The baseball team has been caught in the spotlight recently, but not for what one would think. Sure, the team has been tallying wins left and right as they currently have a 20-6 overall record. In addition to this, the team has been increasing its notoriety with its well-known “food reviews,” videos that are filmed in the dugout of the baseball diamond and posted on TikTok.
“What really made us feel cool is like the moms and the parents just coming up to us and talking about the videos,” senior Blake Mitchell said. “When a mom says, ‘Blake, your videos made my day’, that makes my year.”
The videos consist of many different segments from pregame car rides with blasting music, trips to the store to get food to review, and in-game segments of players trying the foods and reacting to the game. The food review videos came to life earlier in the year when the team played Prosper.
“We were bored sitting in the dugout during the Prosper game and we just decided to review every single food item that we could,” senior Cole Mitchell said. “Brett Lanman’s grandma started making us snack bags, so we were like you know what, let’s just review it. In that one review, we had the first 10 out of 10 which was the cutie and the watermelon Sour Patch Kids. Those are the only two Hall of Fame food review items. After that, Blake had the idea of making Tik Toks with the reviews and filming them, so we did. When we posted the first episode, it was average. It only got a few likes, but it was only ever for the boys and the memories.”
Cole came up with the idea, and his twin, Blake, edits the videos with several clips of the team, different styles of music, and viral memes. All this to say, the food reviews are making their way not just throughout the school, but the world.
“It probably takes me about anywhere from six to eight hours to edit every single time and I always start right after I record it immediately,” Blake said. “The last few times I’ve stayed up till six and five in the morning and completely ruin the next two days of my life. I am absolutely miserable after it, but I feel like it’s worth it. I just enjoy it and it takes me a long time but I’m happy to do it. It’s kind of like sculpting, you just take off parts at a time. I typically start with a good 30 minutes of content and I just sculpt it from there. Pretty much you have this big rock of trash, and then you just kind of chisel it down into some beautiful Picasso-type piece of artwork.”
The team enjoys a variety of different things from candies, to snacks, and even drinks. Each review of an item gets a review out of ten from those participating.
“The Haribo watermelon gummies were a student section favorite with a rating of 13.333,” senior Jacob Migura said. “Berry Lemonade Sunkist also showed oceanic flavors that impressed the team, and Rainbow Airhead Xtremes got a 10/10. An off-camera review of a cutie’s orange on the very first food review remains the best item to this day.”
Before the games, some of the players carpool and find the nearest Walmart to seek items to review for the game. Once they get there, they pick the most interesting food item they can find.
“At first we went to the Murphy Express gas station and then we ate all of their food,” Cole said. “We really just ran through that gas station so we started going to Walmart. In the videos, you’ll always get a set segment of us vibing traveling to Walmart. So for example, like in one of the last videos, we did Doritos Roulette and that’s interesting, I mean, no one’s seen it. Also, we reviewed the caramel cold brew M&M’s which were off camera, but nobody’s had those which is interesting and the people have the right to know the interesting foods out there.”
It takes countless hours and time out of Blake’s day to edit the videos. Seeing the reactions from people is pleasing, however, the driving force behind all of it is capturing the memorable moments for his senior year.
“I’m not gonna lie, it feels good to see the videos do well after all the editing,” Blake said. “Despite that though, the real reason for us doing this was to never use a blow-up on Tik Tok or to get fans or anything. It was just to keep the memories of our high school season. This being the last high school season we’re all going to be together, I just wanted to keep that and remember that and that’s the sole reason for making all of this. I tend to want to destroy my phone by the end of it, but when it’s all said and done, I rewatch it when I’m finally about to post it and show my family, my brother and our teammates are just asking for it. It’s really exciting and I’m just glad to put something online that has a positive effect on the people around me and the people that watch it.”
The food reviews aren’t just to bring joy to the online audience, the team has fun with it as the videos prove.
“The food reviews bring the team together because everyone can do it, and everyone loves food,” Migura said. “Everyone loves being in the videos, and every video is a team-wide effort. Obviously, the videos of course feature the team giving their thoughts on interesting delicacies. However, most of the content just includes the team having fun before and after the game. Whether it’s raving on the bus, going crazy in the locker room, or doing flips before the game, the team is very fun to watch and the videos can bring a smile to anybody’s day.”
The videos are a fun way of creating joy within the game of baseball and growing bonds with teammates. They are also simply entertaining, hence the hundreds of thousands of views on Tik Tok.
“People can find the food reviews @.blakemitchell on Tik Tok,” Blake said. “We post every Wednesday and Saturday, well, actually I don’t know when we are posting but just keep a heads up. It’ll be out there until the season ends.”
