Just a Good Conversation

Kyle Zedaker is in his fourth year as the Team Photographer for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After graduating from LSU in 2016, Kyle landed an internship with the Minnesota Vikings for a season. College came calling in May of 2017 and Kyle found himself at the University of Tennessee. After wearing orange for 15 months he moved up sunshine state to work for the Bucs. We talk about find photography, pushing he's limits in his art and dealing with athletes.

Christopher Bates is a proud family man and has passionately worked in sports medicine and human performance for over a decade. He is both a Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC), as well as a Registered Strength & Conditioning Coach (RSCC). Bates' experiences and paradigms for excellence have led to the creation and establishment of several holistic sports medicine and athletic-performance skill development programs across all levels of athletics including Olympic, University, High School and youth. We talk about finding a college, picking a career and making his Industry better. Chris a wonderful podcast The ATLast Podcast.

Dominic DiSaia is a native of Los Angeles. He once co-piloted an Italian Fighter Jet. He shares a birthdate with Albert Einstein. He drank beer from the Stanley Cup. And he was ejected from a basketball game after an altercation with Steve Urkel. Dominic loves the creative process and collaboration. He thrives on challenges. He has photographed the largest personalities in the sports world and has the ability to draw the best out of his subjects.

We talked about spending the day with Vin Scully, getting autographs and opening on a photo studio. Check him out on instagram www.instagram.com/dominicdisaia and his website www.dominicdisaia.com. HIs new photo studio Fourteen Studio. www.fourteenstudios.com

Being recruited as a college athlete is no easy matter, the choices you make will effect your life for ever, Hailey Pohevitz was the first in her family to go through this process. The battle scars of that experience and playing college soccer changed her forever, it turned out it made her stronger than ever. Hailey was recruited to Cal State Fullerton, for three years she was lost on the teams depth chart, a suspension on a team trip and then an injury was the final straw. She left CSUF and moves east to Southern Mississippi to finish out her playing career and start her career path in law enforcement. 

I seat down with my mom Chris Brown and we talk about how she handled when my father Tom Brown passed away in 2001 unexpectedly. A couple years later she wrote a book about the experience and for years talked to groups about what to expect when it happens to you. 

Paul Olden is the current public address announcer for the New York Yankees at Yankees Stadium. He has been the announcer since the Yankees moved to their new ballpark in 2009. Born in Chicago, Olden moved with his family to Los Angeles  as a child. He attended Dorsey High school and Los Angeles City College. Olden was formerly a radio and television play-by-play announcer for the Yankees,  Tamps Bay Devil Rays, California Angels, Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Eagles,  UCLA Bruins, Los Angels Rams, New York Jets, New York Nets and ESPN. Olden was the target of Los Angels Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda's infamous and profanity laden "Dave Kingman tirade" in 1978, in which Lasorda ranted at Olden (who worked at Los Angels radio station KLAC at the time) when he asked him about Kingman having hit three home runs against the Dodgers that day. He was also the PA announcer for 13 consecutive Super Bowls from 1993 to 2005.Olden replaced Jim Hill, the successor to Bob Sheppard, who had been the Yankees announcer since 1951.

With two Emmy's under her belt Jaime Maggio has made a name for herself in the world of TV sports. Born in Long Island, New York, where she grew up to be an enthusiastic Mets and Giants fan with the help of her grandparents. When she was in 9th grade, she moved to California were find public speaking with the help of two insightful teachers who saw something in the young girl. She studied at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she graduated with a degree in communications. Maggio got her big break in 2011, her first year covering the NCAA tournament. Her next job was at Fox Sports Net where she worked as Operations Assistant/Regional Feed Cordinator (2001 – 2004), as a Talents Relations Cordinator from 2004 to 2006 and as a Production Manager from 2006 to 2008.

Subsequently, she would go on to work for companies like GoTV Network, and Comcast Sportsnet as host of weekly show “Sixers Season Pass.” While at Comcast she won a Mid-Atlantic Emmy for her sideline reporting on the Philadelphia 76ers.

Since then, her career has been on a high. For three years, between December 2006 and September 2010, she worked as an On-Air Correspondent at Fox Interactive Media. She joined Turner Sports in 2011 and became notable for her coverage of the NBA playoffs, the MLB playoffs, and the NCAA tournament.

She shares her working time with other juggernaut networks including the NFL where she appears on NFL Network Now and NFL Fantasy Live and on Spectrums Sports Net. She worked as the LA Angels reporter for two years before moving to the LA Lakers reporter. 

You can see her on CBS 2 and KCAL 9 reporting on sports and the finding wonderful stories. Jaime loves long walks on the beach, reading great novels and spending time with dog Yogi, named after the great Yankees catcher Yogi Berra.

Craig Bisacre is the Director of Photography for Texas A&M University Athletics, where he has been capturing the Aggies 18 Division-1 teams, focusing his lens on the impressive talents of their student-athletes, since 2019.

Proud "Army Brat" developed his resiliency with 11 different military moves, including living abroad in South Korea. Bisacre graduated from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia and earned his Bachelor in Arts in Integrative Studies – Photojournalism.

Before moving to College Station, Texas, he was the Head Photographer at Indiana University Athletics from 2017 to 2019 and the Assistant Photographer for the University of Tennessee Athletics from 2015 to 2017.

His passion for photography is ever-changing. He loves the challenge of being able to visually tell the story of a split-second moment, without any words. He constantly strives to produce unique and engaging images that incorporate the true beauty of sports that are encapsulated way beyond just the game.

When not taking photos, he enjoys life with his Golden Retriever, Oakley, fly fishing with his Dad and exploring the mighty outdoors with his Fiancé, Hayley.

Kevin Reece is a New Yorker who found his way to LA in in 1986 and has never look back. Kevin has cover Super Bowls, World Series, NBA Finals and his favorite sport college football. For almost 40 years Kevin has travel the country covering sports, the early morning flights, games with pouring rain and long drives. We talk about growing up in New York in the 60's and 70's. Sneaking on to the floor to shoot basketball at Madison Square Garden, being a only children and motel pools in the south. 

Nathaniel S. Butler have photographed more than 35 NBA Finals as the senior official NBA photographers. Based in the New York area, Butler has been covering the New York Knicks and New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets for the NBA since 1984.

Butler went to St. John’s University and began photographing basketball games at Madison Square Garden, where the team played their larger games. At MSG, he met photographers from Sports Illustrated who were also there to cover the game.

“I started working as an assistant which was basically an apprenticeship. It was the greatest experience ever,” Butler said. “At that time, Sports Illustrated was what we all aspired to do…it was the greatest learning experience I’ve ever had.”

From that experience, Butler learned how to light indoor arenas and the importance of timing using the strobe system that restricts shooting to one photo every four seconds. He continued to shoot games at MSG and worked as an intern in the NBA PR Department in 1984, the same year David Stern was promoted to Commissioner.

“There was no photography department back then,” Butler said. “David had just started NBA Entertainment, he wanted to archive the NBA history and document history.”

At that time, the NBA did not send photographers to every game and the NBA Photo Department was nonexistent. Butler explained that the international market sparked a demand for NBA photos and, in 1985, the NBA Photos Department was created.

“It started with me covering press conferences and talking my way into a Knicks game,” Butler said of his NBA photography career.

Bernstein and Butler reminisce about the early days of covering NBA games, from dragging two miles of zip cords through arenas and stadiums to dealing with spontaneous strobe failures and being limited to a finite number of photos per roll of film.

“What some of the younger people may not realize was that we were shooting with film…editing and processing the film was a labor-intensive process,” Butler said.

Butler shares the memories behind some of his most iconic photos including the time when someone stole Michael Jordan’s jersey from the locker room and MJ had to wear a generic no. 12 jersey during the game on February 14, 1990.

Other images include the iconic shot of Bill Russell and Michael Jordan with the MVP award which was taken in just a few frames.

“These guys have 17 rings between them…This is what I talk about being fortunate enough to document things,” Butler said.

Butler shares a documentary project he’s working on to sort the fact from fiction when it comes to NBA championship rings.

“After you get one ring, you don’t get another ring…Bill Russell won 11 championships in 13 years. There’s a lot of urban myths about what you get instead of a ring,” Butler said.”Everyone talks about rings and championships…but Bill Russell may have gotten a tea set for winning an NBA Championship.”