Hey Boston, get in on the ground floor with Mike Uva
You can learn a lot from watching this rising media star.
You’ll notice a new face tonight on Patriots 5th Quarter. Remember the name.
Mike Uva, proud Peabody native and two-time Emmy winner, is joining WBZ’s sports staff this fall covering the Patriots.
Uva has spent the last five years in Columbia, S.C., first as a sports reporter at WACH FOX 57 then as Director of Digital Content at Gamecock Central, an On3 Sports vertical dedicated exclusively to covering University of South Carolina athletics. His time in Columbia has earned him two Emmys so far. Prior to Columbia, he worked in Greenville, Miss., covering Mississippi State athletics.
I’m predicting fireworks here. Actually, I know this will be a huge hit.
Allow me to explain. I have a pretty unique perspective.
My friendship with Mike goes back more than a decade. In my 20 years in sports media, I’ve come across only a handful of people I can honestly say share Mike’s level of passion for his craft, yearning to learn more, and determination to get the storytelling just right.
From the very first time I met Mike, I sensed he was built differently. I was in my third year as high schools editor at ESPNBoston and covering a high school football game on the campus of Assumption College. Mike — at the time a defensive back for the Division 2 college program, who also dabbled in broadcasting — saw my tweet announcing I’d be coming, found a way into the press box, and cornered me for two quarters, peppering me with questions about my craft and advice on breaking into the business.
Bob Chesney, then the head coach at Assumption, pulled me aside later that evening to vouch for his abilities1. “You should give him a shot.” Glad I listened to him.
Here’s a little secret about the world of sports journalism. You can take people under your wing all you want. You can coach up good writing. You can coach up good on-camera presence. But the two most important traits — creativity, and relationship building — have to come from within. Mike was a total social chameleon, and was always pitching me fun ideas that we usually ran with.
Working with Mike taught me a valuable lesson: It doesn’t matter how many hours you watch film if you don’t know what to look at. I prided myself at watching a metric ton of film, but 10 minutes of Mike taught me that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. By virtue of his playing experience, and the way he was taught the game by insightful coaches at multiple levels, he not only understands film, but how to apply the athlete’s mindset to explain what fans at home are watching.
It’s also easy to see within five minutes of meeting Mike why so many coaches love him, whether it’s Dan Mullen, Frank Martin, Shane Beamer or Dawn Staley. His infectious energy is disarming; he makes you feel like you’re having a conversation with a friend, not an interview with a reporter.
There’s so many reasons to pay attention to Mike Uva. Here are the three biggest:
1. He dares to be different
One of the boldest ideas we acted on at ESPNBoston was adding a telestrator segment to our sponsored Game of the Week previews. Mike thought we were missing an opportunity to really show what makes the stars such stars by not getting into the X’s and O’s.
The idea was simple — Mike narrates key plays on film singling out why a team or player is going to be so dangerous that week, as if he were Ron Jaworski in the film room. The problem? We didn’t have an actual telestrator. So we practiced what we were going to say, making sure it timed out to the length of the play, and our camera wizard Greg Story did the rest, stopping to draw diagrams where we needed him to.
Looking back on it, it’s some of the most rewarding work of my career.
If you’re going to be successful anywhere, whether it’s sports broadcasting or insurance underwriting, you’ve got to be willing to dare to believe in an idea and run with it.
Such is how he won his first of two Emmys. Imagine waking up on Christmas morning in Columbia to three versions of Mike arguing with themselves on TV:
There’s a huge lesson to take away from this one. Because three minutes on a sportscast is an eternity, and you probably can’t sneak something outside the box like this onto the 11 p.m. newscast after a Gamecocks football game. But on Christmas, when the whole world is focused on other things? Anything might as well go.
If you’re going to be successful anywhere, whether it’s sports broadcasting or insurance underwriting, you have to be willing to dare to believe in an idea and run with it.
He’s extremely marketable
At ESPNBoston, Mike loved to say “Weight room, son!” after a big hit when doing a stand-up. It took less than a week after the first time he did it for the phrase to go viral. Coaches and players on high school sidelines all over Massachusetts were yelling this phrase in excitement after a big pop.
He brought this phrase with him to Columbia and it two about two seconds for a local pizza parlor to sponsor it, delivering a pie every week to the player who delivered the “Weight Room, Son!” of the Week.
Here’s another one. Mike likes to respond “Mix in a water” to Gamecock fans who tweet him a take that seems a little outrageous, as if they might be sauced. Today, you can buy your very own “Mix In A Water” T-shirt for $19.99. You can also vote for #MixInAWater of the Week. And there’s “Mix in a Water Mondays”.
But my favorite example of all is #TheUva.
It all started as a simple drive-thru order mistake at a local Bojangles…
Mike got the right meat, wrong bun, and it turned out to be even better than what he’d originally ordered. Before long, #TheUva was a secret menu item in 11 states, and Mike was on signage all over town, and even starring in commercials.
What catchphrase will he bring to life next?
He channels his audience’s passion
You may remember Mike for the incredible concentration he displayed for this stand-up last fall:
But this one, from the Gamecocks’ men’s basketball team’s run up to the Final Four, is a personal favorite:
How many of us would have freaked out in that moment as chaos descended behind him? Instead, he just looks back, smiles and rolls with it. He’s practically laughing his ass off as they pour beer on him.
Gamecock fans love him for this. He always seems to be having as much fun as his followers, and in turn they feel like they can be themselves around him. Your brand is what your audience says it is, and his is a constant reminder of how lucky we are to be able to enjoy stuff like this for a living.
I can’t wait to see how this goes in Foxborough this season. If there’s anybody who can break the monotony and give Patriots fans something entertaining, it’s Mike Uva.
Bob, who’s now at Holy Cross and considered a rising star in the coaching world, also introduced the world to placekicking legend Cole Tracy, and found future Pro Bowler Deonte Harris off the clearance rack. He’s got an eye for talent on multiple planes.