Hey, what's up you guys. I know this is almost as far after the fact I could possibly do this, but I wasn't a blogger when it happened. And plus when you lose someone you look up to, it stays with you. Now I know most of you, if not all of you, will think this is a joke but I'm quite serious. The guy I'm talking about is Billy Mays. Yes, I did say Billy Mays is important to me.
The first time I saw a Billy Mays commercial, I honestly was laughing. I used to say he's the guy paid to make a big mess, then clean it. But his commercials grew on me, and I looked at his career, and thought, "Man, how awesome would it be to do this." I seriously saw a little bit of myself in Billy Mays. He was loud, obnoxious, and demanded attention. Just in those two-minute spots I saw similarities between me and this bearded man on tv. That connection I saw is what inspired me to consider a career in the media. I thought about being a pitchman, I had always been told I'd make a great salesman. But sports are my passion, and that's what I'm pursuing, But because of his commercials, I strongly considered being a pitchman.
Billy Mays also helped me through some bad times. How can that be? Well, he didn't do it directly. See the thing about Billy Mays is that he become a pop culture icon. His popularity skyrocketed to a point where there were many youtube videos involving him. A particular set of videos really got me, and a friend of mine, through some rough times. I discovered the Jabooty Dub videos and could not stop laughing. They really took my mind off the crap I was going through around that time. My friend was going through some girl problems as well, so I sent him a dub, Mighty Putty dub. He called me the next day, saying "Dave, I usually don't watch the videos you send me cuz they're dumb. But this one, I couldn't stop laughing, this made my night, I watched it at least 50 times." So Billy didn't make those videos, but if Billy Mays wasn't Billy Mays, then those dubs would not have been made, and those laughs would not have been shared.
I then started to watch the show Pitchmen, which if you haven't seen I implore you to watch. It gave the viewer a behind the scenes look of what goes into the job of a pitchman. These products that we all scoff at are put through a rigorous test before they're touched. Billy wouldn't do a product if he didn't believe in it, and didn't feel that the American people would benefit from it. I gained so much respect for Billy after this show. His soul purpose of doing this show was not to boost his fame level, but rather to get the products of the American Inventor out into the public, not only so that person's dream can become reality, but also to give the American People a life changing product. The show, Pitchman, opened my eyes to who was behind the blue shirt and beard. He was a humble giant that cared for his friends and family more than himself. Please, watch season one, it's amazing.
On June 28th 2009, the man called Billy Mays died of a heart condition. I remember exactly where I was. I was driving up alone to my cottage, listening to Pat Caputo's show. "This just came across my desk, but apparently the pitchman, Oxiclean guy Billy Mays died today." I was devastated. I had to pull over to the first rest top I saw just to compose myself. I wasn't crying, but I was in shock. He died at the age of 50, pretty young nowadays. He was at the top of his career, and his life was cut off too short.
Please don't give me any crap saying "Get over it," I am over it per-say, but like I said, the death of someone who influenced your life always sticks with you. I have a letter that I had written on June 27th, that I was contemplating mailing to Discovery, about meeting the Pitchmen to tutor a young hopeful. I am over it, but the influence that Billy's had on my life will always be with me. I never got to meet him, which is something I know can never happen. I would have given anything to be able to thank him for influencing what I want to do in my life.
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