There have been many cases of sportscasters embedding a lot of references to a particular pop culture subject in a single sportscast. There have also been cases of sportswriters embedding hidden messages with the first letter of each sentence in a column. But using the first word of each sportscast over a 10-month period to perform the entire lyrics of Queen’s 1977 hit We Will Rock You? That’s new, and that’s what Owen Siebring, a sports anchor at Cedar Rapids, Iowa CBS 2/Fox 28 affiliate KGAN, just pulled off:
Anyway, here’s the first word of each of my broadcasts since July 31 of last year. pic.twitter.com/pLYyi7viLI
— Owen Siebring (@owensiebring) May 10, 2024
That drew quite a bit of praise on Twitter/X for Siebring. Here’s some of that:
This has got to be your best work yet. Nothing else compares!
— Daniel Ver Steeg (@DanielVSPxP) May 10, 2024
In awe
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) May 10, 2024
pulitzer https://t.co/D14YykBlLR
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) May 10, 2024
incredible work https://t.co/vhvG8AfyMh
— my heart’s the bitter buffalo (@inthefade) May 10, 2024
you have my sword https://t.co/tWs9ZewJFi
— Bryan Mac (@Bry_Mac) May 10, 2024
And people say the industry is dying, it’s clear absolutely thriving https://t.co/aJnCsAolnZ
— Garrett Brown (@GarrettBrownTV) May 10, 2024
Respect for the long game
— Sean Nunan (@NunanRMC) May 10, 2024
Respect for the long game indeed. What’s perhaps most impressive here is Siebring’s dedication to doing the entire song. The first verse alone would have been remarkable enough, but putting in the whole thing really elevates this. For reference, here’s the famed 1985 live version of “We Will Rock You” from Live Aid:
And there are some advantages to a long-game approach like what Siebring did here. Individual themed or reference-filled broadcasts can be a lot of fun, but they do run a risk of alienating viewers not interested in what’s going on. By contrast, using just the first word of each broadcast for the bit makes the rest of the broadcast normal, with the bit only showing up when put together in a cut like this. At any rate, this was remarkable from Siebring, and it certainly drew some positive attention.
[Owen Siebring on Twitter/X, Freddie Mercury image from Live Aid on YouTube]