Ryan Held was about to take the water at the TYR Pro Swim Series in January.
But before he made his first plunge, he stepped up to the block wearing a jersey that caught fans by surprise: Bulls, red, No. 15, with 'Arcidiacono' stitched across the back. A callback to Arch's rookie season in Chicago.
The video went viral. A quick check of the Springfield resident's Twitter account features retweets of both the Bulls and White Sox, and Held's devotion to each team's respective slogans for this year: "Run With Us" and "Change The Game."
Held is an Authentic Fan.
The Olympic gold medalist recently appeared on the Bulls Talk Podcast to discuss that undying fandom. Asked about the reception he received after cheering for the Bulls on such a stage, and if he knew he would become so popular for doing so, Held said he was surprised.
"I had no idea. Actually," Held said. "I actually did it at the summer nationals. I wore it before the 100 fly, but it didn't get anything. But with this being an Olympic year, I guess it just blew up with NBC tweeting. Obviously it helps with NBC covering the Olympics, NBC [Sports] Chicago with the Bulls, I think it just helped that great connection."
NBA
"I had no idea. People were writing articles. The media people at USA Swimming were like 'Ryan, this is blowing up like crazy. We're getting dings and messages from all these different broadcasters that were talking about the Bulls.' And then I was on another podcast where they were talking about it and they were like, 'Ryan Arcidiacono doesn't even own this jersey. This is his rookie season jersey. He is a true fan.' I honestly didn't think it would blow up like that. But it was kind of cool it did."
Held said he became a fan of Arcidiacono because of his perseverance.
"I was watching a game and Arcidiacono subbed in, and he within the first couple minutes was diving into the court, saving balls from going out of bounds, like just getting good defensive plays, good offensive plays." Held said. "He had a ton of assists. Stacey King the NBA announcer was giving a little bit of history about Arcidiacono and how he went undrafted to the G league and to work his way up from the G league, and from there he got a two-way contract with the Bulls and now he's on the Bulls roster. And I was like, man, that's a really cool story of perseverance, not giving up on yourself, just working, working to outwork everyone. And just become the best you [that] you want to be and truly can be. I love that."
Held said he has since bought a new jersey to update his collection. He plans to unveil it at his next meet.
"I wore the jersey last year and I messaged him a screen recording clip of YouTube and I was like 'Hey, the jersey was good luck.' And he responded back and was like, 'Yeah, haha thanks,' but was like, 'I thought that's [Chandler] Hutchinson's jersey. That's 15. I got 51 now.' And I was like, 'Yeah, I've got to get the updated jersey.'"
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