Red Bull Gives Grad Wings
continued from page 4
He was cooking breakfast for his girlfriend last May when
the phone rang.
“They told me to be at Dulles Airport in 48 hours,” Hodges
said. “So I went home, packed, called work and said, ‘I’m not
gonna be here for a few days.’”
Sixty-six hours later, Hodges landed in Salzburg.
Hodges’ turn at the controls of a fighter jet – stripped of its
guns – escalated from flight simulator to flying the plane in a
matter of hours.
Before takeoff, Hodges said, “The pilot tells me, ‘If
anything goes wrong, push this right here.’ He pushes the
ejection lever, and I was like ‘Wait! What? Goes wrong?’”
When Hodges took control of the plane, the world began
Testing his limits: A video of Hodges’ extreme experience, including
to tilt below him. But the adventurous SMAD grad kept his
a battery of physical trials, is at redbullfirstperson.com/episodes.
composure and the pilot talked him through the maneuvers.
The winnng video he produced is posted there as well.
The flight was proof that as the energy drink’s ads say,
“Red Bull gives you wings.” And whatever fear Hodges felt
was eclipsed by the excitement.
“The pilot tells me ‘if anything goes
It was the peak moment in a week of indelible memories,
wrong, push this right here.’ He pushed
he said. “People try their whole lives to do something like this
and don’t get to.”
the ejection lever, And I was like ‘Wait.
The video of Hodges’ Red Bull experience and his video entry are
available at redbullfirstperson.com/episodes
What? Goes Wrong?’ ”
--Tony Bootz
McIntyre Takes Big Leap Into Blogging
continued. from page 4
papers across the country. up,” McIntyre admits. “I had quit my day job, so the timing
Despite the high profile interviews, the 31-year-old from was perfect.”
Fairfax Station, Va., operated the blog anonymously until Now working on The Big Lead full time, McIntyre still
early 2008. interviews prominent sports journalist on a regular basis
“At the time I had a full-time job and was freelancing for and updates the site repeatedly throughout the day — any-
various publications and outlets, including ESPN,” McIntyre where from 12 to 20 posts.
said. “I didn’t want to risk all of that on a hobby that was After a sports writing internship at the Greensboro News
initially started for fun.” & Record in North Carolina and writing for The Bergen
But after the Whitlock interview caused a buzz in the Record in New Jersey, McIntyre left for magazines, eventually
blogosphere and the major sports media, an incident involv- becoming a deputy news editor at US Weekly.
ing ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd created a minor seismic He now enjoys having total control of the content on his
event, with the The Big Lead at the epicenter. blog
Just for “fun,” as Cowherd later told SI (Sports Illustrated). “The best aspect of blogging is that you can continuously
com, he urged listeners to flood The Big Lead with messages reinvent your blog on the fly,” he said. “We’ll talk movies. And
in an effort to blow up its server. The gimmick worked and culture. And food. Obviously, sports and the sports media
The Big Lead was offline for several days. are our forte, and that’s what 98 percent of the posts are
The cyber attack earned Cowherd a public scolding from about,”
ESPN’s ombudsman and was profiled by National Public The Big Lead is now generating ad revenue and McIntyre
Radio. feels good about his decision to take his career outside the
It also helped raise The Big Lead’s visibility. traditional media.
The incident helped draw a request from SI.com to do a “It was easy to consider quitting the blog in the first six
feature on McIntyre and his blog. However, SI.com insisted months because the readership was minuscule and the
that McIntyre drop his veil of anonymity for the profile. blog wasn’t making any money,” McIntyre said. “Not quitting
McIntyre agreed. turned out to be the best career decision I’ve ever made.”
“As someone who grew up reading SI, I couldn’t pass that — Kirsten Robinson
5 The School of Media Arts and Design
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