If you've ever been on a date or tried to hit on a guy or girl, chances are you've encountered someone attempting to kill your game.
Mo Rocca, pop culture expert and TV personality, visited East Lansing on Monday in conjunction with Axe Body Spray to give his "Gamekillers 101" lecture. He's traveling to 10 colleges throughout the country and MSU was his first stop.
An MTV special, "The Gamekillers," aired Feb. 6 and will most likely become a regular TV show, Rocca said.
He sat down with The State News on Monday to talk about who the gamekillers are, why he never gets his game killed and going to Harvard.
The State News: How did you get involved with "Gamekillers?" Where did the idea come from?
Mo Rocca: I'm working in conjunction with the show, as a grassroots-driven strategy to alert people on the ground of what's happening in the college mating ritual — there are these forces, gamekillers, that seek to send a young man home alone, a man trying to hook up with a girl — out of nowhere comes this gamekiller.
This happens across species, has happened across time. (There are) 14 gamekillers across the nation.
SN: What does your lecture consist of?
MR: The first step in defeating gamekillers is identifying who they are. I will be using multimedia to do that … invoking pop culture examples of gamekillers at work. There's the early man, the brute who comes in and clubs you over the head — akin to Bluto from Popeye.
If we're talking about man candy, that's somebody such as Jude Law … IQ is another one — the guy who knows all the Scrabble key words. Smarts equals power. Complete and total nerds.
SN: What else will you be doing? Is the show interactive?
MR: We're finding professionals at every university to find out the roots of gamekilling. This is known in some circles as c-blocking. It's almost a neighborhood watch program. You might get gamekilled. I like things to be interactive and have fun at college campuses. I'll try not to kill too many games while on campus. It's entertaining with a real purpose.
SN: And the real purpose is?
MR: Purpose is saving lives from becoming really sucky. Sucky is academic.
SN: What is the show about?
MR: I've only seen clips of it and (the show's producers) shared raw data with for research purposes. This guy knows it's a reality show and the gamekillers show up. The guy goes on a date and these prototypes come in.
SN: Have you ever had your game killed?
MR: Not since I got these glasses; with these glasses I have superpowers. I'm like Clark Kent without these glasses.
SN: How long has that been?
MR: I've had them for two weeks.
SN: What did you do after college? How did your career start out?
MR: I went to Harvard but didn't major in gamekilling avoidance. It wasn't something academia offered. I learned the tools and the social awareness and conscious to equip me for this fight though. It was either this or the Senate.
SN: How did you get a job as a commentator on the "I Love … " shows on VH1?
MR: I slept with a lot of people … I'm adept at talking about things as if I know what I'm talking about. I am fortunate that all of the hours I wasted in front of the TV growing up amounted to something. Our neighbors thought there were only two kids in our family. I can only imagine what went on in Hal Sparks' house.
SN: Why do you think those shows were such a hit?
MR: The first one was great. The reason that show worked really well, "I Love The '80s," was that it was pretty soon after 9/11. It was nice to remember a period when the focus of your life was as stupid as "Charles in Charge."
It's completely and totally unpretentious. It's fun to sit down and watch such silly stuff.
For more information on "Gamekillers," visit www.gamekillers.com.
