Viewpoint by John Garces/sports editor
Andy Warhol once said everybody gets his own 15 minutes of fame.
What Warhol never explained was how people would get their time in the spotlight.
My 15 minutes … well, 60 seconds maybe, happened when I went with some friends to the Valentine night taping of The Gordon Keith Show.
Contrary to what some of you might be thinking right now, I’m not writing this to toot my own horn.
We were sitting in the second row of the taping at Channel 8’s Victory Park studio when the camera just happened to find me, but I had no clue it was on me.
I’m sure I was the butt of some joke from the multi-media funnyman. But don’t ask me. I have no idea why I was on camera.
Much to the delight of my friends, the camera kept finding me in every segment, probably because of the clueless look I had on my face when I got that oh-so-valuable face time in the opening segment.
All of that nonsense has led me to one possible conclusion: fame isn’t all it’s made out to be.
You’ve probably heard all your lives that fame is fleeting, and this particular kind of fame is probably the most fleeting unless of course you have such adoring friends who happen to make DVD copies of it just to amuse themselves and embarrass you.
I’m sure Warhol was a smart person. But it would have been nice if he had told us the many ways fame can come to us.
If I had known, for instance, that the camera really does add 10 pounds, I would have cowered in the corner away from the spotlight of the TV cameras.
If being caught off-guard by a TV camera can happen to me, I’d have to think America’s “real” celebrities would be a little smarter about what they do in public. (I’m talking to you, Britney … you too, Tony Romo.)
So being on television, in my opinion, is not all it’s cracked up to be.
If you have a TV camera, though, come find me. I still have 14 minutes of fame left, and to paraphrase a Brad Paisley song, someday I’m gonna be famous. Do I have talent … well, no.
I’m not famous unless we consider I gained fame by getting on The Gordon Keith Show with a blank look on my face.
If my few seconds on TV count, then I can tell everyone I made the spotlight, if ever so briefly.
