What’s it like working for ESPN and How do you break out in a very competitive industry like sports media? Those are topics we dive into on this episode with ESPN College Game Day’s Jen Lada and WISN Sports Director Dario Melendez.
We also talk some Wisconsin Sports, discuss their most embarrassing moments on camera and more.
This podcast is produced by Story Mark Studios
In partnership with On Milwaukee
Presented by Nicolet Law and Central Standard Distillery
Transcript
Jen Lada: ESPN can feel like the Hunger Games a little bit because it’s so competitive and there’s only so many spots and only so many coveted spots and everybody feels like they deserve to be in those roles.
Richie Burke: Hey everyone, welcome back to Milwaukee Uncut. I’m your host Richie Burke and we are back for episode two of two with ESPN College Game Days.
Jen Lada and WISN Sports Director Dario Melendez, both Emmy winners. They are married with three kids. Very interesting, cool backstories, both individually and as a couple on this episode, we talk about how each of them broke into a very competitive media industry and got their careers off the ground, the evolving sports media landscape, what it’s like working with ESPN or working for ESPN.
We go behind the scenes there a little bit, their most embarrassing moments on TV, and we talk some Wisconsin sports. This is a great episode for. Really any Wisconsin sports fan, if you’re looking to get into the media industry or just interested in the behind the scenes aspect of the industry and ESPN, this is a great episode for you.
Just a reminder, this podcast is produced at Storymark Studios, right in the heart of Walker’s Point. In partnership with on Milwaukee and brought to you by Nicolet law, the Midwest law firm insurance companies, fear the beard and central standard distillery home of my favorite vodka door County, cherry vodka, and plenty of other great spirits, including their new candle fashions that they collaborated on with line and Kugel’s had my first one last Saturday.
They are very good. And I would say very sneaky at 8 percent ABV. So may just make sure to To monitor that, but they are good. So check those out. All right, let’s dive into today’s episode with Jen and Dario.
Dario Melendez: There was no Vimeo. There wasn’t anything like that. So I had graduated college and I stayed up in, in Connecticut where Sacred Heart is and sent out 300 resume reels.
So like you, you, it was VHS tapes. You had to, so you had to copy all those VHS tapes. You had to then print out all your resumes and print out your cover letters. And I sent it out to. Every like 100 to 210 market there is. So like small markets so that’s expensive, right? I mean, you’re, you’re buying all these tapes, you’re doing all this postage
Jen Lada: sitting at FedEx office, right?
It was, it was
Dario Melendez: annoying. And I got three responses to saying thanks, but no thanks. And one saying from Fort Myers wing TV. which is where I started my career. Hey, we don’t have an on air opportunity, but spring training is coming up and we’re looking for a part time sports producer. Cool. I’ll take it.
So just get your foot in the door. So I got my foot in the door and they saw how valued I was during spring training that led into other opportunities during the summer, which led into high school football, which led into a super bowl that Tampa had and then Miami had. And the competitor in town, the ABC station, lost one of their sports guys and they wanted to hire me.
And then my station was like, no, we’ll make you full time. We’ll bump your salary from 14, 000 a year to 16, 000 a year.
Jen Lada: Cha ching!
Dario Melendez: So that’s the other thing. I mean, look, just take whatever opportunity you can get, which is what I did. And don’t worry about the money at the time. It seems really bad. Like 16, 000 is a horrible paycheck.
Jen Lada: And we recognize that not everybody has the luxury that we had, which was families that supported us during those times when we weren’t making enough money to make ends meet. I mean, my parents would kick money to me every couple of weeks to cover gas when I first started out in this industry. As Dario’s talking about VHS tapes, I’m picturing like some of the listeners being like, and then he carved it in stone and like, you know, cause that’s how archaic it is now.
Like people send out links, right? I tell every aspiring broadcaster that I talk to now. You have a camera and a video recorder in your pocket. So set it on your mirror and deliver the news every day. And then no one has to see it, but it’s reps. And that’s obviously what is a big difference between the people who are really good and the people who are just starting out and kind of clunking their way through.
I went to Marquette. I didn’t know that women could be sportscasters when I was at Marquette, which again, sounds like a totally different era, but it was 20 years ago. And there was kind of this movement towards a few women, right? Like Linda Cohn was in the business. Hannah Storm was in the business.
Leslie Visser, of course, and Andrea Kramer. But it wasn’t like every station had a woman in it. on their staff like it is now. And so I talked to my advisor, he encouraged me to follow up, but he said, you got to do internships. So I did an internship at six, six 20. I did an internship at 10 channel 12 if you can believe that.
And just started to kind of chip away at getting into the industry. But my first job was a non paid internship with Preps Plus here in Milwaukee where we covered high school sports. And then same thing, I sent out the resume reel to every corner of the country and got a few nibbles, one that would have been a horrible experience actually out in San Diego where I was sexually harassed on the interview and The guy asked me to go skinny dipping with him and you know, it was like, and I’m thinking to myself, I’m going to move to San Diego where I have no support system and this is my boss.
Like, no, thank you. And I was devastated that I like didn’t get that job. And then two weeks later I got the job in Rockford, Illinois, which was about an hour from my home, about an hour plus from Milwaukee. And it just felt a lot safer. And it ended up then launching me. To Milwaukee. I always tell people.
I’m not sure that Milwaukee would have known who I was. I was a cheerleader at Marquette. So I had that notoriety a little bit with the basketball team and some of the sports stations. But I went up, I begged my boss when I was in Rockford to let me cover the Packers Seahawks playoff game, which everybody famously remembers for Matt Hasselbeck saying we want the ball and we’re going to score.
And then Al Harris getting the interception in overtime and running back towards the end zone with his hand in the air and the Packers ended up winning. But there was a huge snowstorm and we ended up being late for my 10 o’clock sportscast. So I missed my sportscast back in Rockford because I was up at Lambeau Field.
But small world, I took it. talk to a bunch of people, and they were impressed with my, you know assertiveness, if you will. And then when an opening came in Milwaukee, they hired me for that job. Was there for seven years, went to Chicago, was there for two years, and then had the opportunity to go to ESPN.
So it’s been, I, it’s very, it’s a very old school. way of being in the business. A lot of people are kind of plucked out of obscurity now or infamy like on YouTube or Tik TOK or Snapchat. Like that’s how a lot of people are getting their jobs now, but we both did it like the old school, hard work your way up from market one 33 to market 33 to market three to the network.
Dario Melendez: And I will say, I mean, there’s something to say about that though, because like when you get plucked from obscurity, you could also go be sent back very quickly. going from Fort Myers to Milwaukee to ESPN, New York City, Valley Sports back to Milwaukee and for you, your path as well. You, you’ve cut your teeth and you’ve learned from each of those steps and you’ve made yourself invaluable.
Well,
Jen Lada: and it reminds me of your experience, of course, because you were here in Milwaukee. You were very young. You got hired at ESPN. And you weren’t ready. Like you weren’t ready to be at that level. Cause
Dario Melendez: when I was at ESPN, they had Highlight Express. I don’t know if you guys remember the show. It was, it was pretty much, it was on ESPN News at like midnight.
And it was straight highlights. It was pretty much sports center with training wheels. It
Jen Lada: was like triple a, we call it the triple a baseball. It’s where you learned how to be a sports center anchor.
Dario Melendez: And about four months into my tenure at ESPN, they canceled highlight express. So now they’re trying to train you on the three o’clock sports center, which is probably like the least viewed, but still sports center.
And it was, it was a lot of, a lot of bumps in the road and it took me about a year to kind of figure out how to be a sports center anchor. By that time all the people that brought me in and all my advocates had been fired because it was that first calling at ESPN, 2013 ish. So I’m like, oh man, I’m, I’m gonna, I’m gonna get caught up in these layoffs because I got no one, no one has my back anymore.
Cause you know, ESPN, it’s just, it’s, it’s a hard place to operate in because you’re only as good as your last show. It’s not based off of meritocracy. It’s based off of either you’re a bulldog, which Jen is, and she’s talented. So you have to advocate for yourself or you have to kiss a lot of butt.
And I was very much coming from the athlete point of view where it’s a meritocracy. Like, look, you see I got this. I’m outperforming other SportsCenter anchors now. Give me more time. Give me another contract. We’ll be good. Didn’t work that way.
Jen Lada: And here’s the thing, Dario is a champion ass kisser. Like if he knew that that was like the way to sustain, right?
Like any spot, he would have been at the top of the list. Right. But like, you’re so overwhelmed by, you know, sometimes we call it like the hunger games, like ESPN can feel like the hunger games a little bit because it’s so competitive and there’s only so many spots and only so many coveted spots and everybody feels like they deserve to be in those roles.
Every
Dario Melendez: department operates separately. Like TV operates separate from radio, even though you’re in the same buildings and the same campus. And then within TV, SportsCenter morning, afternoon, night operates separately. College Game Day operates separately from SportsCenter. So, you have all these executives in all of these different departments vying for the talent.
It’s like you would think it would just be one team, but it’s not. So, if you’re a really talented SportsCenter anchor, but let’s say you want to try to get into wraps, which is like, you know, those pre and post game shows for college basketball and NBA, Well, that executive producer is now going to get upset with the sports center producer because you’re not letting this person come over there because it’s charity.
It’s
Jen Lada: really
Dario Melendez: interesting because you’re not poaching talent. You’re all ESPN, but you’re different department in ESPN. And I, I just, I was not good in that space. Jen has flourished obviously. So
Richie Burke: what do you guys think of the current media landscape? It’s as you acknowledge so much different than how you came up, people can get plucked out of obscurity.
You also see these. like, like a McAfee who you work with on college game day, who ESPN just kind of, he started his own show and he’s made a ton of money doing it. Or it seems like they’re focusing on less people, but the superstar type people and paying them more money. It’s, I don’t know. It’s changing a lot.
So
Dario Melendez: when I was at ESPN there was a thought of getting away from the personality driven talent.
Jen Lada: Like no one person is bigger than the network.
Dario Melendez: It’s in straight news So that was kind of the way we were operating sports and I would have been in
Richie Burke: 13. It’s like 13 to
Dario Melendez: 15. Yeah and Now you see the exact role reversal because that didn’t work.
I mean Sports Center sports in general is all about personality It’s about having fun. It’s about being in your face right now. This embrace debate format has really just like Taken off and it’s not even embrace debate anymore. It’s more like I have an opinion, and I’m just going to throw it out there, and it’s going to be hot take after hot take after hot take.
The one thing I’ll always say is, like, there’s still SportsCenter. There’s still a place where you need to get, like, actual news, and actual information, and have actual reporters reporting on the news. I don’t know if it’s a fad, that the, because Embrace Debate is kind of around still, but it’s kind of gone away, it’s white noise, now it’s that, you know.
Scream into the atmosphere, scream into the void, and see what happens. Cause now there’s no one pushing back on you. Like with Pat McAfee, Pat is super talented. And he has really, really good opinions. And he just puts it out there, but there’s never really any pushback to him. So you’ve taken away the debate portion.
Now it’s just, hey, these are my opinions. I’ll let you guys debate them out there. And that’s kind of the way it’s gone. I still think everything kind of evolves. I don’t know how long that format is going to last, where I know, I believe I know. You’re always going to need a news source because people want to get their news, right?
You need to get their news
Jen Lada: from Twitter or X, I guess, as it’s called now or whatever, like the sort of apps that you have actually think that personality like Dario was saying is super important now, but I think it’s less important to debate things. People just want to like voyeuristically pop into you and your pals or you and your buddies.
Talking about sports, et cetera, which is what McAfee does really well. Like, all of those guys are his boys. They trust each other implicitly. Nobody’s gonna hang anybody else out to dry. Nobody’s gonna go hard to the hole and try to dunk on somebody else. Just a bunch of dudes, sitting around, talking sports, having fun.
It’s kind of why Pardon My Take works. It’s like, that I feel like is the next frontier, and I think it’s what everybody is trying to copy and mimic. It’s what we do on our radio show in the morning. Like, we’re not there to like, Give you all of the details of who would be the best option for the bucks at the trade deadline.
And is it worth it to trade Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton because of the chemistry that this team has developed? No, it’s like how can you take the news which is that today’s the trade deadline and then how can you make it entertaining? So you’re sprinkling in the information, but you’re also like just having a fun conversation.
I mean our conversation about the trade deadline evolved into Would Giannis ever approve a trade of Thanasis? Right, right. Like, so it’s taking like something that’s newsworthy and the news of the day and then just having like a sitting at the bar kind of conversation with your pals. And I think that is what you’re seeing a lot of places really try to emulate.
They’re trying to find the right fit. Good morning football is like that as well. Like they have good people with good personalities who are interesting and really smart, but at the end of the day, they’re entertainers. Like that’s why they’re there. They’re there to entertain the NFL So I think you’re going to see a lot more people trying to find that perfect chemistry of personalities that can talk sports, but that also is just generally interesting.
Richie Burke: What is the single biggest break each of you have gotten career wise?
Jen Lada: Well, the biggest break in life that Dario got was me saying, yes, I will marry you. Let’s start a family. Let’s do the thing. Please argue. Please argue that point.
Dario Melendez: My wife is the best. She
Jen Lada: is
Dario Melendez: my, she is my, she is my world.
Jen Lada: Look, mine is really obvious.
I got asked to be on College Game Day I think it’s almost nine years ago now. I was kind of floundering at ESPN. I was supposed to do a radio show that went away, and I was like trying to convince people of my value. There was a perception that I was a radio talent. When I would actually had done TV for like 15 years at that point.
And I started doing features just as a way of doing something at ESPN, contributing my voice. I was very lucky that at Fox six we had an initiative where every day we did a local sports feature. So I had a lot of reps at a lot of practice in that space. And so when I got to ESPN and they threw me a couple just kind of as a courtesy, like here, do something.
I did a really good job. And so game day is always looking for those, you know, Big, heavy, emotional, powerful features. And they thought I could contribute in that space. First year I was on the show. I only did six. For the year next year. I did seven next year. I did eight or whatever those numbers were.
But basically it was an increasing role increasing volume. But that obviously was the biggest break of my career to be put on college game day, which is the premier football show. We have two million people watching every Saturday morning. It’s widely considered the best in the game. We have incredibly talented people.
I always say, like, I think I’m the best at what I do. But I know Kirk Herbstreit is the best at what he does and Pat McAfee is the best at what he does and Rhys Davis and Desmond Howard and obviously Lee Corso and everybody else we have on the show are the best at what they do. So to be surrounded by that type of talent and ambition is just really rewarding.
Every week.
Dario Melendez: It’s hard to narrow down to one thing. I feel like I have a couple. I mean, first getting ESPN was a huge break for me. Not so much because I succeeded there, but it was almost grad school. So the thing that ESPN does, it’s really cool is they have courses and they have coaches. So you have a presence coach, you know, how to hold yourself on air a wardrobe consultant script writing classes, question asking courses, which is so valuable.
And I mean, I think a lot of reporters, not just in this market, but across the country could really benefit from a course on how to ask the proper question. And then kind of getting back in the Milwaukee market at Fox Sports, Valley Sports. Milwaukee has been awesome to me. I obviously I met my wife here.
It’s where we raised our family. We were putting down roots. So just being able to kind of get back in. And that led to the, the sports director gig at WISN, which has been awesome. I mean, obviously channel 12, we were the top rated station in the market for me personally. Like when we come to award season.
I mean, it’s been WBA sportscaster of the year, Emmy over all the Chicago talent for sportscast of the year. So I mean, there’s been a couple, but the ESPN was a big one just because it kind of taught me how to be. journalist, which I didn’t know, I didn’t know how to do, if I’m being honest, I was kind of just getting by on what I had seen other people doing and mimicking, but I was able to kind of find my voice there.
It was just bad timing.
Richie Burke: What is the most embarrassing moment each of you have had on air or maybe that got cut?
Dario Melendez: On air for me, it was my first time at channel 12 and we were talking about, it was Wisconsin versus Minnesota. And Paul Bunyan’s axe. And you see how I slowed down axe, because if you speed up saying axe, you’re gonna say ass.
So, I’m done with my highlight. I’m like, and Wisconsin grabs a hold of Paul Bunyan’s ass. They win it and it
made like Deadspin All these websites and they’re all like hey, it’s been a slow Monday. You guys should do more So here’s a sportscaster saying ass on TV and like for me again as a 23 year old like, oh my god I just said ass on TV.
I’m gonna get fired. Like this is the most embarrassing thing ever Paul
Bunyan’s not in Florida That’s that’s got to be a hard concept to grasp, you know,
well to be I didn’t
I remember walking in the newsroom and they’re like, Hey, do you want to go interview this Robin Yount dude? I’m like, who
the hell is Robin?
I grew up in Florida. We weren’t big brewers fans. And like, I was, I was born in 85. So. I mean, by the time I would have even started getting into baseball, he’s almost done with his career. I mean, I know Gary Sheffield, I can, I can name you all the 97 Marlins right now, but like, I couldn’t think of, I couldn’t think of will say
Jen Lada: this though, to give Dario some credit in this space.
When he got to Wisconsin, I’ve never seen anyone read more about the history of sports in a state than he did. I mean, when we were first starting to date and hang out, he was like, He always had a book and it was always a Wisconsin sports. It was either about the Braves or about the Brewers or about Marquette, or he was trying to like catch up as quickly as possible.
And that was impressive. Like, okay, this guy wants to know what’s important to this area of the country.
Dario Melendez: Because that was one thing I noticed off the bat, like Wisconsin sports fans, no Wisconsin sports. So I can’t be an authority if I don’t know Wisconsin sports. I did the same thing in New York. I remember when I was in New York city, I mean, it was Mets books and Islanders books and Rangers and Yankees.
And it just. It becomes fun, because once you learn one thing, you connect it, and there’s always, there’s connections between Wisconsin and New York that you had no idea about. But yeah, I couldn’t be the dumb guy on TV. Like, I was too competitive. Like, and it was that Yount conversation in the newsroom that kind of set the fire under me.
Like, oh man, I can’t, I can’t be that guy. I can’t come in here and not know who one of the best hitters to ever play the game is.
Jen Lada: Dario knows this about me. I like to take chances on television. We were talking earlier about personality versus information sportscasters, and it dawned on me very early in this industry that every single sportscaster on a given night have the exact same information.
It’s how you present it that is going to separate you from the rest of the people you’re competing against. So We all watched the same game. We all have the same highlights. We all got the same press releases. How can I make it a little bit more fun or engaging? And so he always reminds me of this one time.
I think it was like Clint Eastwood, who at some point had talked to a chair at one of like the presidential or political events, and And so one night when I was doing the high school football show, I literally put a chair next to me and had a conversation with a chair kind of to spoof off of that pop culture reference or event that had just occurred.
So I always want to like think outside the box, do things a little differently. Just shake up the boring want, want, want, want, want Charlie Brown teacher that you hear so much. But my first time on game day, I did a story on a gentleman who was the Bevo handler. Bevo is the giant, you know, steer that they have.
And I’m, I’m always really good at presenting and so leading and tagging my pieces, but I had a slight hiccup and a slight glitch and I called Texas. Texas University instead of the University of Texas, which if you’re not ingrained in college football, you might not even know the difference, but football fans are very particular.
It’d be like calling Wisconsin, Wisconsin University. So I pop, pop, pop my Twitter feed is like, do, do, do, do, do this woman doesn’t know what she’s talking about. And so that was my very first time. I knew that it wasn’t an indictment of my knowledge. I knew that it wouldn’t keep me from going forward. But when you’re in it, and Twitter is like coming after you, it fe you want to disappear.
You want to just like, Hey, you know what? I don’t want to do this game day thing after all. I think I’ll find another gig that’s less forward facing. Yeah, is that
Richie Burke: like a rush of anxiety when you’re just getting attacked on Twitter? Absolutely. Or when yours was kind of funny though, when Deadspin was doing a spin off.
Yeah,
Dario Melendez: how do you I mean just kind of and that’s kind of something we’ve talked to our therapist about it. It’s just it doesn’t matter because like You put yourself
Richie Burke: out there to such a large audience And Jen like you were saying you have to take chances to get to the level that you are at So you’re gonna have some stumbles.
So not everything’s gonna work, right?
Jen Lada: Like you’re gonna do things It’s not gonna work and people are gonna be like, oh, that’s so dumb. You’re terrible and it’s like Hey, it took a chance. Like I’m going to do it again and you might not like it next time either, but maybe you will. And that’s why it’s worth it.
Richie Burke: Let’s do some quick Wisconsin sports. Where do you think Marquette basketball is going this year? Do you have any quick predictions?
Dario Melendez: I think final four. They’re they’re really, they’re really good. They had a little, and look, you see this with every college basketball team. You have a little bump during the season.
I mean, What was it? Mid January, where they lose to Butler at home. Then the next week they lose as well, and like, they couldn’t really figure it out on the road in the Big East play. But they just have so many weapons. Kolic has figured out the good balance of being an A hole, which is a good thing in basketball, and also being composed.
Jen Lada: Cocky but poised.
Dario Melendez: Iguodara, obviously, is so good. I love Joplin, our homegrown dude. And Stevie Mitchell. I didn’t realize how good Stevie Mitchell was. I know you do the Marquette radio show and I filled in for you once and I asked Nevada, I mean, you see all these defensive stoppers, right? In the NBA.
Does Marquette have someone like that? And Stevie Mitchell had been out for like three or four games, so I just didn’t really notice that he was that guy. But you look at what they did to Butler yesterday and you saw what he was doing. I mean, he is just everywhere. So yeah, I think, I mean, I think Marquette can get to the Final Four.
It’s just going to be a matchup. I mean, if you get to the Final Four and let’s say you got Purdue. And Edie, I mean, who’s Edie is just such a mismatch. Like they did such a good job in the Maui invitation all against them. If, if also doesn’t get those couple of fowls in the beginning But I mean, I, I mean, I think final four,
Jen Lada: so you talk about Robin now, you talk about Craig council, like Milwaukee has had a lot of like really impressive people come through in the coaching ranks and in the player ranks.
I’m not sure anybody will ever match Shaka smart from an interesting standpoint. He mentioned I do the radio show with him on Thursday nights. He’s one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. He definitely likes to exist in the psychological and the sociological in that space. He’s got a ton of mottos and phrases.
He’ll tell you. He’s. stole them all from other people, but like having conversations with him about why chemistry is so important to team success and how they have to have each other’s back. And like all of those things is a big reason why the team is doing so well. I went to Marquette, as you mentioned, I’m a Marquette cheerleader or was a Marquette cheerleader years and years ago.
So I don’t think that I can be rational about Marquette. It’s the one team that I am screaming. When a play goes wrong or if they have too many empty possessions back to back to back from the couch and I would love to see him in the final four But every year I think they’re gonna win the national championship.
This team is so talented. This team is really deep They obviously lost a little bit of depth when they lost sean jones, but it just feels like everything is clicking right now and I want him to do it so bad, but I actually feel uncomfortable saying that and putting that out into the world because, you know, market has struggled in postseason play.
They have not made a deep tournament run. And so until they can do that, I think it’s kind of like, let’s wait and see how it shakes out
Richie Burke: last year was the first time they want a tournament game in a decade. Probably trivia question of the day. Who is markets all time leading three point percentage shooter?
Minimum five attempts. Is it Steve Novak?
Dario Melendez: That’s what I would’ve guessed. Hold on, hold on. Minimum five attempts. Minimum five attempts. Oh, so it’s going to be someone that doesn’t shoot a lot.
Jen Lada: Chris O’Toole. I mean, it
Richie Burke: was in the early to mid 2000s.
Jen Lada: So our buddy Dan Fitzgerald was a huge three point shooter.
I’m guessing he had more than five attempts, so he’s probably up there. His, his percentage is probably down.
Dario Melendez: Who is it? I mean, Diener, Wade. If it’s early to mid 2000s someone from that era someone from that era is correct You would know that you were
Richie Burke: cheering
Jen Lada: well, yes, I was might
Richie Burke: have been barely after you
Jen Lada: Yeah, I don’t think
Richie Burke: Butler.
No Mike Kinsella.
Jen Lada: Oh my gosh. I mean look I don’t think we would have come up with Mike Kinsella, to be honest with
Richie Burke: you. I don’t know who Mike Kinsella
is.
Jen Lada: I at least know who Mike is.
Richie Burke: Come on. Elevated Identity Sign Company paid me a lot of money to ask the question on the on the show. Mike Kinsella, Casa Micos for the amount of tequila that he consumes on the golf court.
Oh, now you know who he is. Casa Micos.
That’s all you had to say.
Jen Lada: I have loved at the games this year when they have shown the guys, right? Because they are really good about bringing a lot of those guys back. And Mike has been one of them. I’ve seen him up on the Jumbotron when they show the old players.
Richie Burke: He has. Yeah. He’s looking good. Richie, I got one for
Dario Melendez: you. Who is the tallest NBA player to never record a career dunk? He’s Steve Novak. Steve Novak. He was on the show. And I love bringing that up to
Richie Burke: him every time I see him. Like, first off, Steve,
Dario Melendez: your playing career started five years too early. Cause if he had that three point ball, five years later, he’d be making Tens of millions and then he can dunk.
I can’t believe he never dunked in a game. Now,
Jen Lada: would he say to you, what you said to us earlier about how you said, how many receptions did you have in division? What does he say? How many minutes did you log in the NBA?
Richie Burke: Double digit receptions for
the
pioneers. I
think, like I said, all that
Dario Melendez: came in one game.
Richie Burke: No, he’s too nice. Okay. Very little known story. He told on the podcast. We have a clip of it. He got offered to do the dunk contest. One year. Oh, really? I’m not joking, because like a couple Knicks got injured in, I think it was in New York or something. Yeah, I remember that. I butchered the story. But, yeah a little, little known story about Steve Novak.
Just a couple more. What is the funniest or most bizarre fan interaction that you’ve ever had at the event? Oh,
Jen Lada: hands down. I was at a convention, White Sox convention when I was covering the White Sox, and a guy asked me to sign his bicep.
Richie Burke: What’s his name, Mike Consola?
Jen Lada: It was actually Dario Melea. I got pretty nice biceps.
To tell that it was him. I can
Richie Burke: tell, it’s like kind of a tight pullover you got over there. Looking solid. It’s called
Jen Lada: DadBot, I don’t know why you’re, yeah. exactly. Although I did give you a couple of Charleston chews for Valentine’s Day. Yeah, I saw, thank you, thank
Richie Burke: you. you eating over there? Okay. Most bizarre fan interaction.
I don’t really. Or memorable.
Dario Melendez: Memorable so this last spring training, I, I went down to Maryvale, and this dad came up and was like, Hey, do you remember like 12 years ago you took a picture with my son? And Here I was like, I, I don’t remember that. So his son was there and we reconnected after 12 years.
I took a picture and we kind of did the side by side. So I interviewed his kid you know, asking his favorite brewers player from like 2011. He’s like, Oh, Gorman Thomas was definitely my favorite brewers player. Like you’re not even old enough to know who that is. But that’s probably the most bizarre one.
Like the, it kind of goes back to, you never know the impression you’re going to leave on someone. Yeah. Like this was 12 years ago and the father was so happy with me my interaction with his son that I guess almost probably every spring training he was looking for me, and he finally found me.
Richie Burke: That’s cool.
What is the most memorable event each of you have ever covered?
Jen Lada: Wow,
Richie Burke: other than the Seahawks game where it was love at first sight. No,
Jen Lada: that was the Niners game. The Niners game was huge. Crap, wow, I mean, I’ve covered a bunch of national championships now for as long as I’ve been on game day. I don’t know.
I’ve never gotten to cover a Super Bowl. Dario got to cover the Packers Super Bowl that year. I didn’t get to go. So I can’t even like say that. I was at a Super Bowl once when I had a feature story that was accompanying our coverage.
Richie Burke: You didn’t make the Super Bowl cut? You were covering the playoffs together?
Correct.
Jen Lada: Yeah, a hundred percent.
Richie Burke: I didn’t want to say anything. Yeah, I mean, every city we were sitting next to each other
Jen Lada: and then my boss swooped in and was like, Hey, the
Richie Burke: missed, the missed opportunity. And
Jen Lada: every time I see Tom Pippins, who of course is a local legend in Wisconsin was at Fox six for decades.
I’ll be like, Hey, remember that year when our boss was like, Jen went to all the games, but you get to go to the Super Bowl. Like it’s, it’s it’s, yeah, I’ve definitely let it go. As you can tell by talking about it today. So, so cover, I don’t know, but I went to, we went to as a family, the 2016 world series, when the Cubs beat the beat the Indians, they’re not the Indians anymore, so I was pausing on that.
And that was incredible.
Dario Melendez: So game one. I’m waking up early to take our son to school, and she’s just sleeping in because I think you had baseball tonight or something like that going on. Which
Jen Lada: is at like 2 in the morning.
Dario Melendez: Yeah, but she’s already up, and she’s just staring at me with this poop eating grin I’m like what the heck is going on.
She’s like hey, you could either take Chase to school or We could fly to Cleveland.
Jen Lada: I think we drove to that one didn’t we?
Dario Melendez: We drove?
Jen Lada: To game one.
Dario Melendez: Oh, yeah, we drove We drove to Cleveland
Jen Lada: and then we flew to game seven and then
Dario Melendez: we flew to game seven. Then, yeah, I’m covering like Jets practice or just mini camp and I get home like, Hey, pack your bags.
We’re going to game seven. I get yelled at when I buy a Lego set. This lady’s dropping thousands of dollars on Cubs. It’s that game day money though. Yeah, it’s that game day money. It’s that game day paycheck. And it only
Richie Burke: happens once every hundred years or so, right? Exactly.
Dario Melendez: But it was cool. Like Mike Napoli threw Chase a game ball.
So, and the best part about Chase is so when we were living in Connecticut, we were near the blue Bridgeport blue fish, which is like the milkman. It’s Independent ball. Yep. They gave him a baseball and he wrote blue fish on it. We went to a Mets game cause I was covering the Mets and I think Andy grammar was like the postgame show.
So he got a baseball at the Mets game. I was like, Oh crap. This is awesome. He wrote Mets on it. He got this world series baseball from the first time. The World
Jen Lada: Series stamp on it and
Dario Melendez: it’s covered in dirt. It looks awesome. It’s like, Oh, I can’t wait. I’m like, okay, this is great. You’re not writing Cubs on this baseball.
Richie Burke: You’re putting this in class and you’re keeping this because you don’t know how much this could be worth down the road.
Dario Melendez: What was the question again? I forgot.
Jen Lada: Most memorable, memorable. Oh, you’ve covered.
Dario Melendez: So I’ve got to cover three Superbowls, which is awesome. Started my career, Tampa. Miami and then, and then Dallas.
Read more than Jen. Yeah the Mets World Series run in 15 was awesome. I had just got to New York 1 and that was cool, but I would, I’d probably say the coolest thing I got to cover was being on Middleton’s bus during the parade. So that, I mean, cause they didn’t let anybody on the buses, only the TV partner.
So we were the only one on, it was still coming out of COVID, so they were a little restrictive. So it was like just being on the championship parade bus going through downtown Milwaukee. I think Teague was on there, PJ Tucker, Chris Middleton, a couple of the guys that were signed late that didn’t really play.
And then like pulling up next to Bud’s bus. And I was like damn it PJ. I should have been on your bus You got all the good crap over there because he’s drinking those huge bottles Yeah, and I have one and he gave me one so it’s like in in my office But that was by far the coolest thing I ever got to cover like I just remember because we couldn’t really do anything Because we had these TVU backpacks.
That’s how you transmit your signal, but they work off a cell service So there’s no cell service during the parade because everybody’s using it. So I can’t even do anything So I got all my interviews done beforehand and I just kind of like sat on the bus in the front and looked out It was cool
Jen Lada: Can I tell you what he has told me has been a really cool experience that I’ve never gotten to experience and I know a Lot of people haven’t playoff hockey.
You said the Stanley Cup final The best
Dario Melendez: well, I didn’t get to cover the final covered covered a couple rounds the cool thing about being in New York is that there are so many teams and one of them is going to be good, but I want to say it was 17, 2017, maybe 16, that the Islanders with Tavares and then the Rangers with their loaded staff were all good at the same time.
So we start with the Rangers run and we go to like Montreal. If you go to Chicago and you go to Madison square garden, those are great hockey atmospheres. There is nothing like seeing playoff hockey. At the bell center in Montreal. Like it was the coolest experience I had ever seen. Like goosebumps even thinking about it.
And then they beat the haves and then they go to Ottawa and it was. So cool like be I would have never gone to Canada’s capital like did you guys even know that Ottawa’s Canada’s capital?
Richie Burke: No,
Dario Melendez: exactly Exactly. It was cool But the one thing I always say is like I don’t They always say like Quebec and French.
Canada is very French. They think they’re France like no one speaks No one speaks English Everything’s in French and I’m the Quebec wants it’s right. It’s crazy That’s what I was really taken aback by. But so then after that’s done, I fly down to Tampa, or fly to Miami to cover Islanders, and I’d fly back, and then, as soon as Islanders won, I’d fly down between, you know, Ottawa and Tampa, and like, that was, that was a really cool experience, covering that playoff stretch between the Islanders and the Rangers at what in 16 or 17.
That was fun.
Richie Burke: Thank you to Jen and Dario for coming on and to you for tuning into Milwaukee uncut. Just a reminder to make sure you subscribe and write a review on Apple and Spotify. If you do and leave your email or Instagram handle at the end of that review, you’ll be entered into our weekly giveaway.
Make sure to leave that at the end though, so we know where to reach out to. And just a reminder, this podcast is produced in Walker’s Point by Story Mark Studios in partnership with On Milwaukee and presented by Central Standard Distillery in Nicolet Law.