The story behind the boy who cried Oladipo – and went viral

After getting his wisdom teeth taken out, Zach Pearson had a lot to say about his favorite Indiana Pacer, Victor Oladipo. His video has since went viral.

Most people who get their wisdom teeth taken out get to suffer through a few days of pain and eat lots of ice cream. Zach Pearson got his fair share of that, but also experienced something else after he expressed his loopy thoughts on Victor Oladipo.

He went viral.

Pearson hails from Ohio, where everyone around him believes in The Land, but Pearson always found himself more attached to the underdog. He has family in Indiana as well, so becoming a Pacers fan felt like a natural fit.

One of his first experiences at Bankers Life was Game 6 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals, when the Pacers defeated the Heat 91-77 to force a Game 7. From that moment on, he was hooked.

Fast forward to Friday. Pearson had just gotten home from getting his wisdom teeth taken out, and well … he was pretty out of it. Just see for yourself if you haven’t already:

His minute soliloquy on Oladipo immediately caught the attention of Pacers Twitter. Pearson, though? He remembers none of it.

“My little brother asked me if I remembered who my favorite team was,” Pearson said. “And that’s when apparently I asked my girlfriend to film a message for Victor Oladipo, because I wanted to make sure he was alright. I don’t remember any of it.”

Pearson also didn’t expect much when he posted it. Or rather, when his girlfriend posted it. He was still a bit too loopy to type out the correct words for the Tweet.

“I thought my friends would see it, and [with] Pacers Twitter, you know, there’s a couple guys that’ll always respond,” Pearson said. “I was telling my mom on the couch ‘mom, it’s got 1200 views!’ … I was flipping out then, I had no idea it was gonna [eventually] do that good.”

And then it started to pick up steam. ESPN posted the video on their timeline later that day:

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1157472375149158400

The IndyStar later picked up the story, and the Pacers Twitter account had some fun too (and yes, he did get that follow). But, the peak of the whole experience for Pearson was getting a reply from the man himself:

“I don’t think any moment has topped when Oladipo responded,” Pearson said. “I’ve been on Twitter for probably three years, and there’s no feeling that’s topped it. I look at my phone, and there’s Oladipo and my name tagged in it. Just knowing that he saw it felt so surreal.”

As the virality has dwindled down, Pearson has had some time to reflect on the experience. As a credit to his underdog nature, his favorite aspect of the whole weekend was the fact that he was able to get the Pacers into the spotlight for a day or two.

“The Pacers never get any love,” Pearson said. “We don’t get [attention] on any social media websites … it’s always just a ‘we’re a second place team’ kind of feel. The fact that with my video I was able to rep the Pacers and get us out there, that’s probably the coolest part of it.”

The most recent development in the life cycle of the video is the obligatory ESPN Assignment Desk “can we use this?” message, which was sent to Pearson this morning:

It’s yet to be seen if, how, and when ESPN will use the content, but it’s a sign that we probably haven’t seen the last of Pearson’s sedated thoughts.

Overall, it’s been a fun weekend for Pacers Twitter, and Pearson couldn’t thank the community enough for their help.

“If it wasn’t for Pacers Twitter, my Tweet would not have gone viral,” Pearson said. “I just wanna say thank you, because they definitely helped reach out to Oladipo, and I’m just excited that we were able to put ourselves on the map.”