BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — In 2007, Irvin Carney went viral during an interview on the steps of the University of Alabama’s Ferguson Center.

A video uploaded to YouTube captures the moment an interviewer asked Carney, a sophomore at the University of Alabama at the time, about UA’s longstanding rival with the University of Tennessee. At the time, Tennessee had won 10 of its past 12 games against the Tide. 

““Alright, man. Just say what you’ve been saying, man,” the interviewer asked. “Why you hate Tennessee?”

“Man, I hate Tennessee because, first of all, it’s Tennessee,” Irvin said. “And I just hate them because they low down, they dirty, they some snitches. And I hate Phillip Fulmer, I hate their colors. I’m not a dog person. I just hate Tennessee, man.”

On Friday, Carney reflected on his 2007 interview during a conversation with CBS 42’s Andrea Lindenberg. Wearing an Alabama sweatshirt, Carney gave the backstory on how the viral interview came to fruition.

“I was outside of the Ferguson Center waiting to go to Rose Towers, which isn’t even on campus anymore, and this guy came up saying he was a campus correspondent about rivalries and we had a long conversation before he even started rolling the cameras,” Carney said. 

Carney said that “back then” they didn’t have the concept of videos going viral. He said he was not even aware that it was on the internet until the following March.

Still, Carney seemed to have a good idea as to why the video gained such popularity.

“You can’t fake that type of passion,” he said. “That’s why everybody resonates with it.”

Carney said its popularity was unexpected, but it’s good to be “a part of the culture” of Alabama.

“What I want fans to realize about this rivalry is it has a lot of history and tradition,” he said. “It goes back many years. It has a lot of twists and turns. For the younger fans out there, go ask your big brothers … I think everybody on the Alabama side is just looking for revenge this year.”