The Exchange - The 411 on the New Podcast

Last Tuesday’s post about the podcast actually provided the long-needed inspiration for its name. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, A Sports Scribe presents to you… The Exchange.

The Exchange?

Well, yeah.

See, when reading the final edited version of the post, chatting with potential guests and the likely co-host, it just made sense.

I’ve always believed that there’s no better social currency in the world than sports. You could drop me off in the middle of any foreign nation and if there’s some sort of game on, even a rather unfamiliar game, quite a few people are willing to strike up a conversation.

Business, politics and religion speak to a geographic identity while music and film speak to the individual psyche. Yet, sports are rather unique in that they can touch upon both in a manner that no other realm can.

Mention any local team or its rival and immediately, ears perk up, opinions are strewn about and some good-natured ribbing occurs. The conversation might drift a bit, especially when rival fans briefly come together to talk smack about a third team just for the heck of it. Yet, somehow, these people don’t forget each other, even if they don’t encounter one another ever again. There was a brief bond between people of disparate views on life and society because for a few hours a day or week, they cheer for laundry, as Jerry Seinfeld once quipped.

Now, mention that you’re not a Jay-Z fan. No one ever speaks to you about music again unless they want to a) try to convince you that you “aren’t really hearing him” but sending you his songs, b) examine your personal tastes like a snobby music critic and/or c) ridicule you for “being a hater”.

Movies? Please.

Religion? No comment.

Politics? C’mon, Man!

Business? You’re kidding, right?

It’s not that conversations on sports are perfect; in fact, after a loss, some fans and media tend to be saltier than the ocean and spread that unfocused anger to whoever has the nerve to mention their team’s name. Yet, we all come together to discuss who, what, when, where, why and how these insanely talented people move around some oblong object for a couple of hours.

As discussed before, The Exchange will try to pool together fans of varied interests, including all of those who drum the beat of “who cares about sports when we have real problems in this world?”. However, we will do so not only in discussions between the hosts, but with interviews with fellow writers, sports and media industry professionals and eventually current and former athletes. The analysis we will bring is rooted not only in our research and intrinsic knowledge, but just like Scribe, a mix of the business and culture that give sports such a unique gravitas.

So, who is ‘we’? At some point, Sumit Dasgupta will introduce himself formally. Hopefully, he'll become a significant contributor on the writing side, but when it came to launching the audio component, there’s not another person in the world I would have done so with. Sumit has one of the more brilliant game analysis minds I’ve ever encountered, but like me, his curiosity for what surrounds the on-field action will shine through in each show. Sumit lives in the Boston suburbs, but also like myself, doesn’t exactly follow the script of the local beat. Think of this show as a testament to the power of the internet; actually bring these brother cities together for 60 minutes.

If you were one of the three people on earth that remembered our program at Babson College, "I Dunno, but..." (shout out to the alma mater), you know that we will never have an issue filling up time. However, for the rest of planet Earth, all you need to know is that our show was the inspiration for my career.

As for our first edition of The Exchange; we will be talking about current happenings with the NBA and NHL playoffs, an introduction of ourselves individually and the seemingly forgotten NFL Draft.

Geez, NFL? Really?

Well, yes. We won’t just discuss picks and projections, but we will also talk about the different air around the Draft this time around thanks to the lockout. We expect as many questions from you as you expect answers, so our first guest – and wonderful friend to Scribe – Steelergurl, will chat with us about what’s truly going on. The well-respected blogger on the AFC Champs will be in New York next week for the Draft, so she’ll give all of us a tremendous look into all the hubbub before the lights come on Thursday night.

Of course, you will have an opportunity to interact on the show as it will be hosted on BlogTalkRadio. You can participate by calling into the show live as well as joining the chat room. You can follow The Exchange here and for questions you might have in advance, please feel free to send them through all things Scribe.

The podcast itself will be available for download the following morning.

Say What?!?!: Many thanks to the homies at Ed the Sports Fan for allowing me to plug the show last night. You can consider us the Tuesday night appetizer to their Wednesday evening supper called The Unsportsmanlike Conduct Show.