Getting On GameDay
MIAC Media Blog Feature courtesy of Matt
Higgins - MIAC Assistant Executive Director
Complete MIAC Media Blog feature can be found here
December 3, 2013-- Hello MIAC friends. It's been an extremely busy fall, and unfortunately that means fewer MIAC Media Blog posts than I'd like. Hopefully you've all been tuning into the outstanding MIAC Weekly Podcast with Mike Gallagher in the meantime to get your MIAC Media fix and checking out all the content on our web site.
Complete MIAC Media Blog feature can be found here
December 3, 2013-- Hello MIAC friends. It's been an extremely busy fall, and unfortunately that means fewer MIAC Media Blog posts than I'd like. Hopefully you've all been tuning into the outstanding MIAC Weekly Podcast with Mike Gallagher in the meantime to get your MIAC Media fix and checking out all the content on our web site.
The blog returns today with a feature I've been sitting on for
awhile. The 2013 MIAC football season - which is still going thanks
to Bethel's postseason victories - was both successful and
extremely fun. It's been well-documented that our teams went 16-2
against nonconference competition (18-2 if you add in Bethel's
Playoff wins) this season. We had four teams ranked in the Top 25
for much of the year, and at one point had five teams all ranked in
the top 30. In a conference known for its outstanding football, the
2013 may have been one of the best.
However, one of the biggest highlights of the season occurred
not on the field - but on national TV. ESPN College GameDay - the
network's big Saturday pregame show with a cult-like following -
paid a visit just outside MIAC country with a trip to Fargo, N.D.
When that was announced, Concordia Sports Information Director Jim
Cella started brainstorming how he could possibly get the Cobbers -
and their big rivalry game with St. Olaf which was on that
Saturday's schedule - featured on a show that rarely - if ever -
takes a break from its NCAA FBS coverage to mention Division
III.
Cella worked some magic via social media, connecting with the
show's host, Chris Fowler, and when Saturday arrived, there was
"The Troll" trophy that is awarded to the Concordia-St. Olaf winner
on the set, as well as a small replica of the Cobber mascot. Lee
Corso - famous for his predictions on the show - even picked the
Cobbers to win, which they did later that afternoon.
That level of exposure is almost never achieved by schools or
conferences our size, so it was fascinating to see it all unfold on
Twitter and then on my TV on Saturday morning. Following it all, I
caught up with Cella to find out all the details of how he pulled
off such a Cobber coup. It's a fascinating tale of perseverance and
the always-growing power of social media. Here's a
behind-the-scenes look at how "The Troll" and "Kernel Cobb" ended
up on ESPN's flagship show.
MIAC MEDIA: Take me through the initial idea and the communications. When did you get the idea to reach out to GameDay, and did you expect them to respond?
CELLA: "I just wanted to get
something in the Fargo Forum that week [about the Concordia-St.
Olaf game], because I knew it would be all about NDSU. We're
playing St. Olaf for our conference opener, so I just wanted to get
something in the paper. Eric [Peterson, Forum sports reporter] had
talked about doing a feature on one of the players. I knew it would
get buried, so I talked to him about The Troll. I had the
background from the alumni, the guy who actually purchased it. I
asked him, 'What about this? It's kinda off the wall and has never
been done before.' He thought it was pretty cool, and then I could
tell it was something I could run with. That's when it started to
gain speed.
I knew people at the TV station up here had been in contact
with the producers at GameDay. I asked if I could get the
producer's email address. We're always on the ESPN list of mascots.
I pitched the idea to their producer that WDAY had been in contact
with. I pitched the mascot thing and The Troll trophy. She emailed
me back, which I was even surprised to get. She said they'd talk it
over with the production staff. That was Monday. I hadn't heard
something Tuesday, so I deduced to throw it out at [Chris] Fowler
and I Tweeted out the picture of The Troll. I didn't expect to hear
anything but then 15 minutes later he Tweeted back at me and said,
'What the hell is that?' I first thought, 'Who is playing a joke on
me? Chris Fowler doesn't Tweet me back.' So then I wrote him back
and he said if we could verify it, they'd put it on the show.
I wrote the producer back, and told them Fowler was interested. She said they'd talk about it in a production meeting and get back to me. I hadn't heard back from them on Thursday so I decided to go back at Fowler with one last attempt. I tweeted out my Hail Mary pass to try and get The Troll on GameDay. I told him it's been verified and that was the day it was in the Forum. Front page. Huge story. I sent him the link to the story. I hashtagged it '#bestdougflutiepass.' I wanted to put in the football connection, and that's when he Tweeted me, 'Yep, bring it to Fargo.'
When he tweeted me back on Tuesday, it blew up around here.
The media picked it up and ran with it. I had Bison fans tweeting
me telling me not to bring it and [GameDay] was their
spotlight.
Fowler direct messaged me and said he'd talk it over with the
producer and I should direct message him back. So I wrote him
Friday and got nothing back. So then I took a picture of a bunch of
Cobber gear, and I Tweeted at him: 'Cobber swag for you and your
crew if you get The Troll on GameDay.' He direct messaged me back
and said, 'How early can you be there?' I ended up going at about
5:30 a.m."
MIAC MEDIA: What was it like when Chris Fowler started to respond, and the media started to take notice?
CELLA: "It was all the TV.
Up here all the TV and their sports anchors are all on Twitter and
they use it, which is great for me. They got a hold of it. One of
the biggest ones, we have a radio show host Mike McFeely. He's got
a huge fan following so he picked it up and asked Bison fans what
they thought of the troll getting on Gameday? He was trying to stir
things up and he got people going. He wrote to me then, and I wrote
him back and he put that on his blog. Eric Peterson has a blog too
and it was on there. They do a thing on the web site for things
that don't appear in the paper. Any time there was any response or
communication, [Peterson] would put it there on the site. On campus
I was getting calls and people were wondering if we'd really get on
GameDay. That was great, but it spiraled into this huge thing and I
was trying to get my normal work done. It was all anyone wanted to
talk about. It was great and it was a lot of fun.
For me, I just wanted to make The Troll a bigger deal. Up
until three or four years ago no one really cared about it. It was
just a funny little thing we hand out. We got rid of our trophy
game with Moorhead State, and I love those rivalry trophy games in
college football. so I wanted to pump this up and get it to take
off."
MIAC MEDIA: You brought The Troll to the Game Day set and were there for the taping. What was that like?
CELLA: "I went there at 5:30 a.m. I
got in touch with the production guys, and they brought the
producer out. At that time, there were already fans there camped
out. I had to go through these fans, and he takes me into this
room. I go into this hallway and we empty into this room and
there's Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Lee Corso
and Jesse Palmer. Folwer looks up and goes 'Hey, you're the guy
with The Troll!' I take it out, they're all laughing about it. He
asked if I minded if he made fun of it.
Fowler told me he wasn't going to show it until late, and asked if I was willing to hang out until then. Let me see, go to my regular job, or hang out with you guys? I think I'll stay here. He told me to hang out in this room, there was food, anything you want to drink, and I just got to hang out. So it's literally me and those guys in the room and they were just talking football. That was the best part of the day for me. They were giving each other a hard time and doing impressions. It was hilarious. I was constantly pinching myself.
Then Fowler comes over to me before he's going to get ready
for the show. He says thanks. I brought a whole duffel bag of the
Cobber gear and I show them the 'Fear the Ear' stuff and they
thought it was a cool slogan. I said, 'You guys take as much as you
can.' That's where Niblet was [the small plush version of mascot
Kernel Cobb]. I gave them bobbleheads and then fowler found Niblet
and he said, 'That's kinda cool.' So I said if he could get that on
the show, that'd be awesome. He said he didn't think he could. I
gave him a Concordia soccer scarf because I know he's a big soccer
fan, and we spent like 10-15 minutes talking about soccer.
They have a pre-show with Jesse Palmer and Samantha Ponder,
and the other guys left. Then later it's just me and Jesse Palmer
and Samantha Ponder sitting in the room. The producer comes back,
gives me a pass, and now I can go right up on the set and watch the
show. I just walked around and there are times I'd be standing
right behind the cameras. I'd be 10 feet away while they're talking
about football on TV. I was laughing to myself, saying, "This is
not happening."
Then, about 10 a.m., I was talking to some NDSU people I knew
and I see them bringing The Troll up, and I rushed to get up there
and I almost got hit in the head by the big camera that shoots the
crowd. I got some pictures of it. I was just shaking my head that
it was on TV. Then fowler pulls out the Cobber and asks Corso if
he's picking the Cobbers. 'Yeah,' he said, 'I'm picking the
Cobbers!'
Then they're taking a break. I give my phone to the makeup
lady and ask her to take a picture when I go up there to get The
Troll. The producer says they do not take pictures on the set
during the show. Fowler sees it and says, 'Jim, come on up, let's
take it.' So I go up there and they take the picture for me.
I take The Troll off the set and I gotta get back to campus. We have football and soccer that I have to get back for, and every step through the crowd someone wants to take a picture with The Troll. Then I get to the area where they have local media, and they start interviewing me. I finally got out of there and got to the Cobber game around 11:45."
MIAC MEDIA: What has the reaction been like since The Troll made its national TV appearance? Talk about the feedback you've received.
CELLA: "The football team and
everyone around here was just jacked. To see them mentioned on
GameDay was just surreal. The other surreal moment for me, it's
family weekend and we have a big tailgate set up. Literally
every place I went it was all people were talking about. I was just
walking by laughing and thinking, 'If they only knew the whole
process.' Just hearing the buzz about it was great. The team and
the players, for them to see it all happen, it was great. The
alumni and stuff we've gotten out of it has been incredible.
[Cobber Head Football Coach] Terry [Horan] said the people who have
contacted him about it have been great as well."
MIAC MEDIA: One of the coolest aspects of this, to me, is it really showcases the power of social media. Ten years ago, there would have been so many hoops to jump through and people to communicate with. Today, you can try to correspond directly with someone like Chris Fowler, and as you proved last week, get results. What has this done for your perception of using social media to promote Concordia athletics?
CELLA: "For me, having done it and
being the first [Division III] school to do it helps to understand
the power. It reconfirms the power to reach such a broad group of
people in a way you can't through the normal media. I can get
things out there, instantly. I can reach people in a way that a
small college normally can't. A small college can get their message
out, where we couldn't before.
And now, Fowler's actually following @CobberSID. He
only follows like, 150 people, and I'm one of them. Now every time
I put something out there, he'll see it. After the game, I Tweeted
the final score and I Tweeted it at him. He wrote back that it was
great to hear Concordia's keeping The Troll. I had fun with it on
the set. Terry and our alums pushed that out to their followers.
It's really incredible."
MIAC MEDIA: Any future plans to
push the Cobbers into the national spotlight on social
media?
CELLA: "There are always plans. Last
year, I got one - one of our guys did a basketball trick shot - but
it got out there. I started it on Twitter and social media, too. I
understand what I can do with it. I'll keep trying to push the
envelope. Now that we've had the one success, hopefully the
national people will be more accepting of us. They'll think, 'Hey,
aren't you the guys who appeared on GameDay?' I've got my foot in
the door. Going forward, it's gotta be something special, but I've
got my foot in the door so we've got a chance.
The biggest thing that's come from this, the number of
followers we have on Twitter has grown immensely. I've gotten more
local media people - the strong media people - whether it be the
magazines in Fargo-Moorhead, and also some national-level people.
To me, you talk about things going forward, now that we're on their
radar and these people are following us, maybe we won't get another
story like this out there, but the recognition we'll get going
forward is incredible. To me, that's huge - the followers we added
and some of the people in the media. I'm constantly shaking my
head, saying, 'All this because of a stupid Troll.'"
MIAC MEDIA: Well, a stupid Troll, and the
ever-growing power of social media. Well done, Mr. Cella. It was
certainly a thrill to see a MIAC mention on a show with the
relevance and reach of ESPN GameDay, and great to learn the details
and dedication it took to pull it off.