gave five college students the chance to participate in a series
of extreme sports with Red Bull-sponsored athletes.
For two dizzying days in late spring, Hodges performed
bike acrobatics with a champion rider through the streets
of Salzburg, was pushed to his physical limits at Red Bull’s
training facility and flew one of the company’s private jets.
In his video, produced in one day, Hodges gives an extra
Hodges’ winning video made him
one of five college students to
participate in a series of extreme
sports with Red Bull athletes.
Plane lucky: As part of his adventure in Austria, Pierce Hodges got his
pick of aircraft to fly in among Red Bull’s private fleet. He chose a modi-
jolt of energy to his active life by pouring Red Bull in the
fied fighter jet. See the video at redbullfirstperson.com/episodes bindings of his snowboard, into his Jeep’s gas tank, on his
mountain bike’s rear hub and in his climbing shoes before
Red Bull Gives Wings to Grad
ascending a wall.
Hodges filmed it with SMAD equipment and edited it in
Who Made Fan-Favorite Video
the labs at Harrison Hall.
“There wasn’t a lot to it in terms of the editing,” Hodges
F
orces of up to 5 Gs pinned Pierce Hodges to his rear said. “There was the basic knowledge of keeping the
cockpit seat as the fighter jet snapped barrel rolls and continuity, placing shots, getting angles. A lot of the stuff I
banked near-90-degree turns above the Austrian Alps. had done through SMAD helped a lot.”
The pilot in the front sent a garbled message over the Red Bull posted the videos on the Web for an online poll.
headset, then stretched both arms over his head. Hodges, who Hodge’s video was the top vote-getter.
had never even been in a cockpit before, suddenly realized he Red Bull didn’t simply send Hodges on his adventure. The
was supposed to fly the plane. company added an element of mystery to the process. Hodges
This was no training exercise for an up-and-coming fighter was given a briefcase, a special cell phone that had to be with
pilot. Hodges, (’08), is a videographer. It was the experience him at all times, and little other information.
and skills he gained through SMAD that helped place him in Continued on page 5
this thrilling – and momentarily chilling– situation.
Hodges produced one of the winning videos in the Red
Bull First Person Experience contest. The national competition
The Big Lead editor takes
big leap into blogging
M
ost sports-mad kids dream of growing up to be star
athletes – and maybe being featured in Sports Illus-
trated. Jason McIntyre never starred on the playing
field, but for the 2000 SMAD graduate, the second part of that
fantasy came true.
McIntyre is one of the masterminds behind thebiglead.com,
an inside-sports and media blog that draws more than 2 mil-
lion page views per month.
Since he and JMU grad David Lessa ( ISAT 1999), began the
blog in 2006, the former assistant sports editor for The Breeze
has interviewed a number of the power-hitters in sports me-
dia, including columnist and TV commentator Tony Kornheiser,
Revealing portrait: Jason McIntyre swapped his anonymity to
be featured on Sports Illustrated’s Web site.
sports humor columnist Norman Chad, and New York Post
columnist Mike Vaccaro.
He also posted a controversial interview with columnist Jason Whitlock in which Whitlock disparaged some of his fellow
ESPN commentators. The interview caused Whitlock to lose his job with ESPN TV and ESPN.com, and was picked up by news-
Continued on page 5
SMADAbout You 4
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