*Live Blog: Opening Night of The FHL @ Leisure Rinks

Bringing the Action on the Ice to Wherever You Are 

Intro:

The internet is cool, iPhones are glorious, and the iPad is God's greatest work since he ripped the rib and created females. If you doubt my love for Apple, the internet, and Apple (again), this blog should give you a glimpse into why these devices are so great. (Hockey in a minute) Over the next six plus hours, I will created a fully interactive blog with photos, videos, inteviews, commentary, and description of opening night of, The FHL. I will do it all with just wi-fi, a MacBook Pro, an iphone4, and an iPad2. 

Anyway, over the course of the night I hope to create a blog that will read as good live as it will tomorrow. I want the players to have the chance to enjoy this work when the games are over. All you have to do is refresh. New posts will come every 15 minutes, so make sure you are looking at the most current version of the page at all times. Please feel free to comment in the comment section below and dont be afraid to make requests. Is there a picture of a certain player you want to see? Is there a video you want me to try and capture? A voice you want to hear? Just leave the word and I will do my best.

I will see you at the rink. 

5:00 PM EST: 


I just got settled in at the rink and have a pretty good spot on the balcony, outside of the warm-room, and just a few steps either way from having a great look at both rinks. 


Game #1 


Barons Vs. Whalers 


Interestingly, with the drop of the first puck comes the first game with clashing jerseys. Someone saved the day with a giant box of orange pinnies, and play moves fast up and down in-between a ringing of the horn to indicate a line change. With around 19-minutes remaining in the first game the score is tied at 2.  Before the game, I had a chance to get a video in each locker room. First the Barons, and then the Whalers....

With about 1-minute left in game one, action is about to start on the other rink as the defending champion Rockies prepare to take on the Jets. 

5:40 PM EST:

The first final score is in as the Whalers defeated the Barons 6-3. They will take one minute off and then play another game. 

6:00 PM EST: 

The Whalers and Barons are tied 1-1 midway through game #2. 

6:15:

The Whalers have taken a 2-1 lead with only 5-minutes remaining in game number 2. If the game goes to a shootout, we will have the video. 

6:30

The Whalers secure victory by a final score of 2-1. The Whalers can finish the day no worse than tied for first with a record of 2-0. 

Game 2:

5:45 PM EST

Jets vs. Rockies

The Jets are captained by former prep hockey player Ryan Mackey. Interestingly, last year the team's goalie was OHL stud, John Cullen. Cullen bailed and started his own team (Cougars), but Mackey didn't have to look hard for a replacement. He just called John's older brother, Dan Cullen who played college hockey at Quinnipiac. The Jets made it to the finals last year before being defeated by the Rockies. 

The Rockies are captained by Vinny Scarsella and feature some of the league's most exciting talent. Partrick Kane sticks out in his purple jersey with an 88 on the back and his unmistakable hockey pants black with Blackhawks on the trim.  Also, Cory Conacher and Scarsella are fresh off of their senior seasons at Canisius College where they ended their careers first and third respectively on the Canisius all time scoring list. Anthony Day is on his way to Yale and Scott Jenks and Matt Kielich also bring Division-1 talent.  

6:00 PM EST: 

The Rockies have busted out of the gate and have a 5-1 lead only 10-minutes into the action. 

Quite a crowd has formed to get a glimpse of Par Kane. Or, could they be gathering to get a glimpse of this handsome blogger?

A loud "ohhhhhhh" just rang out from the crowd, not because PK dazzled them, but the referee fell flat on his bum placing the puck for a pentalty shot that was missed. 

6:20: The Rockies still have a commanding lead in this game, 2-1. One thing I am curious to find out today is how intimidating the FHL is for the "rookies." Does it intimidate a high school player to lace up his skates in the same locker room as Anthony Day and Vinny Scarsella? 

Game 1 is over and the Rockies are 1-0 on the road to a repeat with a 7-2 win. 

Here is a picture of the man everyone came to see:

He shattered a stick and gave it to an jubilant youngster. 

6:26:

Game #2 between the Rockies and the Jets is underway and after having the reset button pressed, the Jets get on the board first, and lead 1-0. 

6:30

Quickly, the Rockies roar back for a pair of goals and lead 2-1. 

6:42 

With ten minutes left, the Rockies are holding on to a 5-4 lead.

6:48

The Jets have played much better in this one but still trail 7-4 with, 2:48 left in the third. 

6:52

Pat Kane just dazzled us a bit. He picked the puck up in his own zone, carefully made his way through the neutral zone and dangled a defenseman before backhanding one in under the bar. The Rockies take it 8-4 and will finish the day with no worse than tied for first with a 2-0 record. 

Final Goal totals:

Pat Kane - 3

Anthony Day -3

Vinny Scarsella- 3

Cory Conacher- 4

Game 3: 

6:15 PM EST

Cougars vs. Toros 

After losing in the finals to Pat Kane, Vinny Scarsella, and the rest of the Rockies, John Cullen left Leisure Rinks frustrated. He knew that he could put together a team that could beat those guys, so he said goodbye to the Jets and created an FHL expansion team called, The Cougars. To stop the Rockies, Cullen called Sam Alfieri (USHL to Niagara), Tyler Matecki (Jr. Sabres to Fredonia), Nick Schaus (USHL to Mass-Lowell to the AHL), Kevin (AHL) and Kyle Quick (USHL), and Luke Hannon (USHL). 

The Toros are a family, literally, skating into the FHL with four sets of brothers. Dan and Matt Krug, Joe amd Ryan Rogalski, Mike and Pete Ratchuk, and Joe and Nathan Schuler.

Pete Ratchuk was a first-round draft choice of the Colorado Avalanche in 1996. He was quickly traded to the Panthers where he made his NHL debut. One day, I had the chance to ask Pete what it was like to play with Pavel Bure and he told me this story. 

"We played a game against the Rangers in Madison Square Garden. Most of the guys walk to the rink when we play there because it is so close to the rink. I was running a little late and ended up in the loby with only Bure. He didn't usually walk because he thought the New York media might harass him.  He asked me if I wanted to catch a cab with him so I did. We didn't talk much, it was a short ride, but when it was time to pay Bure offered saying, "I signed for 40-million today."

His brother Mike isn't too shabby himself. He joined forces with Tim Kennedy and Chris Mueller to win a national championship at Michigan State. He later turned pro and scored a Lemieux like dandy for his first professional goal. Check it out:

6:48 PM EST:

Halfway through game #1 between the Cougars and the Toros, the Cougars have a 3-1 lead. 

6:58 PM EST:

With Kane and Scarsella in the  clubhouse at 2-0, all the FHL eyes are on Johnny Cullen and his mates. As I sat down, Cullen got beat by a rookie on a penalty shot, but the Cougars easily defeated the Toros 7-3 in game 1. 

7:21

With 12:00 minutes left in the second game, The Cougars lead 1-0. 

7:28

Tyler Matecki just scored on a penalty shot to give the Cougars a 3-2 lead with 5:00 remaining. 

7:33 

With 2:28 left, there is a lot of confusion. The Cougars have just scored 2 penalty shots but have only been credited with one goal. 

Into the final minute the score is 4-3. lets get video of the final minute. 

Video 1: The Cougars are down 4-3, and are pressing to try and tie the game with about 30 seconds to go. 

Video 2: After the Cougars tie the game at 4-4, the teams lineup for a faceoff with :15 seconds remaining. 

Video 3: The FHL tiebreaker goes something like this, the home team is awarded a penalty shot, any rookie player can take it, if he scores they win, if he doesn't they loose. No pressure, rook. 

In the end, the Toros get what essentially is a 5-4 SO victory.  This is the first split of the nights. 

Game 4:

7:00 PM EST

Chiefs vs. Wanderers 

The Chiefs are lead by Captain Joey Meyer and will open the FHL season against The Wanderers, lead by Joe Carosa. 

The Wanderers are in yellow and feature two former Buffalo Sabres. Tim Kennedy and Andrew Peters both are playing in the 2011 FHL. 

It doesn't look like Kennedy or Peters could make it tonight, but they should be at future games.

The Wanderers, despite the lack of their NHL talent won the first game, 6-4. 

8:06 PM EST 

With about 4:00 left in the second game, the score is tied 4-4. 

8:10 PM EST

I just got real lucky. I decided to walk over and record the last minute of game 2 between the Chiefs and the Wanderers. 

Video 1: Play enters the last minute...

Video 2: The last thirty seconds of the game. At the buzzer, the Wanderers break the Chiefs back with the game winning goal and a 5-4 victory.  Like the Rockies and the Whalers, the Wanderers end the night 2-0. 

Game 5:

7:30 PM EST

Nordiques vs. Maroons 

The Nordiques are lead by the league Commish, Nik Fattey and his brothers Chris and Marc. They also have a ton of talent. Larry Smith (USHL), Nick Bailen (RPI), Kevin English (Amherst), and Alex Lepkowski (OHL). 

The Maroons are led by their Captain, Justin Cefaly. The Maroons have plenty of talent, Scott Diebold (USHL) is in net. Matt Owczarczak (Elmira), Matt English (SPHL), Rick Lynch (Elmira), Alex Iafallo (U18) and Brian Goudy (Fredonia). 

8:17 PM EST:

The Nordiques and the Maroons are tied 3-3 with 3:30 minutes left in game number one. 

8:22 PM EST:

The Maroons go bar and in to take a late 4-3 lead over the Nordiques. Here is the last 30 seconds of Game #1 

8:33 PM EST

Darren McCormick (U18 Bell Tire) just scored on a breakaway about ten minutes into game number 2 to give the Nordiques a 1-0 lead. 

8:45 PM EST

With about 9:00 left in game #2 the Maroons have tied it at 1. 

8:55 PM EST

With just :20 remaining, Sean Brown (U18 Regals) scored to give the Maroons a 2-1 lead. Here is the video of the final :20 seconds as the Nordiques try to force a tie.

8:58 PM EST

Unable to tie the game late, the Nordiques drop a heartbreaker and fall to 0-2. The Maroons on the other hand can finish the night no worse than in a tie for first place with a record of, 2-0. 

Game 6:

8:15 PM EST:

Mustangs vs. North Stars 

The North Stars are lead by the intense, entertaining, and dazzling, Timmy Benner. Benner's squad also features former St. Francis Prep goalie, Mike Musialowski. Also, on Benner's squad is Nick and Joe D'Agostino, AJ DiRienzo, and Jamie Vona. 

The Mustangs are lead by captain, Chris Maxick. Chris has put together a team with a lot of young talent. Justin Hussar, Dylan McLaughlin, Nolan Sheeran, Ryan Cook, and Carl Lester all have bright futures. Also on the Mustangs, Matt Bessing (Plattsburgh), Chris Bradley (USHL), and Ryan White (JR. Sabres). 

8:36 PM EST

I have been watching the Nordiques and Maroons, but I took a second to look over and see how things were going at the start of the Mustangs and North Stars. Instead of hockey, I seen a helpless Matt Bessing (Plattsburgh) kneeling in a puddle of blood. I am not sure what happened, but it was ugly. 

Game On:

9:00 PM EST

This is officially the only FHL action left on opening night. With around 30-seconds remaining the Mustangs are holding on to a slim, 4-3 lead. Here is the video of the last thirty seconds of play. 

As you can see, the North Stars didn't muster even a scoring chance late, and the Mustangs held on for a 4-3 victory. 

9:12 PM EST

The Zamboni came out for what I am sure everyone thought would be a quick dry scrape to remove some of the blood on the ice. Instead, it turned into a comedy of errors with the poor outmatched Zamboni driver trying to maneuver around the rink.

9:13 PM EST 

The final game of the night is underway. 

9:14 PM EST

I figured with this being the only game going on I would be able to follow along and list all of the goal scorers. The Mustang's get on the board first with a beautiful shot by #12. I immediately get out the roster given to me by league commissioner, Nik Fattey.

First Mustangs goal, scored by #12, uhhh, #12, ummm, they don't have a 12. Anyone? Help?

Nik, has clarified the situation for me, #12 is for alternates. So is, 88. I guess Kane wanted 88 so he has it officially. Otherwise, 12 and 88, for subs. 

9:20 PM EST

I just talked to the commissioner for a few minutes and he  is pretty rattled. His Nordiques squad skated through the regular season last year with just three losses, but one night in to the 2011 season and they are 0-2. 

In the meantime, someone, not sure who, has taken a 3-1 lead. So much for keeping track of all of the goals in this game. 

9:22 PM EST

Rookie player, Mike Irwin just sniped to bring the North Stars within 1 goal. 3-2 with 17:00 remaining. 

9:26 PM EST

Mike Coyne (U16 Tonawanda) just scored to give the Mustang's a 4-2 lead 12:34 remaining. 

9:35 PM EST

With 5 minutes to go, the North Stars get one back and make it 4-3.

9:38 PM EST

The Mustangs answer right back and make it 5-3. Jaime Vona picks up a loose puck and busts down the center of the rink only to get halled down for a penalty shot. Here it is:

Vona misses on the penalty try, and the Mustangs are holding on to a 5-3 lead with just over a minute to go. 

9:42 PM EST

Mike Irwin scores to bring the North Stars within 1 with about 20 seconds remaining. On the draw, with the North Stars net open, the puck is won by the Mustangs right into the net for a 6-4 lead. The last 18 seconds brought no change and the Mustangs finish the night no worse than tied for first by winning both games. Here is video of the Irwin goal and the following face-off. 

9:46 PM EST 

The first night of the FHL is over.  The Rockies, Mustangs, Maroons, and the Whalers all finished the day 2-0. The North Stars, Nordiques, Jets, and the Barons all finished the day 0-2. The Toros and the Cougars both finished 1-1. 

That is it for the live blog. As the season goes on, you can expect at least two more live blogs, podcasts, and more FHL exclusive content. If you are interested this is where you need to point your internet:

http://www.sports-casters.com

http://www.facebook.com/thesportscasters

http://www.twitter.com/sports_casters

http://www.thesportscasters.blogspot.com

Say goodnight Brees:

3 More Things

Form the Beginning of the Podcast to the Top of the Blog

1. Episode #21 of the podcast was another strong program. Adam Schefter represented what I hope will be a stronger ESPN presence on the podcast. Don had this story on three things and also this one. Schefter was the first guest on the podcast and we talked about his experiences with John Elway, the frustrations of the lockout, and the way twitter has changed what he does. We were really hoping to get a tweet from Schefter to his 500,000 followers, but he told me that he felt doing so would be narcissistic. Next up was an awesome spot with Ben Nicholson-Smith from the biggest baseball blog on the internet. The interview with Ben was cool because we just went from topic to topic, question to question, and covered a ton of ground in the twenty minutes we talked. Finally, we debuted a new segment called 32 Teams, 32 Blogs and our Guinea pig was a great dude named Ty for an awesome blog called, The Lions in Winter. Ty made me very excited to continue the segment and work on more guests from more blogs. Check out last week's show on our website at http:///www.sports-casters.com 
2. Today I started reading, "Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN" by James Miller and Tom Shales. These guys teamed up a few years ago on the New York Times Bestseller about the history of Saturday Night Live. I have been tracking down this book and this interview since before we started the podcast. The first contact I made with the publisher was in January and I have been rushing to the door every morning since they lifted the book off embargo hoping for my copy of the book to arrive. It still hasn't. Instead, I got the last copy at Barnes and Noble and started researching for the interview on Tuesday. This is going to be a challenging interview because James Miller has been everywhere promoting this book. He has done podcasts, the Dan Patrick Show, Jim Rome, Tony Kornheiser, and just about every other spot under the sun. Can I fins something unique to ask him? Can I do as good of a job as some of the monsters of the industry? Can I do a better job? I know I will be prepared. Also this week, there is a good chance that we will have 2 podcasts. Besides Miller, L. Jon Wertheim is joining us again to talk about his piece on Tiki Barber in this week's edition of Sports Illustrated. Also, Glenn Davis from the super cool blog, Sports Grid, will join us to talk about his unique take on covering sports. We also are chasing a couple of other thing and will probably have enough for two shows. I am excited.
3. The Sports-Casters are going to be covering a really cool hockey league called, The FHL. The FHL is an awesome summer hockey league that features all of the best Pro, D1, and Junior hockey players in the Buffalo area. Pat Kane, Tim Kennedy, Peter and Mike Ratchuk, Kevin Quick, and Vinny Scarsella and Cory Conacher will all do Athlete Spotlight podcasts with us. Also, we will do a couple live blogs from the site of the FHL starting with opening week this Sunday. We are excited to see what else the relationship between the FHL and The Sports-Casters will bring. Make sure to stop back Sunday night for the live blog of the first week of the 2011 season. 

Say goodnight Brees:

The Slow Sad Death of Wrestlemania IIII

The Greatest Wrestling Event of All-Time is Almost Dead, Literally

When I was a kid, two things mattered. Hockey and Wrestling. I wasn't big on cartoons (although I wouldn't pass up a chance to watch He-Man), my toy box was filled with wrestlers, wrestling rings, the steel cage, hockey cards, and The A- Team van. 

Anyway, wrestling was just about everything to me. I watched it on the weekends, during the week, in-between meals, when I was breast feeding my baby brother, and I rented a video (courtesy of Coliseum Home Video) every single time I walked into Wegmans. 

The climax of my love for wrestling was on March 27, 1987, when Vince McMahon promoted Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant and packed 93,173 people into the Pontiac Silverdome. It was a glorious day for a 6-year old. Mom forked over the cash to pay for the event on pay-per-view, the neighbors came over, and we ate pizza. My favorite wrestler, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, had heroically recovered from a serious throat injury suffered at the hands of the Macho Man Randy Savage to challenge him for the right to hold the Intercontinental Championship. Steamboat and Savage put on a match for the ages that many consider to be the greatest of all time. Steamboat went home with the gold, Hogan slammed Andre, the pizza was delicious, and life was as good as it ever would be. 

Sadly, only twenty four years later, many of the strong, athletic, and herculean men that made Wreslemania III the historic event that it was are leaving the earth at a rate so startling I can barley keep up. It is hard to understand, hard to compute, and mostly hard to accept. I know Vince McMahon is still alive. He is living in Connecticut, a billionaire, who spends every day counting the money he has earned off of the sweat of these athletes. Lets try to use math, in 1987 most of the competitors had to be between the ages of 25-35. T0day, 24 years later, they should be 48-58 years old getting ready to retire and live off the riches that preforming in front of 93,000 people would surly bring. Somehow, that math isn't as smooth as 2+2=4. Instead, 48-58 years old is a birthday that most of the wrestlers that competed that day will never enjoy. 

Sadly, the rest of this column will be obituary for all of the athletes, announcers, referees, and celebrities that have died since entertaining us on that glorious March day in Detroit, Michigan.

1. Gorilla Monsoon d. October 6, 1999 at age 62. Gorilla died of heart failure brought on by complications from diabetes.  Many say that the Gorilla died of a broken heart after his son Joey Morella passed away (see below). At WM3, Gorilla called the action with Jesse "The Body" Ventura. The event wouldn't have been the same with out Gorilla and Jesse arguing back and fourth like an old married couple. 
2. Joey Morella d. July 4, 1994 at age 31. Joey died when he fell asleep at the wheel driving from one WWF event to another. He was one of the top officials in the WWF and at WM3 his was the man assigned to the big main event. 
3. Hercules d. March 6, 2004 at age 47. Hercules died after going to sleep at his home and never waking up. His wife says that he died of hear failure caused by a genetic heart disorder (also known as Steroids). At WM3, Hercules battled Billy Jerk Jack Haynes to a double count out before busting Haynes in the face with a giant chain and leaving him in the ring with a blood soaked face. 
4. Haiti Kid d. May 5, 2001 at age ?. For some reason, the internet is light on information regarding the birth of Raymond Kessler from Brooklyn, NY also known as the Haiti Kid. At WM3, the Haiti Kid was involved in a 6-man tag match between Hillbilly Jim, Little Beaver, and THK against King Kong Bundy, Lord Littlebrook, and Little Tokyo. 
5. Little Beaver d. December 4, 1995 at age 60. Little Beaver or Lionel Giroux died of emphysema. At WM3 he teamed with Haiti Kid and Hillbilly Jim earning a DQ victory after the massive Bundy body slammed the tiny Beaver. 
6. Junkyard Dog d. June 2, 1998 at age 45. Junkyard Dog passed away when he fell asleep at the wheel of his car driving home from his daughter's high school graduation. At WM3, JYD was pinned in the center of the ring by King Harley Race. The terms of the match meant the loser  had to bow and curtsey at the feet of the winner. JYD followed through with the terms but then cracked Harley Race with a chair and danced in the ring with his cape. 
7. The Fabulous Moolah d. November 2, 2007 at age 82. Moolah's death was far from tragic but notable none the less. The cause was a heart attack or a blood clot caused by a recent shoulder surgery. At WM3, Moolah accompanied the King Harley Race to the ring as the keeper of the crown.
8. Dino Bravo d. March 11, 1993 at age 44. Bravo was found shot to death in a story so bizarre it could only involve a pro wrestler. He was said to have been shot up to 17 times in the head by a gunman while he was watching a hockey game at his apartment in Quebec. The story is, he crossed a few mafia types involved in some kind of cigarette smuggling scheme and they put the hit out on the Canadian strong man. At WM3, Bravo accompanied The Dream Team to the ring as an adviser and then helped them score a victory with some good old fashioned outside interference.
9. Adrian Adonis d. July 4, 1988 at age 33. Adonis was killed in a car accident when the mini van he was traveling in swerved to miss a moose and ended up in a lake (not kidding). At WM3, Adonis battled Roddy Rowdy Piper in a winner shaves the losers hair match. After being put to sleep by Piper, Adrain has his head clipped balled. 
10. Davey Boy Smith d. May 18, 2002 at age 39. Smith died of a heart attack as the result of anabolic steroid and excessive drug use. At WM3, Smith and his tag team partner Dynamite Kid teamed with Chico Tito Santana to face The Hart Foundation and Danny Davis. 
11. Frankie the Bird d. in 2001 at age ?. Frankie tragically died in a fire at the house of Koko B. Ware. At WM3, he came down to the ring on the finger of the strutting and dancing Koko and then sat on a perch until the match ended. He may have chirped during the match. 
12. Macho Man Randy Savage d. May 20, 2009 at age 58. Savage died in a one car accident that likely occurred because of cardiac arrest suffered by Savage. At WM3, Savage participated in one of the greatest matches in wrestling history with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. 
13. Miss Elizabeth d. May 1, 2003 at age 42. Elizabeth died of a drug overdose and an exhausting relationship with Lex Luger. At WM3, the beautiful Elizabeth escorted the Macho Man to the ring for his match against Steamboat. 
14. Andre the Giant d. January 27, 1993 age 43. The Giant died of congestive heart failure in a Paris hotel room where he was staying while attending the funeral of his father. At WM3, Andre faced the immortal Hulk Hogan in the long anticipated main event that helped draw the record crowd. 

There it is, a list as sad as any. Sure, someday everyone involved will have passed away, but this list will grow int he next few years as Dynamite Kid, Jake Roberts, and Bobby Heenan loose their battles with long illness (Heenan) and drug addiction (Roberts, DK). 

The sad thing, is that this covers just one event. Many wrestlers that debuted shorty after WM3 are no longer with us. Owen Hart, Ravishing Rich Rude, Bad News Brown, Bam Bam Bigelow, The Big Boss Man, and Curt Hennig all died and were participants of either WM4 or WM5. 

With each tragic death, a small piece of my youth dies with it. 

At least Brian Bellows is still alive. 

Say goodnight Brees...

3 More Things

Behind the Scenes of Episode 20

1. Starting with this very column, we thought our listeners might be interested in some of the stuff that happens while we record the podcast. For example, last night I spent a lot of time prepping to interview Peter King. I was working in the office at my house not the space that we showed off in the blog last week. I thought you might like to see a picture of where a few of the interviews and almost all of the research and prep for the show is completed. As you can see, a giant Drew Brees cutout is always near to inspire. I usually set up my ipad next to my MacBookPro so that I can use it as a second screen and store some of the information I need handy on that screen. My table is hideous and needs to be upgraded. If anyone wants to sent me a table, great.
   
   
   
2. Today was the most efficient yet time consuming day in the history of The Sports-Casters. We were due to interview Peter King at 4:05 and I settled into my chair at around 3:35. I got everything up and running and Don arrived just in time to dial up Mr. King. When we finished with him, we had about an hour until our next interview with Reggie Smith. Instead of wasting the time, we recorded 3Things and then the book club update. During the book club update, I mentioned that all of the books come with cliff notes. Below is the picture of the first page of the press junket that came with our copy of The Captain. At 5:30 we did a half an hour with Reggie Smith and it started slow. I think as the interview went on and Reggie got to be more comfortable with us and it turned more conversational and there was one great moment where Reggie almost wanted to say Adrian Peterson was a better running back than his teammate, Frank Gore. We finished with Reggie around 6:00 and then we quickly threw together an intro and an out for the Athlete Spotlight and then Don pieced it up and had it posed on iTunes and the website by around 6:15 PM EST. We weren't scheduled to interview Dave Dameshek until 9:00 PM EST. So we played a game called, waiting for the Dave, and a picture of us playing said game is just above this text( I played invisible). In honesty, we used the downtime to talk about how we would change the podcast for season two. The plan as it stands right now is to work through June and call the end of season one on June 28th. Then we would take the month of July off and return for season two spending the entire month of August previewing the NCCA and NFL football seasons. Don suggested that we get rid of Pick4 and close with 3MoreThings. It is a lot to think about, but in the meantime, we have six more podcasts until the break.
   
   
   3.  To go with the 20th Episode of The Sports-Casters, I have some links for you to find some of the things that were mentioned on the show today. First off, it wont be hard for you to find the link to the GQ article that Steve mentioned during his three things, but when your finished, check out this article that has surfaced on Entertainment Weekly's website...We talked about a fun project that ESPN is doing ranking all of the helmets. I am shocked the Saints are not #1, insulted to see them outside of the top 5, and furious to be ranked 11. Have these people seen this glorious helmet recently?...Peter King mentioned that Rick Gosselin from Dallas is the best at "mocking the draft."...Dave Dameshek has a brand new podcast at NFL.COM and we thought it was difficult to find. I want to make sure you know exactly where it is... We mentioned that today was the 20th anniversary of this goal by Mario Lemieux... Don, Dave, and I all talked about some of the great players who have worn #20... 
   Brees, could you please say goodnight?
   
   
   
   Thanks, Pretty Girl....
   
   
   
   
   

Three More Things

1. We are ready to begin what should be one of the busiest and most important weeks in the history of the podcast. First, on Tuesday, we will record the twentieth of the weekly podcast that we started on January 11, 2011. It was the day after the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game, and for our first show we managed to snag Jeff Passan one of the authors of the book, "Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the BCS." This Tuesday, about twenty weeks later, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and SI.COM will join us to talk about coming up on the beat of a team coached by Bill Parcells, how twitter has changed his career, and the state of the league around witch he has made his living. That would be a pretty killer show on it's own, but since it is our 20th we thought it would be a great time to bring back our old pal, Dr. Funny Dave Dameshek. Dave will join us to talk about,  his new gig hosting a podcast for NFL.COM, learning to tweet from Rashard Mendenhall, and to get his expert opinion on how the podcast has evolved from January to June. Episode 20 of The Sports-Casters will be posted sometime between 8-11 PM EST on Tuesday night. You can find it at our updated website, http://www.sports-casters.com 
2. Also this week, Zach Rosenfield from Accuscore.com is going to join Don and I to host our third edition of the Athlete Spotlight series of podcasts we have been working on. Carter Camper a Hobey Baker finalist and hockey star from the University of Miami (OH) now property of the Boston Bruins was the first athlete to be spotlighted. Our second athlete was, Deuce McAllister once a star at Ole Miss and of course a hero to New Orleans for everything he did as one of the best to ever play for the Saints franchise. The third athlete we are going to cover is Reggie Smith a DB for the San Francisco 49er and former superstar for the Oklahoma Sooners. That should be posted on Tuesday at some point as well. We are working on one other Athelete Spotlight edition of the podcast that could come any day now. If you are paying attention on twitter, you might have the clues to know what former NFL DL we are working on to be a part of the series.  
3. I have been working my butt off reading "The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter" by Ian O'Connor for a couple of reasons. First, the book is really good and I haven't been in the mood to put it down for a few days. Second, Ian O'Connor is going to be on the podcast in a couple of weeks and I want to be prepared. Last, my copy of "Those Guys Have All of the Fun" is almost free from being embargoed for leak protection and should be in my hands and ready to shake up the world of Sports no later than March 24. The author of the book, James Miller will be on the podcast on May 31, 2011 so I will need to turn that book around as quickly as possible

You are up to date,

Say goodnight Brady...

Behind the Scenes of Episode 19

Episode 19 of The Sports-Casters in one of the best episodes that we have done so far. The good news is that it means we are getting better, progressing, and always booking current guests. The bad news is that we still are around 125 followers on twitter, 113 "likes" on facebook, and out best downloaded shows are very much dependent on if our guest was nice enough to tweet about their appearance. Building an audience is tough, sometimes people get pissed if you try to promote your work, other times its uncomfortable to ask others to promote your work, and all the time you want nothing more than for people to hear your work. It isn't easy to get Jason LaCanfora, Zach Rosenfield, and Wes Bunting to make themselves available for a podcast they probably haven't heard of. It takes way more no thank-you's and flat out ignored tweets/emails just to get a maybe and finally a yes. I am not complaining, its fun, and booking guests is a challenge I have been pretty successful at. 


Think about this, Jeff Passan appeared on the first episode of this show. Since then, Joe Posnanski, Lee Jenkins, Luke Winn, Jon Wertheim, Deuce McAllister, Dave Dameshek and many other of sports media's most influential voices have set aside time to talk to us. It really has been a thrill. 


After that rant, I thought it might be cool to show you some pictures of where the podcast is recorded and some of the equipment we use.

This is a cool photo I took using an app called 360 Panorama that stitches together a series of photos to give you a really cool view of the studio where we record. Let's take a closer look at what you are looking at in this picture. 

This is host Don Russ's station. You can see his headphones, his laptop, and his ultra lame wallpaper. What in the world is with the flowers. Shame Donald, shame. 

This is the much cooler, hipper, and happening station for host Steve Bennett. You are looking at a brand new MacBook Pro 15inch model just released in February. Also, you can see my ipad2, nicely standing via the Book Arc Stand for iPad by twelve south. Also sneaking in is a bottle of iClean by Monster. If you are looking to clean an iPhone, iPadd, MacBook, or iMac this is the stuff you want. The picture on my iPad is Mark Ingram proudly holding the Saints jersey that he was given second after he was drafted. 

In this picture you can see the board that we use. For some reason we us mic #2 and #3. The other light that you see is Don's laptop going into the board so we can record the interviews that we do over skype. You can't quite see it here, but mic #1 is and a chair are there for when we have a third person in studio. 

I put this specific photo in black and white because I think this desktop computer was purchased in the 1700's. I wish that we were doing the podcast at my place so we could record on my iMac. In the meantime, we connect to this computer and record the show on Audacity and later edit all of the parts together and post it all on the internet. 

 This last shot is some of the other stuff in the room. The silver computer case with the speakers on top is the one connected to the monitor in the above picture. The black computer case is a giant dust collector that does nothing for nobody. The bag on the left is the bag that Don brings his laptop in. The other blue bag is one that I got for free when I subscribed to Sports Illustrated and appears to have my wallet and some Apple power supply cords in it. This picture is fascinating. 


A couple of more things:

• I spent some time tonight updating the message board on the Sports-Casters website. For now, the message board is more of a Sports-Casters Wiki page. There is a ton of information about the episodes, guests, and of course the book club.
• We mentioned on the show tonight that a good friend of mine is collecting money to donate to the National Kidney Foundation. Here is the link to his page on the official site. For more information, make sure you follow Josh on twitter. 
• Here is the link to our pal Dave Dameshek's new podcast on NFL.com. 
• Jason and I talked about this list that the NFL Network is working on.
• Wes Bunting was very kind to come on the podcast two times in three weeks. Today, we focused on his grades for the drafts of teams in the AFC and NFC.
• If you are interested in owning a copy of the book "At the Fights" compiled by John Schulian and Colum McCann send me an email and let me know what grade Wes Bunting gave the Saints draft. I will take all of the correct answers and pull a random name out of my hat.

We will be back next Tuesday for Episode 20 and an interview with Dave Dameshek and more.