David Schiele, WTSP Tampa sports reporter David Schiele got pressed into duty covering Hurricane Debby Sunday, and things went surprisingly well.
By Arthur Weinstein on

David Schiele, a sports reporter/anchor for Tampa’s WTSP, went way beyond his job description Sunday.

The station assigned him to cover Hurricane Debby as it bore down on the Florida coast.

Schiele, who likely knows more about the Miami Hurricanes than actual hurricanes, answered the call. That left him standing on the waterfront along Boca Ciega Bay in Gulfport, a St. Petersburg area community, as the storm bore down.

“The effects of Hurricane Debby are already being felt here in Gulfport,” Schiele reported, wind and rain whipping his rain jacket and hood.

Schiele recapped reports of local flooding, boarded-up businesses, and storm damage. Then he turned to the scene behind him, where several people were tempting fate by playing in the water.

“That young man just fell — don’t do that,” Schiele said.

Then the sports-anchor-turned-storm-chaser dropped a sports reference.

“I know Batista walked miles through a pit of danger. You are not Batista,” Schiele said, referencing lyrics from wrestling legend Batista’s walkout song, “I Walk Alone.”

Then Schiele dropped a pop culture reference ripped straight from the 1990s.

“Don’t drive through these floodwaters,” Schiele said. “We’ve seen trucks try to drive through these streets; about halfway through, they decided to reverse and bring it back like a Blockbuster tape.”

For a guy pressed into emergency duty, Schiele handled it well. Social media noticed.


[David Schiele, WTSP]

About Arthur Weinstein

Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.

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