His answer, and decision to assume the role of snarky weatherman for the next 3½ hours, went viral.
“Again, [I feel] the same way I felt about eight minutes ago when you asked me that same question,” Woodley said. “I normally do sports, everything is canceled here for the next couple of days, so what better time to ask the sports guy to come in about five hours earlier than he would normally wake up, go stand out in the wind and the snow and the cold, and tell other people not to do the same. …”
“Tune in for the next couple of hours to watch me progressively get crankier and crankier.”
Once Woodley returned home, he cut the snarkiest moments of his on-air time together and posted the video to Facebook for friends and family to laugh at. At the prodding of his sister-in-law, Woodley shared the clip on Twitter shortly before noon.
Within hours, his video was everywhere.
As one of two sports reporters on staff, Woodley is used to a dynamic job description. But his agenda usually involves schools, and temperatures that are somewhat familiar. Though he knew he would assist with blizzard coverage several days before, he remained unaware of his role outdoors until much later on.
“We’re like anybody in the country, whether it’s fast food or any business. … We’re shorthanded compared to what we normally are,” Woodley said in an interview. “A lot of people are kind of thrown into different roles right now. Our station manager came in at about 6 o’clock this morning and shot my last shot.”
Woodley wanted to clarify that the harsh conditions, which will affect many Americans over the holidays, was nothing to scoff at. At least some of the people who watched the newscast, he hopes, stayed inside because of his tone. For most of the morning, he warned people of the dangers outside and shared steps to stay safe. Those clips, however, didn’t end up in his video.
“The storm is a serious thing, and so you’re seeing just a small part of each hit,” Woodley said. “The storm’s not a joke by any means, but it’s not my normal beat. I was working on three hours of sleep and that made me, maybe, a little bit more snarky than I normally would have been. But I decided to have a little fun with it. You know, maybe people pay attention.”
His favorite response, out of the thousands, was a quote tweet from “Knocked Up” and “Trainwreck” director Judd Apatow that simply read “Legend.”
“How many people has that ever happened to?,” Woodley said. “I’m just a local sports guy in Waterloo, Iowa, and it’s Judd Apatow, so that’s crazy.”
