Will Smith on the Oscars, brings back “boom goes the dynamite”

Sunday night, when Will Smith caught himself introducing Academy Award nominees for “out-stounding” sound editing, he probably wished he could get some immediately. Instead, he broke out an Internet classic.

According to urbandictionary.com: “boom goes the dynamite” is “a phrase coined by a Ball State news anchor during what was to become the worst sports broadcast ever performed.”

In March 2005, Brian Collins was a 19-year Ball State University freshman and had never done a sportscast  when he volunteered to fill in for a friend as the sports anchor for the “Newslink@Nine” sportscast on the Ball State University television station.

When the teleprompter failed and printed copies were not in order, he improvised, including his now famous play-by-play on highlights from an NBA game: “Later he gets the rebound … passes it to the man … shoots it … and boom goes the dynamite.”

In communicaitons classes, it is now known as “the Collins incident.”

The video became an Internet sensation and has been viewed more than two million times on Youtube. David Letterman, a Ball State alum, invited Collins to appear on the Late Show, and the famous phrase has been heard on the Family Guy, the Colbert Report and several other television programs.

Collins hasn’t done a sportscast since, but has been interviewed by ESPN.com and The Ball State Daily News Online.

Today, Collins is a news reporter for KXXV-TV in Waco, Texas. 

“I’m living the dream,” he says.