I'm sure most of you caught College Gameday Saturday for the Alabama Michigan game. If so you probably saw the guy with the "I'm Asian" sign that went viral moments after being seen on ESPN. The guy's name is Chris Taylor and he is my first cousin, more like brothers. Here is an article Gameday did with him.
The 2012 college football season kicked off last weekend to a great deal of fanfare. While many were thrilled to actually attend the games, football is no longer just the focal point for many tailgaters and party-goers who just want to enjoy the gameday festivities.
One of those guys is the now-legendary Chris Taylor. Mr. Taylor, a self-proclaimed diehard ‘Bama fan, was up and waiting in line during the wee hours of the morning in order to score a prime spot for the College GameDay pre-game broadcast at the ‘Bama-Michigan game.
What started out like any other normal gameday morning took a hilarious turn when Taylor was asked by the Game Day staff if he would like to quickly write a sign to hold up in front of the cameras.
At first, he couldn’t think of anything to actually write.
Then, it came to him. In giant letters he scrawled the words, “I’m Asian” onto his sign, made his way to the front of the pack and was immediately ranked as one of the most legendary Gamedayrs of all time.
Chris “I’m Asian” Taylor with Jack “The Face” Blankenship.
It’s time to take a peek into the heart and mind of a man who ‘Bama Nation should be proud to claim as one of their own.
You really do sound like a redneck, huh?
(Laughs) I do. Yes, that’s what kind of throws people off. They’re like, uhhh, you’re supposed to be Asian.
That was actually going to be my first question: So, you are indeed Asian, right?
I’m half-Asian. My mom is from Singapore, my dad is from Alabama.
How did they meet?
It’s a crazy story. He was working as a boat Captain and she was in the circus. She was touring Asia, and she was actually in India with the circus and Dad was in India. He went to one of the shows with his boat, and he saw her and said to himself, ‘Well, I’m gonna go and write her a note and see if I can talk to her”. So anyways, long story short, they met, got married in Singapore and then came back to the United States.
Ok, you’ve got to tell me. What was your mother’s event? What was her role as a circus member?
She stood on this guy’s head and she was just a part of it. She did splits and things like that. She was more of a balancing act kind of person.
So, are you pretty proud of your Asian heritage?
(Laughs) To do what I did, yeah!
Nice, talk about it. What were people saying? Were people asking you stereotypical questions?
Well, when I was in line at GameDay, I didn’t have any plans to even have a sign, so I was just like, ‘ok, well, hopefully I’ll just be getting a good spot in line, get up there in front, wave at the camera and just try to flag down the camera man and get on TV’. So, the GameDay girls came over and said, ‘Well, hey, y’all wanna make some signs?’
I didn’t really want to get out of line, and I didn’t really know what to put on the sign. Sometimes I act Asian, just to get a laugh from everybody. I’ve got tons of stories of doing it in different places where I’ve kind of caught people off-guard, but I was like, ‘Ok, I’ll just put that down’. So, I walked over there and just wrote ‘I’m Asian’.
As soon as I turned around, the whole line started cracking up laughing.
You knew you had a winner, huh?
It just started there, and I just ran with it.
Ok, give Gamedayrs one story of when you messed with someone.
I guess one of my stories that I tell a lot is, well, let me give you a quick run-down of it: When I was in college at South Alabama, there’s a lot of Asian [study-abroad students] that go to that school.
So, I’m there and I go by this vending machine, and I usually go by this vending machine every day and get a Mountain Dew as a ritual between classes.
This day, I went to the vending machine and stuck in my dollar and it kept on popping out and popping out and popping out. I was like, ‘Dat gum’, and there was this white guy behind me and he kind of looked over my shoulder and I kind of looked at him and I just kind of shook my head and went back to putting my dollar in.
Well, I didn’t realize there was this big huge sign on the vending machine that said ‘Out of Order’. I’m just sticking my dollar in and it’s popping back out and he sees the sign and he goes, ‘Hey man, it’s out of order’. Well, I didn’t really understand what he said so I just looked at him and smiled and I shook my head. I’m guessing he thought that I didn’t speak English.
So, I stuck the dollar in one more time and he goes, ‘HEY MAN. THE. MACHINE. IS. OUT. OF. ORDER.’
OK, this is just perfect, so I turn around and I smile at him and I go, ‘Awwwww, Hello!’ and I turned around and kept on sticking my dollar in and he just walked off!
That’s actually pretty ridiculous. But, let’s get back to the game. What was the atmosphere like? Did you go to the game after your GameDay experience?
Yeah, I was staying in Irving, Texas at a bed-and-breakfast with my wife and son and I just went back to the house and took a nap … and we came back around four o’clock and I don’t know if it was just me – my wife says it was just me – but people were kind of looking at me and staring at me, kind of saying something to their friends. We were sitting in section 319, which is kind of in the corner and two guys that weren’t sitting in our section walked up there and were like, ‘Hey man were you that Asian sign guy this morning? Did you put that sign up?’
I was laughing, I was like, ‘Yeah man, that was me.’
They said, ‘That was hilarious!’ They were giving me high fives, and some other people were asking me about it and it was fun, it was cool.
How does it feel to be a very small part of Alabama tradition?
Feels pretty good actually (laughs). Given that, I looked online, the Asian population at Alabama is less than one percent at the school. I thought that was funny.
Honestly I think I was the only Asian guy at GameDay (Laughs again).
Is your wife an Alabama fan?
She is. We’re both die-hard ‘Bama fans.
Did you guys meet at South Alabama? What’s the story there?
We went to high school together. We didn’t date in high school, but we started dating when we started college together. She graduated from UM, she’s a teacher now, a kindergarten teacher, and I’m a youth pastor for a local church.
You’re both die-hard fans, do you have any plans for the rest of the season? What if ‘Bama is on College GameDay again, can we expect a repeat performance?
Oh yeah, I’m planning on it. Next game I’m thinking will probably be the ‘Bama-LSU game, depending on what their records are … I took some pictures with the ‘face’ guys, and I hung out with them and we’ve been chit-chatting and stuff and what I’ll do is probably contact them and we’ll try to do something together.
I’m also thinking about going to the Northern Illinois game; there’s a guy that works as a freelance photographer for Getty Images and he wants to take some pictures of us …
You’re like the Avengers of sign making.
(Laughs)
What is your personal favorite aspect of the Alabama tradition?
It’s probably the history. It’s got a really cool history. Just dating back to Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, everybody just goes back to that, and even going back further.
Of course, the rivalries between Alabama and Auburn, it’s just a solid rivalry. It’s the South, so it’s got a lot of traditional things about it.
Thanks, man, very last question: You get one word, and one word only to describe Alabama. What is it?
I would say ‘traditional’.
Thanks again, you’re officially a legendary Gamedayr!
Oh man, thanks man, I really appreciate it.
One of those guys is the now-legendary Chris Taylor. Mr. Taylor, a self-proclaimed diehard ‘Bama fan, was up and waiting in line during the wee hours of the morning in order to score a prime spot for the College GameDay pre-game broadcast at the ‘Bama-Michigan game.
What started out like any other normal gameday morning took a hilarious turn when Taylor was asked by the Game Day staff if he would like to quickly write a sign to hold up in front of the cameras.
At first, he couldn’t think of anything to actually write.
Then, it came to him. In giant letters he scrawled the words, “I’m Asian” onto his sign, made his way to the front of the pack and was immediately ranked as one of the most legendary Gamedayrs of all time.
Chris “I’m Asian” Taylor with Jack “The Face” Blankenship.
It’s time to take a peek into the heart and mind of a man who ‘Bama Nation should be proud to claim as one of their own.
You really do sound like a redneck, huh?
(Laughs) I do. Yes, that’s what kind of throws people off. They’re like, uhhh, you’re supposed to be Asian.
That was actually going to be my first question: So, you are indeed Asian, right?
I’m half-Asian. My mom is from Singapore, my dad is from Alabama.
How did they meet?
It’s a crazy story. He was working as a boat Captain and she was in the circus. She was touring Asia, and she was actually in India with the circus and Dad was in India. He went to one of the shows with his boat, and he saw her and said to himself, ‘Well, I’m gonna go and write her a note and see if I can talk to her”. So anyways, long story short, they met, got married in Singapore and then came back to the United States.
Ok, you’ve got to tell me. What was your mother’s event? What was her role as a circus member?
She stood on this guy’s head and she was just a part of it. She did splits and things like that. She was more of a balancing act kind of person.
So, are you pretty proud of your Asian heritage?
(Laughs) To do what I did, yeah!
Nice, talk about it. What were people saying? Were people asking you stereotypical questions?
Well, when I was in line at GameDay, I didn’t have any plans to even have a sign, so I was just like, ‘ok, well, hopefully I’ll just be getting a good spot in line, get up there in front, wave at the camera and just try to flag down the camera man and get on TV’. So, the GameDay girls came over and said, ‘Well, hey, y’all wanna make some signs?’
I didn’t really want to get out of line, and I didn’t really know what to put on the sign. Sometimes I act Asian, just to get a laugh from everybody. I’ve got tons of stories of doing it in different places where I’ve kind of caught people off-guard, but I was like, ‘Ok, I’ll just put that down’. So, I walked over there and just wrote ‘I’m Asian’.
As soon as I turned around, the whole line started cracking up laughing.
You knew you had a winner, huh?
It just started there, and I just ran with it.
Ok, give Gamedayrs one story of when you messed with someone.
I guess one of my stories that I tell a lot is, well, let me give you a quick run-down of it: When I was in college at South Alabama, there’s a lot of Asian [study-abroad students] that go to that school.
So, I’m there and I go by this vending machine, and I usually go by this vending machine every day and get a Mountain Dew as a ritual between classes.
This day, I went to the vending machine and stuck in my dollar and it kept on popping out and popping out and popping out. I was like, ‘Dat gum’, and there was this white guy behind me and he kind of looked over my shoulder and I kind of looked at him and I just kind of shook my head and went back to putting my dollar in.
Well, I didn’t realize there was this big huge sign on the vending machine that said ‘Out of Order’. I’m just sticking my dollar in and it’s popping back out and he sees the sign and he goes, ‘Hey man, it’s out of order’. Well, I didn’t really understand what he said so I just looked at him and smiled and I shook my head. I’m guessing he thought that I didn’t speak English.
So, I stuck the dollar in one more time and he goes, ‘HEY MAN. THE. MACHINE. IS. OUT. OF. ORDER.’
OK, this is just perfect, so I turn around and I smile at him and I go, ‘Awwwww, Hello!’ and I turned around and kept on sticking my dollar in and he just walked off!
That’s actually pretty ridiculous. But, let’s get back to the game. What was the atmosphere like? Did you go to the game after your GameDay experience?
Yeah, I was staying in Irving, Texas at a bed-and-breakfast with my wife and son and I just went back to the house and took a nap … and we came back around four o’clock and I don’t know if it was just me – my wife says it was just me – but people were kind of looking at me and staring at me, kind of saying something to their friends. We were sitting in section 319, which is kind of in the corner and two guys that weren’t sitting in our section walked up there and were like, ‘Hey man were you that Asian sign guy this morning? Did you put that sign up?’
I was laughing, I was like, ‘Yeah man, that was me.’
They said, ‘That was hilarious!’ They were giving me high fives, and some other people were asking me about it and it was fun, it was cool.
How does it feel to be a very small part of Alabama tradition?
Feels pretty good actually (laughs). Given that, I looked online, the Asian population at Alabama is less than one percent at the school. I thought that was funny.
Honestly I think I was the only Asian guy at GameDay (Laughs again).
Is your wife an Alabama fan?
She is. We’re both die-hard ‘Bama fans.
Did you guys meet at South Alabama? What’s the story there?
We went to high school together. We didn’t date in high school, but we started dating when we started college together. She graduated from UM, she’s a teacher now, a kindergarten teacher, and I’m a youth pastor for a local church.
You’re both die-hard fans, do you have any plans for the rest of the season? What if ‘Bama is on College GameDay again, can we expect a repeat performance?
Oh yeah, I’m planning on it. Next game I’m thinking will probably be the ‘Bama-LSU game, depending on what their records are … I took some pictures with the ‘face’ guys, and I hung out with them and we’ve been chit-chatting and stuff and what I’ll do is probably contact them and we’ll try to do something together.
I’m also thinking about going to the Northern Illinois game; there’s a guy that works as a freelance photographer for Getty Images and he wants to take some pictures of us …
You’re like the Avengers of sign making.
(Laughs)
What is your personal favorite aspect of the Alabama tradition?
It’s probably the history. It’s got a really cool history. Just dating back to Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, everybody just goes back to that, and even going back further.
Of course, the rivalries between Alabama and Auburn, it’s just a solid rivalry. It’s the South, so it’s got a lot of traditional things about it.
Thanks, man, very last question: You get one word, and one word only to describe Alabama. What is it?
I would say ‘traditional’.
Thanks again, you’re officially a legendary Gamedayr!
Oh man, thanks man, I really appreciate it.
Comment