Right now, it’s late at night in Austin, Texas. I am also in Austin, Texas. And I’m here to do a journalism, folks.
Because I, Ethan Lee, am a noted independent journalist media member type of individual that publishes things here on The Underdog Tribune, on FanSided’s The Husky Haul (I’ve legitimately fallen in love with the Washington Huskies this season, they’re a ton of fun), and then over on the Saturday Surplus podcast.
Around midday on Friday, Oct. 18 in Austin, Texas, Kirk Herbstreit and his lovely dog Ben are going to be hanging out at Raising Cane’s located at 415 W Martin Luther King Boulevard in Austin, Texas. And I’ve got the chance to be there to interview Herbstreit, hopefully eat some chicken, meet Herbstreit’s dog, and cover this delightful event in which Herbstreit will be working at Raising Cane’s.
So, how on earth did I end up getting to cover a press conference featuring Kirk Herbstreit, his dog Ben, Todd Graves, and his dog Raising Cane III in Austin, Texas?
Let’s go through it all, shall we? Because it’s kind of a lot. And it’s kind of odd and confusing and I definitely don’t fully understand how this has happened and how I’m here in Austin preparing to cover an event with Kirk Herbstreit and Todd Graves and some cool dogs and some chicken.
How did Ethan Lee get to Austin to help cover a confidential Raising Cane’s event featuring Kirk Herbstreit’s dog?
The following things happened at one time or another as this saga has unfolded:
- A wonderful and friendly public relations specialist for Raising Cane’s reached out to me via an email address that I make publicly available for public relations specialists to pitch me stories
- I was told this event was confidential, which seemed admittedly a little odd because it was about chicken, so I started introducing this to folks who (two weeks ahead of the event) were curious as to what on earth I was *potentially* planning on doing on Friday, Oct. 18 around noon.
- So, basically, I told my mom that a confidential chicken thing *might* happen because it didn’t seem totally plausible at the time and it seemed foreign to me that a public relations specialist would reach out to me with the offer of inviting me to come out to cover an event like this
- At the time of the email, I wasn’t expecting this to come to fruition because it relied upon College GameDay showing up in Austin, Texas for the UT – Georgia game instead of ending up elsewhere.
- And at the time, it seemed more plausible that Alabama and Tennessee would get the feature for College GameDay. Because this was before the following bizarre things happened:
No. 4 Tennessee lost to Arkansas and No. 1 Alabama lost to Vanderbilt
- And so, when No. 1 Alabama lost to the Vanderbilt Commodores (Vandy deserves to be ranked at this point, rank them you cowards) AND the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers fell flat against the Arkansas Razorbacks (who might be good but also might not be good, I don’t know, you don’t know, and literally nobody else knows), then it set up the possibility of College GameDay arriving in Austin.
- Thus, the possibility of me getting to travel to Austin to help cover this event became a lot more real. Not that I expected either of those things to happen. I guess the Tennessee loss to Arkansas wasn’t super impossible, but that Vandy win over Alabama was just completely and totally out of the blue.
- But those things happened. And that opened up a very, very strong possibility of College GameDay ending up in Austin. I was told as much by the very helpful and friendly public relations specialist.
How did I prepare to get to Austin? Well, with Raising Cane’s help
- To prepare for that, I went ahead and:
- booked the time off from my day job, just in case
- planned out some time to buy a new shirt because I needed a new shirt
- told my parents that I would be going to Austin for a *confidential* chicken event
- Lined up my friend Daniel (who lives in Austin) to help me out as my photographer and videographer for the event
- The week of the event
- I got travel plans buttoned up (shoutout to Raising Cane’s for helping me travel by assisting with flights, lodging, ground travel, and food and such)
- bought a shirt
- discovered that I needed to buy some pants in the middle of a work day because the pants I planned on packing decided to betray me and chose to apart on a seam inside the leg
- On the day before the event
- I dropped my son off at preschool
- went to work
- Handled a variety of work-related tasks throughout the day
- Picked up my son from preschool
- Was told by my son that I should take him with me to Austin so that he could help me work
- Was quite literally pushed out the door by my son because his grandmother told him that she would push him on the swings after we finished saying goodbye, so he was ready to play with his grandmother and was tired of his dear old dad hanging around instead of going to work
- I got a ride from my dad to the airport, during which I did the math and realized that I could have actually saved time if I’d driven from my house outside of Houston to the Raising Cane’s-provided hotel room in Austin instead of flying there due to:
- Getting through airport security
- The time of waiting in the airport for my flight to arrive
- Hanging out at an airport bar to watch some baseball
- The flight itself, during which I fell asleep and likely snored a bit
- Getting out of the Austin airport
- Waiting for an uber
- And then a cozy uber ride from the Austin airport to the beautiful and cozy hotel
And now I find myself trying to figure out how I actually got here. This is such a unique opportunity and I’m thrilled to have this chance. I’m looking forward to seeing what unfolds with the event and I’m thrilled to say that the Raising Cane’s folks are incredible to work with.
So, if you’re in Austin and you want to get chicken, get over to 415 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Austin, TX 78701 from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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