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The Power of Hype: Celebrating Brandi Collins-Dexter

The Power of Hype: Celebrating Brandi Collins-Dexter

By David Dexter

This special issue of The Revival Letter is dedicated to founder Brandi Collins-Dexter, marking six months since the launch of The Revival Lab, her project and vision. As people across the world fill stadium stands, rejoice in the streets, and switch on their TVs to watch their favorite teams, we have chosen to celebrate Brandi’s and our contributors’ love of sports and pop culture. The issue includes a tribute from Project Director David Dexter, a selection of Brandi’s work, some recommendations for related media and writing, and a spotlight on some of our past issues.

“You see, you have to pick the right song,” Brandi Collins-Dexter said to me once. “The energy has to keep building, and you have to weave in some good quotes. Oh, and if you can tap into shared historical trauma or suffering, even better.”

She was, of course, talking about one of her secret obsessions: watching fan-made sports team hype videos. 

Every time the playoffs came around — football, basketball, baseball — she would scour YouTube looking for these videos. Whether they only had a handful of views or thousands, it didn’t matter. She watched dozens of them. At first, I didn’t get it, but then I realized how much she liked the idea of some random person creating art solely to get their fellow fans excited. To get them to believe in something better.

Brandi always understood that sports and politics were intimately connected. Not in the cynical “horse-race” way that you see from the Beltway pundits, but in that loving a team in itself is an identity, forged out of civic pride, collective joy, and heartbreak. It is a passion handed down through generations, an opportunity to forge a shared community.

Brandi knew this because she was a fan herself. She was never one to cry much during movies, but at the end of an ESPN documentary on the 1985 Chicago Bears, I looked over to see tears streaming down her face. “We’re never going to be that good again,” she sobbed. She wanted Chicago to experience the same unbridled joy she saw in that historical footage. She wanted a taste of what we’ve seen in New York the last two weeks.

One of the greatest sports hype videos I’ve ever seen came out of that rapturous celebration. And it came from the NYC Mayor’s Office:

From June 18, 2026

I’ve watched it maybe two dozen times. I’m not even a Knicks fan. But every time, I think the same thing: “Brandi would love this.” It reflects a vision of a better world, one where we come together in joy instead of sadness.

Today is unquestionably a sad day. Brandi died a year ago today. But she would want us to come together in joy to remember her. So that’s what we will do. Today’s Revival Letter is a special edition, with an expanded “hype mix” of some of her most timeless work on sports, populism, patriotism, and more.

Miss you, BC.

-David

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This section is an opportunity to share some of The Revival Lab founder Brandi Collins-Dexter’s writings, published and unpublished, as well as reflections from those who worked with and learned from her.

Brandi wrote about the context and appeal of “greatest wrestling promo in history,” arguing that Rhodes, for many, really did reflect the “American Dream.” For more, check out this docuseries episode about Rhodes that also featured Brandi’s insight.

These insightful and entertaining episodes of Bring Receipts, a podcast Brandi co-hosted with her friend and colleague Steven Renderos, cover a wide range of topics, including the intersection of sports with music, entertainment, pop culture, and economic justice.

Brandi joined the podcast’s live show to talk about wrestling blurring lines between reality and entertainment, expanding upon her analysis of Dusty Rhodes and his cultural significance in Reagan’s America in particular.

  • Brandi’s crowdsourced playlist: “We’re gonna get through this (even if it kills me)” — April 10, 2026

During Brandi’s treatment, she asked for family and friends to contribute song suggestions for a genre- and timeline-agnostic playlist she was compiling. She began it with five songs she chose, listed below. For the rest of the playlist, check out this link.

I’ll start: "If We Were Vampires" by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “Can I Call You Rose?" by Thee Sacred Souls, “Be Thankful for What You Got” by William DeVaughn, “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” by Daft Punk, “Perfect” by Doria Roberts. Your turn! - Brandi
Click through for playlist!
Media Cabinet

Selected by Eesha

The Revival Lab envisions digital spaces as extensions of the connections we build in real life, rather than as poor substitutions. We hope you see this recurring segment as us rummaging through the shelves under the TV or leafing through a CD case to hand you what we’re watching or listening to.

This issue, we’ll be sharing some hype videos from across the decades, ranging from our favorite moments from the past few weeks to examples of sports celebrations and promotions from the early stages of film and recorded athletic events, pulled from some of our go-to digital archives. Please enjoy the varied selection below!

This recurring section is designed to highlight some of the best critical work coming from a new generation of creators on YouTube fighting back against corruption and fascism. Left and progressive content creators, many of whom are young men, are speaking up and acting out in a popular front against the redpill manosphere, MAGA propaganda spox, and white nationalist trolls. Each issue, we’ll recommend an independent journalist or news influencer to follow to enhance your YouTube recommendations, and help signal-boost some of the best creatives who are speaking truth to power.

Joon Lee: How The Knicks Went From Laughingstock to Champions

Joon Lee is an independent sports journalist known for his sharp NBA and MLB reporting and in-depth interviews. He's also a rising YouTuber who takes strong stances against the sports betting epidemic, particularly how gambling and speculation are delegitimizing both journalism and the game.

Lee’s video essay on the Knicks’ recent championship is grounded in the stories of city residents and fans. He argues that coach Leon Rose’s human-centric, relationship-based approach delivered the W, and that through the good and bad times, the Knicks remain one of the only forces that truly unites New Yorkers in a city that feels increasingly divided by gentrification and rising costs. This historic win created a temporary sense of communal belonging for everyone from lifelong locals to transplants who otherwise feel like strangers to one another. This kind of connection between the personal and the political is what makes Lee’s content stand out from the overcrowded pack of sports hot takers. Give Lee a follow to sage your algorithm.

From June 15, 2026

This week’s theme? Let’s call it a victory lap. One where we hope the audience rushes the field to join the team. In a slight change to the format of this section, please join us in revisiting some of our Revival Letter issues from the past six months. With your support — donating, subscribing, reading, sharing — we hope to continue to deposit interesting, thoughtful, entertaining analysis in your inbox every two weeks. Thank you for joining us on this journey!

Los Doyers Broke My Heart
With Opening Day upon us, I’m fighting to take back Dodgers baseball.
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MediaJustice Executive Director Steven Renderos shares about his relationship to his hometown team and the complicated political and social forces shaping professional sports today.

Capture Hearts, Not Data
By Dr. Reagan Nicole Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and, if you’re single, you may be tempted to download (or re-download) a dating app to meet someone new. If you decide to turn to online dating this cuffing season, take a look at your chosen platform’s
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One of our earliest issues includes an incisive exploration of data privacy and monopoly concerns in the dating app industry, with special attention to the expansion of surveillance technology.

The Overseer Class: A Conversation with Dr. Steven Thrasher
By Eesha Ramanujam For this week’s issue, we had the chance to speak to Dr. Steven Thrasher — activist, professor, self-described “itinerant preacher,” and best-selling author of The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide, a profound work of scholarship and storytelling excavating the social
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This recent interview (part 2 linked in text) delves into Dr. Thrasher’s recent book, which reflects on the political challenges posed by the selective status advancement of people from marginalized communities.

Memory Against Authoritarianism
By Cayden Mak In Yoko Ogawa’s 1994 novel The Memory Police (which appeared in English for the first time in 2019), a novelist and her editor struggle against a creeping forgetting enacted by the state. It begins with forgetting objects and expands to include concepts (like seasons) and even
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The Publisher of Convergence magazine highlights the importance of memory work and strategic media publication in furthering the work of social movements and reshaping the attention economy.

The Inconvenient, the Useful, and the Ephemeral: A Visit to the Prelinger Library
By Eesha Ramanujam A few weeks ago, I was on a research trip to the Bay Area when I realized that the Prelinger Library, which I’d recently learned about in my classes, was close by and available for a visit. I was in the area just long enough to
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One of our team members explored the unconventional shelves and remarkable collections of the Bay Area-based Prelinger Library, writing about the relationship between record-keeping and meaning-making when reflecting on history.

Thank you for reading The Revival Letter!