• Matt Iseman from Sports Soup on Versus

Sports Soup is patterned after Talk Soup/The Soup but with a sports twist. The show is hosted by Matt Iseman who took the easy route to television fame. He went to Princeton University, and then got his M.D. from Columbia before ditching medicine for comedy.

I talked to Matt by phone last week about the show, how he became a sports fan, and who we will probably never see him go after on Sports Soup. Check it out after the jump.

HG: Matt thanks for giving me some of your time.

MI: HG thanks for having me.

HG: Your show, Sports Soup, was built in the model of Talk Soup, The Soup. What’s it like carrying the torch of the concept into the sports world?

MI: It’s great when I look at Kinnear, John Henson, Aisha Tyler, and now Joel McHale.. The good news is, they’ve all done well so I’m just hoping to ride on their coattails. One great thing is the show works obviously for pop culture but I think it’s the format that works so it’s nice heading into it knowing that we’ve kinda got a proven format. I think if you’re a sports fan too, it really makes sense. It’s fast paced, clip based, you won’t get bored and sports fans are used to watching clips so instead of commenting on them we’re going with a little bit different angle and trying to be funny and even if we’re not at least the clips are entertaining.

HG: How did you become a sports fan or are you a guy pretending to like sports to pull a paycheck?

MI: I’ve been brainwashed with sports since I was a little kid. I grew up in Denver. My dad had season tickets to the Broncos, the Colorado Rockies when they were a hockey team before they moved to Jersey. One of my vivid early sports memories is standing on a chair at McNichols Arena chanting Jim Craig sucks. It was about ’81 or ’82 because it was right after the Olympics. But I’ve loved sports all my life. I played baseball, football, basketball growing up, skied too. I played baseball at Princeton and then kind of became a doctor. That ended up not being the correct career choice so I quit, started doing stand-up, and fell in love with comedy. When they said there was a show that was combining sports and comedy for me it was in my wheelhouse and I’m just glad I got the nod.

HG: I’m glad you brought up being a doctor. You retired from the profession due to a love a comedy…

MI: I like retired. That’s a good way of putting it. I’m like Michael Jordan, I might come back.

HG: You could go back couldn’t you?

MI: Well my license is still current but if I’m the guy who’s saving you… I don’t think you’ll make it. One of the keys in life is knowing what you’re supposed to do and I don’t think I was meant to be a doctor. I think I was meant to be the host of a show that mocks sports.

HG: Did your parents make you pay back the med school money?

MI: It’s a confidential agreement I have with my parents. They can pretend that I don’t exist and I don’t have to pay back the money. No, I was pretty fortunate that financially I did well out here with commercials and my grandparents helped out with medical school but just thank God that I’m not working for the man anymore.

HG: On the show you guys take shots at everybody but is there any temptation to just record ESPN 24 hours a day and rip them?

MI: I think ESPN is certainly easily to mock. They’ll have three, four, five people in the field constantly so there’s going to be some good moments. I still enjoy ESPN, here’s the thing. With the show, we poke fun at everybody. Terrell Owens, Drew Rosenhaus, Olympic gymnast, bull riders, bass fisherman, and yeah broadcasters. But at the end of the day we’re not looking to get anyone fired. We’re not looking to pull the rug out from under them and say they’re horrible at their job and they shouldn’t be doing it. We’re really just saying ‘listen there’s some stuff worth laughing about.’ When Tony [Kornheiser] tries to translate Spanish on MNF and offends people of Spanish decent, we’re not trying to get Tony fired, that’s funny. That was hilarious. If they hang themselves we’re gonna give them the rope and show it for everybody to laugh at.

HG: On The Soup right now, Joel McHale has Tyra Banks as his old reliable. Is there an athlete or broadcaster that we can count on you going after every week?

MI: Can we say the Dallas Cowboys in general? That’s the great thing about sports, it’s gonna be somebody new every week. Terrell Owens could be our guy but unfortunately the Cowboys aren’t winning to give him enough press and he hasn’t had a blow-up so people are overshadowing him. John Daly passed out in a Hooters. They said he had to go home. I’m pretty sure Hooters is John Daly’s home. It’s where he belongs. With the NBA starting, Charles Barkley is huge. He’s gold. He really is. He was talking about getting a colonoscopy on TNT the other night. Really? Thanks Charles. That’s exactly the imagery we want so with sports, it’s somebody new every day.

HG: You guys did a bit with Sarah Palin and Zamboni. How loosely does sports have to be mentioned for it to air on the show?

MI: Here’s what I’ll say. We have no journalistic integrity here but when Sarah Palin speaks about, even jokingly, naming her kid Zamboni, then my God that’s gotta go on the show. We’re not looking to go anywhere but the world of sports. If sports gets introduced in politics, if it gets introduced in modeling, if John Mayer picks up a baseball bat at a concert, then it’s fair game.

HG: Do you keep up with blogs?

MI: I read Awful Announcing, Deadspin, and others. Also, we’ve got a crew of people who’s job it is to watch sports, to scour the web, to find everything. Now we know, even with 25 people watching Tivo’d sporting events 10 hours a day we’re still gonna miss stuff. People email us things and we’re definitely looking at blogs to make sure we don’t miss anything. We’re certainly not the ones claiming that we found a lot of the stuff. The blogs are way ahead of it. Obviously they can post something real-time. Six seconds after TBS airs Steve Harvey instead of Game 6 of the ALCS it’s on the web. So we realize the blogs are gonna be the first frontier but hopefully we can do the job of bringing the clips to the masses a little more.

HG: As far as the web goes, we kind of do the same thing with blogs. Sometimes we actually want people to get fired or at least embarrass the hell outta them. It’s the snarky nature of the internet. With that said, where can I go to find some embarrassing stuff on you and get you fired?

MI: I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff, but the good news is with this job doing stuff that’s ridiculous is probabaly just street cred. So at this point I’m not sure that there’s much on the web that I’ve done. You can embarrass me sure, but my pride and self-esteem have gone out long ago. I’m just in this for the humor so if it makes people laugh then I’m down.

HG: Cool because I was checking out your Wikipedia page and it says you appeared on General Hospital “ironically” as a kidnapper and a rapist. That’s a solid role.

MI: I was always worried about going out to the bars in L.A. and a girl would finally recognize me from something, and it turns out it’s for being a date-rapist. There’s no chance she’s accepting a drink from me at that point.

HG: I’m trying to understand what exactly made it ironic..

MI: If it wasn’t that would be something that could get me fired I imagine but as far as I know most of my girlfriends have hung out with me willingly.

HG: So you’re not a kidnapping date-rapist, you just play one on TV. Now that you’re in the business of poking fun at people do you worry about bumping into any pissed off athletes?

MI: We already had an encounter with Michael Strahan. We were poking fun at the pregame show and Strahan ran into one of our producers and he was laughing about it. I love the athletes that get it, that have a sense of humor about it like ‘Look I screwed up, you put it on there, that’s fun.’ And at the end of the day hopefully that’s what the show is. It’s gonna make people laugh about it but we love sports and we’re gonna tune in and watch next week. As much as we mock them I’m there Sunday morning with my NFL Sunday Ticket watching as many games as possible.

HG: Are there any athletes you’re trying to stay away from in case they don’t “get it”?

MI: None. Well maybe some of the MMA guys cause I think they’re insane. But hopefully the athletes have too much to lose to beat up a basic cable host. There’s no limits on anything but with the Isiah Thomas reported overdose we were like ‘You know, there’s probably not a ton of humor in that’ so we’re just gonna let that one lie.

HG: All right Matt thanks for everything. Before I let you go why don’t you go ahead and plug the show.

MI: Ok thanks. I would love to have everybody tune in to Sports Soup every Tuesday and Thursday night on Versus, 10 p.m. East Coast time. If you don’t like the show, email me and let me know why. If you love the show tell your friends. We’re definitely having fun and HG I appreciate the chance to spread the word.

ESPN and a bunch of athletes and celebrities were in Los Angeles this week for the taping of the ESPY awards. I got a chance to spend a couple of days at the ESPY Style Studio to take in the scene and speak to some players.

There was all kinds of loot for the ESPY participants to pickup including Skull Candy headphones, Karl Lagerfeld sunglasses, Redpepper jeans, and Kefir, which is the health drink of choice for a lot of jocks.

It was a good trip overall, and after the jump I interview a Heisman trophy winner, a couple of NBA champions, and a guy that’s not a big fan of sports blogs.

Sam Cassell gave me a few minutes of his time even though he hasn’t had the best experiences doing interviews with random people.

HG: Sam, thanks for the time.

SC: No problem.

HG: You’re in LA for the ESPYs, I saw some video of you chilling with Manny Pacquiao in Vegas, it seems like you’re enjoying your third ring.

SC: That’s what you’re supposed to do after you win a championship. You gotta live it up and enjoy it so that’s what I’m trying to do.

HG: You bounced from the Clippers and landed on a championship team. Now you see Elton Brand leaving. You think he was influenced by you or is it something about that organization that’s driving players away?

SC: (laughs for a few seconds).. I’ll say I’m not surprised to see Elton leave. But to tell the truth nothing surprises me. It’s a business. You gotta remember that. It’s a business first and it has it’s ups and downs.

HG: Ok Sam, last question. You were rumored to be judging a (pole dancing) competition over the weekend. Did that go down?

SC: (half-hearted laugh) I didn’t do that man c’mon. I’m gonna be a head coach soon so I can’t do something like that.

HG: Thanks Sam.

SC: All right.

Antonio Pierce of the NFL champion New York Giants was in the house but he wasn’t sporting his ring. R.W. McQuarters had his and left me blinded by the bling.

R.W. wasn’t in a very talkative mood, but AP picked up the slack for his teammate.

HG: What up Super Bowl champ?

AP: I’m good. I’m good.

HG: You won the Super Bowl you gotta be good. How much have things changed for you since winning the big game?

AP: There’s nothing like being an NFL champion. I’ve gotten so many words of respect, so many compliments from other players. It’s great. Guys are really happy for me.

HG: I saw you talking to TO. Did you rub the fact that you have a ring in his face?

AP: haha, no. TO’s a good guy and a good friend. He’s a competitor. I’ve said a few little things to different people but I’m not rubbing it in anyone’s face.

HG: I know it felt great to knock off the undefeated Patriots and get a ring, but did you feel a little something extra for Eli Manning considering all of the criticism he’s gone through in his short career?

AP: Eli has the thickest skin. People were down on him but we never gave up on him. He’s a Manning so there’s all those expectations and he’s lived up to them. He’s turned into not only a great player but a leader too. Through everything he always kept his composure.

At this time NY Giants tight end Kevin Boss walks over to us. Pierce and Boss talk about dinner plans. As Kevin Boss is leaving I ask him since he’s up here (at the Style Studio) does that mean Jeremy Shockey has to sit down stairs? He laughed a little and then Antonio Pierce added his own joke.. Too bad I can’t say what it was.

HG: Last year at the beginning of all of the Michael Vick drama, you had a quote….

AP: Anybody that fights dogs is a punk.

HG: Yeah that’s the one. I wrote about it at the time, but I want to ask, were you speaking directly to Michael Vick when you said that?

AP: I said it in response to what was going on but it wasn’t directed only at Michael Vick. Anybody that’s fighting dogs is a punk.

HG: You raise pitbulls so I know this is an issue that hits home for you.

AP: Yeah man, and people have gotten on me about my dogs, but I’m not doing anything like dogfighting. Think about, what if somebody got thrown in the ring with one of those MMA guys and was forced to fight? It’s the same thing for dogs, and you just don’t treat dogs like that.

HG: Ok one last question.. Tiki Barber retires and then you guys win the Super Bowl. Any relation there?

AP: Who? Who? There’s your relation right there.

HG: Thanks AP.

AP: Cool man.

The Boston Celtics were all over the place. I talked to Ray Allen for a few seconds, and then to P.J. Brown for a few minutes.

HG: First of all, lemme say congrats. I know the championship was a long time coming. How does it feel?

PJB: I’m still trying to get used to it. After we won, I woke up the next morning and just stared at the ceiling. It’s a great feeling.

HG: Before the finals started the Lakers were everybody’s pick. What did you guys say as a team about that?

PJB: We didn’t listen to the critics or the experts. The experts were wrong so it didn’t matter.

HG: What’s the best thing about being an NBA champion?

PJB: So far all of the love and support. A lot of people are coming up to me and saying congratulations. It’s all been great. And something else that’s happened is I’ve developed a new respect for all of the players in the league. It’s so hard to win the championship and most guys never will, but everybody’s working so hard trying to accomplish that goal. You have to respect guys working that hard.

HG: So are you coming back to try and win another one?

PJB: Im 50-50 right now. It was hard to win one. Who knows if I would win another one? But right now I’m undecided.

Braylon Edwards of the Cleveland Browns stopped and talked with me even though he’s not a fan of sports blogs. That was the only thing he wanted to talk about.

HG: What’s up Braylon? I saw you on HBO during the townhall meeting on sports media. Things got ugly there but was there anything you wanted to say that you didn’t say that night?

BE: Not really. I wish the sports blogs would stick to sports. Bloggers can be good but they try to get to personal and I don’t like that.

HG: So what were you thinking when Buzz Bissinger started going off on Will Leitch?

BE: I wanted to be on Buzz’ side but he went to far. He was saying the right things but the wrong way. He went AWOL.

HG: So is it the pictures, the writing, or what that bothers you?

BE: It depends. If it’s too personal it bothers me. I was just talking to Matt Leinart (gesturing towards Matt Leinart). Matt was having a private party at his house and then the pics are on the internet. Same with VY, Vince Young. He was at a club but it’s his birthday. He’s allowed to go out. He was holding a bottle of alcohol.. So what? He’s over the age to do that. It probably got hot so he took off his shirt, I don’t know, but those pictures shouldn’t be all over the internet. I wanna see the blogs writing good stuff, nothing inappropriate. Keep it sports.

HG: Well, Matt’s pictures were posted by somebody at the party so he needs to take care of that. Hopefully you don’t end up in any compromising pics on the net.

BE: Not me. And even if there are some pictures I’m gonna say it’s my twin.

HG: Thanks Braylon.

BE: All right man.

Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow was torturing himself at the ESPY Style Suites. NCAA rules prevent him from picking up any freebies, so he could look but not touch. He should’ve brought his dad to cover for him like Stephon Curry did.

Since he had free time on his hands Tim Tebow decided to answer a few questions from me.

HG: You were part of a national championship winning team your freshman year, you followed that up with the Heisman, what are your goals for this season?

TT: As a team we’re looking to win the SEC championship. You win the SEC championship and you’re probably gonna be playing for the national championship so that’s our focus..But it’s gonna be hard. The SEC is tough and even one of the lower teams can rise up and beat you.

HG: I know your partial but from all of the football you’ve seen is the SEC the best conference?

TT: There’s a lot of good teams in other conferences. The Big East, ACC, Pac-10, Big Ten, they all have good teams and any of them could send somebody to the national championship.

HG: You still respect the Big Ten after their championship performances the last couple of years?

TT: Oh yeah, you have to. The thing is the Big Ten doesn’t get to play against the SEC style very often so it’s hard for them. It’s hard for us too because their style is different. So when the SEC and Big Ten are matched up both teams are trying to adapt to the differences.

HG: Last year June Jones was trying to knock your game in support of his quarterback Colt Brennan. Saying you’re a system quarterback. I liked your response when you said “what quarterback doesn’t play in a system?” or something like that.

TT: Yeah I think I said that.

HG: You did.

TT: It’s true though. Even in the NFL, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, they play in a system. They’ve mastered the systems they play in, but it’s still a system. Every quarterback plays in some sort of system so I just try to play the best I can in our offense.

HG: You’re the Heisman trophy winning quarterback for Florida. Have you noticed an increase in the quality of women you’re pulling?

TT: (Laughing) Well, it’s Florida, they love football, so people have been around me since I declared for Florida. Everywhere I go, it’s “Go Gators”. Gators are everywhere. I get more congratulations than ladies coming up to me. Actually I get men and women congratulating me.

HG: What does a big time college quarterback do in his free time? Mess around in the dorms?

TT: I try to relax whenever I have downtime. I also think it’s important to try to help the less fortunate.

HG: Yes, I’ve read about your missions and your work with ministry. If you weren’t going to the NFL is ministry what you would do instead?

TT: Whether I’m in the NFL or not I want to do ministry. I want to help kids and other people. It’s something that I really enjoy.

HG: Thanks Tim. Good luck in the future.

TT: Thank you sir.

The Ghost, Kelly Pavlik, was in the house and you couldn’t find a more normal high-profile athlete. He looks and talks like somebody you would find at a normal job, not like a guy that will put you on your pockets.

HG: Thanks for the time champ.

KP: Yeah, thank you.

HG: Let’s go back to the first Jermaine Taylor fight. You’re down in the second round, and it looked like you were in trouble. You got off the floor to eventually knock out Taylor. What were you thinking when you got knocked down?

KP: I was just thinking I’ve waited too long for this. I want this too much. I can’t let it get away. I knew if I could survive that moment, I would get my chance. He would make a mistake and I would capitalize.

HG: One of the keys to your style is that you throw a lot of straight hard punches. How do you keep up that work rate for an entire fight?

KP: I want to be mentioned with the great fighters so I have to stay dedicated. I’m talking about training 8-9 hours. Sacrificing. Sometimes guys get money and they don’t work as hard. I’ve made some money, I’m living comfortable, but I’m not done, I’m still dedicated. I’ve only had one title defense. I want to do more. If I show up out of shape I can get hurt. Plus I have my family and I’m fighting for them too.

HG: Recently there was some news about threats being made against you, but the police have closed the investigation for the moment. Is everything ok there?

KP: Yeah.. That situation involved a former manager. He’s run into some bad times and I guess that’s what led to his comments. I reported it because I have a family, my daughter and my fiancee, so I have to look out for them. You know, I’m out of town a lot and if I came home and my house had been broken into, I wanted people to know who was responsible or how this happened.

HG: Ok cool. Last question. You look around and see some more famous athletes, but do you take pride in the fact that you could knock 95% of them out?

KP: (laughing) I don’t look at it like that, but it’s always good to know.

Also spotted at the Style Suites:
Terrell Owens ( Didn’t want to talk because he didn’t “know where this would end up”.)
Steve Nash ( Said let’s do it next time. As in when Steve? Not like I’m gonna be bumping into you at the grocery store or the gym.)
Matt Leinart ( Had his young son with him. I asked if I could get a pic, to help humanize Matt, but for some strange reason he didn’t want to deal with a sports blog.)
Michael Strahan
Russell Westbrook
Patrick Willis
Adrian “Purple Jesus” Peterson
Helio Castroneves
Freddy Adu
Kent Desormeaux

ESPN, ESPY, Tim Tebow, Boston Celtics

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oecRkOYNrNQ[/youtube]

When DJ Skee’s not droppin mixtapes, he’s working on Skee TV. If I every catch up with Skee, I’m gonna ask him is being a white DJ like being a black QB? I’m guessing he won’t care either way.

The above video was shot during the NBA All-Star weekend of 007 in Las Vegas. The big Hip Hop releases in the 4th quarter of 2006 were Snoop Dogg’s Blue Carpet Treatment, Nas’ Hip Hop Is Dead, Young Jeezy’s Thug Motivation 102, and Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come. I thought the Nas album was the best of the bunch, but according to the scientific, 2 man study in this video, NBA players preferred Jay-Z and Jeezy. And Juke… Who, in America, is known as “Joc”.

Tags: NBA, DJ Skee, Interviews, Sports, Hip Hop, Jay Z, Nas, Tony Parker, Chris Bosh, Rip Hamilton, You Tube, utube, Snoop Dogg