Nobody's Safe with Brady Laber

This is a special episode of Nobody's Safe with Brady Laber as we dedicate the show to a season preview of the 2021 Thomas More Saints football team… We also use this opportunity to release the pregame interview that will air on the Saints Sports Network's “Soon to be Awarding Winning” Pregame Show ahead of it's home opening game against the Faulkner Eagles. Our guest is the head coach of the Saints Trevor Stellman and we talk about the program as a whole leading into the new fall season. We talk about the hard hitting issues both on and off the field. We start with the short recovery time after an unprecedented spring season and keeping his team healthy and safe during these times that younger people are more vulnerable during this time of the pandemic. We jump into what most wanted to really want to talk about and that's football. We break down each position group and the tough Mid South Conference schedule that awaits the Saints this upcoming season. We also recap the 45-33 road win during week one over the Bluefield Rams plus preview the Faulkner matchup. We wrap things up by talking about the events surrounding the home opener kicking off the Centennial Season at Thomas More University. Episode #41 of Nobody's Safe is a deep dive into the playing career of Trevor Stellman and you listen to that using this link: https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/41 You can follow Trevor Stellman on Twitter @CoachStellmanTM (https://twitter.com/CoachStellmanTM) and the Thomas More football team @TMU_Football (https://twitter.com/TMU_Football). You can also the Thomas More athletics department @tmusaints (https://twitter.com/tmusaints) or visit the website thomasmoresaints.com (https://thomasmoresaints.com/landing/index). You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody's Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Our the fourth episode of Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League Podcast we remember GLSCL Hall of Famer and former Cincinnati Steam General Manager Max McLeary. Brady, who succeeded Max as the GM of the Steam is joined by the current Steam General Manager Tony Brumfield to reminisce and tell Max stories. You can follow the Cincinnati Steam on their website at cincinnatisteam.com (http://cincinnatisteam.com/view/cincinnatisteam) on its Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CincinnatiSteam) page, on Twitter @cincinnatisteam (https://twitter.com/CincinnatiSteam) and Instagram @cincinnatisteam (https://www.instagram.com/cincinnatisteam/) You can follow the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GLSCLBaseball) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/glsclbaseball/) its @GLSCLbaseball and on Twitter it's simply @GLSCL (https://twitter.com/GLSCL)… Also check out our website at greatlakesleague.org (http://greatlakesleague.org/view/greatlakesleague) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) and please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by NoCo Music from the Heart and performed by Anthony Ouradnik.

Our guest on the third episode of Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League Podcast is the President of the Grand Lake Mariners Bill Montgomery. Bill helped bring the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League to Celina, Ohio in 1989. You can follow the Grand Lake Mariners on their website at grandlakemariners.com (http://www.grandlakemariners.com) or on Twitter @GLMariners (https://twitter.com/GLMariners) or on Instagram @grandlakemariners (https://www.instagram.com/grandlakemariners/) You can follow the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GLSCLBaseball) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/glsclbaseball/) its @GLSCLbaseball and on Twitter it's simply @GLSCL (https://twitter.com/GLSCL)… Also check out our website at greatlakesleague.org (http://greatlakesleague.org/view/greatlakesleague) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) and please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by NoCo Music from the Heart and performed by Anthony Ouradnik.

Our guest on the second episode of Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League Podcast is Tom Usher from the Lima News. Tom has been around the Lima Locos franchise since its formation in 1987. You can follow Tom and his coverage of the Lima News on their website at https://www.limaohio.com/sports and Tom's Twitter account @LimaUsher (https://twitter.com/Lima_Usher). You can follow the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GLSCLBaseball) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/glsclbaseball/) its @GLSCLbaseball and on Twitter it's simply @GLSCL (https://twitter.com/GLSCL)… Also check out our website at greatlakesleague.org (http://greatlakesleague.org/view/greatlakesleague) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) and please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by NoCo Music from the Heart and performed by Anthony Ouradnik.

Our guest on the first episode of Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League Podcast is founded and the first commissioner of the GLSCL Gary Henschen. You can follow the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GLSCLBaseball) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/glsclbaseball/) its @GLSCLbaseball and on Twitter it's simply @GLSCL (https://twitter.com/GLSCL)… Also check out our website at greatlakesleague.org (http://greatlakesleague.org/view/greatlakesleague) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) and please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by NoCo Music from the Heart and performed by Anthony Ouradnik.

My guest on this episode of Nobody's Safe w/Brady Laber is the recently retired head baseball coach at Northern Kentucky University Todd Asalon. This is super sized two-hour long episode where we cover it all. We talk first about Todd growing up on the Westside of Cincinnati as a good young catholic boy that transferred to Oak Hills becoming a three-sport star for the Highlanders. Todd played baseball at Northern Kentucky University from 1980-83 under the legendary head coach Bill Aker. We talk about “Akes” with this section being exclusive to Todd's time playing for Aker. After his playing career ends Todd joins the work force running his own catering business until a chance encounter leads to the start of his coaching career. Todd begins coaching high school basketball and later baseball before he becomes an assistant coach at his alma matter NKU under his college head coach Bill Aker. He is hired for his first college head coaching job at Thomas More College. His last two years he serves as the athletic director and he finds it to be a challenge but very rewarding. In 2001, Todd replaces his mentor Bill Aker as the head coach of the Norse. He talks about even to this day it's still Bill Aker's program and the responsibility he felt in making “Akes” proud. We talk about all of the great teams he coached during the Division-II era and the challenges that he faced when the athletic department made the leap into Division-I. Todd was good friends and had great rivalries with the other coaches in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. We talk about Todd being at Bill Aker's side when he passed away in 2011 and how Bill's wife Joan insisted that he coached his team that day. One little known story we talk bout was how Todd and his pitching coach help stop an unmanned tractor trailer that was rolling through traffic on Alexandria Pike in Highland Heights. As we wrap up Todd talks about some of fondest memories as the head coach of the Norse and what is in store for his future. Todd gives his full endorsement to his pitching coach Dizzy Peyton who is the only candidate with ties to the program interviewing for the job. On June 8, 2021 just days before this podcast is released its announced that Peyton was hired as the third head coach in history of the NKU Norse baseball program. You can follow Todd Asalon on Twitter @ToddAsalon (https://twitter.com/ToddAsalon) and keep up to date with the NKU Baseball team on Twitter @NKUNorseBSB (https://twitter.com/NKUNorseBSB) or via the official NKU Athletics website at nkunorse.com (https://nkunorse.com) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody's Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Byron Larkin who is all-time leading scorer at Xavier University and since 1998 has been the radio analyst for the Musketeers. Byron is part of a famous family from Cincinnati, Ohio that includes four boys that all achieved athletic success. We first talk about Mr. and Mrs. Larkin (Robert and Shirley) and how they had just three rules for their sons when it came to playing sports. We talk about each one of his siblings including the eldest of the five Larkin children and the only girl who’s name is Robin. She didn’t play sports and was more into concentrating on her academics. Oldest brother Mike specialized in football and went to Notre Dame where he was a team captain as a linebacker under head coach Gerry Faust. Next in line was Barry who was a Hall of Fame shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds. Byron was next oldest and Stephen is the youngest of the group and he was mostly a career minor league baseball player who did play one game with the Cincinnati Reds. We get into Byron’s career starting with his time in high school at Archbishop Moeller High School. He was a Parade All-American football player. The 1986 team he played on won a state championship and a mythical national championship. His basketball career was very successful at Moeller as well. He looks back on playing for head coach Danny Ragland who he credits as being the best coach he ever played for during his career. After a recruitment that includes offers for both football and basketball, Byron commits to Xavier University for basketball. He talks about some of the interesting recruiting visits from coaches during his recruitment including from head coaches Bob Staak (Xavier) and Rollie Massimino (Villanova). We talk about some of the great highlights of Byron’s playing career at Xavier starting with the second game of his freshman season against Pitt where he has a breakout performance. Another highlight is his 45 points performance in the 1986 Midwestern City Conference tournament game against Loyola-Chicago. Byron credits his greatest moment during his college career when he helped lead Xavier to its first ever NCAA tournament win in 1987 against Missouri. We also talk about how he passes Anthony Hicks as the program’s all-time leading scorer and finishes his career with 2,696 points. You can’t talk to a Xavier basketball player without bringing up Crosstown Shootout against the University of Cincinnati. Byron is proud to boast that he is 3-1 against the Bearcats. Byron’s post-Xavier highlights we cover include a tryout for the Cincinnati Bengals, his six-year professional career overseas, having his jersey number 23 retired and Hall of Fame induction at Xavier University. In closing we talk about Byron’s broadcasting career as the radio analyst for Xavier games with his longtime play-by-play partner and dear friend Joe Sunderman. You can follow Byron on Twitter @blarkxu23 (https://twitter.com/blarkxu23) and keep up to date with Xavier on its athletics website at goxavier.com (https://goxavier.com) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Richard Skinner who is Digital Sports Editor for Local-12 WKRC and the host of the Skinny Podcast. Skinny was born in Cincinnati and his parents worked for American Airlines. He spent his early years being relocated to New York and Oklahoma before returning to Northern Kentucky permanently when he was in middle school. He credits playing sports and his dad’s love for the Reds, Bengals and UK Wildcats for developing his passion. Skinny played high school baseball at Dixie Heights High School for head coach Dean Fookes. He attempted walking-on to the baseball team at the University of Kentucky before taking his current path. Although it didn’t work out he’s glad he took a chance at landing a spot on the team led by head coach Keith Madison. He has the opportunity to do play-by-play of UK home games and as a senior writes for the student newspaper The Kernel. Skinny was able to develop relationships with many of the veteran local media members. One person in particular that helped him was Keith Elkins who he teamed up with on those broadcasts of Kentucky games. After graduation Skinny returned to Northern Kentucky writing for a weekly newspaper and working as a producer at WCPO Channel 9. His first full-time job was working for a daily newspaper in Maysville, Kentucky called the Ledger Independent. After a few years, Skinny catches on with the Cincinnati Post doing a variety of jobs before landing his first full-time beat to cover. A fellow by the name of Tom Gamble is who got Skinny on board at The Post. Skinny was with the weekly paper called The Recorder when he started to doing some play-by-play work working for a man named Ted Bushelman. He credits Ted with taking a chance on him and giving him the opportunity to grow as a broadcaster doing many different such as bowling and steeplechases along with the more traditional sports. Skinny starts to also do radio shows on the local sports talk scene. One on his first pairings is with Art Schilchter. Skinny recalls Art and how talented he was a football player and broadcaster but how he was also self destructive due to his gambling addiction. Skinny also did a sports talk show on a local cable television show hosted by Don Weber called The Press Box. We talk about Don and the mark he left on the high school sports scene. This is also where Skinny was first paired with Tom Gamble and shortly thereafter the duo become the Two Angry Guys. If you would like to listen to listen to my full conversation with Don Weber on Episode 12 of Nobody's Safe with Brady Laber click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/12). Skinny and Gamble where first teamed with the originator of sports talk radio Bob Trumpy for a morning show. He talks about working with Trumpy and how that was sometimes difficult. He also talks about working with Gamble for many years and how successful the show was before it became emotionally draining. He talks about some of the beats he covered for The Post and Cincinnati Enquirer focusing specially on the Kentucky Wildcats and Cincinnati Bengals. Also, Skinny shared that his true passion is that of being a coach. He has mainly worked in basketball and he talked about he started coaching his daughter on the youth level. He eventually starts coaching a boys AAU team and is now the freshman head coach at Beechwood High School. He currently works at Local 12 providing content for the TV staton’s website. We talk about how that job came to be and how that developed into him getting into the podcast world. Skinny has many different versions of The Skinny Podcast but the two that are the most popular is a college basketball one with Rick Broering and Chad Brendel along with a weekly potpourri edition with Broering. We talk about a specific segment of that show that is very entertaining called Ask Skinny Anything. If you would like to listen to listen to my full conversation with Rick Broering on Episode 39 of Nobody's Safe with Brady Laber click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/39). To close out we talk about his versatility and how it seems that he rarely says no to an opportunity. He talks about how he has had a lot of people help him throughout his career and prides himself on doing the same with people who are up-and-coming in the business. You can follow Skinny on Twitter @Local12Skinny (https://twitter.com/Local12Skinny), view his content on Local12.com (https://local12.com) and listen to The Skinny Podcast (https://twitter.com/SkinnyPodcast) anywhere podcast are available. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Trevor Stellman the head football coach at Thomas More University. Trevor was a multi-sport athlete who’s first love was soccer. He would eventually add baseball, basketball and of course football to his arsenal. We look back at Trevor’s early days growing up around his father the legendary head football coach Conner High School (https://twitter.com/ConnerCougars). Trevor goes into some of his dad’s background that predates his time before arriving at Conner in 1987. Trevor played for his dad at Conner and was a two-year starter for the Cougars. He led the Conner football team to back-to-back undefeated regular season records in 2003 and 2004. We look back on those teams and some of the big games. The one game that stands out to a lot of people was a Thursday night game against Dixie where Trevor lead his team on a 4th quarter comeback to win the game. Trevor was Northern Kentucky Player of the Year and Tom was Coach of the Year in 2004. This success on the field eventually lead to Trevor taking his football talents to Thomas More University. We also talk about playing baseball and basketball at Conner. Two of his coaches that we cover was baseball coach Andy Wycoff and his freshman basketball coach the late Shawn Garnett. He was recruited heavily by Georgetown College but ultimately landed in Crestview Hills for the school’s medical program as he initially wanted to become a doctor. He talks about the early struggles that most freshman go through especially when opportunities for playing time are limited. He would go on to start as a sophomore but an injury ends his season prematurely and an off-season knee injury causes him to redshirt the next season. Jim Hilvert is hired as the head coach and with Trevor as the quarterback the Saints qualify for the NCAA playoffs two years in a row. He sets a number of passing records his senior season as the Saints host two playoff games. After his playing career is over Trevor gets a job in a pharmacy and is planning on going to pharmacy school and coach high school quarterbacks in his spare time. That changes when Coach Hilvert offers him the spot as quarterbacks coach at Thomas More. After two seasons he is promoted offensive coordinator and the team has great success as Trevor is able to coach one of the great football player in Thomas More history Dominique Hayden. Hayden lead the nation in rushing his senior season for the Saints. We talk about Trevor being promoted to the head coaching job and how challenging it has been during his first three seasons. He also talk about him having a young family where his wife Hanna is the head coach at home. He talks about his small children that are able to come to work with him and grow up around the facility the same way he and his siblings did while his dad was working at Conner. We also have a little fun talking to Trevor, a Northern Kentucky guy through and through, moving to the Westside of Cincinnati and setting down roots closer to his wife’s family. You can follow Trevor Stellman on Twitter @CoachStellmanTM (https://twitter.com/CoachStellmanTM) and the Thomas More football team @TMU_Football (https://twitter.com/TMU_Football). You can also the Thomas More athletics department @tmusaints (https://twitter.com/tmusaints) or visit the website thomasmoresaints.com (https://thomasmoresaints.com/landing/index). You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

On this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber we look back on the career of the first head baseball coach of the Northern Kentucky University Norse Bill Aker. I take some excerpts from past episodes and some bonus content to remember the who built the NKU baseball from the ground up. Coach Akes was a hard working coach who was a no nonsense guy that has the ability to relate with his players and get them to win for him and the program. We start with former sports information director and longtime NKU historian Rick Meyers. Rick joined us on episode number 13 of Nobody’s Safe and one of the subjects was Coach Aker starting the program and his early success on the field. Click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/13) to listen to that entire episode in its entirety. Jeff Hetzer played for Coach Aker at Northern Kentucky for two seasons in the mid-1990’s. He was also an assistant coach the staff before eventually taking over as the head coach at Thomas More University. In episode number 18 of Nobody’s Safe, “Hetz” tells some great Bill Aker stories including how “Akes” helped him get the Saints head coaching job at just 26-years of age. Click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/18) to listen to that entire episode in its entirety. Terry Connor is the athletic director at Thomas More University and the son of legendary Saints head baseball and basketball coach Jim Connor. The elder Connor was not only a great friend of Coach Akes but also a rival on the field. In episode number 11 of Nobody’s Safe, Terry talks about the friendship between these two coaching icons. Click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/11) to listen to that entire episode in its entirety. Chris Hook played and coached for Coach Aker at Northern Kentucky University. He is on of a few select few Norse alumni to make it the big leagues, pitching for the San Francisco Giants and now coaching for the Milwaukee Brewers. In episode number 25 of Nobody’s Safe, “Hooky” talks about his love and respect for Coach Aker including getting emotional telling a story about getting himself ejected from a game when he felt Coach Aker was being disrespected by an umpire. Click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/25) to listen to that entire episode in its entirety. Next, he break out a sound clip from the old NKU Sports Show where Brady interviewed NKU head baseball coach Todd Asalon about Coach Aker and how much he has meant to him as a mentor and as a man. You can follow the NKU athletics department on Twitter @NKUNorse (https://twitter.com/NKUNorse) and the men’s basketball program @NKUNorseBSB (https://twitter.com/NKUNorseBSB). You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Rick Broering who is the radio analyst for NKU basketball, publisher for Musketeer Report and Digital Content Producer at Local 12 in Cincinnati. Rick knew from a young age that he wanted to maximize his love of sports by eventually becoming a college basketball play-by-play broadcaster. He talks about using a tape recorder to practice calling games starting when he was 11 years old. Rick talks about growing up in Northern Kentucky and attending Holy Cross High School which is located in the Latonia section of Covington. We talk about some of the influential coaches and teachers that he encountered and learned from at Holy Cross. After briefly flirting with the idea of playing college baseball, Rick decides instead to attend Northern Kentucky University and major in Radio/TV. Rick ended up graduating from NKU with a double major that included journalism. We talked about the professors that we both learned from during our time at NKU including Mary Cupito, Brad King and Wes Akers. Speaking of Wes Akers, the two of us recall getting the chance to receive hands-on experience thanks to him and Bill Farro running a student production that produced live NKU men’s and women’s basketball games. Rick runs through his extensive resume that includes quite a bit of work while he us still a college student. This includes doing internet play-by-play and running a website with his own blog the covering high school sports. One of Rick’s goals has been to do sports talk radio and he gets his chance working for a short-lived FM sports station in Cincinnati. That experience helped him gain experience to later be a guest on many different sports talk shows in the market. Rick eventually lands a position working on a rivals.com site that produces content to cover the Xavier men’s basketball program. He eventually becomes the publisher of the site that now known as MusketeerReport.com (https://247sports.com/college/xavier/) After a stint as the Kentucky preps beat writer at the Cincinnati Enquirer, Rick lands a full-time at Local 12 WKRC-TV as the digital content producer. This eventually leads to him teaming up with Richard Skinner and the two combine to work on the very popular “Skinny Podcast” that can be found on local12.com (https://local12.com/sports/the-skinny-podcast) In 2019, Rick is hired by Learfield Sports as an in-season replacement to be the new radio analyst for NKU men’s basketball. He is teamed with longtime play-by-play broadcaster Jim Kelch who Rick credits with teaching him to be make the transition as seamless as possible. You can follow Rick on Twitter @RickBroering (https://twitter.com/RickBroering), Musketeer Report on Twitter @musketeerreport (https://twitter.com/musketeerreport) and Local 12/WKRC-TV @Local12 (https://twitter.com/Local12). You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Jeff Hans the head women’s basketball coach at Thomas More University. He has led the Saints to three NCAA D-III National Championship along with a D-III final four appearance and an NAIA National runner-up appearance while winning over 90 percent of his games as a head coach with the Saints. You can follow Jeff Hans on Twitter @coachjeffhans and the Thomas More women’s basketball team @TMWBasketball. You can also follow the Thomas More athletics department @tmusaints or visit the website thomasmoresaints.com You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Dustin Maguire. Dustin was the leading scorer for the NKU Norse on its 2009 GLVC Conference Tournament championship team and is now an attorney that has become the foremost authority on the Name, Image and Likeness movement for college athletes. Dustin transferred into NKU after two seasons at St. Louis University. After a coaching change he was told that his scholarship would not be renewed and he was forced transfer out of the program. He lands at Division-II Northern Kentucky University which is a program that embraced welcoming Division-I transfers looking for a new opportunity. The 2008-09 season gets off to an exciting start as NKU opens a brand new state-of-the-art on-campus arena with an exhibition game against the University of Louisville Cardinals. Dustin was on fire leading all scorers with 33 points, hitting nine 3-point shots in the process. NKU’s team that year was loaded with a great mix of transfers and veteran players within the program. The team was nationally ranked all season and win a share of the GLVC Eastern Division. The Norse travel to Southern Indiana for the GLVC Conference Tournament. NKU ends up winning the tournament earning head coach Dave Bezold his 100th career win in the championship game victory. Dustin has a great season leading the team in scoring and earning 2nd-team All-GLVC honors. He had a lot of momentum going into the next season but a back injury suffered during the conference tournament slowed him down. Despite the injury Dustin was voted a preseason All-American. He looks back fondly on a game against Christian Brothers University where he hits a game winning shot before the buzzer. Unfortunately, the back injury forces him to shut it down and his season ends prematurely. He would go through two back surgeries to help fix his bulging disks but a different medical condition turns out to be more serious. While recovering from surgery, he is diagnosed with testicular cancer. After surgery for the original cancer diagnosis, Dustin is ready to complete his comeback. Unfortunately, he gets word that the cancer has moved to his lymph nodes. After successful treatment Dustin is deemed cancer free in 2010. With his playing career now finished, Dustin pursues his law degree at NKU’s Chase School of Law. Norse head coach Dave Bezold puts Dustin on scholarship as a student assistant coach while he is studying for his degree. He was on the coaching staff during NKU’s transition into Division-I. Ultimately, Dustin earns his law degree and passes the bar exam deciding to open his own law practice near his hometown of Edwardsville, Illinois. His practice is based in family law but he has always had a passion for athletes rights. This comes from his personal experiences as a player that was forced to transfer and as a player that went through injuries during his playing career. The Ed O’Bannon lawsuit was also very instrumental in Dustin’s path becasue his name, image and likeness was used in the EA Sports video game depicting him during his time at St. Louis University. We talk about a host of subjects such a name, image and likeness but also the transfer portal and expanding the rights for the college athlete. Dustin has become the foremost authority on NIL and has created and website as a resource to help college athletes in this subject. Go to nameimagelikeness.com (https://nameimagelikeness.com) for more information and how to contact Dustin if you have more questions or would like to contact him for further questions or possible representation. Also, if you need at family law attorney in the Edwardsville, Illinois area Dustin’s practice is called The Center of Family Law and you can get more information at edwardsvillefamilylaw.com (http://www.edwardsvillefamilylaw.com). You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Jim Kelch who is a successful radio and television play-by-play broadcaster. Jim grew in Peoria, Illinois which is the line of demarkation that divides the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals respective fan bases. Jim grew up a Cubs fans but admits that he also enjoyed Cardinals baseball because he was such a fan of Cardinals radio play-by-play man Jack Buck. Jim grew up playing baseball but always knew that he wanted to call both baseball and basketball games and often practiced his craft in the bleachers while watching high school games. After a short stint playing college baseball, Jim attended Bradley University with hopes of breaking into the broadcasting business. He landed a job at a local radio station but as a salesman selling commercial ads for the stations sports broadcasts. He eventually gets his chance to be on the call local high school games. After some seasoning, he is hired to call the Peoria Chiefs games. The Chiefs was a Cubs minor league affiliate at the time and he got the gig when he was able to convince the station manager that he could sell enough ads to at least break even. After three seasons he moved up to the Double-A level moving to Chattanooga calling games for the Lookouts. This is the first season in which Jim called every game of the season. Two seasons later he finds out about an opening in Louisville, Kentucky in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He got the job with the team which is called the Redbirds at the time which and was a Triple-A affiliate. While in Louisville as a Cardinals affiliate, Jim filled in for his hero Jack Buck at the big league level and helped mentor Jack’s son Joe in his early college years. The Cardinals broke ties with the Louisville team and that group eventually became a Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds organization. After patiently waiting, Jim got his chance in do some consistent fill-in work for the Reds starting in 2008. Jim was hired full-time by the Reds for the 2010 season and being in the big leagues was his crowning achievement. He stayed with the Reds for eight seasons until his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2017 season. Jim was devastated when the Reds parted ways with him and he talks candidly about it. You can hear the pain in his voice as he talks about being let go and the lasting effects. Jim became the radio voice of the Northern Kentucky University Norse men’s basketball program in 2012. His hiring was also a seminal moment in his career since it was his other major goal to call Division-I men’s basketball. We talk about some of his memorial calls and fond memories as the Voice of the Norse. You can follow Jim on Twitter @JimKelch (https://twitter.com/KelchJim) and the NKU Norse basketball teams @NKUNorseMBB (https://twitter.com/NKUNorseMBB) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Thomas More University head men’s basketball coach Justin Ray. Justin Ray is from the Westside of Cincinnati and we begin the episode going into pretty good detail about his love and experiences growing up over there. Grade school sports in that predominately Roman Catholic community is very serious and Justin looks back glowingly on his youth career. He attended Our Lady of Lourdes School and played football and basketball for the Tigers. We talked about his 8th grade football coach Ozzy Bowns who just recently retired from coaching after more than 40 seasons. Despite his ties to Our Lady of Lourdes, Justin’s wife is a proud member of Our Lady of Visitation. In a classic Westside situation he explains that he will let their kids go through the Visitation system but will not wear any of the spirit wear in order not completely break ranks from Lourdes. However, Justin did break ranks when it came to attending high school when he decided not to go to Elder. He wanted basketball to be his future and he played on the grass roots level for Oak Hills head coach Mike Price. Justin explains how Coach Price is a mentor to him even to this day. Justin would go on to be a Hall of Fame athlete at Oak Hills as both a star football and basketball player for the Highlanders. After high school, Justin played his college basketball career in Memphis, Tennessee at Christian Brothers University. Head coach Mike Nienaber had ties to the Westside and many different Cincinnati area players made the trek to play for the Buccaneers. After his playing career, Justin briefly worked in the private sector but quickly realized that was not the life for him so he returned to be a graduate assistant at Christian Brothers. He felt like he wanted to pursue a career in coaching on the Division-I level. He landed a spot on the staff at Wright State University where he was an unpaid graduate assistant for two seasons under both Brad Brownell and Billy Donlan. Justin earned his first full-time assistant coaching jobs close to his home at Mount St. Joseph University. He was hired by newly hired head coach Toby Carrigan and the two of them helped turn that program around. After a couple a rough seasons in the beginning the Lions would go to win its first conference championship and make the first NCAA tournament appearance in program history. In 2018, Ray was hired as the head coach at Thomas More University. This was at a time when the athletic department was transitioning from NCAA Division-III into NAIA. The victory that put the Saints on the map was a win over the #1 team in the nation and Mid South Conference opponent Georgetown Tigers. Justin talks about being influenced by the other coaches at Thomas More including head women’s basketball coach Jeff Hans and athletic director Terry Connor. You can follow Coach Ray on Twitter @JustinMRay (https://twitter.com/JustinMRay) and the Thomas More men’s basketball program @TMUMensBBall (https://twitter.com/TMUMENSBBALL) Cover photo provided by Thomas More softball player Taylor Peterson (https://twitter.com/tp_on_a_roll) who takes pictures for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Thomas More. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Jed DeMuesy. Jed just wrapped up his tenure as a sports anchor, reporter and producer of Local 12 WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio. Jed grew in Massilon, Ohio where football is king. He talks about his dad having a job that allowed him to be around the Pro Football Hall of Fame in nearby Canton, Ohio. After playing high school football at Jackson High School, Jed realized he had a love of sports and wanted to continue with that path even if it wasn’t going to be as an on-field competitor. Broadcasting would be his vehicle and he felt like his skill set and personality would be better suited for television news as opposed to being a play-by-play announcer. Jed attended Miami University and majored in mass communications. He was able to cover all of the sports in Oxford and has some great stories. The Redhawks were very successful during his time there and has found memories covering Miami sports. As an undergrad at Miami, Jed interned in the sports department at Local 12 (https://twitter.com/Local12) working under sports director Brad Johansen. Jed talks about learning from Brad who he forced him outside of his comfort zone and challenged him to improve his skill set. Upon graduation, Jed lands his first job in the 207th largest media market which happens to be in Marquette, Michigan. He talks about the challenges of living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during the winter months while working at a small station. After 10 months, Jed moves on to Zainesville, Ohio which is actually a smaller market than Marquette but gives him the opportunity to relocate closer to home. During this time Jed is co-workers with Jeremy Rauch (https://twitter.com/FOX19Jeremy) who is currently in the Cincinnati market at Fox-19. Jeremy actually helps Jed land his next job in Champaign, Illinois. In July 2013, a producer job becomes available and Jed jumps at the chance and returns to Local 12 (https://local12.com). Although it is not an on-camera role, he is more than happy to be back in Cincinnati where he eventually does become a reporter and anchor. We talk about some of the Local-12 staff that have been helpful to Jed in his career included folks that work in the news department. Some of the those legendary figures include Rob Braun, Cammy Dierking, Joe Webb and Deborah Dixon. In the sports department Jed obviously gives Brad Johansen (https://twitter.com/bradjohansen) a lot of credit for helping him grow and develop. We also talk about some of the other characters he has had the opportunity to work with at Local 12. Those folks include Gary Miller (https://twitter.com/Local12Gary), Kevin Barnett (https://twitter.com/KBarnett15), Richard Skinner (https://twitter.com/Local12Skinny) and Rick Broering (https://twitter.com/RickBroering). Jed explains how it all came to an end for him at Local 12. In March 2021, budget cuts needed to be made and Jed volunteered himself in order for someone else in the department to stay on board. He was already looking into an opportunity to move on from the television business. Working weekends and nights began to take a toll on his family life and with a wife and a newborn Jed was looking for a change. A college friend offered him a job and the timing was accelerated with the impending layoffs. Jed says he was looking out for his family first but to also be able to keep someone else to stay employed worked out best for everyone involved. You can still follow Jed on Twitter where he will continue to have hot takes his handle his has been updated to @JedDeMuesy (https://twitter.com/JedDeMuesy) If you also want to check out Jed’s new venture with the company owned by his friend Tim Brantz visit the website LegacyWealthHoldings.com (https://www.legacywealthholdings.com) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber we asked a number of people from both the Westside and Eastside of Cincinnati to describe what it’s like living in a sometimes imaginary rivalry that sometimes can get real. The first person we talk to is John Asalon who’s the voice of NKU Norse baseball and the Cincinnati Steam. John sparks this whole subject by being a Westsider who actually goes against the company line to speak about some of the things that annoy him when it comes to his homeland. Here is a link to the full episode where John talks about his upbringing growing up on the Westside Click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/5) for Episode #5 of Nobody’s Safe with John Asalon. You can follow John on Twitter @john_asalon (https://twitter.com/john_asalon). We had many other Westside residents weight on this subject. Please check out the full episodes on demand of the guest in order of their appearance on this particular episode. Click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/18) for Episode #18 of Nobody’s Safe with Jeff Hetzer. Click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/27) for Episode #27 of Nobody’s Safe with Adam Baum. You can follow Adam on Twiter @AdamJBaum (https://twitter.com/AdamJBaum) Thomas More head coach Justin Ray will be on a soon-to-be released upcoming episode of Nobody’s Safe. You can follow Justin on Twitter @JustinMRay (https://twitter.com/JustinMRay) Click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/11) for Episode #11 of Nobody’s Safe with Terry Connor. You can follow Terry on Twitter @TMUAD_Connor (https://twitter.com/TMUAD_Connor) We transition to get the options and takes from our Eastside guest starting with McNicholas High School junior varsity head basketball coach and former team manager at Xavier University Eric Thompson. Click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/22) for Episode #22 of Nobody’s Safe with Eric Thompson. You can follow Eric on Twitter @Eric_Thompson10 (https://twitter.com/Eric_Thompson10) Click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/20) for Episode #20 of Nobody’s Safe with Madison Temple. You can follow Madison on Twitter @mpaige11 (https://twitter.com/mpaige11) Click here (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm/24) for Episode #24 of Nobody’s Safe with Rich Linville. You can follow Rich on Twitter @ScoreboardRich (https://twitter.com/ScoreboardRich) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety. For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is NKU Hall of Famer Rick Meyers. Rick joins me today to talk about the first head coach of the men’s basketball team at Northern Kentucky University Mote Hils. Rick starts off with some brief background on the new college being built in Highland Heights, Kentucky and how Mote was hired to be its first head basketball coach. Mote enjoyed at ton of success as a local high school coach first at St Henry and later at Covington Catholic. He was coming off of a run of winning five consecutive regional championships leading the Colonels to the state tournament. After Mote’s second season the team moved into the newly constructed Regents Hall which would be the home of the basketball program until 2009. We talk about the success of some of his great players including the programs first superstar Richard Derkson. Derkson followed Mote to NKU from Covington Catholic and was the leading scorer all four years that he played for the Norse. Derkson was a charter member of the NKU Hall of Fame being inducted in 1997. Other great players that we mentioned over Mote’s tenure include other Hall of Famers as Jeff Stowers, Dan Doellman and the very underrated Dennis Bettis. Rick talks about traveling with the team in those early days and how small college facilities and environments made it very difficult to win on the road. NKU was put on the map with a pair of wins over Xavier University in back-to-back seasons of 1978 and 1979. The first win over the Musketeers was part of the program’s first 20-win season and a chance to host the NCAA Division-II regional at Regents Hall. Rick tells the legendary story about how Athletic Director Dr. Lonny Davis turned down the opportunity to host and the team would have to travel as the #1 seed to Eastern Illinois University to play in the tournament. This leads to a confrontation on the bus as the team is ready to leave Regents Hall for Charleston, Illinois. Mote approached Dr. Davis and after a brief but heated interaction Mote tells his boss to “get off the bus.” Needless to say Dr. Davis exited the bus quietly but it was Mote’s only win of the entire weekend. The favored Norse end up losing to ISU-Evansville and in the consolation game to St. Joseph College ending its season. This incident was the beginning of the end of Mote’s tenure as head coach He wanted to see the program make the jump to Division-I along with other regional opponents as UT-Chattanooga and Wright State but the university administration decided against it and Mote stepped down as the head coach in 1980. In nine seasons as the NKU head coach, Mote earned 119 victories. Mote stayed with the university for many years as an advisor and testing coordinator before retiring. He was inducted into the David Lee Holt NKU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009. Mote passed away in 2016 at the age of 81. You can follow the NKU athletics department on Twitter @NKUNorse (https://twitter.com/NKUNorse) and the men’s basketball program @NKUMensBB (https://twitter.com/NKUNorseMBB). You can also follow Rick Meyers on Twitter @NKURick (https://twitter.com/NKURick). You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is former NKU big man Jalen Billups. Jalen played the Norse from 2011-16 scorning 1,185 points, grabbing 599 rebounds while shoting 62% from the floor. Among his accomplishments at Northern Kentucky, Jalen scored the first basket in the program’s Division-I era. He was also the first player to score 1,000 career points solely as a D-I player. He set the single season field goal percentage record and is second place all-time for career field goal percentage. Jalen went to Shroder High School in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Madisonville. He played for the Jaguars and head coach Thomas Owens. He played against some of the top talent in the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference. A number of his high school opponents and AAU teammates also went on the play college basketball at a high level. Jalen committed to play at Northern Kentucky University and play for head coach Dave Bezold. At the time, NKU was still Division-II but after his freshman season (2011-12) the announcement was made that the school’s athletic department was going to move up to D-I. His sophomore year (2012-13) got off to a fast start. The plan was that he would redshirt after playing 20% of the schedule and have knee surgery while maintaining the year of eligibility. Just before he was to have been shutdown for the season a medical emergency happened in practice that changes his path. He was diagnosed with a rare heart condition and would eventually have a pacemaker inserted into his chest. He would have the pacemaker removed in 2018 and saved it, having it engraved as a reminder of his journey. Jalen recovered just before the next season (2013-14) began and he made a full comeback despite not going through any off-season conditioning and playing 30 pounds overweight. The next year (2014-15), fully recovered in the best shape of his career up to that point, Jalen led the nation for much of the year in field goal percentage. He set the NKU record for single season field goal percentage at just under 70 percent. The team finished its season at 13-17 and 7-7 in Atlantic Sun conference play. It was the team’s best record during the transitional phase to D-I which meant they were not eligible for the post season tournament. The did play a thrilling overtime game in a loss to Lipscomb in a conference tournament game that was played at Regents Hall. Unfortunately, after that season ended and the team moving into the Horizon League with just one year left in the transitional phase, Coach Bezold was fired. Jalen had just graduated from school with one year of eligibility remaining. He could have transferred to another school without penalty and he talks about some of the schools that showed interest in him. He talking it over with his mother he decides to stay with NKU and play for new head coach John Brannen. Although the team struggled in its year in the Horizon League (2015-16), he felt that the year under Coach Brannen helped prepare him for a professional career. We talk about his career overseas and the countries that he has traveled to in his basketball journey. Also, we talk about some of his career options once he retires from basketball. Jalen also talks about still following the program and how proud he is to have helped build the program for the success it now enjoys. You can follow Jalen Billups are both Twitter @jbills_21 (https://twitter.com/jbills_21) and Instagram @jbills_21 (https://www.instagram.com/jbills_21/) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Dennis “Wildman” Walker who started with WEBN 102.7 FM in Cincinnati back in 1983 and was a full time member of the morning show crew called the Dawn Patrol from 1985-2011. Wildman has written a book called Wild Man: The Book with co-author Gerry Schultz. He has organized a book signing tour and the initial schedule is at the bottom of this section. Wildman was first noticed by WEBN disc jockey Michael Luczak in 1983 while he was collecting money to fly a banner over Riverfront Stadium. Wildman, like many fans, was disgruntled about the performance of Reds general manager Dick Wagner and arranged to have airplane fly over the stadium with a banner that said, “Pete Rose Forever… Dick Wagner never.” When Wagner was fired days later, the folks at WEBN realized Wildman’s role and decided to hire him as a freelancer collecting postgame soundbites to be used for the sports reports. After two years, Wildman is hired full-time at WEBN in 1985 as a member of the Dawn Patrol. The Dawn Patrol was the name morning drive-time talent and for over two decades was the top rated group in the city. Wildman also talks about how he was given the Wildman moniker which of course is really just an exaggeration of his true personality. This persona was exactly what WEBN was looking for when it came to their sports guy was it was a perfect storm leading to Wildman joining the team. We talk about the personal relationships that Wildman has developed and has continued to maintain of the years with some of the top sports personalities in the Cincinnati sports scene. It’s no secret that the “Hit King” Pete Rose was Wildman’s favorite baseball player. He talks about how it all started for his fandom of Pete when he first met him collecting autographs as a kid at Crosley Field. Another guy Wildman developed a great friendship with was former University of Cincinnati Bearcats head basketball coach Bob Huggins. We talk about an interaction he had with “Hugs” in the media room at Northern Kentucky University after the Norse played against West Virginia. This leads into a great discussion about Wildman’s biggest claim to fame when he spent 61 days on a billboard vowing to never come down until the Bengals win a game. In addition to covering sports for WEBN, Wildman also had a chance to go to concerts and interview all of the top Rock n’ Roll acts of the time. He talks about some of those interesting interactions. Wildman is also a very accomplished public address announcer and one of his highest profile jobs was for the Cincinnati Cyclones hockey team. He spent 20 years with the team that won two Kelly Cups Championships. Before going to the Cyclones, he was the PA announcer for NKU men’s and women’s basketball teams in the 1980’s. He remembers how the women’s team had a legit chance of winning the NCAA Division-II championship but an injury to star player Melissa Wood derailed that season. We talk about him attending games with his buddies known as the “Rail Gang.” One of their favorite players was John “Moose” Campbell who played for the Cincinnati Slammers of the CBA. They were also able to meet Phil Jackson and Cazzie Russell while going to Slammers games and jeering the visiting team. While still working at WEBN, Wildman got his first taste of hosting a sport talk show on AM Talk Radio 1360. Wildman goes into detail about the end of the Dawn Patrol and his release from WEBN. He doesn’t pull any punches as he describes how one of the popular drive time morning shows in Cincinnati radio history came to an end. He talks about the original lineup with Eddie Fingers, Robin Wood and Bob the Producer and what they mean to him. After WEBN, Wildman stays in radio transitioning full-time to sports talk radio. His main two stops were 1160-AM Real Talk and Class X Radio. Now in what he describes as semi-retirement, Wildman stays busy as a PA announcer for both Seven Hills and Indian Hill High School. Recently, Joe Danneman (https://twitter.com/FOX19Joe) from Fox 19 did a feature of Wildman in action. Click here (https://www.fox19.com/2021/02/24/long-time-cincinnati-personality-back-behind-mic/) to see that story. Finally we go into some detail about his newly release book Wild Man: The Book. He teases a story about an incident between him and former Reds pitcher Danny Graves that developed into a full fledged feud between the two that is far from settled. Below is the schedule of his upcoming book signings: Saturday, March 13 - MVP Sports Bar in Silverton - 5-8 Saturday, March 20 - Legends in Hamilton - 7-10 Saturday, March 27 - Substation II in Florence, KY - Noon-3 Saturday, April 3 - Fairfield Pub in Fairfield - 7-10 Saturday, April 10 - Dee Felice in Covington, KY - 6-8 Friday, April 16 - Eagles #407 Hall in Hamilton - 7-10 Saturday, April 17 - Rick’s Tavern in Fairfield - 7-10 Saturday, May 8 - Washington Platform in Downtown Cincinnati - 7-10 Saturday, May 15 Hometown Heroes in Dayton KY - 7-10 Saturday, May 22 Cincy Shirts in Hyde Park - 2-5 Saturday, June 26 Cherry Grove Lanes, Beechmont Avenue - 12:30pm-3:30pm Cost of the book is $19.99 and Wildman will personally autograph it for you. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

This is a special episode of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber as we dedicate the show to a season preview of the 2021 Thomas More Saints football team. We talk with head coach Trevor Stellman about a number of subjects including how he and his team has filled the time during the fall while they would normally be playing its schedule. Coach Stellman acknowledges that everything is different now with playing a schedule that begins in February. This includes the decision making process of actually deciding to shift the schedule to spring with the admission that it’s not really spring during the month of February. We looked back to the last season that Thomas More played football back in the fall of 2019. Stellman acknowledges that going 4-7 in the team’s first year of playing in the Mid-South Conference was an admirable feat. However, that’s not the expectations at Thomas More and his team was just a handful of plays away from flipping that to a winning a record. We go through the two-deep depth chart for Week 1 as a way to break down his team and get to know some of the newcomers including new starting quarterback Jay Volpenhein. This season is a 7-game, all-league schedule within the Bluegrass Division of the Mid-South Conference. Coach Stellman talks about how difficult that will be but also the opportunity that this schedule presents. Also, a new element to the spring schedule is that the games are scheduled for Friday nights not to interfere with other fall sports moving to the spring. We close out with Coach Stellman talking about the fan base and hoping that they have a chance to be there and watch his team in person if and when it becomes safe. Next, we bring in the "Voice of the Saints” Nate Metz as we break down the Saints opening day victory over Cumberland University. Thomas More won over the Phoenix 19-14 in Lebanon, Tennessee to start the year 1-0. The Saints led throughout but fell behind in the fourth quarter. Volpenhein scrambled out of the pocket 34 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. A late defensive stop secured the victory when linebacker Del Thomas batted down a last second desperation pass into the end zone. You can follow Coach Stellman on Twitter @CoachStellmanTM (https://twitter.com/CoachStellmanTM) and the Thomas More Football program @TMU_Football (https://twitter.com/TMU_Football) plus to get for more information on everything in the Thomas More athletic department go to the website thomasmoresaints.com (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/landing/index). You can also follow Nate Metz on both Twitter @NateMetz (https://twitter.com/NateMetz) and Instagram @NateMetz (https://www.instagram.com/natemetz/). He has the call of just about every Thomas More Saints home sporting event broadcast for the Saints Sports Network. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is John Popovich. Popo worked in the sports department at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati for 40-years from 1979-2019. Popo got his start working at a high school radio station in his hometown of Struthers, Ohio. He admits that his love of sports was not going to translate into a playing career but this opportunity opened his eyes to the fact that he could still be a part of sports without playing the game. After graduating from high school, he attended Ohio University and earned a degree in telecommunications. He worked as a news reporter covering events in town such as city counsel meetings and interviewing presidential candidates for the upcoming election in 1972. At times the athletics department at OU had a number of good sports teams to follow. Bob Wren coached the baseball team to the 1970 College World Series with Hall of Fame Mike Schmidt playing shortstop for the Bobcats. Also, the basketball arena, The Convocation Center, opened during his time in Athens and the Bobcats opened it by beating Purdue who was ranked third in the country at the time. OU made it to the NCAA tournament before being beaten by Notre Dame who was lead by the great Austin Carr. After gradation Popo packed up and moved to Iowa for his first job at WDBQ radio in Dubuque. After about one year he moved across the state to the Quad Cities market in Davenport, Iowa. There he was working both radio and television at WOC for six years. Three years into his tenure, Popo moved full-time over to the sports department. In July 1979, Popo moved to Cincinnati taking a job in the sports department at WCPO-TV Channel 9. He was hired by the lead news anchor and general manager Al Schottelkotte who was a legendary figure in the television news industry. We talk about quite a few of his former co-workers in the sports department over the years. They include working with Jack Moran and Tim Melton when he first joined the station. Dennis Janson, who he worked with for 29 years, plus quite a few up-and-coming talents that went on to do great things in the business. Popo has lots of great stories including an interview he conducted with Muhammad Ali at Staggs Barbershop in Avondale. John talks about a close encounter that he was lucky enough not to be involved in when the newsroom was taken hostage on October 15, 1980. Click here (https://www.wcpo.com/news/our-community/from-the-vault/from-the-vault-james-hoskins-holds-wcpo-hostage) read a story with video footage from the original incident on one of the anniversaries of the event. In 1980, at the suggestion of Schottelkotte, Popo created a show called Sports Of All Sorts that aired after the Sunday night newscast. The show started with feature stories but eventually evolved into a weekly full length episode that even had live calls from viewers. This show is still on the air and is the longest running sports show in the country. He bounce around talking about of the more interesting people and subjects he has covered over the years. These include the Bengals during the Super Bowl runs and the dismal years, the return and fall of Pete Rose, the meteoric rise of local boxing champion Aaron Pryor, the Crosstown Shootout, college basketball in the area and high school sports. As we start to wrap up Popo talks about him cleaning out his desk in his last months at WCPO and sharing some of those one-of-a-kind memorabilia items he collected over the course of his tenure. He admits that he doesn’t miss the daily grind of putting together a newscast everyday but misses all of the people he met and worked with over the years. Popo is not as active on Twitter as we once was but you can still follow him @Popo_WCPOSports (https://twitter.com/Popo_WCPOSports) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Adam Baum. Adam is the daily beat reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer’s (https://twitter.com/Enquirer) coverage of the Xavier University (https://twitter.com/XavierMBB) men’s basketball program. Adam grew on the Westside of Cincinnati and is very proud of his heritage and we talked extensively about what it is like to be a Westsider. He also acknowledges that there are many quirks as far as how serious people take their grade school sports but does not apologize for it as he explains that dynamic. He graduated from Elder High School (https://twitter.com/ehsports) and played both football and baseball for the Panthers. Adam talks about what a thrill it was to play in one of the country’s most famous high school football stadiums known as “The Pit.” Adam played on a state championship team for head coach Doug Ramsey. He also talks a statistical anomaly that he achieved that makes him stand out in the hollowed history of Elder football. He also played on the baseball team at Elder for head coach Mark Thompson. He jokes about “back-dooring” his way to state championship ring working as the bullpen catcher for the team. Adam tells a story about a lazy decision in filling out his class schedule for senior year at Elder ultimately lead to his journalism career. As a freshman at the University of Cincinnati in the journalism department he landed a job with the Cincinnati Enquirer answering the score phone. That entry level position led to his role expanding to cover high school sports. A couple of his more memorable stories include one about his dad who tragically pasted away just three weeks after being hired full-time onto the high school sports beat. Another was about Griffin James, a pitcher from CHCA whose father was battling cancer and Griffin promising to pitch a perfect game in his honor. In 2018, Adam is promoted to take over the full-time beat covering the Xavier University men’s basketball team. Adam earns this position in part by doing a great job covering the Cincinnati Reds spring training that year as a fill-in after a number of staff defections at the Enquirer. Of course, you can’t talk about Xavier basketball without getting into the Crosstown Shootout rivalry between the Musketeers and the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Other aspects of the beat we talk about are chasing down rumors to confirm or deny the factuality of stories that are out there. Also, the recruiting circuit has developed into its own sub culture that can be difficult to navigate. We wrap things up talking about the newspaper business in modern times and how drastically in has changed just in the 14 years that Adam has worked for the Enquirer. You can follow Adam and his coverage of Xavier on Twitter @AdamJBaum (https://twitter.com/AdamJBaum) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Mike Kashirsky. “Kash” is currently a batting practice pitcher for the Chicago White Sox and a college basketball official. However, I feel like this audience will be more in tune with his time coaching the Windy City Thunderbolts (https://www.wcthunderbolts.com) of the independent Frontier League (https://frontierleague.com). “Kash” played college baseball at St. Joseph College in the late 1990’s. St. Joe’s was a great D-II program based in the Great Lakes Valley Conference until the school closed in 2017. The Pumas were national runners-up in 1996 behind the arm of pitcher Rick O’Dette (https://saintleolions.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/rick-o-dette/118). Kash talks about some of his teammates including O’Dette who would later become the head coach and is now the skipper at St. Leo University, and Jason Becker who coached with Kash at Roosevelt University. The late Brandon Hardy was also on those teams and Kash tells a great story about Brandon and how St. Joe’s created the Brandon Hardy Award. Kash played some professional baseball including a stint with the Cook County Cheetahs of the independent Frontier League. His initial meeting with his manager, former big league outfielder Ron LeFlore, (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lefloro01.shtml) was a memorable one. LeFlore was arrested in 1999 for failure to pay child support by Kash’s father who was a police officer. LeFlore understood the situation and didn’t hold a grudge but he didn’t forget that interaction. When Kash reported to the team one year after the arrest LeFlore call him into his office. LeFlore joking told Kash to take his stuff and leave but after the initial shock told Kash he was kidding and explained he and Kash’s father had become friendly after the arrest. The Cheetahs rebrand to the Windy City Thunderbolts (https://twitter.com/WCThunderBolts) and in 2004 Kash is named to the coaching staff. He reminisces fondly about his rommates and fellow staff member Joe Charboneau (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/charbjo01.shtml). Charboneau was quite a character who was the 1980 American League Rookie of the Year for the Cleveland Indians. Brent Bowers managed the team in 2005 and 2006 and Will Flynt was the pitching coach and Kash tells great stories about both of his friends that he is on the T-Bolts staff with during his early years with the team. Andy Haines becomes the manager in Windy City in 2007 and the team has one of the best seasons in Frontier League history. That team won a Frontier League (https://twitter.com/FLProBaseball) record 68 games on its was to the championship. Kash beomes the interim manager during the 2008 campaign and takes a struggling team on quite a ride. The team goes on a 37-14 to end the regular season with 60 wins and another Western Division title. Kash looks back on that memorable 2008 Frontier League playoffs starting with winning a tough division round win over the favored Southern Illinois Miners. The 2008 championship series will be most remember for the flood that happened in Kalamazoo just before the start of the series. Four inches on water deemed Homer Stryker Field as being unplayable and the entire series was moved to Standard Bank Ballpark which was called the Thunder Dome. Kash talks about working as a bench coach in 2009 with Tommy Thompson and finally becoming the full time manager for the 2010 and 2011 season. Kash left Windy City as the all-time leader in wins (141), since broken by Ron Biga, and his jersey number is retired at the ballpark. In 2013, Kash is hired by the Chicago White Sox as the left handed batting practice pitcher. Kash talks about being in the big leagues and working with some of the best hitters in the game. We also talk about three players that Brady has worked with in the past Adam Eaton (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/e/eatonad02.shtml), Charlie Leesman (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/leesmch01.shtml) and Nate Jones (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jonesna01.shtml) who all played for the Cincinnati Steam (https://twitter.com/CincinnatiSteam) of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (https://twitter.com/GLSCL). We finish up the conversation talking about being a college basketball official. His start as a referee is a humble one on the high school level working his way to small college and now mid major college level. Former St. Joe’s pitching coach Bo Boroski, who has referred Big Ten games and in the NCAA tournament, helped break Kash into the business doing high school games in the Rensaleer, Indiana area. Kash is a very engaging and funny guy and his success has clearly not changed him a bit over the years. Photo credits goes to NPG Sports and Synergy Sports You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is the pitching coach for the Milwaukee Brewers Chris Hook. “Hooky” grew up in Erlanger, Kentucky and graduated from Lloyd Memorial High School. He played sports growing up for Dixie Knothole and Erlanger Lions Club but it was baseball that he would develop of love for and make it his passion. After a successful high school career he played in college for Bill Aker at Northern Kentucky University. Hooky was a three-year letter winner as a starting pitcher from 1987-89. His junior year team in 1989 went 45-9 and just missed an appearance in the NCAA D-II World Series. Hooky signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds organization after his junior season at NKU. He signed after a college tryout and played five years in the Reds organization. Hooky was traded to the San Francisco Giants organization and was called up to the big leagues in 1995. He spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues earning five wins in 55 bullpen appearances. After being sent down in 1996 he pitched until 1999 when he retired and came back to his new home in Florence, Kentucky. Hooky returned to NKU as the pitching coach for the Norse for three seasons before joining the expansion Florence Freedom of the independent Frontier League in 2003. After a tumultuous five year stint with the Freedom he was hired by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008 to be the pitching coach for the Double-A affiliate Huntsville Stars. In 2018, Hooky returned to the big leagues as the Brewers pitching coach after the departure of Derek Johnson. Cover photo credit goes to Scott Paulus/Milwaukee Brewers You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Rich Linville who each night writes the Scoreboard Stumper question during Cincinnati Reds games at Great American Ballpark. Rich grew up a Reds fan on the Eastside of Cincinnati during the 1970s. He attributes his deep love for the Reds from the radio calls each night by the legendary team of Marty Brenneman and Joe Nuxhall. Interestingly enough his favorite baseball player was Kansas Royals third basemen and Hall of Famer George Brett. As a child of he 70’s, Rich talks about collecting baseball cards, reading box scores in the newspaper and watching the national game of the week and “This Week in Baseball.” Rich graduated from Anderson High School and later Northern Kentucky University. He interned in the sports department at WLWT Channel 5 in Cincinnati. This is where he was given the opportunities to join the Cincinnati Reds scoreboard production crew. It was 1988 and the Reds has just installed a video board at Riverfront Stadium and initially relied heavily on employees from Channel 5 to help operate the board. As an intern, Rich started as a fill-in and after a couple of seasons was a full-time crew member starting with the 1990 season. In 1991, he was given the full-time assignment of writing the Scoreboard Stumper question. This question was and still is a staple of the ballpark experience at both Riverfront Stadium (later known as Cinergy Field) and Great American. Rich has made this responsibly his own and spends time year-round developing questions for all 81 home dates. We obviously talk about some of the details of how the questions are constructed. This veers off into a conversation about Rich’s appearance on a trivia show that aired on the MLB Network. Rich also has had some great behind-the-scenes stories about his interactions with famous personalities that he comes across at the ballpark. We finish up with some of the great moments in Reds history that Rich witnessed in person at his perch in the Scoreboard control room over the course of the last 33 seasons. You can follow Rich on Twitter where he has current and classic Scoreboard Stumper questions its @ScoreboardRich (https://twitter.com/ScoreboardRich) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Kennedy Berkley. Kennedy was a three-sport athlete at Campbell County High School who went off to Murray State University as a track and field competitor and returned to the Lady Camels as the head volleyball coach winning back-to-back 10th Region championships. Kennedy’s first love of sports was actually gymnastics but eventually settled on volleyball, basketball and track and field. Her dad Nick and his two brothers were all quarterbacks at Bellevue High School and her mother Jennie was an athlete at Elida High School in Lima, Ohio. Kennedy went to Campbell County Middle School and at volleyball tryouts she meet Chandler Gray. Kennedy and Chandler hit it off immediately and are still best friends to this day. The two of them plus a large number of their classmates would team up be a successful generation of Lady Camel athletes. The late Greg Rose brought a group of these girls together coaching them as seventh graders on their team that was called Camels Select. Kennedy has found memories of Greg and his antics to get the girls ready for games. Kennedy’s high school volleyball career lasted five seasons where the battles between Campbell County and Newport Central Catholic became legendary. Her sophomore year brought back memories of the Lady Camels hosting the region tournament and losing in heart breaking fashion. The senior class was lead by two Division-I signees, Natalie Penrod (Tennessee Tech) and Jenna Cavanaugh (Youngstown State) plus a younger core that included Kennedy and Chandler. During her basketball career, Kennedy played for both Ed Cravens and Mike Murray. Unfortunately, six games into her senior year she suffered a torn ACL and was out for the remainder of the season. On senior day, Coach Murray came up with a plan to include an injured Kennedy to score a basket at the opening tip despite being injured. That team would go on to be runners-up in the 10th Region tournament falling to Montgomery County. The Lady Indians were a juggernaut in the middle of a nine-year consecutive run as region champs. Kennedy looks back fondly on the atmosphere during that championship game and how exciting it was inside the Campbell County Middle School gym. Track and field is actually where she had her most individual and team success. Her sophomore year the girls track and field team won the 2010 KHSAA 3A state championship. The Lady Camels won four region championships in her track career and she set school school records, one of which (triple jump) still stand to this day. Despite the knee injury as a senior, Murray State honors the scholarship offer and Kennedy is a four-year member of the Racers indoor and outdoor track and field program. After graduating from college, Kennedy returned home to Campbell County and accepted a teaching job within just a few days. She also was hired as the head volleyball coach as the tender age of 22. In 2018, the Lady Camels went on an incredible winning streak that resulted in the most successful season in program history. We first talk about hosting the 10th Region tournament and the unbelievable and unprecedented crowd support that helps carry the team to the title. That season concluded in the final four of the state tournament. After losing seven seniors from that team the Lady Camels repeated as region champs and another trip to the state tournament the next year. Kennedy is currently working on her masters degree and wants to pursue a career in education as a school psychology. You can follow Kennedy on Twitter @kenn-kate (https://twitter.com/kenn_kate) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Eric Thompson who is the JV head basketball coach at McNicholas High School and a former team manager for men’s basketball team at Xavier University. Eric has a great story about positivity and inspiration. He was diagnosed as a child with a form of muscular dystrophy called spinal muscular atrophy. He has been in a wheelchair since the age of 9 but it does not get him down or be what defines him. He grew up on the Eastside of Cincinnati and attended St. Thomas More grade school and graduated from Archbishop McNicolas High School. He credits the love of sports as being the bonding agent with him and the other kids while growing to become his friends. He kept the stats and was a team manager for the McNick baseball and basketball programs while in high school. This led to him wanting to pursue a profession in the sports field. After attending the University of Kentucky for his freshman year and working there in the Athletics Communications Department, Eric transfers back home to attend Xavier University. Eric befriends former Xavier basketball player Sherwin Anderson who introduces him to the legendary Sr. Rose Ann Fleming (https://goxavier.com/staff-directory/sr-rose-ann-fleming/1). Sister Fleming picks up the phone with and Eric and his parents in her office and calls head coach Chris Mack. Just like that Eric becomes a team manager for the men’s basketball program. Eric looks back on some of the great memories of his time with the basketball program. He is there for three seasons and some of the stories are just incredible including having an up close vantage point for the infamous Crosstown Shootout that ended in controversy. After his time with the basketball team ends Eric sticks around to intern under Sports Information Director Tom Eiser while working on his masters degree in Sports Management. Eric moves on to a job in the ticket office before landing his current job with the university as the Annual Giving Officer. Although Eric has a successful professional career he still was missing something and that was having basketball in life. He decides that he wants build on a promising coaching career. While in college he begins coaching for his friends Sherwin Anderson’s Shining Stars AAU program. His leads to numerous stops working his way up the ladder. In the late spring of 2020, he returns to his alma matter and becomes the JV head coach at McNicholas High School. Eric credits and thanks varsity head coach Tim Monahan (https://twitter.com/CoachTMonahan) (his former history teacher) and athletic director Drew Schmidt (https://twitter.com/SchmidtDrew10) (a former schoolmate) for bringing him back home to McNick. Eric admits that one day he would love to be a varsity head coach but as for now he couldn’t be any happier than to be back on Beechmont Avenue coaching for the Rockets. You can follow Eric on Twitter @Eric_Thompson10 (https://twitter.com/Eric_Thompson10) and the McNicholas Basketball program @McNBasketball (https://twitter.com/McNBasketball) program You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Rich Hoyt, a college basketball analyst for both Xavier University and Northern Kentucky University women’s teams and a freshman basketball coach at Covington Catholic High School. Rich grew up in Indianapolis and attended Cardinal Ritter High School. Like most Indiana natives he grew up a huge basketball fan and followed the Indiana Hoosiers led by the legendary Bobby Knight. Rich also followed the Butler Bulldogs and attended many games at the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. This brings up a discussion about some of the great basketball venues in the state of Indiana that include Hinkle, IU’s Assembly Hall, Newcastle High School and Ben Davis High School. When Rich was a young lad he was a ballboy at the Midwestern City Conference Tournament (precursor to the Horizon League) played at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Rich later found a photo of himself in the background as Xavier University great Byron Larkin is hitting the shot that made him the Musketeer’s all-time leading scorer. Rich graduated from Indiana University and actually took a class that was taught by Coach Knight. Rich talks about how much fun that class was and how much he learned from “The General.” He moves on to Xavier University starting as a marketing intern and than later took a graduate assistant position. He makes some great contacts while working for the basketball program including but not exclusive to David West, Romain Soto and Alan Majors. While at Xavier, Rich becomes a coach and begins working on the girls basketball team at Roger Bacon High School. He eventually moves to the boys team at Roger Bacon working under the head coach Bill Brewer and later Brian Neal. Rich becomes the head coach of his own program when he takes over at Summit Country Day. The Silver Knights win the district title for the first time in over 20 years and he earns Coach of the Year honors. He steps down as the head coach at Summit for family reasons but still needs a basketball fix so he turns to broadcasting. He helps lead a student broadcast production for Summit games as they win a state championship in 2012 led by his successor Michael Bradley. Rich continued his broadcasting career as he catches on over at Xavier to team up with Mike Schmaltz as the broadcast team for the women’s basketball program. In 2017, Rich adds the Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team to his broadcast schedule. He and his partner Matt Sexton were on the call as the Norse accomplish its first 20-win season as a Division-I program in 2020. Rich officially got back into high school coaching after a 10-year hiatus when he was hired as the freshman basketball coach at Covington Catholic High School. He also brings up that his wife, the former Kim Powers, who is a Northern Kentucky athletics legend. The Dixie Heights High School graduate went on to become a six-time All-American as a diver at Stanford University. You can also follow Rich on Twitter @CoachHoyt (https://twitter.com/CoachHoyt) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is the all-time leading scorer at Thomas More University Madison Temple. Madison grew up in Anderson Township which is on the Eastside of Cincinnati so I started by asking her a fun but difficult question. I asked her to compare the Eastside to the Westside since she made a lot of friends in college from the Westside. We talk about her start playing basketball being a teammate of her older sister Haley on a team that was coached by her mom Ceci who played collegiately at Belmont University. Madison played in high for head coach Chris Careltti at Anderson High School. Her older sister Haley also played with Madison for two seasons. The Redskins won the ECC regular season title as Madison was Player of the Year in the league, leading the conference in scoring and rebounding. Unfortunately she tears her ACL just before the playoffs are to begin that sophomore season and is out for the remainder of the year. After a difficult and grueling rehab process she returns for her junior season. She averaging a double-double but again late in the season she suffers an ACL tear in her other knee. Madison makes it back in time for her senior year where she wins her second ECC Player of the Year award leading the Redskins to another conference championship. She had plenty of college scholarship offers but her options became limited after two major knee injuries. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to play in college until Thomas More University head coach Jeff Hans decides not to give up on her. Madison commits late in the process to the Saints and the rest is history. In her four years at Thomas More, Madison wins two national championships and becomes the program’s all-time leading scorer. She also is tops on the all-time list for assist, field goals and free throws. In 2019, she is named the NCAA D-III National Player of Year. We talk about playing for Coach Hans, her teammates and the memories made during those deep tournament runs. Today Madison is working a full-time job for a financial institution and coaching high school basketball. She is currently an assistant coach at West Clermont High School under head coach Jeff Click. You can learn about how Solgen Power can help you avoid rising utilities rates and save you money in the process go to there website at solgenpower.com (https://solgenpower.com). You can also follow Tyler for basketball purposes on Twitter @TylerSharpe_15 (https://twitter.com/TylerSharpe_15) Cover photo was provided by Northern Kentucky University Athletics Communications and taken by Chloe Smith. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is former NKU basketball great Tyler Sharpe. Tyler is from Mount Washington, Kentucky and was on the varsity basketball team at Bullitt East High School for five seasons. Tony Barr was the head coach of the Chargers and brought Tyler up to the varsity to lean from upperclassmen Derek Willis, Rusty Troutman, Trey Rakes and Elliott Young. Tyler was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in middle school and he describes how its effected him and his journey living with this medical condition. Tyler is part of a great class at Bullitt East that takes over as sophomores. He becomes the leading scorer for the Chargers and Bob Blackburn comes out of retirement to take over as head coach. Tyler also talks about Ernest “June Bug” Rakes who was an assistant coach and his son Bailey is one of Tyler’s best friends growing up. Tyler talks about the recruiting process which was not very good for him as he finds himself continually being overlooked for scholarship opportunities. After a long and winding road he decides to attend the University of Louisville as a preferred walk-on. After a season playing very sparingly for the Cardinals (2016-17) he decides that he wants to explore other avenues in hopes for a change at more playing time. One of his former AAU teammates Mason Faulkner directs him toward NKU where again he would have to be a walk-on. Head coach John Brannen explained that the roster is loaded coming off a Horizon League championship team but he would earn his way into playing time if he put in the work. Although things are rough in the beginning, Tyler starts to see time as a role player mostly becasue of his defense. He eventually becomes a solid rotation player that is a threat to make three-point shots on the offensive end of the floor. NKU earns a number-one seed in the Horizon League tournament but losses in the first round to Cleveland State. However, the Norse are invited to play in the NIT and are match with Tyler’s former team the Louisville Cardinals. Tyler returns for his junior season and starts 32 out of 35 games for a Norse team that wins the Horizon League tournament. He talks in depth about the game winning shot Drew McDonald hits to beat the buzzer against Oakland winner the semifinal game. NKU qualifies for the NCAA tournament and Tyler talks about the selection process and the lead-up to that first round game against Texas Tech. After the year head coach John Brannen leaves for the University of Cincinnati and he is replaced by Darin Horn. Tyler talks about the process of Brannen leaving and Horn taking over for his senior year. Senior year was an up-and-down year for the Norse becasue of injuries to key players Jalen Tate and Dantez Walton. Tyler is also injured at times but somehow finds a way to play through it. By February the full compliment of players are back in time for NKU to win another Horizon League tournament championship. Unfortunately. the NCAA tournament is canceled due to COVID-19 and that is how Tyler’s career comes to an end. But that is not the end of the story. Tyler applies to for a waiver to NCAA to get the year of eligibility back from his time at Louisville where he player just 11 minutes total as a walk-on. He goes into detail about the process and the results which is disappointing to say the least. As for now, Tyler is at peace with his career although disappointed as how it came to an end. He talks about his future plans which includes a possible professional basketball career, his engagement to former NKU soccer player Samantha Duwel (https://nkunorse.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/samantha-duwel/3989) and starting his work career working for Solgen Energy. Tyler is doing a giveaway involving his NKU game-used shoes and some of this practice gear. All you have to do is contact him via DM, instant message or more preferable his email address which is tyler.sharpe@solgenpower.com. All you have to do is setup a free appointment with him to talk about converting your home from electric to solar and you’re automatically entered for the giveaway and he is taking entries up until Christmas 2020. Also, if you are a home owner and want to refer a fellow home owner, that is also a way to enter for this giveaway of authentic NKU gear. You can learn about how Solgen Power can help you avoid rising utilities rates and save you money in the process go to there website at solgenpower.com (https://solgenpower.com). You can also follow Tyler for basketball purposes on Twitter @TylerSharpe_15 (https://twitter.com/TylerSharpe_15) Cover photo was provided by Northern Kentucky University Athletics Communications and taken by Chloe Smith. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Jeff Hetzer the Associate Athletic Director and former head baseball coach at Thomas More University. “Hetz” got his start growing up on The Westside attending Our Lady of Victory parish and graduating from Elder High School. He played on the Panthers baseball team for head coach Mark Thompson. Thompson had just begun his head coaching career at Elder while Hetzer played for him in the early 1990’s. Thompson was former great player and assistant coach at crosstown rival Western Hills High School. After high school, Hetz played his first two years of college baseball at Wittenberg University. He was an all-conference second baseman for the Tigers but decided to transfer when you realized who much it costs his parents for him to attend the private Division-III college. Hetzer transfers closer to home and attends Division-II Northern Kentucky University playing for the late great Bill Aker. Like everyone, Hetz has great stories about his former head coach that are very entertaining. Even though Aker was tough to play for at times, Hetzer gives him credit for being man’s man and treating everyone as an equal which made the players play hard for him. After his player career was offer, Hetzer stayed on the staff first as a graduate assistant and then as a full-time assistant coach. After four seasons on Aker’s staff, Hetzer was presented the opportunity of a lifetime to become the head coach at Thomas More at the age of 26 years old. Hetz explains how Aker set him up for the job opportunity for him to move over to Thomas More upon his own retirement after the 2000 season. Hetzer was not only the head baseball coach at Thomas More but he was also the assistant men’s basketball coach. In early 2004, athletic director and head men’s basketball coach Terry Connor has a precarious situation on his hands when the women’s basketball team is in need of a head coach mid-way through the season. He turns to Hetz who is also beginning his baseball season at the same time. Hetzer talks about his storied career as the head baseball coach at Thomas More where he won a school record 484 games while making seven NCAA tournament appearances and winning five Presidents Athletic Conference titles. After the 2019 season, Hetzer was promoted to Associate Athletic Director in charge of facilities and retires as the head baseball coach after 19 seasons. Hetzer was grateful for his time as the baseball coach, embraces the new challenge as an administrator while handing the reigns of the baseball program to his longtime assistant coach Jeremy Martin. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

This is a special episode of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber as we dedicate the show to a season preview for the Northern Kentucky University Norse men’s basketball team. On this episode of Nobody’s Safe we have a season preview of the Northern Kentucky Norse men’s basketball program. This is the Golden Season of NKU basketball, year number 50 and although it's a shame that the pandemic will not allows Norse fans to celebrate the way that they expected. However, we will do the best we as I have the NKU radio play-by-play announcer Jim Kelch and his analyst Rick Broering as my guest on the show. I bring on Jim first and he explains how everything has changed about how he is able to broadcast the game because of the protocols but into place becasue of the pandemic. Jim also looks back on the Horizon League tournament from last season which coincides with the beginning of the COVID-19 era. Rick Broering gives his recollections of that fateful March time in Indianapolis as well. We also talk about the current roster and the preseason poll in the Horizon League. To keep up to date on everything that involves Northern Kentucky University Athletics visit the website nkunorse.com (https://nkunorse.com) or follow the women’s basketball program on Twitter and Instagram @NKUNorseWBB If you want to follow Jim Kelch on Twitter his hande is @KelchJim (https://twitter.com/KelchJim) and if you want to follow Rick Broering its @RickBroering (https://twitter.com/RickBroering) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

This is a special episode of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber as we dedicate the show to a season preview for the Northern Kentucky University Norse women’s basketball team. My guests are Matt Sexton (https://twitter.com/MattSextonPxP) and Rich Hoyt (https://twitter.com/CoachHoyt) the ESPN+ broadcast team for the NKU women’s basketball program. We begin the season preview with a look back to the end of last season when the Norse earned its first 20-win campaign in the Division-I era. NKU hosted and won two games in the Horizon League Tournament advancing to the semi-finals against Green Bay at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Matt and Rich called the home games in the conference tournament but traveled to Indianapolis to watch the NKU vs. Green Bay in person. They share not only the recollections of that game but how the COVID-19 outbreak happened while they were and the aftermath after their return home. We move forward to a season preview talking about the change in the coaching staff. Assistant coach Lester Rowe (https://twitter.com/CoachLesterRowe) moved on to go to work at Xavier University and head coach Camryn Whitaker (https://twitter.com/CoachWhit_NKU) replaced him former University of Kentucky point guard Anthony Epps (https://twitter.com/epps_anthony). Next we break down the roster from top to bottom. We talk about in order of class starting with the seniors and finishing up with the new freshman class. We talk about what kind of adjustments not only the NKU coaching staff but other staffs around the country will have to in order to adjust during this season that will be dominated by the COVID-19 virus. We finish up but taking a look at the Horizon League preseason polls and all-league teams (https://horizonleague.org/news/2020/11/5/womens-basketball-iupui-voted-hlwbb-favorite-williams-named-preseason-player-of-the-year.aspx). To keep up to date on everything that involves Northern Kentucky University Athletics visit the website nkunorse.com (https://nkunorse.com) or follow the women’s basketball program on Twitter and Instagram @NKUNorseWBB You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

This is a special episode of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber as we dedicate the show to a season preview for the Thomas More University Saints women’s basketball team. We begin the show by interviewing head coach Jeff Hans (https://twitter.com/coachjeffhans) about how last season ended, summer workouts after the quarantine ended and breaks down roster and the return of Sydney Moss (https://twitter.com/sydneym40) as an assistant coach. Thomas More began the season with a 94-71 win over the IU-East Werewolves… We have coverage of the post game press conference in which Coach Hans is joined by players Hayden White (https://twitter.com/haydennnwhite) and Courtney Hurst (https://twitter.com/HurstCourtney) addressing the media. The Saints picked up a game against the #7 ranked Southeastern University Fire that was not previously scheduled. In the pregame interview with Coach Hans, I asked him to walks us through the process of bring Southeastern to the Connor Convocation Center on short notice. As it turned out the Saints were more than prepared to extinguish the Fire by a score of 85-47. Coach Hans along with Zoie Barth (https://twitter.com/zoiebarth) and Emily Simon (https://twitter.com/emily23bball) provide us with their postgame thoughts. Thomas More finished it’s busy week with a Saturday afternoon game against Indiana Wesleyan. The Saints recognized its three seniors in order to take advantage of the opportunity and not risk that something happens down the road and not be able to have the ceremony. Before the game Coach Hans reflected back on the career and contributions of Kylie Anderson, Hayden White and Briana McNutt. The Saints won a 67-59 dog fight over Indiana Wesleyan to complete the week with a 3-0 start to the season. Afterwards Coach Hans, Briana McNutt (https://twitter.com/McnuttBriana) and Courtney Hurst look back on the victory over the Wildcats. The Voice of the Thomas More Saints Nate Metz (https://twitter.com/NateMetz) joins me on the show. We summarize the first week of the regular season, evaluate the Mid South Conference preseason poll (https://www.mid-southconference.org/article/8953)and take a look at the NAIA national rankings (https://www.mid-southconference.org/article/8965). To keep up to date on everything that involves Thomas More University Athletics (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com) visit the website thomasmoresaints.com or follow the women’s basketball program on Twitter and Instagram @TMWBasketball Please credit Thomas More University Athletics for cover art picture. Also wants to give thanks to Don Owen (https://twitter.com/dontribunesport) from the NKY Tribune (https://www.nkytribune.com) for helping ask questions during the press conferences. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

This is a special episode of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber as we dedicate the show to a season preview for the Thomas More University Saints men’s basketball team (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/sports/mbkb/index). We begin the show by interviewing head coach Justin Ray (https://twitter.com/JustinMRay) about how last season ended, summer workouts after the quarantine ended and breaking down the upcoming season's roster. Also, we insert his pregame interview in preparation for the season opener against Taylor University. Next, we bring in Nate Metz (https://twitter.com/NateMetz), the voice of the Thomas More Saints. Nate and I talk about the Saints 65-59 win over the Trojans. The format for the postgame interview has been changed this season to a press conference setting. You can now consume clips from those interviews on the men’s basketball Twitter account (click here (https://twitter.com/TMUMensBBall)) and Instagram account (click here (https://www.instagram.com/tmumensbball/)) both are @TMUMensBBall. On this episode we have the entire press conference which includes comments from players Ryan Batte (https://twitter.com/AverageRyRy) and Garren Bertsch (https://twitter.com/garrenb24) as well as head coach Justin Ray. After the press conference, we bring back Nate to talk about some of the highlights from the press conference. We also further break down the Thomas More roster. We then turn our attention to the Mid South Conference preseason polls (https://www.mid-southconference.org/article/8952) with Thomas More picked to finish third in the league. Also, we briefly go over the NAIA national preseason poll (https://www.mid-southconference.org/article/8966) in which Georgetown is ranked #1 and the University of the Cumberlands coming in at #15. Thomas More and Shawnee State were the other two schools in the conference to receive votes for the poll. To keep up to date on everything that involves Thomas More University Athletics (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com) visit the website thomasmoresaints.com or follow the women’s basketball program on Twitter and Instagram @TMWBasketball Please credit Thomas More University Athletics for cover art picture. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Rick went to school at St. Thomas High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. There was a teacher and coach there that gave Rick his first break and turned out to be a life long mentor. That man was future NKU men’s basketball coach Kenney Shields. Rick also attended high school with another future NKU coach Nancy Winstel. Nancy was a standout volleyball player and went on to be a three-sports athlete at NKU as well as a Hall of Fame coach. Rick began as a student at Northern Kentucky State College in 1972 which was the second year of the athletic department’s existence. Thanks to Kenney Shields, Rick became at stats person for head coach Mote Hils whom Kenney played for at Covington Catholic High School. While in college Rick is hired as writer and reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer and covers a number a great sporting events during his time with the paper. When Rick graduates in 1977 he is hired to be the first full-time Sports Information Director at NKU. Over the course of his career Rick eyewitnesses so much history at NKU and he shares some of those stories. He talks about when Regents Hall opens it was not only the home of the basketball and volleyball programs but they also held concerts performed by national acts including Sly and The Family Stone. Rick was there to watch Bill Aker build the baseball doing everything from building the field to recruiting players out of the student lounge. NKU was one of the first state colleges to offer full scholarships for women athletes. This lead to early and long standing success including being the first women’s basketball team to win a game at Rupp Arena against the University of Kentucky. In 1978, the men’s basketball team coached by Mote Hils defeated Xavier for the first of two consecutive wins against the Musketeers and it puts NKU athletes on the map. Thanks in part to the win against Xavier, NKU was its first trip to the NCAA Division-II tournament. Unfortunately, the athletic director at the time Lonnie Davis turns down the opportunity for NKU to host the Great Lakes Regional. Head Coach Mote Hils was less than happy and he has a legendary interaction with his boss that Rick was in person to witness. In 1981 a major budget cut forces NKU to leave the NCAA and go NAIA. In fact, there was discussions to actual shut down the athletic department entirely. Rick was there and describes how that all happened as well as NKU returning to the NCAA as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Jane Meier is hired as the athletic director at NKU after at one time or another coaching women’s basketball, volleyball and softball. By the 1990’s, Rick becomes the SID for the Great Lakes Valley Conference and the league becomes a dominant force in men’s basketball including NKU making back-to-back appearances in the Divsion-II national championship game. Rick was also working at NKU during the failed attempt to start a football program which was a very polarizing subject on campus. The conversation goes back to men’s basketball and Rick explains the transition in the late 1980s from head coach Mike Beitzel to Kenney Shields. Coach Shields led the Norse on an amazing run where the Norse are national runners-up in back-to-back seasons. Nancy Winstel follows that win a national championship victory for the women’s program in 2000. After he retires as a sports information director Rick takes a job as the Director of Media Relations for NKU and that turns into the Vice President of Marketing and Communications position. In 2015, Rick is inducted into the David Lee Holt NKU Hall of Fame and follows that in 2016 with his induction into the Great Lakes Valley Conference Hall of Fame. As we start to wrap up we talk about NKU’s transition into Division-I and it’s success in men’s basketball and the building of the arena. Since his retirement from NKU, Rick continues to continue his streak of 49 seasons working during game day for the basketball programs. In recent years he has added Thomas More, Xavier and the Cincinnati Bengals to his list teams that he works for in a support staff role. Rick says his greatest moment associated with NKU is being with Kenney Shields the night NKU wins the Horizon League tournament in 2017 earning its first ever trip to the NCAA tournament. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Don Weber is a legendary figure in Northern Kentucky for his coverage of all the local sports teams. He worked for the local cable company which provided programing in a three county radius which expanded to six counties by the late-1990s and early-2000s. This included two colleges, Northern Kentucky University and Thomas More University, and at its peak 22 high schools. Don covered high school sports in Northern Kentucky for 25 years making him synonymous with every school in the area. Not many people know where he attended high school in the area but the answer is Campbell County. He graduated in 1976 and we talk about some of the coaches for the Camels while he attended the school. He attended Northern Kentucky University starting in 1976 which was the very early days for the Highland Heights campus. One of his professors in the radio and television department was Dick Murgatroyd. “Murg” was a legendary figure himself working with Ruth Lyons and being the executive producer of the Bob Braun Show. While at NKU, Don developed a further love of sports by working on shows and events covering the sports teams. He was mentored by Mote Hills as well as developing friendships with Bill Aker, Jane Meier and Nancy Winstel. Upon graduation in 1980, Don gets his start as an intern in the sports department and later as an employee at WLWT-Channel 5. He worked under Bill Brown who was a sports anchor for the station and the television play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Reds. In January of 1983, Don is hired by Storer Cable and worked his way up the ladder. Eventually Don becomes the sports director and in 1987 he produces a season preview for the high school football season and that was the beginning of it all. This morphed into a weekly sports highlights show, a Friday night scoreboard show, coaches shows, call-in shows as well as covering the local college teams within the viewing area. In today’s media world of covering news and sports the job listing is commonly referred to as multimedia journalist. This is a newer trend but Don perfected this skill starting in the 1980s and it was referred to in the industry at the time as the “one-man band.” Don came up with a call-in show called The Press Box along with Tom Gamble from the Kentucky Post and Chris Gramke the sports editor of the Recorder newspapers in Northern Kentucky. The most memorable topic was an episode that happened on the day that the NKU Board of Regents voted on establishing a football program. This branches off into a conversation about Thomas More University starting its football program in the early 1990s. Don had inside knowledge of the circumstances and tells some stories of the early growing pains and how its turned into a small college football power. We also talk about two of the great high school basketball tournaments in the area’s history. The Famous Recipe Holiday Classic and the All-A Classic both were high profile local tournaments. The All-A evolved into a statewide tournament and now involves virtually every sport available to small schools in Kentucky. In addition to all the game coverage and preview shows, Don covered the awards banquets and eventually the cable company hosted its own awards show in the studio to recognize all of the players-of-the-week. We talk about the trust that Don earned as a reporter with the local coaches and administrators while still being a hard hitting journalist. Don was known for being very fair with his coverage and knowing that when dealing with high school athletes there were some subjects that are off limits because of the simple fact that they are underage. We start to wrap up with the corporate takeover that resulted in the new parent company deciding to change the format of the station in 2010. Don looks back on how it all come to and end and his longtime coworkers that would all have to go in their separate ways. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Terry Connor has strong ties at Thomas More University thanks to his father the legendary Jim Connor. Jim had a great career in the coaching world before he arrived at Thomas More in 1978. Jim’s greatest notoriety in the Northern Kentucky area comes from his time at Newport Catholic High School. In 1966, his Thoroughbreds team was headlined by Dave Cowens. Cowens would go on to become an All-American at Florida State and later an NBA Rookie of the Year and World Champion for the Boston Celtics. Cowens wasn’t the only superstar athlete Jim Connor coached during his career. He coached David Justice in both baseball and basketball at Thomas More in the 1980s. After a successful run at Bellarmine University and Boone County High School, Jim Connor came to Thomas More in 1978. He was hired to be the athletic director, head baseball coach and head mens basketball coach. He was virtually a one-person athletic department at the time. This included a need to help increase the budget with fund raising efforts. He comes up with the idea of holding a weekly Bingo Night that helps build the Connor Convocation Center. We transition into talking about Terry coming to Thomas More and playing baseball for his dad. This is towards the end of Jim’s career at Thomas More. Jim’s final game as coach is also Terry’s final game as a senior on the Saints baseball team. Terry follows his dad in the coaching game starting as a high school coach at Bishop Brossart High School on the basketball team under head coach Jeff VonHanDorf. Terry moves over to Dixie Heights High School where he is on Donnie MacFarland’s basketball staff and Dale Maxwell’s baseball staff. Terry comes to Thomas More as an assistant men’s basketball coach and takes over in mid-season when head coach Larry Cox steps down. Terry is hired to replace Cox after the season ends. He takes over as the athletic director at Thomas More in 2000 when Todd Aslaon is hired to succeed Bill Aker as the head baseball coach at Thomas More. Terry tells a funny story about hiring Jeff Hetzer to replace Asalon as the Thomas More baseball coach. After hiring Hetzer, Terry’s first assignment to his new coach was working the weekly Bingo event. Speaking of Hetzer, Terry tells the story of how he has “Hetz” finish the 2004 season as the women’s basketball coach. Hetzer leads the program to the NCAA Sweet 16 while simultaneously coaching the baseball team in an early season tournament in Florida. Terry continues to hold both positions of athletic director and mens basketball coach until 2006 when he jokingly says he fired himself to concentrate on being a full-time athletic director of the now growing department. We talk about some of Terry’s accomplishments as the Thomas Athletic Director. These include building a football stadium, entering the Presidents Athletic Conference after years as an Independent, the national success of the women’s basketball program and reclassification into NAIA. As we wrap up the conversation Terry talks about the culture within the Thomas More athletic department. It is well know that it’s a tight knit community with a family atmosphere that generates a loyalty thanks to appreciation shown by the people in leadership positions. Terry along with most of his family at Thomas More graduates. The cover art photo for his episode is of Terry presenting an award to his son Braden who plays on the men’s basketball team for the Saints. You can follow Terry Connor on Twitter @TMUAD_Connor (https://twitter.com/TMUAD_Connor) and keep up with Thomas More Athletics on their website thomasmoresaints.com (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/landing/index) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Drew McDonald has a strong lineage when it comes to athletes in his family especially on his mom’s side of the family. It starts with his grandfather Tom Freppon who played basketball at Newport Catholic High School and Xavier University during the late-1950’s and early-1960’s. Tom Freppon had four children and at least four grandchildren that all played college athletics: * Son Tom Jr played basketball at Thomas More * Tom, Jr.’s two daughters Kaela Jo (Xavier/NKU) and Mikah (Lewis) both played college volleyball * Daughter Pam (Wurtz) played volleyball at Western Kenutcky * Daughter Debbie (Zegarra) played volleyball at Midway * Daughter Christie (Drew’s mom) played basketball at NKU * Christie’s daughter (Drew’s sister) Rachel McDonald currently plays volleyball at SIU-Edwardsville Drew’s father Jeff McDonald was a tennis player at Northern Kentucky. Young Drew McDonald didn’t get toys from Santa Claus as a youngster, instead he was left sports equipment under the tree each Christmas morning. Growing up Drew was a fixture in the basketball gym. While his mom Christie coached the girls basketball team at Newport Central Catholic he started as a water boy, became a team manager and eventually a practice player all before he was in high school. He followed his family by attending Newport Central Catholic High School and playing basketball for head coaches Grant Brannen and Hall of Famer Ron Dawn. During his time on “The Hill” Drew’s teams won three All-A Classic state tournament championships. Like his parents, Drew signed to play basketball at Northern Kentucky University. He committed to Norse head coach Dave Bezold but he was let go before Drew’s senior season. NKU hired another New Cath alum, and older brother of his high school coach, John Brannen. Brannen reassures Drew that he wants to build the program with Drew as a key contributor. After a tough freshman season where the Norse only win nine games, NKU puts together a dream season in 2016-17. The team becomes just the second team to advance to the NCAA tournament in its first season of eligibility since 1970. Drew talks about the unlikely Horizon League tournament championship run and playing Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament. In 2018, NKU had an incredible run where they won 17 home games on its way to the Horizon League regular season championship. Unfortunately, the Norse, as the number-one seed, get bounced in the first round of the league tournament. After the loss to Cleveland State, NKU is invited to play in the NIT against another in-state opponent the Louisville Cardinals. Drew’s senior season is up-and-down as he suffers a back injury in February and NKU goes on a three-game losing streak. However, the Norse bounce back and make another NCAA tournament appearance. In the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament he hits a last second three-point shot to beat Oakland and advance into the championship game against Wright State. After the Norse dispose of Wright State to win its second tournament crown in three seasons, NKU draws Texas Tech in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Drew describes the Red Raiders as the best team that he played against in college and is very complimentary of head coach Chris Beard. After beating NKU, Texas Tech advances to the championship game where they lost to Virginia for the national championship. Drew reflects back on some of his individual accomplishments that include a 37-point game, with 30-points in the first half, against Cleveland State. He joined the 1,000-point club along with his mother Christie (Freppon) and becomes the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in the program’s history. After briefly considering either playing basketball professionally or returning to NKU for a 5th-season of eligibility on the golf team, Drew decides to officially retire from active competition. You can follow Drew McDonald on Twitter @atmcdonald34 (https://twitter.com/atmcdonald34) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Scott Schweitzer graduated from Campbell County High School in 1998 where he was Kentucky all-state first basemen playing baseball for Hall of Fame head coach Tom Mohr. The Camels were 31-6 Schweitzer’s senior season which broke the record for most wins in a season. That year the Camels were 10th region tournament runners-up to eventual state champion Harrison County coached by Mac Whitaker and led on the field by Gary “Noochie” Varner (https://www.noochievarnerbaseball.com/page/show/4136245-instructors). Some of Schweitzer’s high school teammates at Campbell County included Rick White who broke Steve Hamilton’s school record for most home runs and Ronnie Sansom who Schweitzer credits as being the best catcher that he ever played with on any level. After committing originally to Bethune-Cookman, Schweitzer ultimately goes to Aquinas College a junior college program in Nashville, Tennessee coached by Chuck Anderson. Schweitzer talks about his recruitment and how things have changed in the not only in the process itself but how scholarship dispersals are different from back then up to now. Schweitzer went to college as a first basemen and ended up as a pitcher when his hitting career got off to a slow start. He got an emergency start when the scheduled starter became injured during warmups and pitched well enough to stay on the staff. After wrapping up his career at Aquinas, Schweitzer eventually decided on Kentucky Wesleyan (https://kwcpanthers.com/sports/baseball) after visits to East Tennessee State and Northern Kentucky. The main thing that attracted him to Kentucky Wesleyan was the opportunity to be a two-way player as assistant coach Rob Henry (https://ksuthorobreds.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/rob-henry/305) saw him as a first baseman, designated hitter and relief pitcher. The staff at Kentucky Wesleyan also included head coach Todd Lillpop (https://kwcpanthers.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/todd-lillpop/542) and assistant coach Josh Bradford (https://lourdesathletics.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/josh-bradford/407). During his senior year at Kentucky Wesleyan in 2002, Schweitzer was a 1st-team All-GLVC designated hitter and 2nd-team All-GLVC pitcher. He led the team in both home runs and wins on the mound. One of the biggest thrills in Schweitzer’s career at Kentucky Wesleyan was getting the win in a 1-0 game against Northern Kentucky and driving in the lone run of the game. Schweitzer is drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 18th round with the 552nd pick of the 2002 amateur draft. He talks about his draft day experience and the contract negotiation with Cardinals scout Scott Melvin that earned him a $1,000 signing bonus. We now get to the point of the show where we talk about how much of a financial struggle it is for a minor leaguer that doesn’t sign for big money. It takes the help of a supportive family at home and generous host families to support what Schweitzer calls his “baseball habit.” His host family in New Jersey, Jeff and Patty, owned the Third Base Pub (https://thirdbasepubnj.com) in Branchville, New Jersey and where players received a generous discounted rate. Now that he’s officially in the Cardinals organization, Schweitzer is introduced what is known as the “Cardinal Way.” Schweitzer credits former big league pitcher Bill Campbell (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/campbbi02.shtml) for helping him the most as a coach in during his time in the Cardinals system. Campbell, who is best known for being part of the first free agent class in baseball history during the 1976-77 off-season, was the pitching coach for the New Jersey Cardinals. Gene Tenace (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tenacge01.shtml), who was the 1972 World Series MVP for the Oakland A’s, was also on that staff and helped Schweitzer develop a slider as a strikeout pitch. Schweitzer talks about injuring his elbow while pitching to Howie Kendrick (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kendrho01.shtml) with Alberto Callaspo (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/callaal01.shtml) on first base. The end result was Tommy John surgery. Other coaches in the Cardinals system that left a mark on Schweitzer were Tommy Shields (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/shielto01.shtml) and Sid Monge (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mongesi01.shtml). Schweitzer eventually retires at the all-star break of the 2005 season to begin his new life as a family man and figure what to do with his life without baseball. After working briefly in sales Schweitzer decides that he likes working with kids and eventually gets his teaching certificate working in the Campbell County School District. A chance meeting with his friend Bob Rowe steers him towards the Bishop Brossart High School baseball program. He becomes the pitching coach for five seasons under head coach Ron Verst. The Campbell County job becomes open after the 2009 season and it’s a no brainer that Schweitzer applies for it. He is hired by Hall of Famer Bob Jones whose wife Marlene helped him get into teaching. Schweitzer becomes the head coach at his alma matter Campbell County in 2010. He has coached the Camels to nearly 200 career wins. In 2016, Campbell County went on a magical run that resulted and were KHSAA state runner-ups. Schweitzer reflects on his career overall and talks about how lucky he has been and the great things he has been able to take part in thanks to the great game in baseball. To conclude the podcast Schweitzer tells a hilarious story about how he now fully understands what its like to be a parent of a child playing a sport. You can follow the Campbell County baseball account on Twitter its @CamelsBaseball (https://twitter.com/CamelsBaseball) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com) Cover art photo provided by Allen Ramsey of DWC Photo (https://dwcphoto.smugmug.com)

Like many baseball fans growing up in Northern Kentucky, Andrew was influenced by Marty Brenneman and Joe Nuxhall calling Cincinnati Reds games on the radio. Andrew got his start working in baseball at the tender age of 14 in the summer of 2005 when he started to cover the Florence Freedom of the independent Frontier League for the OurSports Central (https://www.oursportscentral.com) website. Andrew gives credit and thanks to Freedom manager at the time Jamie Keefe along with his staff especially pitching coach Chris Hook (http://m.mlb.com/mil/roster/coach/116123/chris-hook) and bench coach John Christman for allowing him the opportunity to come into the coach’s office and learn about the game. Brady helped mentor Andrew in the Freedom press box but not without some good-natured ribbing that sometimes might have bordered on hazing. Brady along with play-by-play announcer Jeff Johnson and press box workers Mitch Morrison, Aaron Zupka and Rob Ellington took Andrew under their wing thought the course of that summer and beyond. In 2006, Andrew becomes part of the game day staff for the Freedom while also still writing for OurSports Central. As time goes on, Andrew is finally getting a chance to do some broadcasting, in small dosages, working with both the radio voice of the Freedom Roger Redmon. Though the relationships made working with the Freedom, Andrew is hired by Mike Anderson to work in the sports information department at Northern Kentucky University (https://nkunorse.com) upon enrolling into college. This gives Andrew the opportunity to call soccer games for NKU as a freshman. This is also where Andrew begins to work with John Asalon calling NKU baseball games. Andrew starts doing middle innings for Norse games all the while being critiqued by “Johnny A.” Andrew also recalls his first solo broadcast job was calling high school basketball games for his alma matter Bishop Brossart. Local legend Dave Schabell who founded the website bmustangs.com (http://bmustangs.com) gives Andrew a chance to call games for the Mustangs. As a recent college graduate Andrew begins to work as the radio play-by-play announcer and later on the TV side for the NKU women’s basketball program. He credits head coach Dawn Plitzuweit (@CoachDawnP) and her assistant coach Lynn Plett (https://gomountainlions.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/lynn-plett/485) for being instrumental in his development during this time. His professional baseball career is starting to get off the ground as well and he begins that journey as an intern for two seasons with the Lexington Legends (https://www.milb.com/lexington/). The Legends were at the time Class-A affiliate of the Houston Astros and Andrew is working under local broadcasting legend Keith Elkins. Also, during this process Andrew begins to shadow Louisville Bats (https://www.milb.com/louisville/) lead play-by-play announcer Jim Kelch (@KelchJim). This spawned a mentorship that was very instrumental in Andrew’s development as a young up-an-coming broadcaster. Andrew’s first full-time job in broadcasting was with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barrie RailRaiders (https://www.milb.com/scranton-wb/) in 2013. The RailRaiders are the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. Andrew talks about the tough love he received from his boss John Sadak (@johnsadak). Both Curtis Granderson and Derek Jeter spent a significant amount of time in Scranton doing injury-rehab assignments and both were very good to Andrew. He has some great stories about each one proving they were big stars but still were also nice to the people that were still working their way up the ladder. After a brief stop in Bowling Green, Kentucky working for the Hot Rods (https://www.milb.com/bowling-green) of the Tampa Bay organization, Andrew moves on to his current location. For the last six years he has worked for the Indianapolis Indians (https://www.milb.com/indianapolis) in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. Andrew talks about working under the dean of International League broadcasters Howard Kellman (@HowardKellman). We wrap up the conversation talking about Andrew having the call for NKU men’s basketball qualifying for its first ever appearance in the NCAA tournament by virtue of winning the Horizon League tournament. You can follow Andrew Kappes on Twitter @KappesPxP (@KappesPxP) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Abby Owings grew up in Independence, Kentucky where she attended and played basketball at Simon Kenton High School. Her head coach Jeff Stowers (https://nkunorse.com/hof.aspx?hof=7) was a Hall of Fame basketball player at Northern Kentucky University. Stowers took over a struggling program that has become a perennial contender for the 8th Region title by the time Abby became the staring point guard as a freshman in 2010-11. Abby credits Simon Kenton assistant coach Loretta Olmstead with helping Abby and her family through the recruiting process. She also talks about playing grass roots basketball for coach Buddy Pittman in the Shining Stars program. Abby chooses to play college basketball at Thomas More University (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/sports/wbkb/index) for head coach Jeff Hans (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/sports/wbkb/coaches/Hans_Jeff?view=bio). She becomes the starting point guard her freshman year and the team goes 33-0 winning the 2015 NCAA D-III National Championship. (Note: That title was later vacated.) Just before her sophomore season is about to start, Abby’s mom loses her five year battle with cancer. It’s a tough time in her life but the only child knew that watching Abby play basketball gave her mom joy during her fight with the illness. Thomas More continues to dominate the D-III ranks in Abby’s sophomore season. The Saints already have Sydney Moss (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/sports/wbkb/2020-21/releases/20200818ic3pyv), the nation’s best player along with Abby and a great supporting cast. Now they have added a 5’11” guard Madison Temple (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/sports/wbkb/2018-19/bios/temple_madison_nvgi) and are even better in 2015-16. This leads to a second straight undefeated season and national championship. With Moss now graduated Abby is moved to the shooting guard position her junior and is the featured offensive option. The team flourishes once again and is undefeated going into the NCAA tournament. The Saints hosts the first weekend regionals but are upset by Hope College. It’s the first loss in Abby’s career and she takes it hard. Abby and her team use the loss as motivation going into her senior season. Abby returns to point guard and teams up with Temple and post player Nikki Kiernan (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/sports/wbkb/2017-18/bios/kiernan_nikki_xi48) to make another deep run. Thomas More returns to the Final Four in Rochester, Minnesota but lose in the national semifinals to Amherst ending Abby’s college career. To summarize her career, Abby was a three-time All-American, 2017 PAC Player of the Year, appeared in three Final Fours and won two National Championships. With her playing career over there is no question in Abby’s mind what she wants to do upon graduation. She is determined to become a college coach and begins that journey as a graduate assistant at Morehead State University. She moves onto Shawnee State where coincidentally her new team is in the same conference as her alma matter Thomas More. As a side note the Bears come to Crestview Hills and snap the Saints nine-year regular season conference winning streak. Abby admits before the game it was the most nervous she had ever been preparing for a game. In the late spring of 2020 she is hired to be an assistant coach at Bellarmine University (https://athletics.bellarmine.edu/sports/womens-basketball) on head coach Chancellor Dugan’s (https://athletics.bellarmine.edu/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/chancellor-dugan/959) staff. Bellarmine was going into Division-I after many years of success in Division-II and the Great Lakes Valley Conference. In the summer of 2020 Abby is named to the NCAA D-III All-Decade Team (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/sports/wbkb/2019-20/releases/20200727gine63). This accolade is made special for Abby because she is joined for that honor with her teammates Sydney Moss and Madison Temple. You can follow Abby on Twitter @CoachAbbyO (https://twitter.com/CoachAbbyO) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Brady and John pick up their conversation talking about John’s time as a sports talk radio show personality. It begins innocently enough when John is catering food to the station and ends up with him getting on the air. John gives credit to Mark Amazon and Dennis “Wild Man” Walker for giving him his break. He also talks about some debauchery that takes place in the studio thanks to The Wild Man. Through his friendship with Wild Man, John was able to also fill-in as the public address announcer for local hockey team the Cincinnati Cyclones (https://cycloneshockey.com). Also, Mark Amazon helped get John the full-time public announcing job for a minor league basketball team in town known as the Cincinnati Stuff. In 2012, Brady actually hired John to be the play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Steam (http://cincinnatisteam.com/view/cincinnatisteam) of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (http://greatlakesleague.org/view/greatlakesleague). The Steam is a team comprised of college players in a wood-bat league that plays its home games on The Westside at Western Hills High School. Brady and John fondly reminisce about all the great people that contribute to the day-to-day operations of the team. This conversation can’t happen with talking about the man who was the heartbeat of the organization, the late great Max McLeary. Some of the highlights of John’s career included call two triple plays, a 23-game that was the second game of a double header, having his nephew Anthony Asalon play for the Steam and John singing God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch on the Fourth of July. Click here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6iWgrJpt0Q) to hear John’s first triple play call from June 25, 2016 versus the Lake Erie Monarchs. Next we talk about some of John’s broadcasts partners over the years. While with the Steam John gave a high school kid a chance to do his first television game. John didn’t realize this kid really didn’t need his help but was still gracious enough to accept the invitation. That young man was Jac Collinsworth who now works for ESPN and NBC Sports. Brady asks John to talk about a couple of his broadcasts partners over the years Denny Wright and Andrew Kappes. Wright is a long-time broadcaster for both Thomas More and Northern Kentucky University. Kappes, who is currently the number-two broadcaster for the Indianapolis Indians (https://www.milb.com/indianapolis), got his start as a student at NKU. John talks about some of the difficult vantage points to call games for a broadcasts. Many people assume the media have luxurious press box facilities, and sometimes that’s true, but most times it is not even close to being ideal. John shares some of the unusual accommodations provided for a professional broadcast. We wrap up the conversation where John talks about his current project which is a podcast detailing the American Professional Baseball Association. You can follow “Johnny A” on Twitter @john_asalon (https://twitter.com/john_asalon) and catch his podcast The Week in APBA Anchor preview. Click here (https://anchor.fm/john-asalon) to listen to the podcast. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Brady welcomes John to the podcast and John talks about his growing up in the “Westside” which sparks a lengthy conversation about the demographics and makeup of this large neighborhood on the western side of Cincinnati, Ohio. This discussion moves toward John’s high school alma mater Elder High School (https://www.ehsports.com). Elder is one of the most tradition filled programs in America let alone Cincinnati and John talks about the fierce loyalty shown by people who still life vicariously through the Purple and White. This spins off into a brief description and comparison to Elder and John’s current employer Highlands High School (https://www.highlandsathletics.com/football) in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. John begins to talk about his early influences and wanting to be a broadcaster as an eight-year old baseball fan. He was first introduced to baseball following a family member Art Mahaffey (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mahafar01.shtml) who was a pitcher for the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies. John listened to the Cincinnati Reds radio broadcasts with Waite Hoyt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waite_Hoyt) and Claude Sullivan on the call. He was mesmerized by the all stories that Hoyt would tell about playing for the New York Yankees and being teammates with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. After his graduating from Elder in 1974, John went on an interesting odyssey through college as he wanted to study broadcasting but instead pleased his family by going a safer route. John talks about landing a part-time job as a teenager with the Cincinnati Reds on the grounds crew at Riverfront Stadium. John worked there from 1972-79 where he witness the height of the Big Red Machine. With a degree in marketing from Northern Kentucky University (https://nkunorse.com), John starts working as the assistant manager at Hader Hardware. After a brief period of time John decides to branch out on his own. He buys a competing hardware store that is struggling and goes into business for himself. After five years of owning and operating the hardware store, his brother Todd Asalon gets him into the catering business. Todd and his business partner are doing a great business but need help actually running the business and bring John into the mix. The conversation somehow veers into a sidebar about Todd playing baseball at Northern Kentucky University for legendary head coach and founder of the program Bill Aker. Todd would eventually becomes Aker’s hand picked successor as head coach upon his retirement after the 2000 season. There are a ton of Bill Aker stories and because of purposes of time John only talks about just a few of them. Because John’s story a long winding and interesting road he just now gets to the point of when he makes his debut as a play-by-play broadcaster. Todd is the baseball coach and athletic director at Thomas More (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/landing/index) and in the mid-90’s he needs a fill-in for a Saints football game. At this point John was in his late-30’s and is making his debut with less than 24 hours notice. John finds out upon arrival that he will be working solo and after a rough start finds his rhythm as the Saints defeat Hope College. The circumstances are not uneventful but like and old pro John perseveres and his broadcasting career is finally underway. Thomas More games are broadcasts on a local level, many times with volunteers, on public access and local origination programming channels. The name of that channel is currently called TBNK (https://www.tbnk.org/site/index.php), the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky formerly known as Cable One. For many years John begins to branch out by calling basketball games for Thomas More as well as high school football and basketball on TBNK. John’s brother Todd makes arrangements for John to begin his tenure for the Northern Kentucky University baseball games in 2006. Since was the early days of internet streaming plus the Norse were not playing on campus at the time. Also around this same time, John teams up with Denny Wright on TBNK called Florence Freedom games. This sparks conversation and memories about one of the founding members of the television industry in Northern Kentucky, the late great Ted Bushelman. Click here (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102433070/theodore-joseph-bushelman) to see Ted’s death notice and obituary because it is a great recap of Ted’s distinguished life. In Episode 6 we continue the story with John as he and Brady talk about his time in sports talk radio, his tenure with the Cincinnati Steam, a couple of his long-time broadcast partners AND him calling games from some very difficult and unique vantage points during the course of his career. You can follow “Johnny A” on Twitter @john_asalon (https://twitter.com/john_asalon) and catch his podcast The Week in APBA Anchor preview (https://anchor.fm/john-asalon). You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Brady welcomes Randy Gore to the podcast and they talk about his upbringing in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Randy talks about growing up a Pirates/Steelers/Penguins fan. In fact, he was born in 1979 when the Pirates and Steelers had won world championships in during that calendar year. Randy attended and graduated from Waynesburg University (https://waynesburgsports.com) where he majored in Communications with an emphasis on Sports Broadcasting. He describes the practical experience he gained at Waynesburg, first learning production work before getting a chance to broadcast games for the Yellow Jackets student-run production. Very similar to Brady’s training at Northern Kentucky University (https://nkunorse.com), Waynesburg provided a student-run television production for the athletic department under the supervision of the professors. Once he became an upper classman, Randy earned a talent position on the Waynesburg broadcasts. Randy interned as a college student for the Pittsburgh Penguins (https://www.nhl.com/penguins/). On game nights he was part of the crew that executes the in-game entertainment segments. Among other things, on non-game nights he did things such as log file footage of highlight clips to be used at a later time for things such as hype-videos and sponsor video. Interns from the Penguins were also able to work as production assistants for ESPN and FOX coverage of Penguins playoff games. Once Randy graduated from Waynesburg he bounced around as a freelance prouduction worker in the Pittsburgh area before landing a job at WJPA Radio (https://wjpa.com) (95.3 FM, 1450AM) in Washington, Pennsylvania. At WJPA, Randy started as a producer and board operator before landing his first on-air opportunity in the news department as a Saturday morning weekend reporter. Randy talks about the early struggles breaking into broadcasting when its hard to earn a living and how his parents were supportive of his pursuit of chasing the dream even when times and money were both lean. Randy was able to earn more opportunities and gain full-time employment at WJPA. He thanks Operations Manager and Sports Director Bob Gregg for having the confidence in him in order to gain more sports experience. WJPA was the flagship station for the Washington Wild Things (https://www.washingtonwildthings.com) of the Frontier League (https://frontierleague.com) and in 2005 Randy becomes the team’s play-by-play broadcaster. The first road trip for the Wild Things that season was to Chillicothe and Evansville which were both long standing franchises in the Frontier League. Randy talks about the most important thing for a baseball play-by-play broadcaster which is the relationship that needs to be developed with the team’s field manager. Randy was lucky enough to start with John Massarelli as the Wild Things skipper who was happy to show him the ropes. The discussion turns to being in the tough position of describing a mistake made by a player and not upsetting his family who is at home listening. Randy talks about going through the process of exploring other baseball opportunities but ultimately staying with the Wild Things for 11 seasons which is a long tenure in the Frontier League. What would be a conversation about minor league baseball without discussing the long bus rides and trips. Randy does protect the innocent by not going into seedy details but does refer to it as some of the best times of his life. Despite all of the success, after the 2007 off-season was a bit of a turning point for him in his broadcasting career. Feeling the need to find a job with a pension and more secure insurance benefits, Randy applies for a job with his father’s company. He did not get job which kept in broadcasting full-time and shortly thereafter he enjoyed the best success of his career up to that point. Randy, who was a two-time Frontier League Broadcaster of the Year (2008 and 2011) and he tells the story about learning that he won the award for the first time. He also won three Associated Press awards in 2008 through his work at WJPA. In 2010, Randy joins the North Allegheny Sports Network (athletics.northallegheny.org). Randy was previously working for the company part-time which was founded by Don Vandergrift. Randy was hired full-time by athletic director and former Wild Things manager Bob Bozzuto after Vandergriff’s tragic passing in 2010. A year later, Randy along with Justin Pyles and David Singer create to PAC Network (pacstream.net). The venture starts out with a basketball game of the week in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (https://pacathletics.org) and grew to broadcasting other sports including conference championship tournaments. Brady joined the PAC Sports Network in 2015 making cameo appearances along with Randy when Thomas More would host conference championship tournaments. Some of the talking points include the 2016 baseball championship when Randy had to go back home to see his ailing mother and Brady has to broadcast the final game with PAC Commissioner Joe Onderko filling the role as producer. The softball championships were usually held the weekend of the Kentucky Derby. With Thomas More (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/landing/index) hosting this gave Randy a unique opportunity to watch the Kentucky Derby while in the state of Kentucky which the local take for granted. Randy also tells a funny story about coming to Cincinnati with his wife to watch his beloved Pirates and a wild brawl breaks out. To close out the podcast Randy reveals that in celebration of the 10th season of the PAC Sports Network (whenever that can happen thanks to COVID-19) he will release a highlight video. The video will have some of the best moments in PAC Sports Network history. You can follow the PAC Sports Network on Twitter @PACSports (https://twitter.com/PACSports) and the Presidents' Athletics Conference @PAC_Athletics (https://twitter.com/PAC_Athletics) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Matt talks about how he was able to land the job of television play-by-play announcer for Northern Kentucky University. At first he was assigned men’s and women’s soccer and then added women’s basketball to his schedule. Matt talks about his beginnings in the media business as a reporter for the Wilmington News Journal (https://www.wnewsj.com) as a high school student under the tutelage of sports editor Mark Huber. Matt and Brady talk about the willingness to work for free in order get a foot in the door. In Matt’s case he became the public address announcer as a high school freshman at Blanchester (Ohio) High School. Matt graduated from Blanchester High School in 1997 as the valedictorian and enrolled at Ohio University. While at OU he studied at the illustrious Scripps School of Journalism (https://www.ohio.edu/scripps-college/journalism) and worked as a disc jockey at the campus radio station. Matt talks about being burned out with school and dropping out of college after his sophomore year. He acknowledges that in hindsight it wasn’t a great decision but he was able to find work back home in Blanchester. His first media job after leaving OU was returning to the Wilmington News Journal. He would eventually made the jump to the Wilmington radio station WSWO-FM and WKFI-AM. Apparently there was a big rivalry between the newspaper and the radio station in a small market like Wilmington and Matt felt the wrath of that situation. Matt developed into the news, sports and farm director at the radio station. Yes, that’s correct I said the Farm Director. Unfortunately he no longer uses those skills in his work today but it was an interesting and important position in the Wilmington market. Like most small radio stations WSWO-FM and WKFI-AM were bought out in the massive media consolidations that happened in the early to mid-2000’s. Matt look back on his most memorable day on the job at the radio station when he and his co-host Jerry “Too Tall” Jennings where on the air reporting on the 9/11 tragedy. After the radio station closes and the newspaper job was not an option, Matt talks about being out of the business for a few years supporting himself by working in a factory. Matt bounces back and returns into the media field by streaming high school football games for both Blanchester and nearby Goshen High School. Eventually Matt is able to mend fences at the Wilmington News Journal and started covering high school football again. In particular he is given the assignment as the beat reporter for Clinton-Massie High School and its run to back-to-back state championships in 2012 and 2013. Brady and Matt talk about the current state of coverage that high school sports get in the local media. They discuss how the coverage has diminished while the demand has increased. Brady asks Matt to discus one the great high school football coaches in the state of Ohio, Dan McSurley of Clinton-Massie. Through his coverage, Matt has a unique perspective of this program that has produced multiple state championships using a unique offensive scheme. In 2014, at the age of 35, Matt decides to make the decision to return to college and earn his degree. He enrolls as a non-tradition student at Northern Kentucky University where he makes valuable connections and takes advance of some great opportunities. While at NKU, he becomes the sports editor of The Northerner (https://www.thenortherner.com) which is the student newspaper. This give Matt the opportunity to interact with Bryan McEldowney and Brad Pope for the NKU Athletic Communications and Media Services Department. Matt also takes classes in the Electronic Media & Broadcasting program at NKU in order to help keep his budding broadcasting career. Wes Akers becomes a mentor and helps Matt get his opportunity to broadcast NKU soccer games. Matt also gives thanks to both Brad Pope and Bryan McEldowney for actually approving his hire as a broadcaster for NKU on the ESPN Digital Platform known as ESPN+ (https://plus.espn.com) Matt talks about the student television production run by Wes Akers and Bill Farro at Northern Kentucky and how it’s one of the tops not only in the Horizon League but the entire country. Matt and Brady go into some detail about the challenges of running a student production and what a great job those students do under the tutelage of Wes and Bill. Matt gets a chance to talk about some big moments and highlights during his time as the NKU women’s basketball play-by-play announcer. His personal favorite is of course his call of NKU defeating Youngstown State on a buzzing-beating shot by Molly Glick. Click here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ySZtv5JdU) to see and hear Matt’s call that great moment. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattSextonPxP (https://twitter.com/MattSextonPxP) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (StoveLeg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

On this edition of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber, Brady’s guest is former Xavier University “sharpshooter” and television analyst for Northern Kentucky University Brad Redford. Brad talks about his hometown of Frankenmuth, Michigan and how it’s not only the Christmas retail store capital on the world it’s also the home of his favorite family owned restaurants, Zehnder’s (https://www.zehnders.com/zehnders-dining-frankenmuth/) and the Bavarian Inn (https://bavarianinn.com/dine/). The Redford family settled in Frankentmuth when his father Mike, a former news anchor relocated from Detroit to Saginaw. Brad remembers growing up in the television newsroom and developed an interest in broadcasting. Brad talks about his love for basketball at an early and when he was first noticed by college coaches at a summer camp when he was in the 7th grade. Brad played for head coach Norm Oden for his AAU program the Michigan Mustangs. One of his teammates on the Mustangs was former Michigan State All-American and NBA world champion Draymond Green. The recruiting process started for Brad as a freshman when he received an offer from Valparaiso University. Ultimately, Brad commits at the end of his sophomore year with Xavier University and explains why he chose to play for the Musketeers and head coach Sean Miller. Brad’s senior year was a special one as he averaged 37 points per game and set state records in both 3-point and free throw shooting. The season culminated in Brad winning the 2008 Mr. Basketball award in the state of Michigan. There was a famous highlight video of Brad’s exploits that helped give him exposure and create awareness during the run to the Mr. Basketball crown. Click here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxc09r04pJI) to watch that video. Brad tells a funny story about finding out that we won Mr. Basketball. There was NO a banquet, so he and his teammates took off a half-day off school taking a party bus down to Detroit to accept the award. Brad shares why he picked Xavier as his college of choice and how it was down to business as soon as he arrived on campus shortly after high school graduation. He knew that he had to prove himself in order to get on the court with a talented group of teammates at a winning program. Brad looks back on one of the most memorable games, all be it a loss, in Xavier basketball history which was a double overtime defeat at the hands of Kansas State in the NCAA tournament. Good memories included going 3-1 in one the country’s greatest rivalries, the Crosstown Shootout against the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Besides the rivalry with UC, Brad also talks about the heated nature of the series between Xavier and the Dayton Flyers. Brad is forced to red shirt his junior season due to a torn ACL so he along with Xavier marketing department create an interview segment called Redford’s Rundown. His first interview is with Bobby Knight and Brad talks about the interaction being awkward. The final product is not as bad as Brad remembers so take a look and judge for yourself: Redford’s Rundown: Brad talk with Bobby Knight. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc4b8-fSuzQ) After his basketball career comes to an end Brad starts getting involved in media projects including one with the former longtime radio voice of the Xavier Musketeers Andy MacWilliams. Brad talks about joining Brady as a color analyst for the Northern Kentucky Norse men’s basketball program on ESPN+. Brad talks about the coaches and some of the players that have helped lead the Norse to early success going into Division-I competition. Brad is currently working on a project with Xavier’s marketing team to celebrate 100 years of Xavier basketball. It’s a podcast format where Brad will be interviewing former coaches and players talking about the rich history of the Musketeers basketball program. Details about where to find that will come when they become available. You can follow Brad Redford on both Twitter @Brad_Redford12 (https://twitter.com/Brad_Redford12) and Instagram @Brad_Redford12 (https://www.instagram.com/brad_redford12/). You can follow Brad’s podcast the BeDFRNT Podcast on Twitter @BeDFRNTPodcast (https://twitter.com/BeDFRNTPodcast) and subscribe to it on YouTube by using this link: BrDFRNT Podcast (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyqPHLRAS51cn8MBY9q_ROw) You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

On the debut edition of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber, Brady’s guest is Nate Metz who is the voice of the Thomas More University Saints and the founder of the Stove Leg Media Podcast Network. Nate talks about “cold calling” local small colleges in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area trying to land a spot as a play-by-play announcer after graduating from college and working a regular job. After doing some work for the Cincinnati Christian University women’s basketball team he tells the story about receiving a call from Thomas More University. Nate joins the Thomas More basketball broadcast team in mid-season of the 2017-18 campaign. He goes into detail about the chemistry between himself and his first broadcast partner at Thomas More, former women’s basketball player Devin Beasley. He tells a great story about the time they first met each other which was after their first broadcast together had already begun. We go back to the beginning for Nate being born in Cincinnati. His mother Kim Beeson was a former disk jockey/on-air personalty at WUBE-FM (now known as B-105) in Cincinnati during the 1980’s and early 90’s. As a youngster, Nate’s family moves to Beloit, Wisconsin after his dad, a commercial airline pilot, is relocated. He explains how Beloit is more of an urban area than the dairy farms that most people reference when people talk about the state of Wisconsin. Nate talks about some of his early influences in the broadcast industry. Of course he states his mom but his next answer isn’t what you might expect out of a sports announcer. For an upcoming broadcaster Nate actually did not study broadcasting at first in college. He attended Berea College in Kentucky but his mom advised him to actually major in accounting. Nate talks about having to participate in a work-study program while at Berea that includes his first ever job that happened to be in food services. He eventually gets involved in the athletics department as a broadcaster thanks to a personal connection with someone else that was actually from Beloit. Nate talks about returning home each summer to work for the Beloit Snappers, Class-A affiliate of the Oakland A’s. He worked there with Frontier League Hall of Fame player/manager Fran Riordan who encouraged Nate to walk-on to the baseball team at Berea. Nate also talks about working in Beloit with Bill Czaja, a longtime play-by-play announcer in the Frontier League who was working for the Snappers as the Director of Marketing and Promotions. This of course sparks a conversation about the unusual promotions you see in minor league baseball. After graduating from Berea, Nate settled in Cincinnati, working a "real job” at insurance company followed by an accounting job while trying to figure out a strategy to land work as a broadcaster. Nate goes into more detail about his first season working for Thomas More that included a run by the women’s basketball team to the NCAA Division-III national championship game. Nate and Brady then talk about starting to work together as a broadcast team calling Thomas More football games for the 2018 season. Nate also talks about calling all Thomas More varsity sporting events including ones that he had never had experience in calling before. Nate and Brady talk about teaming up for the Thomas More women’s basketball run to the 2019 NCAA D-III National Championship. Nate closes out the conversation talking his venture as an entrepreneur founding his own podcast distribution company called Stove Leg Media. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe You can follow Nate Metz on Twitter @NateMetz (https://twitter.com/NateMetz) For more information on Stove Leg Media (https://www.stoveleg.com) go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com You can follow Thomas More University Athletics on its Official Twitter account @tmusaints (https://twitter.com/tmusaints) please use the #LetsGoSaints Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

The official audio trailer of Nobody's Safe - With Brady Laber Proudly distributed by Stove Leg