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Calling Them Out

May 10, 2012 by

I’ll admit it, Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen is quite a catchy tune. But, who thought the song would catch on among NCAA teams in a wave of lip sync videos this spring?

A quick YouTube search provides the evidence of some VERY creative examples.

The Harvard baseball team got a lot of public love (hello, SportsCenter!) for their road trip skit. (I am awaiting the response video from the guy sleeping.  Come on, dude…you OWE it to us!)

Monmouth women's lacrosse players act out Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen...in an airport!

But there are other, equally entertaining videos that we found. Check them out below:

And women’s lacrosse teams are serious about this:

These videos continue to prove one thing – there are many creative and fun student-athletes out there! The view numbers on these videos are impressive: Harvard baseball sits far above the rest with over 2 million views, while most of the others hover in the 12,000 range. Not only is that a lot of exposure for the schools they represent, it is also a unique kind of organic exposure, which the school itself could not master. These creative student-athletes are proud of the universities they represent both on the field and in videos like these.

In this day of everyone worrying about what student-athletes may or may not do on their social media platforms, we should lift up the ones who do it well. We should use them as examples of how social media can be healthy and fun.

So, here you go…these teams did it!

Now if I could just get that song out of my head.

UPDATE: Stetson baseball posts their video.

Have other team lip sync videos? Send them my way!

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Making a ‘Splash’ on YouTube

November 13, 2010 by

Ever think you would see your campus president in a swimsuit? What about in front of a third of the student body? And all for a good cause? Well, you can think again, thanks to a group of DePauw University seniors challenging their president, Dr. Brian Casey, to a swimming race for what started as some old-fashioned competition but turned into a $5,000 venture for the senior class gift fund.

“I tend to talk a big game, but when it comes to swimming, I think Dr. Casey has the same personality as I do. He told me any stroke, any distance – he would beat me,” remembered Alex Kriegshauser, the senior responsible for instigating the challenge.

Dr. Casey has room to talk. The former Division I swimmer was a captain while competing for Notre Dame and continues to swim most mornings with DePauw’s Division III swimming teams.

An added element of intrigue (which helps this story become relevant to this blog, mind you) is how this challenge played out in the world of social media.

After the challenge was set, the confident president took some unique initiative and issued a dose of pressure to the competitors via YouTube.

“I went to one our students who was working on another video project and I said, ‘I need to make a trash talk video for this’ and we did it completely on the fly,” Casey said.

Here is Casey’s challenge:

So, it was official. This little idea for a swimming challenge was bound to be something bigger – and so it became the Splash for Cash.  It needed rules. It needed a goal. And most importantly…it needed a rivalry!

The Rules: Casey and Kriegshauser agreed on the rules: Kriegshauser could field a team of four swimmers to compete against Casey in a 100 meter swim. Casey, though, made sure that no current or former DePauw student-athletes were on the team as an effort to make the race more fair.

The Goal: It was determined that the loser would have to find a way to get $5,000 into the senior class gift fund: Casey would write a check, and Kriegshauser would be responsible for coordinating fundraising opportunities to reach the $5,000 mark before graduation.

The Rivalry: Kriegshauser just couldn’t let Casey have the last word, so he enlisted his production crew and issued a response. From the front steps of Casey’s house, nonetheless.

The videos caught on and the challenge eventually became a big campus event.

“Once the videos went up, you could feel the event explode,” Casey said. “The night of the race, we were turning students away at the door because the facility only seats 380.”

Well, the outcome of race didn’t work in Casey’s favor, and he will be warming up his check-writing hand soon.  But aside from showing his competitive side, he also solidified himself as a forward-thinking, humorous guy that can still rock a Speedo with confidence.

And chances are this isn’t the last challenge we will see on video.

“Hopefully he will call for a rematch soon.  Maybe he can get a faculty team to take on our student team,” taunted Kriegshauser.

“This story is not finished, yet,” Casey replied.

“This was my first communication to our students on YouTube and it certainly won’t be the last.”

Sounds like a “stay tuned” is in order.

Watch the race.

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Something to believe in

October 30, 2010 by

On Saturday, Oct. 16, Eric LeGrand’s life changed in a way that nobody could be prepared for. As widely reported, the Rutgers defensive tackle became paralyzed from the neck down after an attempted tackle in the game versus Army.

Rutgers Athletics

Click to leave your message for Eric LeGrand.This sobering story shocked football fans across the country who are holding on to hope that this young man will make a recovery. The outpouring of well-wishes was fast and furious, and Rutgers had to do something to capture them all so that they were collected for LeGrand and his family.

Almost immediately, the Rutgers athletic department set up a message page on the athletics website where fans near and far could send their thoughts, hopes, prayers and well-wishes to LeGrand.

Just one week after the incident, this message page had been “liked” on Facebook over 7,000 times and retweeted on Twitter nearly 1,000 times. Now there are Facebook and Twitter pages where you can buy a wristband to show your support.

We all see the power of the internet when it comes to distributing bad, disturbing or sensational news. How refreshing that this power has been harnessed for something so good and powerful as uplifting this young man in the middle of battle he truly cannot fight alone.

To send your message, visit http://scarletknights.com/football/eric/getwell.asp.

Eric LeGrand Believe Fund: scarletknights.com/believe/

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Kentucky’s Tip of the Week helps explain NCAA-speak

October 21, 2010 by

Follow Kentucky on Twitter.

It is no secret that the NCAA Manual can be a little confusing when it comes to decoding rules. There are exceptions and interpretations, subtopics and figures, limitations and waivers…it can be a little overwhelming to the untrained eye. Compliance directors across the country have the tall task of knowing the legislation and the even taller task of making sure their athletics staff members know the rules, too.

Heather McAtee, the director of compliance at the University of Kentucky, has found that it is much easier to educate the Kentucky athletics staff on NCAA legislation by incorporating a little fun. She uses her creativity and a few different forms of technology to get her ever-important points across.

“We work with a dry topic. Saying the rules over and over doesn’t help with retention.  We didn’t want to put on a lecture, but instead we needed a fun and light weight way to educate,” said McAtee.

“If they get it free or reduced, to the bench they will be introduced!
A student-athlete may not receive a special discount, payment arrangement or credit on a purchase or a service from an institutional employee or a representative of its athletics interests.
Any benefit must be available to the general student population in order for it not to be classified as an extra benefit.” - Kentucky Tip of the Week, July 2010.

When she came to Kentucky in 2006, McAtee continued a practice she learned while working at Florida State University; emailing regular compliance updates to the entire athletics department. These updates turned into a weekly email where she tried to put NCAA rules into a fun and easy to remember format – rhymes! Her short, yet complete rhymes became the material for her weekly “Tip of the Week” emails she sends out to the athletics list serve, which even reaches the athletics grounds crew.

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“She does a great job of keeping our athletics department and coaching staffs informed throughout the year. You’d be amazed at how a simple rhyme can make things easier to remember,” said University of Kentucky assistant men’s basketball coach Orlando Antigua.

With the evolution of social media, McAtee made her tips viral by posting to the Kentucky compliance Facebook page and Twitter feed. The Facebook page now has more than 600 likes and the Twitter feed has over 1600 followers, which means fans and boosters are likely getting the message, too.

“Rules aren’t necessarily applicable for fans, but it is good for them to know and they want to know,” explained McAtee. “In fact, we are one of the few compliance departments where fans actually know the names of staff members.”

Unconventional, yes.

McAtee, like all compliance directors, knows how important it is for everyone to know the rules. She also knows how important it is for everyone to remember the rules.

“People will actually repeat the rhymes to me when they see me in the hall,” said McAtee.

Memorable, you better believe it.

And that is the point.

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