THROWBACK TO THE THROWBACKS

Today’s Original Retro Brand “5 Questions with…” interview features Peter Schrager.  Peter is a frequent NFL and college football contributor at FoxSports.com He covered sports and pop culture for ESPN.COM, wrote for ESPN Classic’s “Cheap Seats”, and also appears on the NFL Network, Howard101 on SiriusXM with Scott Ferrall, and Fox News.

Andy:  So many sports freaks dream of having a dream job like yours. How does one break through all the clutter and end up on FoxSports.com?

Peter: I got into all this guerrilla style.  During my senior year of college, I had a popular campus radio show with my buddy Aaron Luber, a column in the school paper, and a presence on the campus TV station. On a whim, I stood outside an ESPN SportsZone in 120 degree heat for three hours and tried out for a television show on ESPN called “ESPN Dream Job”, sort of an “American Idol” for guys and girls trying to get into the world of sports broadcasting. I wore a “Bill Clement for President” tee shirt, impressed the judges with my knowledge of Dave Krieg and Neil Lomax, and got to the final round of tryouts.  Along the way, though, I developed a relationship with the great Howie Schwab (of “Stump the Schwab” fame) at ESPN. Over the next six months, he served as my mentor, giving me career advice and guidance you couldn’t pay for.  Eventually, when ESPN.com wanted to hire a young voice for their soon-to-be launched Page 3 site, I jumped at the chance.  One thing led to another and I was writing for ESPN.com—the ultimate dream—waking up to 2,000 emails a day, and growing a readership.  I made the jump to FoxSports.com and have been contributing for them ever since (check out Peter in latest clip from this past Monday below).

Andy:  Of all the sports celebrities you have interviewed, who would you say is the most memorable and why?

Peter: I’ve met several interesting people over the years, but my favorite interview was a sit-down with Dick Enberg of CBS Sports last spring.  I’m a sucker for the sports media legends and their tales.  They’re always the best. I was like a kid sitting on his grandpa’s lap listening to Enberg talk about the early days of the NCAA Tournament and covering John Wooden in the 60s, before he was—you know, John Wooden. Getting to pick the brain of a guy like that and have him tell you all his stories over a lunch, unfiltered, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Incredible stuff.  Of course, meeting Kevin Federline at the Penthouse Super Bowl XLI Party was a thrill, too.  Fascinating guy.

Andy:  Who are the sportswriters that you read online?

Peter: I have my RSS feeds and my favorites, for sure. I think the guys at FoxSports.com, whether it’s Ken Rosenthal in baseball, or John Czarnecki, Alex Marvez and Jay Glazer in pro football—provide some of the best inside coverage around.  Go read Jay Glazer’s article about breaking the Favre-to-the-Jets story in 2008.  Dude wrote 1,000 words on stalking Favre out in the airport from one of those massage chairs in a Brookstone. One of my favorite articles, ever.  I click refresh on ProFootballTalk.com about 500 times a day and read all of Florio and Rosenthall’s stuff there, too.  Bill Simmons went out of his way to lend me a hand when I was a young pup writing for ESPN.com. I don’t always agree with him, but his writing style, his comfort with his readers, and his pushing of the envelope—that opened doors for just about every aspiring sportswriter born after 1975.  Will Leitch is flat out nailing it over at NYMag.com; his perspective on “The Decision” won the day that next Friday.  It was the perfect column.  Growing up, it was Peter King, Dr. Z, and devouring a Sports Illustrated in one sitting when it arrived in the mailbox.

Andy:   Any NFL predictions for the upcoming season?

Peter: Summertime predictions with the NFL are ridiculous.  Do you know who I had going to the Super Bowl last year? The Bears and the Steelers. Neither made the playoffs.  Last season, six teams that didn’t make the playoffs in ’08 made it to the final twelve.  This year, I think the Cowboys host a Super Bowl in Jerry’s castle, but lose to the Ravens.  Some other predictions—the Lions and Raiders both improve dramatically, Jay Cutler has a monster year in Mike Martz’s system, and the 49ers win the NFC West with a sub .500 record.  Have you seen the rosters in the NFC West this season?  Heinous.

THANKS HONEY!

Andy:  You have been a big fan of the Original Retro Brand for a very long time.  Do you have a favorite shirt, thermal, hat or hoody?

Peter: I go way back with Original Retro.  I go back to the Distant Replays days.  I am a throwback to the throwbacks.  My favorite tee shirt I own is the Toronto Argonauts one my girlfriend got me this year for my birthday.  Though I wore an Ole Miss one, with the Rebel on it, to Ole Miss-Alabama last season and never got so many positive compliments on a piece of clothing.  Note to your readers:  The women at Ole Miss?  Yeah, they’re not ugly.

Many thanks to Peter for joining us today.  I highly recommend you check out his coverage on FoxSports.com regularly!

If you are a big fan of the Original Retro Brand, and want to be featured on “5 Questions with…” please forward a picture of yourself wearing Original Retro Brand gear, and a brief description of what you do for a living to andyphyman@gmail.com If we like what we see, you may be contacted for an interview. You don’t need to be a hot shot writer like Peter to be featured – heck, we’ll send you an Original Retro Brand T-Shirt if we decide to post your story!

FOR GREAT DEALS, CONTESTS, AND FUN FROM THE ORIGINAL RETRO BRAND,  BECOME A FAN ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER.

Yet another possible outcome in the Original Retro Brand’s “Mascot Wars Bracket Challenge”

BE SURE TO FILL OUT YOUR BRACKETS TODAY!  VOTING STARTS THIS MONDAY, AUGUST 2nd FOR ROUND ONE  CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

BE SURE TO FILL OUT YOUR BRACKETS TODAY!  VOTING STARTS THIS MONDAY, AUGUST 2nd FOR ROUND ONE OF THE ORIGINAL RETRO BRAND “MASCOT WARS BRACKET CHALLENGE” CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

BE SURE TO FILL OUT YOUR BRACKETS TODAY!  VOTING STARTS THIS MONDAY, AUGUST 2nd FOR ROUND ONE OF THE ORIGINAL RETRO BRAND “MASCOT WARS BRACKET CHALLENGE” CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Maybe in this video clip, but the true winner won’t be revealed until VOTING gets underway next week in the Original Retro Brand “Mascot Wars Bracket Challenge” The contest is easy to enter, don’t cost nuthin’, and is lots of FUN! ORB gear being given away weekly including a Grand prize of $250 worth of Original Retro Brand merchandise to the eventual champion.  Just click here to play!

ENTER CODE NHL40 @ CHECKOUT – OFFER GOOD 7/27/10 – 8/3/10

PRE-GAME STRATEGERY

This taco devouring, beer swilling, cohesive group of guys n’ gals rose from the ashes of their 4th place regular season finish, to find themselves in the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks Adult Softball League Championship game this past week.

Every Wednesday night for the past few years, this bunch has been coming to Don Antonio’s Mexican restaurant in west Los Angeles for the wildly popular “Dollar Taco Night.”. The group of friends found they had a common interest in baseball, and decided to put a softball team together and call themselves Dollar Taco Night in honor of their beloved weekly ritual. Two of the stars on the squad happened to be employed by the Original Retro Brand, and approached the “powers that be” looking for sponsorship.  The powers that be obliged, and Don Antonio’s had a team with the best looking, coolest shirts in the league.  Not only did they have the coolest shirts, they also had priority seating at the standing room only restaurant (1-2 hour wait).

GIVING THE GOLD

Not many around the league gave Dollar Taco Night much of a chance to go far in the playoffs due to their laid back, “let’s just go out there and have some fun” attitudes.  After all, many nights the team had went to Don Antonio’s BEFORE their games.  The #1 seeded regular season champion Flying Sheep were one of the teams that fell into this underestimation trap, and found themselves ousted by the merry Mexican restaurant regulars in the playoff round-robin.  Remember those Original Retro Brand employees I mentioned?  Well Lora Stanley and Cassidy Moore made the ORB brass proud by scattering 4 hits a piece in the victory.  Woo-Hoo!

The gang had there hands full in the title game however, going up against the super serious curmudgeons of team Bud Light.  They couldn’t beat the no-fun bunch, but that didn’t stop the team from heading to Don Antonio’s post-game to proudly present the owner with a well deserved shiny gold 2nd place trophy.  As they say in Mexico, “selicidadeas a nustros campiones” (congratulations to our champions!)

THE PRIDE OF DON ANTONIO'S - TEAM 'DOLLAR TACO NIGHT'!!

POINTED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Today’s Original Retro Brand “5 Questions with…” interview features Tim Orff.  Tim has been a morning drive DJ for DAVE FM, and ran his own station at a very young age.  Currently he is an editor and producer for Atlanta’s JayEliTV.  We caught up with him after his early bird shift to get a little insight into what he’s been up to, and more specifically, what the heck is JayEliTV all about?

Andy:  Did you always want to be a radio DJ and/or host when you were growing up & did you have any particular inspiration that set you on this course?

Tim: To be perfectly honest, growing up I wanted to be a veterinarian or a cop; two honest professions.  It wasn’t until I was about 17 when a family friend told me that with all my different voice talents that I should be in radio.  So after high school I went to college to find a broadcasting or journalism degree.  I ended up graduating with a communications degree in media studies from UGA (Go Dawgs!).  I also went to a television and radio broadcasting school to get a certificate in broadcasting, so it seemed to work out for the best.

My parents used to listen to Imus all the time, so I would constantly hear stories about what Imus did.  For me, it was all Howard Stern.  He’s now the highest paid media personality and basically runs satellite radio.  I don’t care what anybody says, but Sirius was made for Howard, and once he leaves you can go ahead and kiss that thing goodbye.  He’s a genius and he does something that you rarely find in radio today, and that’s giving the people what they really want.  He’s not run by research, or by “focus groups” of 100 people that dictate what 1 million people listen to.

Andy: Can you tell us exactly what JayEliTV is, and how you ended up there?

Tim: JayEliTV is actually quite brilliant.  We like to call it hyper-local news which basically means it’s news for a specific area.  It seems that most, if not all news organizations only cover major national news and the local news for the major city they broadcast from.  What about people in the smaller areas?  For example, here in Georgia, we’re in Peachtree City so we cover Peachtree City news like townhall meetings, school board meetings, etc.  The cool part about it also being hyper local is that local businesses advertise with us.  So if you have this great bar/restaurant or fun place for kids to play, you can advertise with us.  JayEliTV’s creator Larry Smith (also a current Sports anchor for CNN-Headline News), is a pretty savvy guy.  He’s doing the opposite of what major news organizations do by giving the local angle first, then national coverage if there is a really huge story.  It’s a terrific idea and is growing quite well.  We’ve got an amazing news team here in Georgia with more cities signing on (Illinois is on board, and we’re targeting more out west).  We’re hoping to be in every state, whether in 2 cities or 200, and I think we’re going to make it happen.  You can check it out at www.jayelitv.com

TIM AT WORK (PLAY?) WITH HOLLY

Andy: What was the craziest radio promotion you were involved with?  You know, like sitting up on a billboard in a Speedo for a few weeks for charity.

Tim: Strangely enough, I haven’t taken part in any wacky or zany promo’s.  Earlier in my career we had remotes, but they were pretty normal.  At DaveFM, the higher ups didn’t believe in that kind of promotion so it was pretty laid back when I was out on the town.  I did love going around the state and city representing the station.  Meeting with listeners was one of the best perks of the job.

Andy:  You’ve worked with a few influential folks in the “biz.”  Who left the greatest impression on you and why (good or bad)?

Tim: I’ve worked with some great jocks while I was in the business and unfortunately I don’t get to work with them much any more.  I started my career on Real Radio 105.3 with Scott Ferrall.  My first day working with him, he put me on the air and really gave me a trial by fire.  We never really had a chance for the show to take off since Clear Channel had flipped formats from FM Talk, to Spanish.  Ferrall taught me amazing lessons about radio and how to use my talents to the fullest potential.  A few years later when I was running the Air America affiliate in Atlanta, I was invited by him to try out for a show on Sirius Radio/Howard 101 (one of the Howard Stern channels), but was unable to join him.  He’s been hugely successful and I wish him the best.

Being at DaveFM, I had the chance to work briefly with Steve Barnes (formerly of 99X) who is an Atlanta staple in radio.  I also co-hosted a show with Holly Firfer who is an amazing talent, not only in radio, but in televison news as well (she’s the good looking gal in the Northwestern ORB shirt above).  When Holly was at CNN/Headline News, she was one of the best anchors they had.  I’m very lucky and honored to work with her again here at JayEliTV.  I’ve learned a ton from these people.  My only regret is that I didn’t get a chance to work up in New York with Ferrall and Stern, but things happen for a reason.

Andy:  You are a fitted hat & t-shirt freak.  Since we don’t fill your fitted hat addiction, tell us how Original Retro Brand gear feeds your t-shirt habit and why you love it so much?

TIM WITH THE GRIN

Tim: Yeah, guilty as charged.  I’ve got outfits that can only be worn with certain hat/t-shirt combos. What I love most about Original Retro Brand gear is how comfortable and good looking the shirts are.  The two shirts I wear constantly are the old Durham Bulls and Jimmy Carter “The Grin Will Win in ’76″.  Honestly, I haven’t worn any other shirts as comfortable as the Original Retro Brand.  I also think all things retro are awesome because in any aspect of life and trends, the past is what made us, so why not celebrate it by showing your love for things retro?  If people are looking for great retro swag, they definitely need to check out ORB – they won’t be disappointed…it truly is a great brand.

Thanks for taking the time today, Tim.  Now go home and get some sleep!

If you are a big fan of the Original Retro Brand, and want to be featured on “5 Questions with…” please forward a picture of yourself wearing Original Retro Brand gear, and a brief description of what you do for a living to andyphyman@gmail.com If we like what we see, you may be contacted for an interview.  Heck, we’ll send you an Original Retro Brand T-Shirt if we decide to post your story!

FOR GREAT DEALS, CONTESTS, AND FUN FROM THE ORIGINAL RETRO BRAND,  BECOME A FAN ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER.

LAID BACK # 8

So many mascots, so little brackets.  Due to a very intricate process (think NFL QB ratings system), only 32 Original Retro Brand college mascot t-shirts were picked to face off in the “Mascot Wars Bracket Challenge.”

That simply left too many awesomely cool logos on the shelf, and we can’t have that.  Here are the TOP 10 that didn’t make the cut…

10.  Tommy Trojan, USC: They can take away their title, Heisman, & A.D., but Tommy “shall rise again, the destined reign of Troy.”  That means USC will win another BCS Championship before you can say pimp sports agents.  Ok, maybe not that soon, but soon.

9.  Demon Deacon, Wake Forrest: According to Wikipedia, mascot Ras Chavman (1981 Wake Forest graduate) fell into a coma after smashing his head on a Gatorade jug while headbanging.  That is some serious team spirit.

STAND UP GUY # 6

8. Colonel (Ole) Reb, Mississippi: This southern gentleman is a little more easy going than the ol’ Baptist above.  Archie & Eli were a few other southern gentlemen who laid it down for Ole Miss.

7.  Ralphie, Colorado: Despite the fact the Buffs football team hasn’t sniffed around any top 25 polls recently, at least Ralphie (a girl) is often ranked in ESPN’s Top 20 College mascots.

6.  Testudo, Maryland: One of the best slogans in all of sports - “Fear the Turtle”

5.  Benny the Beaver, Oregon State: With a set of choppers like Benny, it’s no wonder that the first man to wear the beaver costume (1952) ended up as the founder of the largest privately-held dental equipment manufacturer in North America.

4.  Pistol Pete, Oklahoma State: Wyoming, and New Mexico State also lay claim to mascots of the same name, but the original belongs to the Cowboys going back to 1923.  Subconsciously, my love of Pete Maravich from LSU had everything  to do with this ranking.

3-PETE'S # 4

3.  Goldy the Gopher, Minnesota: The dude never stops smiling, and should really have one of those teeth capped with gold to give true meaning to the name.  Subconsciously, my love of the dancing gophers in  “Caddyshack” had everything to do with this ranking.

2.  Sparky the Sun Devil, Arizona State: An alumnus and Disney illustrator named Bert Anthony designed Sparky, an imp with a pitchfork. It is rumored that Sparky is in Walt Disney’s image as retribution for being fired earlier.  Truly a devilish thing to do.

1.  Peter the Anteater, UC Irvine: They don’t have a football team.  I don’t care.  Honorable mention goes to “Sammy the Banana Slug (UC Santa Cruz)”, “Artie the Fighting Artichoke (Scottsdale CC)”,  and the “Fighting Pickle (North Carolina School of the Arts).”

FOOTBALL EXEMPT # 1

So there you have it – Did I leave your favorite mascot off the “off” list?  Which one of the mascots below got a raw deal all the way around?

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If you want a shot at $250 worth of Original Retro Brand gear, there is still plenty of time to fill out a bracket (deadline is Saturday 7/31/10).

FOR UPDATES, GREAT DEALS, AND MORE FUN FROM THE ORIGINAL RETRO BRAND,  BECOME A FAN ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER