BYU’s win against No. 14 Boise wasn’t the only thing shocking viewers on Saturday, Oct. 19. Videos of BYU fan Brooke Anderson flailing her arms back and forth in a bright red coat went viral on social media after being aired on ESPN.
Hans Olsen, a former BYU football player and current radio host on the Zone network, tweeted a video of Anderson and it immediately went viral. Having over 180,000 views, the video of Anderson swinging her arm back and forth wildly caught everyone’s attention and raised the question, “What in the world was she doing?”
Twitter blew up with comments saying that it looked like she was in need of medical attention or riding a mechanical bull, while others said it looked like she was desperately trying to stay warm. She also got a lot of reactions for wearing a bright red coat, the color of BYU’s rival, Utah.
What most people didn’t know was that it was a mix of several things. Anderson said her friends were sitting directly across from her on the opposite side of the stadium. She got a text from them asking her to wave so they could see where she was, so she quickly began to flap her arm back and forth relentlessly. It was then that she noticed a camera in front of her, but she thought it was the camera for the jumbotron at the BYU stadium. She had no idea that it was actually airing on ESPN.
“I embarrass myself all the time, so a lot of my friends aren’t really shocked that this happened. They just think it’s funny,” Anderson said.
She’s had a lot of BYU alumni offer to buy her a BYU blue coat. Others have reached out to her on Instagram with potential date offers. She has gotten a lot of responses from Ute fans and over $150 credited to her Venmo to buy a BYU colored jacket. Anderson said she has either tried to Venmo people back or figure out how to give it to someone who needs it more than she does.
Anderson was wearing a nice coat, it just happened to be the wrong color. BYU Senior Associate Athletic Director Liz Darger reached out to Anderson on twitter asking for her size and offered to get her a coat.
“When I saw Brooke’s tweet it made me laugh. I thought it would be fun to meet her, thank her for being a Cougar fan and give her a blue coat,” Darger said. “I’m planning to get together with her next week to show her around the athletic facilities and give her a BYU-blue coat.”
Anderson plans on accepting the coat from Darger but is not planning on accepting things from other people.
Anderson is currently a junior at UVU studying Business Management. Although Anderson is not a BYU student, her BYU pride is strong. Both of her parents graduated from BYU and her brother and sister-in-law are recent BYU graduates. She said her family has been going to BYU games for as long as she can remember. They have gone to every home game this season and even traveled to see BYU play in Tennessee and Florida.
Overall, Anderson said it has been a positive experience.
“I love the BYU fans, and I think it’s super awesome that they are reaching out, and it doesn’t bother me at all,” Anderson said.
Olsen, who helped Anderson rise to twitter fame, agrees that the situation has been really fun.“I found the whole thing to be everything that being a college student and a college football fan should be — lively, fun and free-spirited. No ill will. Just having a blast and enjoying the game.”
