Before he made the videos that
came to define game day in Ann
Arbor, Pat Stansik wasn’t really sure
what he was doing.
In time, he would become known
for showcasing the most comical
revelry Ann Arbor had to offer. And
as his videos spread, so did his cult
following.
But before all that, he was a
transfer student. He lived at home
with his parents, looking to find his
way after his varsity lacrosse career
had come to a close. In its place, he
built his life around videos.
If you haven’t yet seen an episode
of “Pre-Gaming with Pat,” here’s
the gist: For two seasons, Stansik
walked around Ann Arbor on football
Saturdays interviewing tailgaters.
Most, if not all, of them were drunk.
Stansik was stone-cold sober.
Add in music that was ahead of
its time, and the result was a series
that students could count on to
accentuate their game day. Now, the
videos are a time capsule — a way
for those same students to look back
on memories they had forgotten,
or perhaps couldn’t remember to
begin with.
Looking at all he accomplished
during his time in Ann Arbor, it’s
easy to see why, three years after
he moved to Los Angeles, Stansik
invokes a quote from Andy Bernard,
a character on “The Office.”
“I wish there was a way to know
you’re in the good old days,” Bernard
says, “before you’ve actually left
them.”
* * *
Even though “Pre-Gaming with
Pat” was born in Ann Arbor, its story
traces back to Bucknell University in
Lewisburg, Pa.
There,
Stansik
had
been
a
college lacrosse player in need of
a change. He was discovering he
wanted to major in film, and with
that realization came another — he
needed to go home.
He was born in Barrington, Ill.,
but Stansik grew up in Ann Arbor.
So when he decided to transfer to
Michigan to study film, he was going
back to familiar territory.
When Stansik arrived, one of his
earliest video projects was called
“Pre-Gaming with Pat: Mustaches
for Michigan.” It was meant more as
a one-off endeavor.
Soon,
though,
Stansik
began
making a video blog with his
teammates on the men’s club lacrosse
team. Looking back, it’s easy to tell by
the familiar cuts from silly interviews
to action footage that these are
the origins of the
eventual
tailgate
series.
But
when
Stansik graduated in
2011, that possibility
wasn’t really on his
radar.
Instead, he moved
to
Boulder,
Col.,
where he worked for
the summer at an
advertising
agency.
When
that
was
finished, Stansik decided to come
back to Ann Arbor, and then the
modern pregame videos were born.
Armed
with
a
significantly
upgraded set of camera equipment,
Stansik took to the streets of Ann
Arbor for a much more professional
version of the show. Naturally,
he entrusted his new Panasonic
camera — a graduation present —
to his gym buddy,
Aaron Peterson, who
was by no means a
trained cameraman.
“At
the
start
I would just tell
Aaron,
just
make
sure the red button
is
on
and
it’s
recording,” Stansik
said.
As the program’s
reputation
grew,
Stansik made his mark. People
would refer to him as “Pre-Gaming
with Pat” as if it were his name, and
when he arrived at their parties, they
wanted to be interviewed by him.
Many of the show’s iconic moments
were random and authentic. But
some of the most memorable involved
recurring stars who took on more
regular roles.
The most famous was Lucas Brody,
whose character Da’Quan ended up
spawning his own series of YouTube
videos. Zach Schwinder was “handles
guy,” a character who always had two
half-gallon bottles of vodka in his
hands. Peyton Morris proclaimed her
talent for pre-gaming.
These
cameos
added
some
consistent sources of humor, and
for the guests, even occasionally led
to some recognition. Morris was
asked if she could teach people to
pregame, and Schwinder recalls
admirers wanting to buy a drink for
the “handles guy.”
Even while they now have very
real adult lives, those reached for
this story were far from embarrassed
about their roles on the show.
“There’s one scene where he’s
interviewing me, and then he cuts
to someone else, and then he’s going
through a music montage, then you
see me with my back turned towards
the crowd, with two handles up, just
going at it,” Schwinder said. “I look
back at that, and I’m like, yes, maybe
that doesn’t give the best perception
of myself. But at the same time, I
wouldn’t trade that for the world. If
I run for president one day, and they
bring that up, I will only be proud of
that moment.”
It’s a funny sentiment, but there’s
plenty of truth to it. In creating the
videos, Stansik set out to portray a
largely undocumented part of the
FootballSaturday, October 22, 2016
4
COURTESY OF PAT STANSIK
Pat Stansik started making “Pre-Gaming with Pat” videos after he transferred from Bucknell, where he played for the varsity lacrosse team.
Once famous for pregaming, Stansik
ready to kick off next phase of career
MAX BULTMAN
Managing Sports Editor
“I wish there was
a way to know
you’re in the good
old days.”