September 26, 2025 • 40 mins
Dan Tortora is our guest and if you like this podcast he's one of the reasons it exists!
Talking points on this episode may include:
*Sports kid to sports broadcaster, when he knew.
*Starting your own company without a comma in your bank account.
*When the hobby started for him, why, who and how.
*The Birth of this show and why he deserves credit.
*Returning to cards.
*Setting up at shows and trade nights.
*Covering pro sports and collecting the players you cover.
Follow us on Social Media:
Website:
https://www.sportscardnationpo....com
https://linktr.ee/Sportscardna...
Merch shop:
https://sports-card-nation.pri...
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Talking points on this episode may include:
*Sports kid to sports broadcaster, when he knew.
*Starting your own company without a comma in your bank account.
*When the hobby started for him, why, who and how.
*The Birth of this show and why he deserves credit.
*Returning to cards.
*Setting up at shows and trade nights.
*Covering pro sports and collecting the players you cover.
Follow us on Social Media:
Website:
https://www.sportscardnationpo....com
https://linktr.ee/Sportscardna...
Merch shop:
https://sports-card-nation.pri...
To eliminate pre & post-roll ads
https://www.spreaker.com/podca...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports Guardinations.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hobby is the people weekly news and interviews.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
It's you on number.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
One song sports Garnations. Hobby is the People.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Sports Guarnation. What is up, everybody?
Speaker 5 (00:21):
Welcome to episode three fifty five of Sports Cardination. You know,
we've been three hundred and fifty five episodes, launching our
first one almost seven years ago now in November of
twenty eighteen, and just that's amazing to really think.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
That it's been that long.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
One of the original Hobby sports card podcasts, not the first,
but one of the early ones, and we're still still here,
still going, doing very well. The gentlemen that I have
on this show today for my guests, it's the first
time on this show, and I've talked about him on
multiple occasions on this show. This show exists because of
(01:07):
this guy, and yet he is just appearing on the
show today. And I've talked about I was on his
radio broadcast on Fridays talking about sports and sports cards,
and then my schedule change and I was unable to
do that any longer. But it was that run on
(01:29):
his radio broadcast that gave me the inspiration to go
ahead and turn this mic on. And so it's a
real We had a blast kind of reminiscing and talking
about the credit he deserves, which he doesn't like to
take and he really doesn't take, but the credit for
(01:52):
him why this show is here and started in the
first place. And so we're gonna chop up some how. Two,
he's a dealer now and he's a collector most of
his life. So but we're gonna talk about sort of
how this all you know, the big bang theory of
sports carnation and I say that tongue in cheek, but
(02:16):
you know how this all forms, how we're here, why
we're here, uh, And he's a big part of that.
So this was a lot of fun. This is part
one of two, as are most of our double episodes are.
So what that being said, let's have on. It's Dan
Tata of Dan Tatura Broadcast Media. All right, this is
(02:51):
a real treat to have this next gentleman on the show.
But not only is he on the show, he's in
the show. I'm looking right across from them. A lot
of times we do these interviews and they're done via
stream yard video links from all across the country. But
this gentleman lives in Syracuse like me and you know,
(03:12):
I've talked about him on the show prior to I
know I'm dragging this out here before I intro my
but the reason this show exists is because of this man.
And we'll get into that later on in the conversation.
So I want to welcome my friend Dan to Torah,
the Sports Cardination, Dan to Tour Broadcast Media.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
To be even more specific.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, I'm happy to be here, happy to be a studio.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I'm all about like this gigantic no, but listen, I'm
all about like what is in a place. Like everything
in my studio has meaning. There's not a single anything
there that doesn't have a story and a purpose. And
when I look through here, I just I mean I
love the behind you. Like you have your sports Cardination
(03:58):
personal collection, the gem Mints. I think that's cool. Like
I'm just sitting here thinking to myself as a kid,
like the kid in me, the collector in me, would
just want to like look at all this stuff piece
by piece. I kind of want to like, well we're
talking be like yeah, yeah, yeah, John, And I'm gonna
be looking through boxes and I might open.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Some of these boxes.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
Yeah, we do have some stealing wax that will not
be open today.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
So I've known Dan a while.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
He does a great job covering Syracuse University other colleges
as well local high school sports. Covered my son Jordan
during his high school career and they formed a relationship
as well off for that. So again, you know, we
talk about friends and family. I feel like I've known
(04:49):
this guy longer than I probably actually have. But that's
just kind of comes with the territory for you.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Dan.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
You know, again, you do an excellent job with with
journalism and covering sports.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Did you know what age? Did you?
Speaker 5 (05:05):
The light bulb go on and you're like, you know,
I want to do this maybe for a career when
I get older enough to do it well.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
My first memory of storyteller I was five and my
dad had a word processor. For those who don't know,
it's like a glorified typewriter, but it has.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
A screen, and so the screen will let you see what.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You were typing, not just typing on a typewriter. And
my dad would pick this thing up that weighs like
three hundred pounds. He'd pick it up and he'd put
it on the kitchen table on a Saturday morning, and
while he was outside gardening.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
He would let me type on it, and.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I just started writing stories, and I just, you know,
I've always had a big imagination, loved telling stories, collected
cards since I was maybe nine or so, maybe a
little younger, and I just loved going with my mom
and my grandmother's to go find stuff, finding my favorite players.
I loved keeping. I love like opening something up and
(06:05):
not knowing what you're gonna get and always hoping that
you got your favorite player. So there was the thrill
of that and having a big imagination. And I love
to tell stories. I love to bring people together. I
love to make people laugh. So probably around like ten
years old, watching Sports Center, and I started watching Stuart
Scott and Rich Eisen guccu this day are my.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Favorite tandem on Sports Center probably always will.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Be Rich now inl I know, and it's it's bittersweet,
And I didn't know Stuart Scott personally, but like I
felt that like in my belly when Rich Eisen went back,
like almost like I did know him, and that you know,
exactly what Rich said is that Stu should be there.
And you know, Stuart Scott was just always himself and
(06:48):
cooler than the other side of the pillow, all the
things that he would say, And I was always that person, like,
am I gonna be too afraid to say what I
want to say? Because I know what I'm gonna say
is gonna be original, it's gonna be unique. It's not
something that you're hearing, like if I say it, they're
either going to like it or they're going to make
fun of it. And I just I always want to
be me. I think you know that. To me, that's
your superpower. And at ten years old, I didn't like
(07:12):
going to sleep in the dark, and so Sports Center
was my night light and I go to sleep to it,
I wake up to it, and then I just kind
of knew and it stuck with me. There's a lot
of things I want to do in my life. This
is the first thing that happened. But I mean, I
knew when I was in tenth grade in school, when
people had no idea what they wanted to do, I
knew what I wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I had a vision for myself.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I chased it down and it happened a lot faster
than I thought it was going to happen in a way,
and I will always thank God, and I may not
remember what I ate for breakfast. But I can tell
you exactly the moment that my career.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
Yeah, and I want to I want to give quit
work quite you know, I mentioned a lot of the
college and the high school stuff. You covered the Jags
in the NFL too, So you covered the pro level.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
NFL, NBA, MLBA college football playoff bull season all across
the country, A lot with the American a lot with
the ACC.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I mean, there's it's when people say what do you cover?
I'm like, how much to you? I mean, there's a
lot of stuff that we.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Get to do, and and I'm very blessed to live
in my hometown, cover my hometown and also get to
cover the whole world. And I mean I get to
come home and be with my family, and I get
to travel all over the world.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
So to me, I have the best of them.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Let's talk.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
We'll get into your start of your actual career. You
mentioned cards that are at a nine or ten years old.
What was your you know, talk about what did you collect,
what sport? Did you have a favorite player team? How'd
you go about collecting? Obviously the different age now, but
the hobby that bond right of collecting teams, players, trading
(08:50):
with your friends or whatever. That still rings true with day.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, it really started with me. For me, I just
really wanted to get I mean it was around I'm
nine years old and at nine was ninety five, And
I mean I was a big Damon Stodomyre fan. So
I probably started collecting a little bit before him, because
it was Shaquille O'Neal, so maybe I was like six
or seven. But when I got heavily into it, it
(09:17):
was I need to have every.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Damon Santamayra card ever made.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And I think and I told Damon this a few
years ago when we got to meet and talk, which
was insane, shows how good God is and meeting Damon
Sanomar got to tell him that I'm confident that I
have the biggest Damen Stateamar card collection. It's like over
two hundred and twenty of his cards and it's from
Arizona to Toronto, Thick, some San Antonio, Memphis of course Portland.
(09:43):
So I mean, yeah, it kind of started around him.
I wanted to get his stuff. I started collecting. I
wanted to have like an entire rookie class, and I
guess good hindsight twenty twenty that the rookie class in
the NBA that I went really heavy on was Alan
Iverson and Kobe Bryant at tref Abdurraheim and God Sham
(10:03):
God and some of those guys, So like, I definitely
have a ton of Kobe Bryant cards that raw are
apparently worth seventy dollars, which I know I have them,
but yeah, I mean, I probably would say I did
a lot of basketball in the beginning and football never
really did a lot of baseball. Got into baseball a
few years ago, but it was very very much Damon
(10:26):
Sodomire and wanting his cards and just chasing down like
every raptor Damon Sadomare card that I could find, and
that got me connected to Georgia's sports cards on North
Carolina and Twilight, which was yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
And I remember both of those shops.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
I had my store at that time too, in the
Village of Liverpool, a little hidden on the second floor.
But great year, Like you said, great rookie class, a
great way to enter into the hobby. Going back, you know,
you have your own broadcasting network, but kind of going
back to your start of your career, what led to
(11:05):
the start of Dan Tutor broadcasting, like where'd you start?
And then the evolution to like venture out on your
own and for those that don't know, like you probably
make it a look a lot easier than it actually is.
But that's you know, that can be scary and risky,
and while you enjoy it, you know you have to
(11:26):
work at your craft as well.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, no, there's there's a lot that goes in. At
the start of my career, I was a freshman in
college at Merywood University, almost exactly two hours south, almost
an exact straight line from Syracuse to Scranton, and I
was twelve minutes before a game. I was doing laundry
at Madonna Hall and I had a blue collapsible laundry
(11:51):
hamper and I had some clothes in it, and I
was putting my last quarter in and I got a
phone call from Brandon Smith, and Brandon said to me,
I know you said that it's been a dream of
yours to commentate. How would you feel about doing it tonight?
The guy that normally does it is not here and
he can't do it tonight, And honestly, we don't know
(12:11):
like kind of if he's going to be able to
do it at all, like moving forward, like you know,
moving forward if he's going to be back, So can
you come down? I left my clothes on the top
in the hamper, right, A few clothes left.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
To this day, I don't know who took those clothes.
But I ran down to the gym.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I knew nobody on the team, no pronunciation, had no
idea who we were playing, sat there by myself and
was the commentator and the color person by myself in
that game. And after that, I think I did a
game on that weekend a few days later, because I
think that was like a Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
It was November two thousand and three.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
And so then I did a game after and they said,
you know, people really like it. They're enjoying it, they're laughing,
they like your humor. We want to do a simulcast
on TV and radio live in northeat East, Pennsylvania. And
I said, are we doing men's and women's basketball? They
and it was NCAAD three and they said, well, we're
definitely going to do men's and I said, we're doing both.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I said, you don't understand, we have doubleheaders.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I'm not going to show up to a women's game
in the middle and set up for the men's game
and say, oh, I'm here, but I'm not here for you.
So I told from the beginning of my career in
two thousand and three that we're either going to cover
men's and women's or I'm not going to do either.
And I fought for it, and I was laughed at, ridiculed.
People thought I was stupid, that I was wasting my time.
So in twenty twenty five, at the time, we're talking,
(13:36):
if you don't cover women's sports, then people are afraid
of being canceled. But when I started covering women's sports,
it was at the beginning of my career, at the
start of my broadcasting career, and I did not cover
it because I was pushed to. I covered it because
it was the right thing to do. And I will
always cover men's and women's sports because I don't see
a difference. If you're chasing your dreams and you're doing
(13:59):
it with compactity and goodness in your heart, you always
have a place.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
On the show.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Yeah, well said, and you were ahead of the curve
if you will, And uh, I think that shows a
tell us a.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Lot about you, Dan, I know you. But for those
those listen. I think it.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
It exemplifies a lot about you and and fairness and
like you said, doing the right thing. And uh, here
we are, you know, twenty two years later and almost
on par with with the men. And I mean we're
looking at the w NBA and the stardom uh there
and other sports uh as well. And I think you were,
(14:36):
you know, a for runner there if you will, to
to coverage and had the uh you know, the foresight
to kind of see that before a lot of other people.
Uh did kind of talk about leading into starting your
own uh you know, broadcast company, which is you know
again it sounds easy, but that's a big decision. And
(14:59):
what what led up to you taking that leap, if
you will?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, So I appreciate that, and I appreciate kind words
I will say just to kind of button up the
last piece of it. Yeah, you know, covering men's and
women's athletics and covering all different sports.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
I know what it's like to be the redheaded.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Step child in the room. So I'm never gonna make
anybody else feel that way. I always want people to
feel welcome and appreciated, and so to me, some may
see it as foresight some may see it as like
you got to it before everybody else did. I looked
at it as basketball as basketball, and at the time,
that was the opportunity given to me. And I was like,
(15:42):
I'd rather do two games than to do one. I'd
rather cover as much as possible than pigeonhole myself. And so,
you know, I think you're never gonna go wrong in
life helping people, being good to people, treating people as equal,
and caring about people.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I don't think you will ever feil by caring about
other people. And so it was easy for me to
fight for the women because I was gonna fight for
men and women the same.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And I was gonna, you know, do everything I can
to make sure that my dreams were realized.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Nobody was gonna stop me.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Nobody will ever stop me, and so to me, it
was an easy decision.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
And you know, I I love the friends that I
made in it.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So you know, some of those women to this day
say a lot of really kind things that get.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Me choked up sometimes, and yeah, I love them dearly.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You know, the Amanda Lasses of the world and and
Caitlin Hajj Mahalis's and you know, there's there's some really
really good people that that give me, you know, a
lot of credit.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
But I mean it's all to them. If they weren't playing,
I'd have nothing.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
To cover, So you know, I give them all the
love and respect, and man, having respect from those ladies
is something. So I mean, how did it turn into
my business?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Well, I left college, I got on the radio.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
I graduated in two thousand and seven, got on ESPN
Radio in two thousand and eight. Fought like heck. I
applied to ninety one places. I think forty some out
of them were TV stations. No one responded, except for
one TV station that said to me, they sent me
a postcard from Connecticut and said, thank you for your interest,
will be in touch if we have any openings. So
(17:25):
I kept applying. I worked at a restaurant for four months,
got into ESPN at times Shamrock Communications in Scranton, Pennsylvania,
which at the time was ESPN Radio six thirty twelve
forty and ninety six point one FM. Had a show
there two days a week on Saturday and Sunday, and
got to do that. Then I came back here when
(17:46):
twelve sixty was ESPN and I worked on that. Then
I went down to Florida to ESPN ten eighty the
team Sundays from ten to eleven o'clock in the morning,
made a ton of relationships that I still have to
this day. And then came Then I went to a
Fox online and I did a scout and Fox like
(18:07):
kind of that Fox scouting recruiting stuff for college football
and basketball. And then I went on The Score, which
was a Yahoo affiliate in Syracuse. And at twenty six
years old, my full disclosure was lied to and I
had raised thirty thousand dollars doing a four hour show
(18:28):
in total a week, two hours on seven to nine
am Saturday and Sunday. And I raised thirty grand and
at the end of the year, not at the end
of the month. At the end of the year, I
got a thirty one hundred dollars money that was made.
Thirty one hundred dollars in a year I could have
applied for food stamps. I did everything I was supposed
to do. I was told, don't worry about not signing
(18:50):
a contract. You know, like we got you. I'm the
son of a lawyer. You signed contracts.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
I trusted them. That's the last time that I would
do something of that nature. I wrote my own contract.
I brought it to them and I asked for what
I was basically told like, Hey, if you do what
you're supposed to do, you have a five day a
week show. I had run out of time on the weekend.
I had nowhere to put sponsors, and I wanted to
keep growing. And they laughed in my face and said,
(19:18):
we like where you're at. So, at twenty six years old,
with twenty seven cents in my pocket one hundred and
three dollars in my bank account, I was living with
my grandmother, my mom's mom, so that she didn't have
to live in a nursing home. So I took care
of Gemama, who would take taken care of me my
whole life. And I started my own business without a
comment in my bank account. My parents were very supportive,
(19:39):
and I literally I get asked this all the time,
how did you start? And I said, God and I
sat in the trenches and we molded the air in
front of us, and we turned something that was invisible
into something tangible, and I worked at it like crazy.
Carvel DeWitt believed in me. Shout out to Jay Cartini.
(20:00):
A lot of people that were with me Great Lakes,
Honda City, who is Honda City at Liverpool. They took
a chance on me and we just started building and building,
and dude, I like close my eyes. And my company
turned thirteen years old on July twentieth, twenty twenty five,
which is insane. So yeah, I mean this was all
started out of believing in God, believing in myself, and
(20:24):
at twenty six years old, saying I don't want to
work for people to lie to me. I don't want
to keep working for people where I can't talk about God.
I want to do things with morals and values. I
want to tell the truth. And I always did that.
It was just how long am I going to keep
working for other people and making money for other people?
And like my bosses don't have to work. I'm doing
(20:46):
all the work. No one's promoting me. And I raised
thirty grand I'm coming home with twenty seven thousand less,
and you know, to me, it's never about the money.
I just believe that you give credit where credit's due.
And I was just killing myself to help out everybody else.
And at twenty six, I was going to start my
company at thirty and the girl I was dating at
the time, said I don't understand you, and I said
(21:08):
why And she said, how long are you going to
work for people that laugh in your face and don't
respect you? And you know, I talked to God about
it and I started my own company, and man, God
never had me.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Want for anything. And I have no idea how he
did it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
But I could tell you there was a lot of
moments where it was like, how am I going to
do this? And I look back on it now and
I'm like, it's it's a tangible entity now, like the
thin air that we created God and I together is
now like a studio in office, like go to the show,
hit these presets, here's your commercials, Like everything is real
(21:46):
and it's all because of God.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
And I take point.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero one
percent of the credit. It was all of him and
a lot of hard work and just a lot of
saying that there's no such thing as and dude, here
we are. And I've been working longer for myself than
I worked for ESPN, Fox and Yahoo combined. I've traveled
to more places, I work with more businesses. We've reached
(22:12):
more people through my company than the three of them combined.
I've made more money than the three of them combined
that I work for, and I have more credentials with
my company's name on it than anything else. So I mean,
I just every single day that I wake up, I
get to literally be the kid that believed in God
and in himself and bet on himself. And that's why
(22:33):
I stay young because I just see that little mushroom
hair kid that was smiling, and you know.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
You wish you had the hair still.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I mean, dude, if I let it grow out, I would,
like I think some people have this misconception that I'm
bald because I shaved my hair so low, but my
hair grows like a weed.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
So like I always shave my head really really short.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
But if I let it grow out, I get I
have like really thick, coarse hair because I'm Italian and Hispanics.
It's like really really thick hair, and anyone that knows
me and knows like the first thing that gets hot
on my head.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
So I shaved my head down so.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
That I'm more aerodynamic and so I'm comfortable, And I said,
there you go.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
You are listening to the Sportscardination podcast.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
We'll be right back after this break. For nearly fifty years,
Sports Collector's Digest has been the voice of the hobby,
bringing you comprehensive coverage of the sports collectible industry from
industry news, aux results, market analysis, and in depth stories
about collectors and their collections. Sports Collector's Digest has everything
(23:37):
you need to know about the hobby. SCD is also
your leading source for listings of sports collectible dealers, card shops,
card shows, and the latest in the industry's top companies.
To check out all the latest news or to subscribe
to the hobby's oldest magazine, visit Sports Collectorsdigest dot com
or call one eight hundred eight two nine fifty five
(24:00):
sixty one. We bat.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Well.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
I know you gave a lot of credit to the Lord,
and I appreciate that we're both persons Afreith, but I'll
give I'll be the guy that gives you some props here,
like you built this company up from literally ground zero,
and here you are, like you said, thirteen years later,
you're traveling to pro cover pro sports, college sports, high school,
(24:33):
local And that's the great thing about you, Dan. If
you don't you care about them all the same, which
is immensely and where others maybe wouldn't have that same approach.
I think people see that. I think that's one of
the reasons of numerous You're successful, you know, and to
(24:54):
you know, this show is a credit. We're on will
be a seventh year. Shortly after this show, Airs will
be the seventh year sports coordination. And I've talked about
this without you. I'm glad you're here because you can
kind of put your two cents in instead of me.
Just give me credit. But you know, this show started
(25:16):
because we got to know each other, like I mentioned earlier,
through my son Jordan's playing career at the high school level,
and we got to talk and cards came kind of
came up, and then you realized I collect cards. I
was doing shows, and that's so we bonded on not
just sports but cards as well. And one day you
(25:39):
called me up and said, Hey, what are you doing
next Friday? And I said, I have Friday. At the time,
the job I had, which was not in teaching now,
it was a job I really didn't like, which is
why I'm in teaching now. We said what are you
doing next Friday? And I'm like, I had Fridays off
every Fridays at that point, and I'm like not and
(26:00):
I think you knew that, which is why you even
asked nothing. And You're like, want to come on the show,
your show, and let's do like an hour segment where
we kind of blend sports and in a card aspect
and kind of meld it into one. And while I'm
not shy, you know, I've never really done that at
that point yet, I'm like, yeah, I can.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I hope it's all right, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
I'm not a skilled professionals, but I'm want to, you know,
take your lead. And we did that, and I don't
know about you. I had a blast, and I was
a little nervous, even though I'm not you know, at
this stage, at that stage, I wasn't so much shy
like I was when I was a kid. But you
never know, right you always how's it gonna go? Am
(26:45):
I gonna be an idiot or say something dumb or
just you know, that's how your mind works when not
when it's something you don't do all you know, And
I'll let you talk about I know later on.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
You're like, I think it was supposed to be kind
of a one time thing.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
And then you got a pretty good response, and then
you you messaged me later on and said, hey, do
you you have every Friday off and because let's do
this every Friday, and I said, I do. That may
change at some point, but now I have every Friday off.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
And the show became known.
Speaker 5 (27:19):
First it was something like Collectible Corner, and then we
kind of start calling it Friday Morning Live, which he
came in a blast.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Kind of your recollections.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
I know I'm older than you, so I might might
have done some revisionist history there, but you're kind of
your your thought process, and even having me do that
and then wear that show went.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I wanted to do something
with sports cards and I just saw in importance with that,
and you had a history with it, and you had
some things that you were doing at the time, so
to me, like I wanted to I wanted to incorporate that,
include that. And really what it came down to for
me was that, you know, it's you want to give
(28:01):
people that. You're like, if you meet someone and they're
kind and they're good and they're just good hearted people,
you want to give them a chance. I don't look
at people like you know, show me your credentials. And
it's funny because like I just think, I just think
that that's a wild thing to do to people. And
you know, because like Jesus got into heaven, but he
didn't have a single Twitter so and he never trended
(28:23):
on TikTok.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
But I mean, you know, when it.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Came to you, it was, Hey, I like to do
something with this guy. He seems passionate, he seems nice,
and I mean it was fully, let's do this every
week because I believe in giving people opportunities and giving
people a chance, and I'm very close to my vest
I don't do that, you know. I mean, like it's
(28:46):
hard for me to trust a lot of people, especially
in the media, when it comes to doing these things.
But I just saw a good heart with you. I
saw a passion with you. You seem like somebody who
cared about me, who cared about what you're doing. And
you know, I just felt like, you know, we're like minded,
we had morals, and we're passionate, so why not. And
it wasn't by mistake, by any stretch of the imagination.
(29:09):
I didn't care if you agreed with me. I didn't
care if you had a different thought about something like
I just honestly wanted to help you and Jordan.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
That's why I did it.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
Yeah, and it was a blast, and speaking to Jordan,
exactly what I kind of warned you might happen, was
my schedule wound up changed. I don't know how long
we did it, a couple of months, I believe. Then my
schedule wound up changing at the work Fridays at least
in the first half of the day, and Jordan, my
son that you knew very well and kind of jumped
(29:37):
in the co pilot seat, took over for me, and
then he went to college. This was while he was
still in high school at that time and his college
life started.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
So that was the end of that.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
But it was funny because again I give you a
lot of credit for the show, because even before that, Dan,
you know, me and Joe and would be riding in
New York where I'm from, the visit family, go to
a Mets game, that sort of thing, and we would
listen to There were very little sports hobby sports card
hobby podcasts at the time. There was a couple and
(30:13):
one of them was a guy I got to know
very well too. His name was Eric Norton Rebecckett later
on Panini speaking of faith, A very big person of faith,
and he had he had a podcast called The Fat
Packs Podcast and was one of my favorites. And my
son even liked it, and we were we would binge
(30:36):
listen to it on the way to New York City
a lot. And my son one time, you know, Jordan
knew what I did in my career and how long,
and he said, why couldn't you do a podcast?
Speaker 4 (30:47):
Dad?
Speaker 5 (30:48):
And I'm like, listen, we're listening to probably the greatest
podcast covering the hobby right now. I can't do better
than this guy. Why why would I even attempt it?
And he goes, well, it's not about doing better. It's
like bringing your own perspective. Your story is obviously going
to be different than Eric Norton's story, and so tell
(31:09):
your story or bring your perspective.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
I never really thought about it like that, Dan. I
always thought about it like, well, if I can't do.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Better than that, and why even bother you know, maybe
not the greatest way to think, but that's at the time,
that's what And so he's like, no, it's not about that,
It's about telling your story experience is doing your first
show at fifteen years old, you know, working in the
card store before that, and I, you know, I said
(31:38):
I will see. I kind of just did that we'll see,
and I put it on the back burner. It was
then doing Friday Morning Live with You that I said, man,
you know, maybe somewhere down the line, I wasn't even
fully committing that I could do it. It was when
I didn't do it or couldn't not because I didn't
want to, Like my schedule wouldn't allowed, and I missed that,
I miss sharing those story in that band there, and
(32:01):
it was it brought me back to that whole conversation
with Jordan, why don't you do that? And so I thought,
you know what, I'm gonna do it and started from
using my phone as a microphone. I didn't like equipment
to the level we have now here, and you know,
like I didn't, I kind of flew by the seat
of my pants. You know, I wasn't at I'm a
(32:23):
pretty organized guy, but I wasn't as then as I'd
like to think I am now. And but again, it
was doing that show with you, which here's the thing.
Your show was video and audio when this show launched
was really just audio. Uh, and that made it easier
to be seen. And I always say I have a
(32:44):
face for radio, so so it was so it was
easier to do. And I kept, you know, I went,
when I launched a podcast, I'm like, well, what day
should I release that. It's obviously not live so I
can record it when ever, but when should I push
it out there for people to hear? And I'm like,
(33:04):
you know what, let's you know, it's a little sort
of tribute to you said, I'm going to keep it.
I'm going to release it on a Friday. Uh, and
you know the rest is history. Here we are almost
seven years later the show. The show didn't start out
as an interview show, kind of just with me talking, uh,
probably too much like I do now. And then about
(33:27):
four or five episodes in, I said, you know, I'm
going to start trying to have people on to talk
about the hobby and chop up the hobby. It wasn't
every even episode, and then it got to the point
where it became every episode, and uh, you know, I
like to think over seven years, I've gotten a little
bit better at it with with Cadence and listening when
(33:51):
rather than talking and talking when you know when I
should be There's always room for improvement. But again, and
I've said it on this show, Oh Dan, like it
was doing that show with you. Uh, you know that
that this show exists. Had that never happened, there would
be no sports coordination. And that's not lip service, that's
(34:11):
not something just because it sounds cool to say. That's
just the facts of the matter. So uh, you know,
I know I've thanked you without you being here, I'll
thank you just the same. Well now that you're you're
up here and glad now you're on the show that
you report pretty much inspired and had such a driving
(34:32):
force to its existence.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Oh you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
And I've told you this before. I mean this, this
is this is all you, you know. I mean, you want
to give credit to God and that's and you know,
having your faith and working hard, But I mean this
is you. I had you on the show because I
wanted to, had Jordan none because I wanted to. The
segment meant something to me. Because you both mean something.
I didn't want to replace it, and I didn't. So
(34:57):
you know, when you guys couldn't be on, you know,
it's not like I moved somebody else into that spot,
you know. To me, it's I wanted to do something
with you, and I enjoyed it. And I love that
you're doing your own thing. I love that it has
its its own look, it has its studio, it has
it's microphone. I love, like, I'm so proud of you,
(35:17):
Like I'm so proud for you, I'm happy for you.
I'm like I'm to me, it's it's so awesome to
see people win that that you care about and that
matter to you. And so I mean, I you know,
I mean having you on the show, that's my pleasure
and I love doing it and I do it again.
(35:38):
You doing this, I'm not taking any credit for it.
You know that this is your work, this is your vision,
this is your baby. I know how important my kid
is to me. I know how important everything I've done
has been. And so you know sports coordination and everything
you've done with this, the look, the feel, the essence.
You know, this is old John Newman, and John Newman
(36:02):
deserves the credit. So I mean, to the glory of
God and the hard work for you is how I
see it. I appreciate your kind words. I appreciate your goodness.
But I mean, if I could be a part of
this journey, I'm happy to be. But I mean, you know,
coming in here, I'm just really happy that a friend
and someone that like.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
I'm just I love when people win.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
I love seeing I don't understand a world where you know,
we got to like all bite each other and kill
each other and stab each other and stand on each other.
Like dude, Like, if everyone's chasing their dreams and they're
catching them, then I'm.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Happy, you know.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I say that to God all the time, thank you
for all the blessings I have. If other people don't
have them, then take some from me and help me
divide it up. Because I'm happy to have the blessings,
but I'd rather share them than hoard them. So I
mean to me to see you out here doing your thing,
and I'm out here doing my thing, and there's other
great people out there doing theirs in the broadcasting world,
(37:00):
in and you know, all different other worlds and in
different spaces of life. If you believe in God and
you're a good person and you have morals and values,
and you're chasing your dreams and you're doing it without
hurting people. You got my support, and I mean I
I again, I appreciate your words. I never ever thought
that I would have a coaching tree, so to speak.
(37:21):
But but I uh, you know, I I take none
of the credit for the work that you've done.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
I'm just really really proud for you.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
And you know, it's it's just really cool to see
someone that that you saw something in go out and
do something themselves. And I just I love it. I
love I love that you're doing it. I love that
you're happy. I love that you're working hard and that
you're catching your dream and to be any small part
of your journey to like your your your happiness like
(37:53):
that's I'm just like, I'm just happy to see you
doing it, and I'm happy to see you happy. And
you know, I'm happy that there's another person in this
world that is not should have wa to cut hang
and actually doing something that they wanted to do.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Well.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
Again, thank you, thank you for those kind of words
just there as well. And whether you want credit or not,
I give it to you. You're taken it. I'm not
taking it back. You don't have a receipt so and
I'm not Walmart, so but no, thank you all right, folks,
I hope you enjoyed that conversation. The crux of today's
episode was, you know, two folks, two guys kind of
(38:29):
creating their own entity, their own businesses, if you will,
more of a business with Dan's production. But yes, the
show does generate funds, that's not why I do it, right,
And you heard Dan talk about starting his company without
a common his bank account.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
I love that line.
Speaker 5 (38:49):
Right, there's no common as bank account one hundred dollars
and some change, and here he is, like he said
thirteen years later. Right, there's inspiration in there that if
you put your mind to it, you work hard, you know,
probably a couple of bounces go your way, a little
bit of luck, but a lot of faith.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
Right.
Speaker 5 (39:09):
I think you got a lot of that from our
conversation too, that if you believe and have faith, good
things will happen to you. And exactly the case. And
if you enjoyed this week's episode, we are not done
part two next Friday as well, and we're going to
chop up some more Hobby talk about him becoming a
(39:33):
dealer and setting up at shows like I do, and
I see him there and a lot of fun Hobby
stuff coming on next week's conversation, so we're gonna hear
from our hobby is the people Announcer of the week.
You might recognize the voice if you just listened to
the interview and then wrap up this week's episode.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Time for all the people announce the week.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
This is Dan Tortre of Wake Up Call, which you
can watch and listen to worldwide Monday through Friday from
nine am to eleven am Eastern time, if not longer,
on dot com and Facebook dot com, both backslash Wakeup
Call DT and on Wakeupcall t dot, Podbean dot com
and all the time go to Wakeup Call DT dot.
This is my guy, John Newman, and you need to
(40:25):
support him. The sports Car Nation a cast where you
know I don't need to tell you, but I will.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
The hobby is the people.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
If you'd like to be the hobby is the People
Announcer of the week. Do have one F or m
P three file and send it to Sportscard Nation DC
at gmail dot com.
Sports Guardinations.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hobby is the people weekly news and interviews.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
It's you on number.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
One song sports Garnations. Hobby is the People.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Sports Guarnation. What is up, everybody?
Speaker 5 (00:21):
Welcome to episode three fifty five of Sports Cardination. You know,
we've been three hundred and fifty five episodes, launching our
first one almost seven years ago now in November of
twenty eighteen, and just that's amazing to really think.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
That it's been that long.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
One of the original Hobby sports card podcasts, not the first,
but one of the early ones, and we're still still here,
still going, doing very well. The gentlemen that I have
on this show today for my guests, it's the first
time on this show, and I've talked about him on
multiple occasions on this show. This show exists because of
(01:07):
this guy, and yet he is just appearing on the
show today. And I've talked about I was on his
radio broadcast on Fridays talking about sports and sports cards,
and then my schedule change and I was unable to
do that any longer. But it was that run on
(01:29):
his radio broadcast that gave me the inspiration to go
ahead and turn this mic on. And so it's a
real We had a blast kind of reminiscing and talking
about the credit he deserves, which he doesn't like to
take and he really doesn't take, but the credit for
(01:52):
him why this show is here and started in the
first place. And so we're gonna chop up some how. Two,
he's a dealer now and he's a collector most of
his life. So but we're gonna talk about sort of
how this all you know, the big bang theory of
sports carnation and I say that tongue in cheek, but
(02:16):
you know how this all forms, how we're here, why
we're here, uh, And he's a big part of that.
So this was a lot of fun. This is part
one of two, as are most of our double episodes are.
So what that being said, let's have on. It's Dan
Tata of Dan Tatura Broadcast Media. All right, this is
(02:51):
a real treat to have this next gentleman on the show.
But not only is he on the show, he's in
the show. I'm looking right across from them. A lot
of times we do these interviews and they're done via
stream yard video links from all across the country. But
this gentleman lives in Syracuse like me and you know,
(03:12):
I've talked about him on the show prior to I
know I'm dragging this out here before I intro my
but the reason this show exists is because of this man.
And we'll get into that later on in the conversation.
So I want to welcome my friend Dan to Torah,
the Sports Cardination, Dan to Tour Broadcast Media.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
To be even more specific.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, I'm happy to be here, happy to be a studio.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I'm all about like this gigantic no, but listen, I'm
all about like what is in a place. Like everything
in my studio has meaning. There's not a single anything
there that doesn't have a story and a purpose. And
when I look through here, I just I mean I
love the behind you. Like you have your sports Cardination
(03:58):
personal collection, the gem Mints. I think that's cool. Like
I'm just sitting here thinking to myself as a kid,
like the kid in me, the collector in me, would
just want to like look at all this stuff piece
by piece. I kind of want to like, well we're
talking be like yeah, yeah, yeah, John, And I'm gonna
be looking through boxes and I might open.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Some of these boxes.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
Yeah, we do have some stealing wax that will not
be open today.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
So I've known Dan a while.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
He does a great job covering Syracuse University other colleges
as well local high school sports. Covered my son Jordan
during his high school career and they formed a relationship
as well off for that. So again, you know, we
talk about friends and family. I feel like I've known
(04:49):
this guy longer than I probably actually have. But that's
just kind of comes with the territory for you.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Dan.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
You know, again, you do an excellent job with with
journalism and covering sports.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Did you know what age? Did you?
Speaker 5 (05:05):
The light bulb go on and you're like, you know,
I want to do this maybe for a career when
I get older enough to do it well.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
My first memory of storyteller I was five and my
dad had a word processor. For those who don't know,
it's like a glorified typewriter, but it has.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
A screen, and so the screen will let you see what.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You were typing, not just typing on a typewriter. And
my dad would pick this thing up that weighs like
three hundred pounds. He'd pick it up and he'd put
it on the kitchen table on a Saturday morning, and
while he was outside gardening.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
He would let me type on it, and.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I just started writing stories, and I just, you know,
I've always had a big imagination, loved telling stories, collected
cards since I was maybe nine or so, maybe a
little younger, and I just loved going with my mom
and my grandmother's to go find stuff, finding my favorite players.
I loved keeping. I love like opening something up and
(06:05):
not knowing what you're gonna get and always hoping that
you got your favorite player. So there was the thrill
of that and having a big imagination. And I love
to tell stories. I love to bring people together. I
love to make people laugh. So probably around like ten
years old, watching Sports Center, and I started watching Stuart
Scott and Rich Eisen guccu this day are my.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Favorite tandem on Sports Center probably always will.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Be Rich now inl I know, and it's it's bittersweet,
And I didn't know Stuart Scott personally, but like I
felt that like in my belly when Rich Eisen went back,
like almost like I did know him, and that you know,
exactly what Rich said is that Stu should be there.
And you know, Stuart Scott was just always himself and
(06:48):
cooler than the other side of the pillow, all the
things that he would say, And I was always that person, like,
am I gonna be too afraid to say what I
want to say? Because I know what I'm gonna say
is gonna be original, it's gonna be unique. It's not
something that you're hearing, like if I say it, they're
either going to like it or they're going to make
fun of it. And I just I always want to
be me. I think you know that. To me, that's
your superpower. And at ten years old, I didn't like
(07:12):
going to sleep in the dark, and so Sports Center
was my night light and I go to sleep to it,
I wake up to it, and then I just kind
of knew and it stuck with me. There's a lot
of things I want to do in my life. This
is the first thing that happened. But I mean, I
knew when I was in tenth grade in school, when
people had no idea what they wanted to do, I
knew what I wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I had a vision for myself.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I chased it down and it happened a lot faster
than I thought it was going to happen in a way,
and I will always thank God, and I may not
remember what I ate for breakfast. But I can tell
you exactly the moment that my career.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
Yeah, and I want to I want to give quit
work quite you know, I mentioned a lot of the
college and the high school stuff. You covered the Jags
in the NFL too, So you covered the pro level.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
NFL, NBA, MLBA college football playoff bull season all across
the country, A lot with the American a lot with
the ACC.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I mean, there's it's when people say what do you cover?
I'm like, how much to you? I mean, there's a
lot of stuff that we.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Get to do, and and I'm very blessed to live
in my hometown, cover my hometown and also get to
cover the whole world. And I mean I get to
come home and be with my family, and I get
to travel all over the world.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
So to me, I have the best of them.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Let's talk.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
We'll get into your start of your actual career. You
mentioned cards that are at a nine or ten years old.
What was your you know, talk about what did you collect,
what sport? Did you have a favorite player team? How'd
you go about collecting? Obviously the different age now, but
the hobby that bond right of collecting teams, players, trading
(08:50):
with your friends or whatever. That still rings true with day.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, it really started with me. For me, I just
really wanted to get I mean it was around I'm
nine years old and at nine was ninety five, And
I mean I was a big Damon Stodomyre fan. So
I probably started collecting a little bit before him, because
it was Shaquille O'Neal, so maybe I was like six
or seven. But when I got heavily into it, it
(09:17):
was I need to have every.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Damon Santamayra card ever made.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And I think and I told Damon this a few
years ago when we got to meet and talk, which
was insane, shows how good God is and meeting Damon
Sanomar got to tell him that I'm confident that I
have the biggest Damen Stateamar card collection. It's like over
two hundred and twenty of his cards and it's from
Arizona to Toronto, Thick, some San Antonio, Memphis of course Portland.
(09:43):
So I mean, yeah, it kind of started around him.
I wanted to get his stuff. I started collecting. I
wanted to have like an entire rookie class, and I
guess good hindsight twenty twenty that the rookie class in
the NBA that I went really heavy on was Alan
Iverson and Kobe Bryant at tref Abdurraheim and God Sham
(10:03):
God and some of those guys, So like, I definitely
have a ton of Kobe Bryant cards that raw are
apparently worth seventy dollars, which I know I have them,
but yeah, I mean, I probably would say I did
a lot of basketball in the beginning and football never
really did a lot of baseball. Got into baseball a
few years ago, but it was very very much Damon
(10:26):
Sodomire and wanting his cards and just chasing down like
every raptor Damon Sadomare card that I could find, and
that got me connected to Georgia's sports cards on North
Carolina and Twilight, which was yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
And I remember both of those shops.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
I had my store at that time too, in the
Village of Liverpool, a little hidden on the second floor.
But great year, Like you said, great rookie class, a
great way to enter into the hobby. Going back, you know,
you have your own broadcasting network, but kind of going
back to your start of your career, what led to
(11:05):
the start of Dan Tutor broadcasting, like where'd you start?
And then the evolution to like venture out on your
own and for those that don't know, like you probably
make it a look a lot easier than it actually is.
But that's you know, that can be scary and risky,
and while you enjoy it, you know you have to
(11:26):
work at your craft as well.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, no, there's there's a lot that goes in. At
the start of my career, I was a freshman in
college at Merywood University, almost exactly two hours south, almost
an exact straight line from Syracuse to Scranton, and I
was twelve minutes before a game. I was doing laundry
at Madonna Hall and I had a blue collapsible laundry
(11:51):
hamper and I had some clothes in it, and I
was putting my last quarter in and I got a
phone call from Brandon Smith, and Brandon said to me,
I know you said that it's been a dream of
yours to commentate. How would you feel about doing it tonight?
The guy that normally does it is not here and
he can't do it tonight, And honestly, we don't know
(12:11):
like kind of if he's going to be able to
do it at all, like moving forward, like you know,
moving forward if he's going to be back, So can
you come down? I left my clothes on the top
in the hamper, right, A few clothes left.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
To this day, I don't know who took those clothes.
But I ran down to the gym.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I knew nobody on the team, no pronunciation, had no
idea who we were playing, sat there by myself and
was the commentator and the color person by myself in
that game. And after that, I think I did a
game on that weekend a few days later, because I
think that was like a Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
It was November two thousand and three.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
And so then I did a game after and they said,
you know, people really like it. They're enjoying it, they're laughing,
they like your humor. We want to do a simulcast
on TV and radio live in northeat East, Pennsylvania. And
I said, are we doing men's and women's basketball? They
and it was NCAAD three and they said, well, we're
definitely going to do men's and I said, we're doing both.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I said, you don't understand, we have doubleheaders.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I'm not going to show up to a women's game
in the middle and set up for the men's game
and say, oh, I'm here, but I'm not here for you.
So I told from the beginning of my career in
two thousand and three that we're either going to cover
men's and women's or I'm not going to do either.
And I fought for it, and I was laughed at, ridiculed.
People thought I was stupid, that I was wasting my time.
So in twenty twenty five, at the time, we're talking,
(13:36):
if you don't cover women's sports, then people are afraid
of being canceled. But when I started covering women's sports,
it was at the beginning of my career, at the
start of my broadcasting career, and I did not cover
it because I was pushed to. I covered it because
it was the right thing to do. And I will
always cover men's and women's sports because I don't see
a difference. If you're chasing your dreams and you're doing
(13:59):
it with compactity and goodness in your heart, you always
have a place.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
On the show.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Yeah, well said, and you were ahead of the curve
if you will, And uh, I think that shows a
tell us a.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Lot about you, Dan, I know you. But for those
those listen. I think it.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
It exemplifies a lot about you and and fairness and
like you said, doing the right thing. And uh, here
we are, you know, twenty two years later and almost
on par with with the men. And I mean we're
looking at the w NBA and the stardom uh there
and other sports uh as well. And I think you were,
(14:36):
you know, a for runner there if you will, to
to coverage and had the uh you know, the foresight
to kind of see that before a lot of other people.
Uh did kind of talk about leading into starting your
own uh you know, broadcast company, which is you know
again it sounds easy, but that's a big decision. And
(14:59):
what what led up to you taking that leap, if
you will?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, So I appreciate that, and I appreciate kind words
I will say just to kind of button up the
last piece of it. Yeah, you know, covering men's and
women's athletics and covering all different sports.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
I know what it's like to be the redheaded.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Step child in the room. So I'm never gonna make
anybody else feel that way. I always want people to
feel welcome and appreciated, and so to me, some may
see it as foresight some may see it as like
you got to it before everybody else did. I looked
at it as basketball as basketball, and at the time,
that was the opportunity given to me. And I was like,
(15:42):
I'd rather do two games than to do one. I'd
rather cover as much as possible than pigeonhole myself. And so,
you know, I think you're never gonna go wrong in
life helping people, being good to people, treating people as equal,
and caring about people.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I don't think you will ever feil by caring about
other people. And so it was easy for me to
fight for the women because I was gonna fight for
men and women the same.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And I was gonna, you know, do everything I can
to make sure that my dreams were realized.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Nobody was gonna stop me.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Nobody will ever stop me, and so to me, it
was an easy decision.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
And you know, I I love the friends that I
made in it.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So you know, some of those women to this day
say a lot of really kind things that get.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Me choked up sometimes, and yeah, I love them dearly.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You know, the Amanda Lasses of the world and and
Caitlin Hajj Mahalis's and you know, there's there's some really
really good people that that give me, you know, a
lot of credit.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
But I mean it's all to them. If they weren't playing,
I'd have nothing.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
To cover, So you know, I give them all the
love and respect, and man, having respect from those ladies
is something. So I mean, how did it turn into
my business?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Well, I left college, I got on the radio.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
I graduated in two thousand and seven, got on ESPN
Radio in two thousand and eight. Fought like heck. I
applied to ninety one places. I think forty some out
of them were TV stations. No one responded, except for
one TV station that said to me, they sent me
a postcard from Connecticut and said, thank you for your interest,
will be in touch if we have any openings. So
(17:25):
I kept applying. I worked at a restaurant for four months,
got into ESPN at times Shamrock Communications in Scranton, Pennsylvania,
which at the time was ESPN Radio six thirty twelve
forty and ninety six point one FM. Had a show
there two days a week on Saturday and Sunday, and
got to do that. Then I came back here when
(17:46):
twelve sixty was ESPN and I worked on that. Then
I went down to Florida to ESPN ten eighty the
team Sundays from ten to eleven o'clock in the morning,
made a ton of relationships that I still have to
this day. And then came Then I went to a
Fox online and I did a scout and Fox like
(18:07):
kind of that Fox scouting recruiting stuff for college football
and basketball. And then I went on The Score, which
was a Yahoo affiliate in Syracuse. And at twenty six
years old, my full disclosure was lied to and I
had raised thirty thousand dollars doing a four hour show
(18:28):
in total a week, two hours on seven to nine
am Saturday and Sunday. And I raised thirty grand and
at the end of the year, not at the end
of the month. At the end of the year, I
got a thirty one hundred dollars money that was made.
Thirty one hundred dollars in a year I could have
applied for food stamps. I did everything I was supposed
to do. I was told, don't worry about not signing
(18:50):
a contract. You know, like we got you. I'm the
son of a lawyer. You signed contracts.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
I trusted them. That's the last time that I would
do something of that nature. I wrote my own contract.
I brought it to them and I asked for what
I was basically told like, Hey, if you do what
you're supposed to do, you have a five day a
week show. I had run out of time on the weekend.
I had nowhere to put sponsors, and I wanted to
keep growing. And they laughed in my face and said,
(19:18):
we like where you're at. So, at twenty six years old,
with twenty seven cents in my pocket one hundred and
three dollars in my bank account, I was living with
my grandmother, my mom's mom, so that she didn't have
to live in a nursing home. So I took care
of Gemama, who would take taken care of me my
whole life. And I started my own business without a
comment in my bank account. My parents were very supportive,
(19:39):
and I literally I get asked this all the time,
how did you start? And I said, God and I
sat in the trenches and we molded the air in
front of us, and we turned something that was invisible
into something tangible, and I worked at it like crazy.
Carvel DeWitt believed in me. Shout out to Jay Cartini.
(20:00):
A lot of people that were with me Great Lakes,
Honda City, who is Honda City at Liverpool. They took
a chance on me and we just started building and building,
and dude, I like close my eyes. And my company
turned thirteen years old on July twentieth, twenty twenty five,
which is insane. So yeah, I mean this was all
started out of believing in God, believing in myself, and
(20:24):
at twenty six years old, saying I don't want to
work for people to lie to me. I don't want
to keep working for people where I can't talk about God.
I want to do things with morals and values. I
want to tell the truth. And I always did that.
It was just how long am I going to keep
working for other people and making money for other people?
And like my bosses don't have to work. I'm doing
(20:46):
all the work. No one's promoting me. And I raised
thirty grand I'm coming home with twenty seven thousand less,
and you know, to me, it's never about the money.
I just believe that you give credit where credit's due.
And I was just killing myself to help out everybody else.
And at twenty six, I was going to start my
company at thirty and the girl I was dating at
the time, said I don't understand you, and I said
(21:08):
why And she said, how long are you going to
work for people that laugh in your face and don't
respect you? And you know, I talked to God about
it and I started my own company, and man, God
never had me.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Want for anything. And I have no idea how he
did it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
But I could tell you there was a lot of
moments where it was like, how am I going to
do this? And I look back on it now and
I'm like, it's it's a tangible entity now, like the
thin air that we created God and I together is
now like a studio in office, like go to the show,
hit these presets, here's your commercials, Like everything is real
(21:46):
and it's all because of God.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
And I take point.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero one
percent of the credit. It was all of him and
a lot of hard work and just a lot of
saying that there's no such thing as and dude, here
we are. And I've been working longer for myself than
I worked for ESPN, Fox and Yahoo combined. I've traveled
to more places, I work with more businesses. We've reached
(22:12):
more people through my company than the three of them combined.
I've made more money than the three of them combined
that I work for, and I have more credentials with
my company's name on it than anything else. So I mean,
I just every single day that I wake up, I
get to literally be the kid that believed in God
and in himself and bet on himself. And that's why
(22:33):
I stay young because I just see that little mushroom
hair kid that was smiling, and you know.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
You wish you had the hair still.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I mean, dude, if I let it grow out, I would,
like I think some people have this misconception that I'm
bald because I shaved my hair so low, but my
hair grows like a weed.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
So like I always shave my head really really short.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
But if I let it grow out, I get I
have like really thick, coarse hair because I'm Italian and Hispanics.
It's like really really thick hair, and anyone that knows
me and knows like the first thing that gets hot
on my head.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
So I shaved my head down so.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
That I'm more aerodynamic and so I'm comfortable, And I said,
there you go.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
You are listening to the Sportscardination podcast.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
We'll be right back after this break. For nearly fifty years,
Sports Collector's Digest has been the voice of the hobby,
bringing you comprehensive coverage of the sports collectible industry from
industry news, aux results, market analysis, and in depth stories
about collectors and their collections. Sports Collector's Digest has everything
(23:37):
you need to know about the hobby. SCD is also
your leading source for listings of sports collectible dealers, card shops,
card shows, and the latest in the industry's top companies.
To check out all the latest news or to subscribe
to the hobby's oldest magazine, visit Sports Collectorsdigest dot com
or call one eight hundred eight two nine fifty five
(24:00):
sixty one. We bat.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Well.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
I know you gave a lot of credit to the Lord,
and I appreciate that we're both persons Afreith, but I'll
give I'll be the guy that gives you some props here,
like you built this company up from literally ground zero,
and here you are, like you said, thirteen years later,
you're traveling to pro cover pro sports, college sports, high school,
(24:33):
local And that's the great thing about you, Dan. If
you don't you care about them all the same, which
is immensely and where others maybe wouldn't have that same approach.
I think people see that. I think that's one of
the reasons of numerous You're successful, you know, and to
(24:54):
you know, this show is a credit. We're on will
be a seventh year. Shortly after this show, Airs will
be the seventh year sports coordination. And I've talked about
this without you. I'm glad you're here because you can
kind of put your two cents in instead of me.
Just give me credit. But you know, this show started
(25:16):
because we got to know each other, like I mentioned earlier,
through my son Jordan's playing career at the high school level,
and we got to talk and cards came kind of
came up, and then you realized I collect cards. I
was doing shows, and that's so we bonded on not
just sports but cards as well. And one day you
(25:39):
called me up and said, Hey, what are you doing
next Friday? And I said, I have Friday. At the time,
the job I had, which was not in teaching now,
it was a job I really didn't like, which is
why I'm in teaching now. We said what are you
doing next Friday? And I'm like, I had Fridays off
every Fridays at that point, and I'm like not and
(26:00):
I think you knew that, which is why you even
asked nothing. And You're like, want to come on the show,
your show, and let's do like an hour segment where
we kind of blend sports and in a card aspect
and kind of meld it into one. And while I'm
not shy, you know, I've never really done that at
that point yet, I'm like, yeah, I can.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I hope it's all right, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
I'm not a skilled professionals, but I'm want to, you know,
take your lead. And we did that, and I don't
know about you. I had a blast, and I was
a little nervous, even though I'm not you know, at
this stage, at that stage, I wasn't so much shy
like I was when I was a kid. But you
never know, right you always how's it gonna go? Am
(26:45):
I gonna be an idiot or say something dumb or
just you know, that's how your mind works when not
when it's something you don't do all you know, And
I'll let you talk about I know later on.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
You're like, I think it was supposed to be kind
of a one time thing.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
And then you got a pretty good response, and then
you you messaged me later on and said, hey, do
you you have every Friday off and because let's do
this every Friday, and I said, I do. That may
change at some point, but now I have every Friday off.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
And the show became known.
Speaker 5 (27:19):
First it was something like Collectible Corner, and then we
kind of start calling it Friday Morning Live, which he
came in a blast.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Kind of your recollections.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
I know I'm older than you, so I might might
have done some revisionist history there, but you're kind of
your your thought process, and even having me do that
and then wear that show went.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I wanted to do something
with sports cards and I just saw in importance with that,
and you had a history with it, and you had
some things that you were doing at the time, so
to me, like I wanted to I wanted to incorporate that,
include that. And really what it came down to for
me was that, you know, it's you want to give
(28:01):
people that. You're like, if you meet someone and they're
kind and they're good and they're just good hearted people,
you want to give them a chance. I don't look
at people like you know, show me your credentials. And
it's funny because like I just think, I just think
that that's a wild thing to do to people. And
you know, because like Jesus got into heaven, but he
didn't have a single Twitter so and he never trended
(28:23):
on TikTok.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
But I mean, you know, when it.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Came to you, it was, Hey, I like to do
something with this guy. He seems passionate, he seems nice,
and I mean it was fully, let's do this every
week because I believe in giving people opportunities and giving
people a chance, and I'm very close to my vest
I don't do that, you know. I mean, like it's
(28:46):
hard for me to trust a lot of people, especially
in the media, when it comes to doing these things.
But I just saw a good heart with you. I
saw a passion with you. You seem like somebody who
cared about me, who cared about what you're doing. And
you know, I just felt like, you know, we're like minded,
we had morals, and we're passionate, so why not. And
it wasn't by mistake, by any stretch of the imagination.
(29:09):
I didn't care if you agreed with me. I didn't
care if you had a different thought about something like
I just honestly wanted to help you and Jordan.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
That's why I did it.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
Yeah, and it was a blast, and speaking to Jordan,
exactly what I kind of warned you might happen, was
my schedule wound up changed. I don't know how long
we did it, a couple of months, I believe. Then my
schedule wound up changing at the work Fridays at least
in the first half of the day, and Jordan, my
son that you knew very well and kind of jumped
(29:37):
in the co pilot seat, took over for me, and
then he went to college. This was while he was
still in high school at that time and his college
life started.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
So that was the end of that.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
But it was funny because again I give you a
lot of credit for the show, because even before that, Dan,
you know, me and Joe and would be riding in
New York where I'm from, the visit family, go to
a Mets game, that sort of thing, and we would
listen to There were very little sports hobby sports card
hobby podcasts at the time. There was a couple and
(30:13):
one of them was a guy I got to know
very well too. His name was Eric Norton Rebecckett later
on Panini speaking of faith, A very big person of faith,
and he had he had a podcast called The Fat
Packs Podcast and was one of my favorites. And my
son even liked it, and we were we would binge
(30:36):
listen to it on the way to New York City
a lot. And my son one time, you know, Jordan
knew what I did in my career and how long,
and he said, why couldn't you do a podcast?
Speaker 4 (30:47):
Dad?
Speaker 5 (30:48):
And I'm like, listen, we're listening to probably the greatest
podcast covering the hobby right now. I can't do better
than this guy. Why why would I even attempt it?
And he goes, well, it's not about doing better. It's
like bringing your own perspective. Your story is obviously going
to be different than Eric Norton's story, and so tell
(31:09):
your story or bring your perspective.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
I never really thought about it like that, Dan. I
always thought about it like, well, if I can't do.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Better than that, and why even bother you know, maybe
not the greatest way to think, but that's at the time,
that's what And so he's like, no, it's not about that,
It's about telling your story experience is doing your first
show at fifteen years old, you know, working in the
card store before that, and I, you know, I said
(31:38):
I will see. I kind of just did that we'll see,
and I put it on the back burner. It was
then doing Friday Morning Live with You that I said, man,
you know, maybe somewhere down the line, I wasn't even
fully committing that I could do it. It was when
I didn't do it or couldn't not because I didn't
want to, Like my schedule wouldn't allowed, and I missed that,
I miss sharing those story in that band there, and
(32:01):
it was it brought me back to that whole conversation
with Jordan, why don't you do that? And so I thought,
you know what, I'm gonna do it and started from
using my phone as a microphone. I didn't like equipment
to the level we have now here, and you know,
like I didn't, I kind of flew by the seat
of my pants. You know, I wasn't at I'm a
(32:23):
pretty organized guy, but I wasn't as then as I'd
like to think I am now. And but again, it
was doing that show with you, which here's the thing.
Your show was video and audio when this show launched
was really just audio. Uh, and that made it easier
to be seen. And I always say I have a
(32:44):
face for radio, so so it was so it was
easier to do. And I kept, you know, I went,
when I launched a podcast, I'm like, well, what day
should I release that. It's obviously not live so I
can record it when ever, but when should I push
it out there for people to hear? And I'm like,
(33:04):
you know what, let's you know, it's a little sort
of tribute to you said, I'm going to keep it.
I'm going to release it on a Friday. Uh, and
you know the rest is history. Here we are almost
seven years later the show. The show didn't start out
as an interview show, kind of just with me talking, uh,
probably too much like I do now. And then about
(33:27):
four or five episodes in, I said, you know, I'm
going to start trying to have people on to talk
about the hobby and chop up the hobby. It wasn't
every even episode, and then it got to the point
where it became every episode, and uh, you know, I
like to think over seven years, I've gotten a little
bit better at it with with Cadence and listening when
(33:51):
rather than talking and talking when you know when I
should be There's always room for improvement. But again, and
I've said it on this show, Oh Dan, like it
was doing that show with you. Uh, you know that
that this show exists. Had that never happened, there would
be no sports coordination. And that's not lip service, that's
(34:11):
not something just because it sounds cool to say. That's
just the facts of the matter. So uh, you know,
I know I've thanked you without you being here, I'll
thank you just the same. Well now that you're you're
up here and glad now you're on the show that
you report pretty much inspired and had such a driving
(34:32):
force to its existence.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Oh you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
And I've told you this before. I mean this, this
is this is all you, you know. I mean, you want
to give credit to God and that's and you know,
having your faith and working hard, But I mean this
is you. I had you on the show because I
wanted to, had Jordan none because I wanted to. The
segment meant something to me. Because you both mean something.
I didn't want to replace it, and I didn't. So
(34:57):
you know, when you guys couldn't be on, you know,
it's not like I moved somebody else into that spot,
you know. To me, it's I wanted to do something
with you, and I enjoyed it. And I love that
you're doing your own thing. I love that it has
its its own look, it has its studio, it has
it's microphone. I love, like, I'm so proud of you,
(35:17):
Like I'm so proud for you, I'm happy for you.
I'm like I'm to me, it's it's so awesome to
see people win that that you care about and that
matter to you. And so I mean, I you know,
I mean having you on the show, that's my pleasure
and I love doing it and I do it again.
(35:38):
You doing this, I'm not taking any credit for it.
You know that this is your work, this is your vision,
this is your baby. I know how important my kid
is to me. I know how important everything I've done
has been. And so you know sports coordination and everything
you've done with this, the look, the feel, the essence.
You know, this is old John Newman, and John Newman
(36:02):
deserves the credit. So I mean, to the glory of
God and the hard work for you is how I
see it. I appreciate your kind words. I appreciate your goodness.
But I mean, if I could be a part of
this journey, I'm happy to be. But I mean, you know,
coming in here, I'm just really happy that a friend
and someone that like.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
I'm just I love when people win.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
I love seeing I don't understand a world where you know,
we got to like all bite each other and kill
each other and stab each other and stand on each other.
Like dude, Like, if everyone's chasing their dreams and they're
catching them, then I'm.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Happy, you know.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I say that to God all the time, thank you
for all the blessings I have. If other people don't
have them, then take some from me and help me
divide it up. Because I'm happy to have the blessings,
but I'd rather share them than hoard them. So I
mean to me to see you out here doing your thing,
and I'm out here doing my thing, and there's other
great people out there doing theirs in the broadcasting world,
(37:00):
in and you know, all different other worlds and in
different spaces of life. If you believe in God and
you're a good person and you have morals and values,
and you're chasing your dreams and you're doing it without
hurting people. You got my support, and I mean I
I again, I appreciate your words. I never ever thought
that I would have a coaching tree, so to speak.
(37:21):
But but I uh, you know, I I take none
of the credit for the work that you've done.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
I'm just really really proud for you.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
And you know, it's it's just really cool to see
someone that that you saw something in go out and
do something themselves. And I just I love it. I
love I love that you're doing it. I love that
you're happy. I love that you're working hard and that
you're catching your dream and to be any small part
of your journey to like your your your happiness like
(37:53):
that's I'm just like, I'm just happy to see you
doing it, and I'm happy to see you happy. And
you know, I'm happy that there's another person in this
world that is not should have wa to cut hang
and actually doing something that they wanted to do.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Well.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
Again, thank you, thank you for those kind of words
just there as well. And whether you want credit or not,
I give it to you. You're taken it. I'm not
taking it back. You don't have a receipt so and
I'm not Walmart, so but no, thank you all right, folks,
I hope you enjoyed that conversation. The crux of today's
episode was, you know, two folks, two guys kind of
(38:29):
creating their own entity, their own businesses, if you will,
more of a business with Dan's production. But yes, the
show does generate funds, that's not why I do it, right,
And you heard Dan talk about starting his company without
a common his bank account.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
I love that line.
Speaker 5 (38:49):
Right, there's no common as bank account one hundred dollars
and some change, and here he is, like he said
thirteen years later. Right, there's inspiration in there that if
you put your mind to it, you work hard, you know,
probably a couple of bounces go your way, a little
bit of luck, but a lot of faith.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
Right.
Speaker 5 (39:09):
I think you got a lot of that from our
conversation too, that if you believe and have faith, good
things will happen to you. And exactly the case. And
if you enjoyed this week's episode, we are not done
part two next Friday as well, and we're going to
chop up some more Hobby talk about him becoming a
(39:33):
dealer and setting up at shows like I do, and
I see him there and a lot of fun Hobby
stuff coming on next week's conversation, so we're gonna hear
from our hobby is the people Announcer of the week.
You might recognize the voice if you just listened to
the interview and then wrap up this week's episode.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Time for all the people announce the week.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
This is Dan Tortre of Wake Up Call, which you
can watch and listen to worldwide Monday through Friday from
nine am to eleven am Eastern time, if not longer,
on dot com and Facebook dot com, both backslash Wakeup
Call DT and on Wakeupcall t dot, Podbean dot com
and all the time go to Wakeup Call DT dot.
This is my guy, John Newman, and you need to
(40:25):
support him. The sports Car Nation a cast where you
know I don't need to tell you, but I will.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
The hobby is the people.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
If you'd like to be the hobby is the People
Announcer of the week. Do have one F or m
P three file and send it to Sportscard Nation DC
at gmail dot com.
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