We Just Lost a Sports Icon

Rest in Peace John Brenkus

A staple of many of our childhoods has sadly passed away. John Brenkus, creator of one of the best and maybe the most creative sports shows of all time, has moved on to his next life.

He’d been battling with depression, and it was reported on June 1, 2025, that John had succumbed to that battle and tragically taken his own life.

In 2023, it was reported that John was working on a new version of Sports Science. A show even bigger in scope that would take the concept to a new level, but we never heard much more about it after that point.

John, like most humans, was always pursuing a goal, and I wonder if the new version of the show not coming to fruition affected his depression. It’s also possible that it went the other way, where it was his depression that affected the show.

Two years ago, John even spoke about another time when he had been deeply depressed. He delivers it with his famous John Brenkus delivery, so it didn’t hit as heavily the first time I saw this a while back. But revisiting it now, you can tell how much he was masking it, and you realize he sadly never fully recovered. The first depression was right after he sold the show the first time, so when he doesn’t have something to work on, he gets this feeling of emptiness.

Recently, I’ve thought a lot about the impermanence of this life and what pursuits are worthwhile during our time here. I believe that our passions (the constructive ones) are gifts given by God. And that we should cherish, develop, share, and use those gifts to add value to the world. Whether he realized it or not, I believe John Brenkus did that in droves. I believe his passion and enthusiasm for sports meeting science influenced the paths of many of us who watched him years ago.

I hope he knew that. That's why I made a video about him 2 years ago. That was me using my gift to try to add value back to the world, in my little way, that’s how this works.

Sometimes, though, once the height of your popularity wanes, it’s easy to get down on yourself and feel like you didn’t do enough. The height of this channel was some years back now, and I’ve definitely had days where I’ve had to confront that.

But the seeds that you sow take years, sometimes decades, to fully mature and blossom in the sun. Those plants then develop their own seeds and add more beauty to the world, and that cycle continues throughout the millennia.

Today, you’ll learn a little more about the story of John Brenkus and the amazing show he created back in the day. A while back, I did a video covering all of those details, and I figured we can watch or rewatch it in honor of John today.

A lot of days I don’t feel it, but for John I’ll do it…

You know what time it is man… Cue The Wayne!