Mirror, mirror on the wall: Who can handle media questions well?
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When Keion Brooks Jr. was 9 or 10 years old, his father would put him in front of a mirror. Keion Brooks Sr. wanted his son to see himself as he answered his father’s pointed questions in a pseudo postgame interview.
What could you have done better to help your team win?
If those three fumbles — the younger Brooks played football then — wouldn’t have happened, your team probably would have won. What do you think of that?
“He thought it was stupid at the time, that he had to look in the mirror and be interviewed by his dad,” the elder Brooks said.
The younger Brooks, who is expected to provide veteran experience on Kentucky’s 2020-21 basketball team, recalled standing in front of the mirror as his father played the inquiring reporter.
“I remember a lot of stuttering,” he said. “A lot of uhs and a lot of, ‘Can you repeat the question?’”
As a standout player for Wright State in the late 1990s, the elder Brooks answered plenty of media questions. He ranks fourth on the school’s career scoring list (1,766 points) and is in the Wright State Athletic Hall of Fame. Yes, he said, he anticipated his son fielding media questions someday.
“I tried to prepare him not only on the court, but off the court on things like that and how to deal with certain situations, good or bad,” said the father, who advised his son to keep emotions in check and think before speaking.
Now, the UK sophomore forward sees why his father did this.
“That definitely helped me and prepared me as I got postgame interviews and pregame interviews,” he said last week, “and basically just addressing the media as a whole.
“It just allowed me to become more comfortable speaking in front of people. … I always wanted to be good at speaking and answering questions because my favorite player is LeBron James. I feel like he always handles himself in a great manner when he’s answering questions. I wanted to emulate that. I feel l like I’m doing a pretty good job so far.”
The younger Brooks comes across as a candid, thoughtful and effective spokesman. This was memorably on display on the video supporting Black Lives Matter and addressing systemic racism that the Kentucky players posted on social media Aug. 31.
Brooks’ contribution also included the suggestion the video end with Billie Holiday’s rendition of the song “Strange Fruit,” which was inspired by a 1930 lynching of two Black men in Marion, Ind. The lyrics include the words “blood on the leaves … Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze.”
When asked how he came to believe “Strange Fruit” could be an effective coda to the video, he said, “Honestly, I do not know. It just came to me as I was brainstorming. How can we in some way kind of make this video uncomfortable for people? So it can really open their eyes to what’s really going on. And that just popped into my mind.”
As if again standing in front of a mirror, Brooks fielded a question about what message the UK players hoped to convey with the video.
“Trying to come up with something to show people that we’re pushing for change,” he said, “And we’re tired of seeing innocent people be murdered in the street.”
Judging by comments posted online, the video drew a mixed reaction.
“That’s to be expected,” Brooks said. “Everybody’s not necessarily going to have the same viewpoints or agree with what we did. But all we did was, you know, ask for change. And just let people know Black lives matter and their lives have value. And we’re not going to continue standing for instances of Black people being shot and killed for no apparent reason.”
More than one reaction posted said the video would end the fan’s rooting interest in Kentucky basketball.
Brooks had a ready response.
“Well, you weren’t really a fan in the first place,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UK player’s father applauded the video and called attention to the subsequent comments expressing enthusiastic support.
“I thought it was great,” the elder Brooks said. “Especially being one of the first college programs to put it out there like that was just amazing.
“To see how the university backed them and pushed a great message to help these guys understand that they have support within the school itself was just amazing.”
This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 7:08 AM.
