Meet Derrik Whiten!
As Brunner’s in-house emcee, master of changing out the kegs, and Fantasy Football extraordinaire, he has a lot on his plate. But his real passion project is his content network, Thoughts From The Bench. If you’re looking for a laugh or for someone to juggle EXACTLY three things, Derrik is your guy.
Q: What were some of your high school hobbies?
A: I played soccer my entire life and was an avid member of choir and band throughout high school. I was actually fortunate enough to be the lead in a musical called Godspell my senior year that was MUCH better than Jordan Mitrik’s musical. You can ask him. He knows it.
Q: Tell us some high school fun facts.
A: I ran for student council under the pretense that “National Gecko Day” would give us an extra holiday off from school. I think it’s funny to know that instead of telling me I couldn’t do it, the teachers allowed me to run on that platform knowing I was going to lose anyway.
Q: Tell us some college fun facts.
A: So this one is a bit sensitive but I actually threw the ball into my own net one game as the goalie for the team. My captain called it the “single greatest moment of his career” (he played professionally for two years) and my coach hugged me and thanked me saying he hadn’t laughed that hard in years. We won 10-1. I still have the video.
Q: What is one thing you’ve crossed off your bucket list?
A: Visiting Hawaii. It was everything I had hoped it would be and I even got to kayak with dolphins, snorkel with sea turtles and swim with giant manta rays while they fed! All of them were 100% in the wild which is still the most amazing things I’ve seen to this day.
Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: Almost all of my free time actually goes towards a content network I created about three years about called Thoughts From The Bench! What started as a blog by myself now has about 14 contributors that span across the blog, three podcasts, and 5 weekly shows on Twitch spanning from sports, music, beer, pizza reviews and so much more. It’s been an ongoing challenge but an absolute blast.
Q: Do you have any hidden talents?
A: I can Juggle three things, no more no less. It’s a super weird party trick that doesn’t really take much skill but I’ll do it when there’s an awkward silence. That or throw playing cards like ninja stars.
Q: Choose a movie title for the story of your life. Who would play you?
A: As far as a movie title I have no clue, but I once believed that Chris Pratt would play me well until someone said “Meh that’s your brother, you’re more like Will Ferrell” so I stopped talking about this topic altogether.
Q: Where is your favorite place in the world?
A: Sweden. I spent a summer with a friend who is from a small town outside of Stockholm and it was an absolute culture shock. I would love to get back someday.