Stuart Scott Changed How We All Saw Sports

Sunday was a rough afternoon for me. While I was doing just a bit of “recovering” from a late night watching the opening round of Supercross I came across the news about the passing of Stuart Scott. For 21 years, Stuart Scott was a familiar face at ESPN. Starting on ESPN’s “new” network cleverly named “ESPN 2” in 1993, Stuart became one of the most well known figures in sports media that we may ever see. Why am I writing about this on a motorcycle site? Because Stuart’s impact on media affects us all perhaps more than you realize.

For nearly 8 years I had breakfast with Stuart Scott 5 days a week or more. In the living room or kitchen deep inside the Glenhart Subdivision there I sat, most mornings with my favorite breakfast, 18 Double Stuft Oreos soaking in a bowl of milk while Stuart Scott and typically Rich Eisen showed me the previous night’s sports highlights with catch phrases, enthusiasm, information and most of all entertainment. Until Sunday afternoon I never realized the effect that he had on me. “BOO-YOW” and “Call Him Butter Because He’s On A Roll!” entered my daily language. It entered everyone’s daily language. Stuart wasn’t your mid to late 30’s suburban, white, boring anchor and he certainly didn’t talk like one. I was raised in a 99% white community. I didn’t know how people talked on “the streets”. I didn’t even listen to hip-hop music. What I did know was that Stuart was different. Stuart was great.

Never Give Up

At that point in my life I would have never guessed where my career path would lead. I worked at Basic Bike & ATV during the week and for Steve Nace Racing Promotions on the weekends. I knew I was going to go to college and learn to draw things. My biggest worry was making enough money to cover my car insurance and if I could lock down that all important West Kentucky Flattrack Championship title or maybe go to the great state of Illinois and race against the “real racers”. I never guessed that one day I’d be at RevZilla.com training room fulls of employees with an hour long seminar on motorcycle windshields. Being locked away in a makeshift studio at Bikebandit.com, Jakewilson.com or in a convention center in Madison Wisconsin in front of some of the most powerful people in the motorcycle industry never crossed my mind. I’ve done trade show interviews, podium speeches, pre-race shows and when the guys at pitpassmoto.com need me, I’ll do a radio call in show. I didn’t know how I would handle it, and I didn’t know how I would ever learn how to handle it. But Stuart Scott did.

Subconsciously, Stuart Scott was teaching me something that is now a part of my every day career and maybe that is why his passing hit me harder that I thought that it should. Listening to his colleagues today talk about him, they all had one thing to say: Stuart Scott off the camera was the same man he was on the camera. While I may not have a natural talent for racing, I always felt that I had a natural talent for talking, namely, entertaining. Whether it’s old friends or a room full of people who hold your future in their hands, I’ve rarely been nervous. That humor that Stuart and Rich moved through their show with taught me to use the same thing. Say something funny, make a loud noise, in my case, do a Hank Hill impersonation. Whatever it was, show some character.

Stuart Scott didn’t lose his battle to cancer on Sunday afternoon at the age of 49. He won the battle of life. While I was working on my bid for diabetes eating all of those Oreos, Stuart was teaching me to be a character and not be afraid of it. Be yourself. Broadcast yourself. Entertain your audience. Dare to be different, Dare to experiment. While Stuart may have never uttered the words “motocross, McGrath, Carmichael, Stewart, Hayden, Rossi or Villipoto” in his broadcasts, he touched many lives in the motorcycle industry that he never knew he did. Rest In Peace Stuart Scott, and may your friends and family find comfort in this difficult time. As for the rest of us, when you lay down tonight, take one of his catch phrases to heart. One of his most original was “Cooler than the other side of the pillow”. Do Stuart a favor tonight. Give that pillow a flip and rest well. Godspeed Stuart Scott. Thank you for the education.