The Sportstender Sits Down with OVFL Hall of Fame Head Coach Dave Howe

“Progress always involves risk. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.”—Frederick B. Wilcox

When I was first approached by my good friend, Pat “the Beard” Barba, with the idea of hosting my very own video show (“What??!! Are you crazy??!!!), I have to admit that I had very mixed feelings about the whole thing. I mean seriously…who wouldn’t?

For the past three years, I had been working towards my single goal of becoming a professional writer, and the more I thought about Pat’s idea, the more making videos seemed like the farthest thing from pursuing that actual dream. I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to change gears so drastically. Then again, I could definitely see how one would help the other (and vice versa).

As such, it took me over two months to finally decide if this was something that I wanted to try or not. If not for the confidence (and persistence) that Pat had demonstrated in me and my ideas during that time, I think it’s pretty safe to say that this show would never have seen the light of day, so I just want to start off by thanking Pat for all of his hard work and patience (yes, I can be a tad bit eccentric at times—I’m no different in person than I am with my writing) over the past few months as we’ve worked together to finally get this show underway.

Seeing as how I had never really done anything like this before, I don’t mind admitting to you now that the first show almost became the last. With countless technical issues with the software and editing, I was pretty tempted to pack the whole thing in before the first video could ever be released—I even messaged Coach Howe to apologize for wasting his time. To say that I was frustrated with the entire process would be an incredible understatement, but in the end, I knew I couldn’t give up without a fight.

The show itself was initially meant to be about 10-15 minutes in length where I figured that I would just talk about various current events (some popular, some lesser known) in the news and offer my opinions and commentary.

But after thinking about it further, I really wanted the show to reflect what I call “The Art of Conversation,” and so I decided that each video would also contain personal interviews with local leaders from my community, and I would try to contain the interview to approximately 20 minutes in length—which I did, bringing the show to around the half-hour mark.

I would best describe the show as a “sports-related, variety show that concentrates on the latest controversies and achievements in all of mainstream sports.” And that it is.

I’d really like to thank Coach Dave Howe for agreeing to be my very first guest on the show. Having never done the show before (or any video work for that matter), I didn’t exactly have a finished product to be able to share with him in order to give the Coach a clear idea on what he could expect or what he was about to get himself into. Lucky for me, I had actually interviewed the Coach on a previous occasion, and so I guess he just trusted me to do an okay job with whatever I was doing. I hold a deep respect for Coach Howe, so yes—I was nervous. He’s not the kind of man that you want to disappoint, which I suppose is what makes him such a successful football coach.

Coach Howe has a way of bringing out the best in people, and so for that reason, I couldn’t think of a better guest to kick off my new show.

Read: Niagara Spears Football 2010 Try-Outs: Week Two

I’d really like to thank both Pat and the Coach for having the confidence in me as I officially entered into the next stage of my sports-media career. And I’d especially like to thank the Irish Harp Pub in Niagara-on-the-Lake for allowing us to film the show in their beautiful establishment. The setting and environment worked perfectly for the format and concept, and I’m proud to say that I have their support. It should also be noted that the show is filmed in front of a live audience.

Note: As you watch the video, you will most definitely notice a recurring theme, which is that the Irish Harp Pub receives a lot of exposure throughout the show. The mirror in the background, along with the draft taps, all have the Irish Harp name attached to them. Eventually, we would love to be able to take this show on the road (so to speak), and I wanted any potential location sponsors to see the full benefit to them in terms of the exposure that they could receive. I also chose to use Guinness as the “unofficial” beer sponsor of the show for two main reasons: one—it’s my personal beer of choice and it obviously goes very well with the whole Irish Pub theme, and two—my hope is that by highlighting multiple marketing opportunities (product placement for example), actual sponsors will take notice of this and see the enormous potential that this show has in terms of branding and marketing (making money!!!).

Our ultimate goal for the show is to have it aired on an actual television network, but obviously that’s not going to happen overnight, so in the meantime, we will continue to create these shows on our own on a weekly basis, and hopefully as we do, we will improve the show (and ourselves) and showcase the unlimited creative potential that a show like this can bring to the table.

Would you like to discuss becoming a sponsor or even a guest on the show?

Then please contact me directly at james@mrjamesryan.com or by calling 289-241-2948.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy the very first episode of The Sportstender, and I look forward to entertaining you in the very near future and bringing you many, many more episodes.

Cheers and thanks again!
James Ryan

“When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.”—Cynthia Heimel

.
OTHER VIDEOS

The Sportstender with James Ryan: Special Guest Sensei Neil Prime
Episode 2: November 11, 2011

.
The Sportstender with James Ryan: Special Guest Sandy Annunziata
Episode 3: November 17, 2011