Ward 6 Lynn City Councilor Fred Hogan had his patience put to the test, getting “clock blocked” at Game 1 of the NBA Finals by none other than the film crew of Jimmy Kimmel Live.
In his segment, “Clock Blockers,” Kimmel’s crew finds unsuspecting fans during the very last stretches of an important sporting event, and asks them to participate in random, entertaining bits. They continue the joke until the unsuspecting sports fan grows inpatient of missing important moments of the game and wants to go back to their seat.
Hogan said he never leaves his seat during Celtics games, but had to go to the bathroom in the fourth quarter. It was in the hallways of the TD Garden where he came across the film crew. Hogan assumed they were affiliated with the Celtics.
“I’m a Lynn City Councilor, we’re going to turn up tonight, baby!” Hogan said in the video.
The crew then asked him to do a series of random takes, to which Hogan happily obliged.
Hogan was asked to catch a green and white basketball and shout, “catch it,” into the microphone.
“You better learn how to pass, I’m a basketball coach too,” Hogan said to the crew man, after a few takes.
The crew members then asked him to repeat, “We’re missing the game of the year, this is unbelievable,” and “Celtics basketball, you don’t want to miss a second of the action.”
Hogan took their instruction, shouting, “Celtics basketball, you’d be crazy to miss a second of the action,” and “Celtics basketball, you’d be crazy to miss your seat.”
Hogan and the crew continued the bit as the clock kept going on the last quarter of Game 1.
“To my credit, the Celtics were up 25 points too. If they were (in a) 5-point game, I would’ve been antsy to get right back to my seat,” Hogan said.
Towards the end of the bit, the crew asked Hogan if he was okay to be on the jumbotron, and subsequently put a jumbotron cut-out over his head.
The last minute or so of the segment is Hogan dribbling a ball around with the large jumbotron headpiece on him.
“They just kept going on and on and on,” Hogan said. “I never even found out it was Jimmy Kimmel Live until after I walked down the hallway, came back and they took the jumbotron off my head.”
Hogan said he doesn’t regret missing the game, and saw it as a free political advertising on national television.
“I represent Lynn to the fullest,” Hogan said. “I make sure I represent Lynn in a positive way all the time.”
The clip was shown on Kimmel’s show following Game 4, with Hogan receiving multiple calls and messages from people all over the country that knew of either him or Lynn.
“They thought I was hilarious, of course,” Hogan said.
To celebrate his five minutes of fame, Hogan received Game 5 tickets for father’s day. He also received a homemade t-shirt from his daughter for father’s day that he’ll be sporting at the Garden for Game 5. It features a print of him wearing the jumbotron with the saying, “In a world full of people, be a Fred Hogan.”
Hogan said he’ll be glued to his seat this time, declining any interview requests that come his way.
