THE NEIGHBORHOOD — Do you remember those Terry Tate commercials that Reebok ran back in the day? The juxtaposition of a brutal linebacker within the stiff confines of an office definitely made for a great Super Bowl commercial.
The Terry Tate character was so memorable that he has lived on past those commercials, appearing in multiple spoofs and spinoffs. Seems like plenty of people secretly wish there were a linebacker prowling around their own offices, dispensing justice and offering friendly high-fives.
I couldn’t help but think of office linebackers when I saw this video from Santiago, Chile.
This video is like one of those slow-motion train wrecks where you know from the start that something bad is going to happen. You can see the cyclist calmly approaching in the background as the reporter walks toward the sidewalk in a nearly deliberate motion. Contact seems inevitable. Perhaps the cyclist will accidentally hit the reporter from behind? Or maybe she’ll raise her arm to point at something and bop the cyclist on the head?
Nope, it’s much worse than that. The reporter panics at the last moment and turns into a journalistic version of Terry Tate. She rams into the cyclist and sends the poor guy tumbling to the ground. On the way down, he nearly hits his head on a concrete post, which would’ve made the whole thing a lot more serious.
Anyhow, I’m happy to report that there were no injuries from this incident. And the spirit of Terry Tate lives on.
