the foxes and social media pt. 2:
so most college sports teams, if they have social media like tiktok, post edits of really good plays, some boring game day hype stuff, etc; some of the teams that get less publicity have some more relaxed, easy going content. now in my head, exy is culturally equivalent to college football--so exy teams usually have pretty tame social media, countdowns to big games and clips of nice plays.
but the thing i find hilarious about the foxes is that there are only two staff members, wymack and abby. most high school teams have at least three or four coaches, big college sports like football will have a lot more, and teams which receive a lot of publicity will have PR people and social media coordinators. but the foxes? nah. guess who their PR/social media coordinator is? nicky hemmick, everyone.
nicky (and dan, since they already make a bunch of tiktoks together) make a team account (and somehow it gets verified eventually??? who is in charge here)
they aren't too careful about what they post--there are already plenty of rumors and criticism surrounding them, so who cares? what could be worse than neil on press duty? wymack also doesn't really give a fuck--when they ask him for permission he just wants them to stop talking to him asap so he's like yeah whatever sure (without knowing what the consequences of this might be)
the first tiktok on the account is a "full house"- style introduction of all the foxes, many of them looking beyond irritated and uncomfortable--but nicky and dan make sure they get everyone's consent to post it; they won't post anything without the consent of the people that are in it. somehow, everyone says yes--none of them really care, and/or don't think anybody will see it.
it blows up. the foxes' fanbase is way bigger than they think it is, especially after their victory against the ravens and all the publicity around neil's past. everyone on campus who has tiktok sees it. it makes its way to exy fan accounts on instagram and twitter. nicky and dan are kinda scared, because agh we put andrew minyard all over the internet will he murder us?? but they're also super excited because people care???? people like them that much????
unfortunately, the debut post causes a bit of a stir in the ever-present exy/palmetto state discourse. people start up the criticism and the rumors and the hate. so in response, the second tiktok on the team account is dan and nicky strutting around the locker room lip syncing "rumors" by lizzo and cardi b with some flawless transitions, it looks so professional. they address some of the rumors (some of them true) that have plagued the foxes for years: dan was a stripper? yep. kevin day has never been skiing? you bet. this video gets them featured in the Palmetto State student-run news/gossip accounts, and then it's featured on certain exy blogs--it of course causes more of a stir than the last one.
one of the hate comments on the second video says something homophobic in response to nicky's flamboyance in the videos. he responds to the comments with a video he and dan convinced matt to star in:
nicky: nah, all of us foxes are straight, super straight, no gay shit. right matt?
matt: yeah, bro, super hetero.
*intense eye contact*
*pretend to lean in for a kiss*
(also, side note: i have another hc nicky's flirting is completely returned by matt because he knows it's not serious, that he would never come between matt and dan, and they all think it's hilarious)
the exy dude bros are Not Happy--so everything is going according to plan
that video's comments are filled with an equal amount of both raging homophobia and wild support from fans who are queer or allies. by now, the other foxes are having fun with this account, too.
to be continued, this already got WAY too long but trust me there's more (lmk if y'all even want more, this took me way too long to put in coherent words đ)
