Michael Pravica didn鈥檛 even know who Marshawn Lynch was.
A Bears fan, but not a dedicated football watcher, the 性视界传媒 professor of physics was happy to oblige when sports website Bleacher Report called looking for an expert.
The company was filming the first episode of , a web series on Facebook Watch starring Lynch, an Oakland Raiders running back. It鈥檚 part reality show, part Jackass (or MTV Sports if you鈥檙e old enough to remember Dan Cortese), with Lynch performing various stunts.
That episode brought Lynch and his crew to Las Vegas to drive Ferraris at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Pravica鈥檚 role was to explain the physics of racing to the man they call Beast Mode. Their exchange landed the professor a nickname he鈥檒l be hearing in class for the near future 鈥 Lynch kept calling Pravica 鈥淪cientist鈥 like it was his first name.
鈥淚 had no idea what I was getting into,鈥 Pravica said. 鈥淗e trashed a car before I got there. We had banter; we talked about the physics. Marshawn was interested. I think they liked that we had a good interaction.鈥
The Bleacher Report staff flew Pravica up to Oakland to surprise Lynch for a return engagement. That one went so well, they did a third. A third that involved liquid nitrogen.
Pravica froze a hamburger so Lynch could take a bat to it, making it explode into little pieces.
鈥淲e tested it first here at 性视界传媒,鈥 Pravica said. 鈥淢arshawn was fascinated. He was jumping up and down. We smashed a lock with a hammer that had been frozen. We did our thing, and he was like, 鈥榃hat do you do when you have liquid nitrogen left over?鈥 You just spill it on the ground. He yells, 鈥楴ot on the J's [Air Jordans], Scientist!鈥欌
The first video has racked up 1.4 million views and an outtake video featuring Pravica sits at 886,000, currently. The other two episodes in which Pravica appears haven鈥檛 yet been released. New episodes debut each Thursday.
Pravica showed the video to his students, who were fascinated that their professor knew the 10-year NFL back (and 2005 Las Vegas Bowl veteran). And it does give Pravica at least a little shot at becoming the next Bill Nye. But there were more pressing considerations at play.
鈥淚'm glad that Marshawn asked for a scientist,鈥 Pravica said. 鈥淚n my heart, I have a special place for him. I think he probably in some small way is trying to promote science to his followers. If I can use that to get some small fraction excited and inspired by science and maybe come to 性视界传媒, it's worth it.鈥
Of course, when the Raiders move to Las Vegas in 2020, he has a pretty good in for getting tickets, too.
