On Sept. 16 at 10:33 a.m., ESPN’s Twitter featured a sign that student Luke Carns (12, J&C) held at its College GameDay event at the University of Louisville.
The tweet displayed his “I Hate Crowds” sign and ESPN added the caption, “You’re in the wrong place dude.”
You’re in the wrong place dude pic.twitter.com/MLm14QyVFK
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 16, 2017
As of Sunday night, the tweet had over 270 retweets and over 1400 likes.
College GameDay is ESPN’s pre-game show that airs in the morning before that day’s college football game covered by the network. According to Sports Media Watch, recent College GameDay broadcasts attracted between 1.5-2 million viewers.
Luke had a plan
Carns wanted to bring a sign that read “President of the Jemele Hill Fan Club,” but he said ESPN would have likely prohibited his sign due to the recent controversy over Hill’s critical comments about President Trump.
He had noticed that other people with political signs weren’t allowed to bring them in.
“I was gonna show it to them but then I just kind of choked,” Carns said.
Carns was also visible on ESPN’s channel in the front row of the crowd.
“It’s a tradition to have a sign to trash-talk the team so that people on TV can see it,” Carns said.
He noticed earlier that College GameDay usually featured simple and pointless signs, and he wanted to try to recreate that.
“I still wanted to get on TV more, but I wanted to respond to people,” Carns said.
There were over 20 direct responses with various reactions to the tweet.
Let's just say I had a pretty successful College GameDay experience. pic.twitter.com/IJIEgr1Nq2
— Luke Carns (@luke_carns) September 16, 2017
There is a person in the Game Day crowd that has a sign that says "I hate crowds" and I want to be their best friend
— rachel (@rachjean5) September 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/Kylie_buzz/status/909058459911512064
Funniest sign in this picture is the one that says: "I Hate Crowds" 😂😂😂 https://t.co/UN8cfeRVlp
— Julie McClung (@JLMcClung) September 16, 2017
Carns retweeted Rachel Edwards, who wrote, “There is a person in the Game Day crowd that has a sign that says ‘I hate crowds’ and I want to be their best friend.”
Carns also replied to the tweet, saying, “I’m right here.”
“I didn’t think my sign would really do anything. But then I checked Twitter, and everyone just started tweeting me,” Carns said.
