session. Here are some of the most recent images of Mikayla.

Mikayla gets cuter and cuter each week.

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Age is just a number, right? Got to keep telling myself that. I am excited for my first major adventure as a 28-year old this Saturday. Thanks for all the birthday wishes and have a great weekend! Don’t Blink.

A Birthday Tradition at Work

Posted on October 8, 2014 by brent

The Office of University Communication at Coastal Carolina University is a great place to work. One of the many reasons why I enjoy it so much is because of our fun traditions. We hold premiere parties for new shows/videos we release, we go out to lunch each month to celebrate birthdays, and quite often people bring in yummy breakfast items on Fridays. However, there is one tradition that I like the best of all.

Whenever someone in our office has a birthday, our graphics department takes it upon themselves to create a card for that person. I am not talking about a basic piece of paper folded together with some text on it. Rather, I am talking about an elaborate, creative, funny masterpiece.

This was the card made for our Media Coordinator, Mona. As you can tell, it is a play on her name.

Rob, Regis, J.D., and Ron go out of their way to make cards that look awesome and that will make you laugh out loud. Their creations always speak to the birthday celebrant’s personality. If you are lucky enough to work in University Communication, on your birthday you will receive the best card of your life.

This was the card that our Vice President of University Communication (my boss) received. It is a Twitter timeline with tweets from people in the office. There are two other parts to this card with more tweet birthday wishes.

Once printed out, the card is secretly shuffled through our various offices in a red proofing folder for everyone to sign. When everyone has signed it and the time is right, the whole communication team will go to the birthday boy’s/girl’s desk and present the card. The crowd will huddle around the person’s desk and stare. The VIP of the day will then inspect the card, usually busting out in laughter.

Some of my bosses and co-workers waiting for me to open my card.

Today my 28th birthday was made even brighter when I was presented with my card from the “Social Misfits” (aka the graphics department…their words not mine). With the whole office watching my every move it took me two lines of the card before I hollered out in hysteria. Rob and his team came up with a parody of Darius Rucker’s “Homegrown Honey” that was all about me. Piggybacking off of my brief cameo in Rucker’s music video, the card was very timely and appropriate. Please take a minute to read the front.

Here is the front of my card. So funny and creative.

I then opened the card and filling up the whole left fold was a jar of “Homegrown” honey with my face plastered on it. To the right was space where my co-workers and bosses had signed. Even though I knew a card of some sort would be coming my way, I was so ecstatic and honored with what they had come up with.

The inside of my card.

Things like this make Coastal Carolina University such a great place to work at. The effort, creativity, and time that goes into something like this makes you feel special. I will keep this card for as long as it doesn’t get destroyed in a fire. Thank you so much to the graphics team for such a neat gift. Don’t Blink.

My Top Five Emoticon Faces

Posted on October 7, 2014 by brent

On more than one occasion I have written about my affinity for emoticons (here and here). While my love and heavy use for these cartoonish images run deep, there is a subcategory that I am obsessed with the most…the faces! I completely litter my text messages with the fun and silly expressions on yellow circles. Ahhh, the small lengths it takes to entertain me.

I use a wide variety of the faces. However, some particular ones I absolutely abuse. In tonight’s blog post I would like to recognize the five emoticon faces that I use way too much (presented in no particular order):

I am a real big fan of emoticon faces.

The Classic Smiley

Who doesn’t love the classic smiley?

Let me start my list off with the most boring face to dominate my text messages. Even though it is the most prevalent and cliché emoticon, it is a classic and I love what it stands for. You can pretty much say whatever nasty thing you want in a text but if you stick in the classic smiley at the end you are good to go. But that is not the way I utilize it. Rather, I stick in the face to say “okay” or I use it in response to something funny that my texting partner wrote. I will use it if I write something that might sound hostile over text but really isn’t or I will use it at the very end of a texting conversation. You just can’t go wrong with it no matter how you use it.

Tongue Out Winking Smiley

This is a great emoticon for when you are in a silly mood.

I enjoy using this face because I think it is a sillier upgrade on the winky face without the smile. If I am making an especially outrageous joke this is my go-to emoticon. If I want to lighten the mood with someone I also might send a few of these my recipient’s way. I mean how do you dislike this emoticon? It is cute, simple, and fun.

The Scream

The Scream emoticon is my absolute favorite.

Without a doubt, this is by far my most favorite emoticon face. I love the way it looks and I love how it is so dramatic. I really think it carries with it a lot of power. Sometimes I abuse this power and overuse it way too much just because I think it is hilarious to do. But in normal conversation if someone says something surprising or if I drop some breaking news I am sticking it in. With Halloween coming up I will be using It more than usual because it fits the holiday perfectly. If you are reading this right now and you text me The Scream emoticon you will make me smile ear-to-ear.

Mouth Zipped Shut

I am not saying a word.

I find myself using this one quite a bit. Usually I select the mouth zipped shut emoticon face in three situations:
1. I don’t know what to say back to what you said.
2. I am not 100% positive what you said was the truth.
3. I want to end the conversation.

But if I send it your way don’t automatically think I am doing it to be negative. Sometimes I just send it to mess with the other person.

Overdramatic Pouty Face

I get a kick out of the overdramatic faces.

This is another face that I like to use because of its dramatic nature. One glance at it and you can immediately sense hysteria and disappointment. If someone denies me or if they report that something bad happened to them, I like to respond with the overdramatic pouty face. When people send it my way, I always immediately visualize what that face would look like on them if they were actually doing it while sending it off.

Honorable Mention:
Sunglasses Smiley Face

Sunglasses

I have taken a real liking to this emoticon. I will send it completely out of the blue during conversations just because I think it looks cool. This explains the reason why I didn’t place it in my top five; I don’t have a specific use for it, I just send it off because I dig the sunglasses look.

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So there you have it. Please know that it is always acceptable to use emoticons, especially the emoticon faces, with me. Earlier I encouraged you to text me the Scream face. How about we broaden this a little more: If you liked this blog post, send me an emoticon face. If you did not like this blog post, send me the thumbs down emoticon! Oh how I love reader interaction. Don’t Blink.

My Own Segment: The Social Circle with Brent Reser

Posted on October 6, 2014 by brent

To see my segment in Coastal Now, click here and go to the 26:22 mark

Today marked an important day at the Office of University Communication at Coastal Carolina as we released our brand new show titled Coastal Now. This program was the result of countless hours of brainstorming, debating, and collaborating. Intending to appeal more to our student population, we wanted to introduce a modernized version of our former show, Coastal Today. By modifying the show’s format, introducing hipper segments, and rolling out fresh graphics, we achieved our objective.

Here is the funny part: As part of the show’s revamp and the mission to grab the attention of our digitally obsessed students, it was decided that I would receive my own segment.

I was given my own segment. Let me introduce to you the Social Circle with Brent Reser.

Say what?! Like, seriously…I was going to be trusted with developing my own social media segment?…For the University’s news program?…And then actually present it on camera? Talk about an intimidating and humbling proposition! Although a little timid to come up with a package and then nervous to tape it on set, I went ahead and accepted the opportunity because of the amazing team I have around me.

The week before filming, I sat down with Martha Hunn, our Director of News and Public Affairs. A former hot-shot news anchor in the Myrtle Beach/Conway area, I knew I was in good hands as we started to plan my segments. Using an idea-sharing approach we talked out the beginning and end of my first two show packages. After our discussion, half my script was written in Martha’s iPad. She then gave me the freedom to write the meat of my segments myself. With the great start she gave me, I filled in the middle portions and my first two scripts for Coastal Now were complete.

The next week at the studio I felt a little nervous as I waited in the greenroom area. I watched our host of Coastal Now, Robin Russell, film her pieces and interview a couple guests. It was then time for me. I walked into the filming area and stood in front of the green screen. Our media services crew cued me and I hit it. I stumbled a couple times resulting in new takes. However, the whole time throughout the shoot I had Martha and Robin rooting me on and assuring me that I was doing a decent job. To have two veterans of the news business in your corner makes things so much easier. You know what else makes things easier? A teleprompter! It was so nice to read a script with no fear of your brain turning off and your voice disappearing.

Me on set of Coastal Now.

All the times in the past when I had gotten in front of a camera I always dreaded the end product. However, after filming my first segments for Coastal Now I actually felt good about what the outcome would be. To make it even better, I had a great time during the filming. This past Friday our office had a premiere party in the studio. We sat around a TV and munched on snacks while watching the historic first show of Coastal Now. The finished product was amazing. Our media services team did such a great job shooting and piecing the show together. Segments were fresh and fun. The 30 minute show seemed to fly by. They even managed to make me look somewhat respectable. It was cool to see a group work so hard on something and have their efforts pay off.

If you care to watch me, the Social Circle with Brent Reser starts at 26:22. I want to thank Martha Hunn, Robin Russell, David Russell, Bryan Stalvey, and Josh Chesson for the help with creating/filming/producing my segment and for all the encouragement. This so far has been a great experience and I can’t wait to help out with more shows. Don’t Blink.

My Clemson Football Experience

Posted on October 5, 2014 by brent

I celebrated my birthday weekend doing what I would want to do more than anything else: Watching football. To make the occasion even sweeter my pleasure was maximized as I just didn’t get to “watch football.” Rather, I had the opportunity to travel to a major college football destination for an awesome gameday experience.

Early Saturday morning, Sidney and I hit the road for Clemson, South Carolina. My girlfriend had arranged the whole day for me with tailgating, Clemson vs. North Carolina State game tickets, and hotel reservations. The five hour drive seemed to go quickly as we arrived in Clemson at around 11:30 a.m. After we parked, we walked through campus by legions of tailgating fans before we converged on the tailgate of the father of Sidney’s brother-in-law.

When we were walking to our tailgate, we went past the stadium. I snapped this photo.

Affectionately referred to as “Papa Stanley,” we hung out at his tailgate while enjoying deep fried pork chops, chicken strips, macaroni cheese, and cold beverages. After filling our stomachs, we went to the most popular public tailgate spot at Clemson, the Esso Club. A former gas station, the place is now a famous bar that throws one heck of a party on Clemson football Saturdays. Sidney and I went up on this wood stage structure that overlooked all the tables and activity outside. With a bucket of beer in front of us and a television showing the day’s games behind us, we people-watched and had a great time.

This was the view that Sidney and I had at Esso Club.

Upon leaving Esso Club we made a quick return stop at Papa Stanley’s tailgate and then went right to Clemson Memorial Stadium. We had to hustle a little bit but we got inside the stadium and made it to our seats right before the team took part in the most heralded Clemson tradition: Running Down the Hill. If you haven’t heard of it, the Clemson football team makes its pregame entrance by literally running down a hill located behind one of the end zones as orange balloons fly in the air. Sidney made sure I got to see this iconic college football tradition.

We made it to our seats just in time for the team to run down the hill.

Our seats were located about 20 rows up on the 30-yard line. Take into consideration that the stadium holds 81,000 people and you can probably understand that we had amazing seats. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Kickoff was at 3:30 p.m. and the sun was shining the whole time on a 65 degree afternoon. The stadium was a complete sea of orange, making it a really cool atmosphere to watch a game in. The video board was crystal clear and the game presentation well done. In-game advertisements and sponsorship promotions were just like what you see (and as plentiful) at any other college football stadium. While not the loudest venue, the fans were very passionate and the school’s signature C-L-E-M-S-O-N cheer was always done with great enthusiasm. Fans were also very nice. One woman showed Sidney and I where our seats were and throughout the game the people around us offered up high-fives in our direction.

This was the view from our seats.

There were lots of high-fives to go around. Clemson obliterated North Carolina State, 41-0. We enjoyed watching several highlight reel type plays including a record-tying feat by one of the best defensive players in the country. Right at the part of the field where our seats were, Clemson defensive end Vic Beasley tied the school sack record by leveling the Wolfpack quarterback causing a fumble in which he caught in mid-air and returned for a touchdown. Yep, there was a lot to cheer about throughout the game. My favorite in-game stadium moment came between the third and fourth quarter when the video board showed a sweet video of the Clemson players going through strenuous workouts both in the weight room and on the football field. After numerous instances of student-athletes depicted pushing the limits the team’s “All-In” slogan flashed and the words “Fourth Quarter” appeared. It was a great way to pump up the crowd and show that the Tigers had trained all year for the most important quarter of a football game.

Sid and I in our seats. We had such a great time!

Despite the blowout, we stayed until the very end of the game. Walking back to the car we passed by countless fans getting ready for post-game tailgating. Traffic was heavy and it took us a long time to get out of the Clemson area. We drove for about 50 miles before settling in a town called Simpsonville for the night. Sidney and I went to Applebee’s where we watched the late college football games and recounted the day’s experience. This morning after breakfast at Cracker Barrel we traveled back to Myrtle Beach. I had an amazing trip and am so thankful to Sidney for putting it together. Clemson has a great thing going on! Don’t Blink.

Bo-Berry Biscuits, Clemson Football, World Series, Pecan, Mikayla

Posted on October 2, 2014 by brent

It is Thursday again! That means two really good things:
1. Tomorrow is Friday!
2. It is time for my Thursday rundown.
So how about we get this over with as quickly as possible? Here are five topics for you.

Famous Treat of the South – I recently wrote about my top five favorite fast food places. Cracking the bottom of that list was Bojangles, a chicken restaurant chain down here in the South. While I have enjoyed the standard fare for both dinner and breakfast, I had neglected to try its most famous item: The Bo-Berry biscuit. Today, Joanna, our editor at Coastal Carolina, brought in a couple boxes of the delicacy. Even though my body didn’t need for me to indulge, I grabbed one of the football shaped pastries and brought it to my desk. I savored every single bite of that frosted berry biscuit. I immediately knew why the item is so popular.

I took one of these Bo-Berry biscuits right out of this box!

Weekend Trip to Clemson – This weekend Sidney is taking me on a birthday getaway to Clemson, South Carolina, for some ACC football. The Clemson Tigers will be hosting North Carolina State on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Our plan is to wake up super early on Saturday, drive over, experience the tailgating scene, enjoy the game, and then stay the night. We will head back to the Beach on Sunday morning. As many of you know, I love seeing different stadiums, no matter how small or big. I can’t wait to see the gameday experience that Clemson has to offer. Ironically, I will be returning to Clemson the following weekend for the game against Louisville. But more on that later.

Tickets and parking pass for this weekend’s game.

World Series Pick – The Major League Baseball playoffs are here! Both wild card games ended in disappointment for me so I am hoping my luck turns around now that the actual playoff series begin. My preference (and semi-prediction) for the 2014 World Series? Bring on the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers! Because I saw the Orioles play a couple games in their own ballpark this year, I am going to root for them. Last year I saw the Boston Red Sox play in their own ballpark and they won the World Series so I am seeing if I am some type of good luck charm. As for the Dodgers, I have always been a fan and I would love to see Clayton Kershaw pitch on that stage. I would also love to see World Series games inside of Dodger Stadium, my second favorite ballpark in the Majors.

Pecan or Pecan? – As I have written about before, living in a new area has introduced me to different ways of pronouncing words and to the proliferation of different accents. There is one word, however, that divides our office more than any other: Pecan. Including me, half of our office pronounces it Pee-CON. The other half pronounce it Pee-CAN. I will be the first one to admit it, the way that I say it is not how it is spelled. The way that my southern co-workers pronounce it (Pee-CAN) is technically textbook correct. I might have to change my family-taught way of saying the word phonically incorrectly. How do you say PECAN?

Mikayla Update/Photos – A couple nights ago I got to Skype with my brand new niece Mikayla while my mom fed her. She is now four weeks old and cuter than ever. My sister sends me constant Snap Chat videos and photos of her. My dad e-mails me images on a consistent basis. Technology really does a noble job of bridging the distance gap but I am excited to see her this Thanksgiving.

Mikayla keeps getting cuter and cuter each day.

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Have a great weekend everyone. Make sure to listen to “Homegrown Honey” by Darius Rucker because it is an awesome song with an even more awesome music video. Shake it down to your roots! Don’t Blink.

How Should I Utilize Yik Yak?

Posted on September 30, 2014 by brent

The newest social media phenomenon, especially when it comes to the area that I specialize in, is here. If you haven’t heard of it yet, you will very soon. Yik Yak is a community messaging service that has taken college campuses across the country by storm. Of those universities heavily engaged in the service, Coastal Carolina University is one of them. Before I go any further, let me explain the twist of Yik Yak…

It is completely anonymous.

Get used to seeing this, it is the Yik Yak logo.

The service is organized by communities. A community is an area defined by a 10-mile radius. If you fit within those parameters, you can communicate with other smart phone possessing folks also in that area. Visualize a Twitter feed for a second. This is similar to how content is displayed in Yik Yak. However, the major wrinkle is that instead of a handle identifying who the message is from, there is absolutely nothing to distinguish who says what. It is a complete free-for-all of text streaming up and down the screen with no one to attribute the content to.

When a user posts something on Yik Yak, it is called a Yak. Users can respond to Yaks. They can also vote Yaks up and down. If a Yak is supposedly voted down enough it is deleted from the community. Rules state that you can’t post phone numbers, bully other users, or fill communities with spam.

Before you download Yik Yak on your smart device let me warn you…it is not for the faint of heart. Realize that you have college students releasing every thought that enters their head with the knowledge that whatever they say is completely anonymous and carries with it absolutely no consequences. As you can probably imagine, communities that are especially active are filled with heavy sexual content, drug references, and bad language. But if you can get past all that, Yik Yak is pretty fun.

After a lot of searching, this was one stream of Yaks that I could post that weren’t inappropriate. This is from the Coastal Carolina peak and it gives you a feel for what Yik Yak is all about.

This past weekend when I was in Columbia for ESPN College Gameday I was following the University of South Carolina Yik Yak community pretty intensely. It was a lot of fun seeing what others were saying about the Gameday experience and I was enjoying interacting with fellow users. It made the waiting process go by much quicker.

However, when it comes to the school that I work for, I don’t utilize it to socialize. In fact, to be completely honest, I haven’t yet developed a social media strategy for Yik Yak yet at Coastal Carolina University. Rather, I am still experimenting with it and seeing which direction I want to take. For the past several weeks I have sprinkled CCU updates and marketing messages within our community. These Yaks have garnered both positive responses and sarcastic comments from fellow users. The main problem for someone in my position is that my Yaks carry no more credibility or significance than the dude sending out Yaks regarding the inappropriate things he wants to do to the girl in the dining hall. Whereas with every other social media service I am able to take on the respected identity of Coastal Carolina University, with Yik Yak I am just regarded as a nerd sending out G-rated messages.

For any social media marketer to turn a blind eye to Yik Yak would be a major mistake, especially those working on college campuses. Coastal Carolina University has a presence on this new service that is very involved. It is now my job to figure out the best way for CCU to effectively enter the discussion. Any ideas would be appreciated. Don’t Blink.

Making the Cut: My Cameo in Darius Rucker’s Music Video

Posted on September 29, 2014 by brent

This morning I had the opportunity to stand in front of the cameras and record a couple segments for our news program at Coastal Carolina University. Afterwards, I tweeted out a couple images of the shoot. These photos, along with my recent cameo on College Gameday, resulted in a local reporter tweeting at me saying that I was becoming famous. I tweeted back something silly and then started to eat lunch.

This Twitter exchange would become pretty ironic just a few minutes after it took place.

Right in the middle of eating my peanut butter sandwich I received a tweet from a Darius Rucker fan account (@DRucker_Fandom) notifying me that the music video for “Homegrown Honey” had been released and that I was famous (after the concert in August, I provided the account with some photos I took and since then they have always liked me). If you remember, I participated in the filming of the video with no promises that I would actually ever appear. Eating lunch with me was my co-worker Kim. I told her to pull right up beside me and I clicked the link to watch the video.

I was alerted that the video had been released by the Twitter account @DRucker_Fandom

We watched eagerly as the music video started to play. We pointed out different things and places that we recognized as the video unfolded. Halfway through the song, the big question on whether I would make the cut for Darius Rucker’s newest music video was answered. At the 1:42 mark right when the Homegrown Honey character takes a selfie with Darius you can clearly see me on the right side of the screen with a goofy looking grin spread across my face. It was kind of exciting.

I had my two seconds of “fame” at the 1:42 mark of the Homegrown Honey video.

It is not like if you didn’t know me that you would ever notice my presence in the shot. I am on screen for all but two seconds. If you are a girl you are looking right at Darius and if you are a guy you are looking straight at the Homegrown Honey. No time to notice the awkward looking dude in the far right portion of the screen. But I made the video and that is what counts…definitely a moment that made my day.

Of course the real story in this all is the superb way in which Coastal Carolina University is showcased. Aside from the bar scene, the entirety of the video is shot in our HTC Center. In the hallway shots you can clearly see the Chanticleer logo. You get a great view of the arena when it is just Darius and his band members playing right into the camera. You get a taste of the atmosphere that was generated by our community during the concert shots. And throughout the whole video, whether it was in the hallway or in the crowd shots, our students were featured front and center. Not many college campuses can say a musician of Darius Rucker’s stature filmed a music video on their campus.

The video “Homegrown Honey” produced some priceless shots showcasing Coastal Carolina University.

After all the excitement in our office settled down and the video was no longer playing on every computer in our department, I tweeted out the still shot of me in the video. It didn’t take long for my reporter friend to tweet back at me. Hmmmmm…maybe she is on to something. Don’t Blink.

Needless to say, I knew this tweet was coming.

My ESPN College Gameday Experience

Posted on September 28, 2014 by brent

Like any sports fan, I grew up on ESPN’s College Gameday. I count it as my favorite television show. Last Sunday when the network announced that the show would be broadcast from the campus of the University of South Carolina I knew I needed to go. Even with work commitments later on that Saturday, I told myself right then and there that I would be making the 2.5 hour trip from Myrtle Beach to Columbia, South Carolina, for the best program in sports.

Yesterday I woke up bright and early at 3 a.m. By the time 4 a.m. rolled around, Sidney and I were on the road to Columbia. We arrived on the South Carolina campus at around 6:30 a.m. and walked to an area called “The Horseshoe” where the broadcast of College Gameday was going to take place. With it still dark out we walked past a large fountain and buildings before we converged on the Horseshoe. It was then that I saw true beauty: The College Gameday set.

My first glimpse of the Gameday set upon entering the Horseshoe.

Although not as many as I expected, there was still a good showing of South Carolina students staking out spots around the set. The set consisted of the elevated main portion in the middle where the cast conducts most of the broadcast. Then on each side of the main area was a smaller set complimented with a large screen that would feature the live feed of the broadcast once it started.

A view of the side stage that was closest to us.

At the Horseshoe you could stand in several different spots, as areas were formed with Home Depot padding. Of course the most prominent place to be was the pit, the area right behind the stage. After realizing that the pit was open to the general public, Sidney and I went over to enter it. Initially I was denied entrance because I had a camera. Thanks to Sidney, she hid my camera and her purse (which was also prohibited) in her coat and we made it through on our second attempt. We found a standing spot about halfway up in the pit and the waiting game for the 9 a.m. broadcast started.

Sidney and I waiting for the show to start.

At around 8:15 a.m. a spunky female DJ took the auxiliary stage right next to where we were standing and started spinning beats to get the crowd pumped up. At about the same time, Chris Fowler (host of Gameday) came on stage in a t-shirt and shorts to check out the crowd. Anticipation started to build. David Pollack, a contributing member of the Gameday cast, came on stage to give a Sportscenter report. The former Georgia Bulldog was booed heavily. The show producer informed us that they would start taking some shots to use throughout the day. With cameras flying over our heads everyone got loud and proudly displayed their signs with hopes of getting on TV.

A look at one of the cameras that would fly by.

Ahhh yes, the signs. Throughout the whole morning it would be a constant struggle for the security team to remove inappropriate messages. Taking a team approach, a security guard would push through the crowd while receiving directions via radio on where the questionable sign was located. Upon finding the student with the boneheaded piece of poster board the security personnel would make no apologies about confiscating it. I saw one security guard angrily bulldoze through the crowd and bang the hard hat of a student (Home Depot is the show sponsor and they distribute orange hard hats) from behind to get his attention before ripping the sign from his hand.

Some of the signs behind us.

As the show was minutes away from starting the cast started to come on stage. Chris Fowler (now in a suit), Lee Corso, and Desmond Howard came on relatively at the same time. Corso worked the crowd a little bit as he raised both the South Carolina and Missouri helmets before kissing the Gamecocks one. Kirk Herbstreit walked onto the stage a few minutes after everyone else. The producer gave us some instructions for the big opening shots of the show and then just like that it was lights, camera, action!

Lee Corso getting ready for the show to start.

By the time College Gameday started, it was packed all around us. As it was live television, the show went on pretty much in the exact same way in-person as it would if you were watching it on TV. During the commercial breaks the DJ would play music and do her best to keep the crowd energized. Her effort wasn’t enough for everyone. Students who partied a little too hard in the wee hours of the morning started to leave their prime spots in the pit and go home. There was a period where they were dropping like flies. This allowed Sidney and I to make our way to the front. With the show at the 90 minute halfway mark, we were pretty close to the stage. By 11 a.m. we were second row. Sidney would become front row at about 11:30 a.m.

Front row at College Gameday.

Thankfully we made it super close in time for guest-picker Kenny Chesney to perform live (whose song “Don’t Blink” is the inspiration for the title of this blog). Only one problem: He was on the auxiliary stage exact opposite to us. With the South Carolina and Missouri spirit squads filling the space that would have allowed us to see Kenny, we got a poor view of his “American Kids” performance. It really was the only disappointing part of the morning.

With the Spirit Squads of both schools filling our sight of vision to Kenny Chesney it was tough to see his performance.

As I mentioned, by the final hour of the show we had positioned ourselves in prime territory. Not only were we a stone’s throw away from the stage but we were also getting on camera. By the time the most popular College Gameday segment came on, the show ending prediction portion, I was right in line of the camera’s fire. When the camera shot of Kenny Chensey and Lee Corso would go live, there was me waving and smiling. When Corso gave his show ending, exclamation mark South Carolina-Missouri prediction and the camera zoomed out to show him, Chesney, and Herbstreit, you could see me videoing the madness with my phone. With the crowd fired up by Corso’s erroneous thought that the Gamecocks would beat the Tigers (Missouri would win 21-20) the broadcast officially ended and the big screens went dark. Chris Fowler then turned around to face the masses and thanked us all for coming out.

Follow the arrow and that is me during the best time of College Gameday.

ESPN College Gameday was an amazing experience for me! I loved the atmosphere and I loved watching the production side of what goes into creating the best show in sports. This was a bucket list item for myself and I am so happy that Sidney agreed to accompany me during it. My love for College Gameday is even more intensified now and I can’t wait to watch it next week. Don’t Blink.

At the end of the broadcast I found the Washington State flag waver and got a photo with him and the famous flag.

Bonus Notes:
– Besides passing out hard hats throughout the show, staffers also handed out t-shirts.
– I tweeted out a photo of a sign that read “We Want Washington State.” It was picked up by WSU fans and the photo went viral on fan sites of the school.
– Speaking of Washington State, I took a photo with the man who waved the Cougar flag during the broadcast. It is a College Gameday tradition for the flag to be at every site each week.
– We left for Columbia at 4 a.m. and made it back to Myrtle Beach just before 4 p.m. I worked the Coastal Carolina game later that evening.
-Following the South Carolina Yik-Yak peak on this particular day was a lot of fun.
– The best video segment of the show was the one that chronicled life for the wives of the SEC football coaches.
– For the most part, everyone around me was really cool.
– The Missouri cheer squad members were really gracious and took lots of photos for South Carolina students in the first couple of rows.
– Sidney and I were in an up close shot with about 10 other people that was supposed to welcome viewers back when the show returned from commercial break but it was killed by the show’s producers.

The camera ready to shoot us but we never made it to air.

Jeter, Intern, Bachelor Food, Football, and Mikayla

Posted on September 25, 2014 by brent

It is Thursday and after a break from the norm last week, I am back with my typical Thursday night random rundown. This week’s edition might be as insignificant and boring as ever so read below only if you have two minutes of your life to waste. Here we go…

Derek Jeter – I piped up at the halfway point of the Major League Baseball campaign and I am going to sound off again since the end of the regular season is just about here. The Derek Jeter farewell tour went way too far. I dare to even say borderline ridiculous. The whole MLB season was a devotion to Jeter. It was completely about his stats, completely about his stadium gifts, completely about his press conferences, completely about his every at-bat…completely about Derek. The man was christened a god. And for what? Because he stayed with the same team and put up Hall of Fame stats? As a Yankees fan myself, I hate to say that I am a little bit relieved that New York won’t be in the playoffs this October simply because it will end the Jeter hysteria.

Intern Help – The #CCUSocialMedia program got better this week as my brand new student intern started work for me. A couple weeks ago we held interviews to bring on someone who can assist me with our social media campaigns and goals at Coastal Carolina University. Jada Bynum worked her first day on Monday and I am so happy to have her on board. She is a Wall Fellows student which means she is one of the very top students at CCU and a much better person than I ever will be. Jada will take over Pinterest/Snapchat/Google+, contribute content to all of our social channels, and help me with all the essential tasks that go into building and maintaining a social media program. My number one hope for her is that she gets a great look at what goes into the social media marketer profession.

Take-In-Bake-Pizza – What is one reason you know you are a bachelor? You bring home a large take-in-bake pizza, cook it, and then eat off of it for a few days. When I moved to Myrtle Beach I was distressed to find out that there are no Papa Murphy’s locations. I salivate just upon thinking of the take-in-bake stuffed meat pizza I used to always get that would feed me for four days. However, I have had to adjust, and thankfully Costco offers a suitable alternative. After I finish this blog post I am heading to my refrigerator to pull out my Tupperware container filled with the pepperoni Costco pizza I baked last night. With take-in-bake pizza, it just gets better and better each night after you originally cooked it.

Me with my container of take-in-bake pepperoni Costco pizza.

Football In, Movies Out – For a few months I was watching close to 4-5 movies a week. This has now changed. Hello football season!! With college ball and the NFL now in full swing, my evenings are no longer filled with awful Redbox movies but rather hard hitting football played under the lights. Thanks to Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football (an NFL game and at least one college game played), and of course Saturday evening college football I now have little use for movies. There is always at least one nationally televised college game on Friday night as well. Pretty soon, the Wednesday night college football games will be starting too! I always take the greatest game on the planet over movies.

Mikayla – My niece is now one day shy of three weeks old. Mikayla has been doing great and is gaining weight. I am just two months away from meeting her. The other day I got to Skype with the little baby! Here are some of her latest photos.

Here are some of the latest shots of Mikayla.

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Well, you all know what I am going to do now…eat pizza and watch football! Have a great weekend and be safe. Don’t Blink.

Don't Blink

By Brent Reser