Never send a sports journalist to do the weather.
That’s the lesson KWWL sports reporter Mark Woodley wished to impart upon viewers during a live coverage of the blizzard-like conditions in Waterloo, Iowa.
The clip, which went viral on Twitter with over 20 million views, contained his honest feelings about being out in the negative-degree weather on the morning of Dec. 22.
“This is a really long show. Tune in for the next couple hours to watch me progressively get crankier and crankier,” he quipped on-air.
Woodley explained to viewers that he got assigned to do the early morning weather report hours before he regularly wakes up after the area’s sporting events got canceled due to – you guessed it – the weather.
“What better time to ask the sports guy to come in about five hours earlier than he would normally wake up and go stand out in the wind and the snow and the cold and tell other people not to do the same?” he told viewers.
And the snark continued: “I didn’t realize that there was a 3:30 also in the morning — until today.”
He then added, “I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news. The good news is that I can still feel my face right now. The bad news is I kind of wish I couldn’t.”
Check out the original tweet from Woodley that rounds up his coverage below.
While he covered the weather for most of the early morning on Thursday, his coverage ended up getting him some new fans in Hollywood with people like Judd Apatow tweeting that the sportscaster is “a legend”), David Cross retweeting the clip and NFL Network host Rich Eisen saying Woodley’s coverage was “well played.”
Woodley also got some praise from people in the local Iowa area.
Radio host Todd Brommelkamp shared the news video, writing, “You don’t get to be a 1-time Iowa Sportscaster of the Year by staying in your lane.”
Woodley shared Brommelkamp’s tweet on his own Twitter page, commenting, “This was my wife’s favorite so far. Good on you @ToddBrommelkamp!”
The network also shared a news story about Woodley’s segment to their website, writing in the piece, “No Woodley’s were harmed in the making of the morning newscast.”
