17A Whopper of a Deal

The popularity of MTV Sports felt like it was growing exponentially by the day. The media had a schoolgirl–like crush on the show because it was unlike anything that had preceded it, not just with what we covered but how masterfully it was edited and pieced together by our staff. If the huge following of the MTV generation wasn't proof enough of our success, the fact that we won MTV its first-ever Emmy Award and added another one to its mantel a year later was. We were not only changing the way people viewed sports but we were influencing how mainstream sports started shooting their programs as well. We opened the door to this fun, freewheeling visual approach, and mainstream sports followed us through it.

The media was also obsessed with this new, no-name guy hosting the show. Who is this guy? Cortez? Corteez? Where'd he come from? Why is he talking to the camera? What's with the bandanna? Was I what they call in Hollywood a “flavor of the month”? Initially, of course, I was—it's how the industry format works for newbies, build them up to tear them down. Always has been, always will.

The media requests for interviews and appearances were becoming increasingly more difficult for me to keep up with, but they were never burdensome. I was living my dream, so none of this felt like work, it felt more like the plain and simple fun that it was meant to be. It was because of the fun and popularity that money, or the lack thereof, stayed in the back of my mind. ...

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