The Audible - Beat Writer Tour 2009 - Bengals talk (1 Viewer)

[Cecil Lammey]

http://podcast.footballguys.com/2009/Footb...009-Vol110a.mp3

In This Episode: Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom interview Bengals beat writer Carlos "Big C" Holmes, from the Dayton Daily News. Topics include - can Carson Palmer bounce back from injury, will Ochocinco go back to being one of the best receivers in the game, why you need to watch out for rookie RB Bernard Scott, plus more!

enjoy!

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[TheFanatic]

Cecil,

Let me ask you a question. When you guys approach a beat writer or someone else you want to do an interview with, what kinds of reactions do you get? Have they heard of the site? If they haven't do you pull out the specs on tell them how many hits you get, etc? I'm just curious as to how much respect you guys get in mainstream media and the NFL in general? Are you getting more respect now than say 3 years ago?

 

[ebcpastor2004]

Must be known somewhat because Holmes said he had to go to the Draftguys site to get footage of Bernard Scott. That was a pretty awesome plug right there.

 

[Cecil Lammey]

Cecil,Let me ask you a question. When you guys approach a beat writer or someone else you want to do an interview with, what kinds of reactions do you get? Have they heard of the site? If they haven't do you pull out the specs on tell them how many hits you get, etc? I'm just curious as to how much respect you guys get in mainstream media and the NFL in general? Are you getting more respect now than say 3 years ago?

This show has a lot of clout in the NFL community, and I know of several beat writers, personalities, and even a few players that listen to the Audible (i also know some MLBers and NBAers that listen). This is our 3rd season doing the beat writer tour, and we have a list of our "go to" guys. When approaching new writers, we just point to our track record. Guys like Adam Schefter, Mark Schlereth, etc have been on the show so why not so and so beat writer from a NFL city paper? I now get requests from people that say "hey, when can I be on the show!?!" Sigmund does an amazing job of making friendly conversation with beat writers while we're on the Ultimate Road Trip, and that pays off when it comes time for interviews.The NFL media community is a good one - a very strong one. If you put in the work you will be noticed. If you don't have a "what can you do for me?" approach you will make contacts. If you harvest those contacts through time and real interaction (not texting or tweeting) you can make friends. Those friends will think of you first if an opportunity arises. The work is the reward. With the work comes the respect of the community. With the respect of the community comes the reputation. Reputation is everything.I love getting emails, thoughts, show suggestions from the listeners just as much as I love getting an email from Peter King about something I said on the show. I would say our respect continues to grow, and the show is "known" in media circles. Having a prominent spot on Itunes certainly helps. I want the show to continue to get bigger and better each season as we spread the FBG gospel!

 

[TheFanatic]

Cecil,Let me ask you a question. When you guys approach a beat writer or someone else you want to do an interview with, what kinds of reactions do you get? Have they heard of the site? If they haven't do you pull out the specs on tell them how many hits you get, etc? I'm just curious as to how much respect you guys get in mainstream media and the NFL in general? Are you getting more respect now than say 3 years ago?

This show has a lot of clout in the NFL community, and I know of several beat writers, personalities, and even a few players that listen to the Audible (i also know some MLBers and NBAers that listen). This is our 3rd season doing the beat writer tour, and we have a list of our "go to" guys. When approaching new writers, we just point to our track record. Guys like Adam Schefter, Mark Schlereth, etc have been on the show so why not so and so beat writer from a NFL city paper? I now get requests from people that say "hey, when can I be on the show!?!" Sigmund does an amazing job of making friendly conversation with beat writers while we're on the Ultimate Road Trip, and that pays off when it comes time for interviews.The NFL media community is a good one - a very strong one. If you put in the work you will be noticed. If you don't have a "what can you do for me?" approach you will make contacts. If you harvest those contacts through time and real interaction (not texting or tweeting) you can make friends. Those friends will think of you first if an opportunity arises. The work is the reward. With the work comes the respect of the community. With the respect of the community comes the reputation. Reputation is everything.I love getting emails, thoughts, show suggestions from the listeners just as much as I love getting an email from Peter King about something I said on the show. I would say our respect continues to grow, and the show is "known" in media circles. Having a prominent spot on Itunes certainly helps. I want the show to continue to get bigger and better each season as we spread the FBG gospel!

That's great. I was just picturing guys taking a call from you and being like, "you want to interview me for what? A fantasy football website? Sorry but I am a legit journalist. I have no time for the FFB geeks out there." I think FFB was thought of as nothing more than a fringe hobby for a long time, particularly before internet box scores and then league websites. There were a lot less of us when I was doing stats from the paper on Monday and Tuesday (And sometimes Wed) mornings... It's good to see the legions of us knuckleheads that do this are seen as more mainstream now...

 

[Cecil Lammey]

That's great. I was just picturing guys taking a call from you and being like, "you want to interview me for what? A fantasy football website? Sorry but I am a legit journalist. I have no time for the FFB geeks out there." I think FFB was thought of as nothing more than a fringe hobby for a long time, particularly before internet box scores and then league websites. There were a lot less of us when I was doing stats from the paper on Monday and Tuesday (And sometimes Wed) mornings... It's good to see the legions of us knuckleheads that do this are seen as more mainstream now...

I used to work at a convenience store and getting the paper (USA Today baby) was the biggest thing ever back in 1993! I would run the box scores while working the register and making coffee, etc. My how times have changed.

 

[Avery]

I love the show and I hate to be critical but I just listened to your interview with Carlos "Big C" Holmes and he sounded like any big you might run into.

I learned from him that:

Palmer is going to be back to his "old" self

Ocho Cinco has something to prove and is going to be great.

Coles is going to fit in great with the team.

Henry has turned his life around and will display his "Randy Moss like" skills.

Andre Caldwell is going to explode onto the scene.

Cedric Benson is fitting in great with the team and will not only be a great between the tackles runner but has show great speed around the corner as well.

Bernard Scott is a gamebreaking type of player.

Roy Williams is showing to be a great all around safety for the Bengals including great cover skills.

The closest he came to criticizing any position on the Bengals is when he was asked about the O-line and his "critique" was they got better throughout OTAs and the Bengals as a team are "hungry" and "feel that they can beat anybody". I felt after listening to the interview that if I drafted a team with Palmer at QB, the top 4 Bengals WRs, and Benson and Scott at RB I would run away with the championship in my leagues.

Not criticizing the interviewers here, you can't get blood from a stone, but I thought I was listening to a street corner interview with a Bengals fan rather then getting some realistic insight from a guy who covers the team day in and day out.

Edit to add: Comparing that interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Dolphins beat writer Omar Kelly was night and day. From Kelly I felt I got some realistic insight into some position battles and upside and downside of various players and the team overall.