Calkins: The inside story behind the Memphis Tigers intro video
The Tigers get energized for the camera during a photo session with the University of Memphis basketball team on Oct. 11, 2019, at the Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center. Tigers team members gathered for the annual team photo and to shoot promo and intro videos for the season. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)
James Wiseman puts on his best slam-dunk face during a photo session with the University of Memphis basketball team on Oct. 11, 2019, at the Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)
Penny Hardaway sits with his team during a photo session with the University of Memphis basketball team on Oct. 11, 2019. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)
Boogie Ellis does a few push ups to get pumped up during a photo session with the University of Memphis basketball team on Oct. 11. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)
The Tigers get energized for the camera during a photo session with the University of Memphis basketball team on Oct. 11. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)
Geoff Calkins
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. He is host of "The Geoff Calkins Show" from 9-11 a.m. M-F on 92.9 FM. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
The Memphis Tigers basketball intro video has become an annual phenomenon. Here's how the 2019-2020 video came to be. (Yes, it involved a smoke machine.)
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