Off-Season Podcast Guests Announced
This year we are going to be keeping the wiffleball chatter going year round, and that means throughout the off-season. To do this, we will be continuing to record episodes of the HWL Podcast throughout the Fall and Winter months. What will we talk about? Well, since our league has wrapped things up this season that doesn't leave much to talk about. So instead we will be reaching out to players and commissioners from other leagues that our listeners may find interesting. We have guests lined up for the next 10 episodes and we will be recording two episodes a month from September through January with these guests, which will pace things out nicely.
Below is a lists of who the guests that have been confirmed to be on the show and which episodes they will be on:
Episode 31: Tim Wiltjer (Leroy Wiffle Association) Leroy dashed HWL's hopes at returning to nationals in 2016 by handing us our hats during the regionals. This made waves and a twitter/facebook fued ensued. Things have cooled since and it's for the better. LWA has finished in the top 8 at nationals two years in a row and have a very interesting "out-side-the-box" league that is akin to the HWL.
Episode 32: Jeremy Litton & many others...for the 32-Bit Episode!
Jeremy Litton helped found the podcast back in 2013 and served as the show's producers for man of the early episodes. His bizarre takes on subjects always make for an interesting listen. This episode he will rejoin the crew to put on one of his video-game inspired episodes from the days of old, as seen in Episode 8 (8-bit) and Episode 16 (16-bit).
Episode 33: Bradley Burck (Organizer of the Hallowiffle Tournament)
Bradley played in our league for the Huntington Wifflers in the 2015 season but has since eluded league play. That same year he co-founded the Hallowiffle Tournament with Patrick Rayl and they've raised several hundred dollars for the Hoops Children's Hospital at Cabell-Huntington. This year is the third annual and it's sure to be the best one yet. This episode will feature spooky games and terrifying trivia about the league and the growing event.
Episode 34: Sam Beason & Mark Maynard (Amy-For-Africa Tournament)
For the past five years, these two have helped organize a growing slow/fast pitch tournament event in Ashland, KY raising money for a mission in Africa known as Amy-For-Africa. They've raised thousands for this worthy cause and have brought wiffle to an area that has never sported a league before.
Episode 35: Jim Bryant (Greater Cincinnati Wiffle Ball League)
Cincinnati has seen a few leagues come and go but the GCWBL has continued to grow since it's founding in 2013. This league stands out for it's format (medium pitch) and is one of the easiest leagues to follow in the Midwest. Jim also has some hot takes on the NWLA tournament and is working on creating a tournament of his own.
Episode 36: Tim Stewart (National Wiffle League)
Tim Stewart is a southern wiffleball legend. He ran the Eastern Tennessee Wiffleball League for years in the early '00s and finally folded it a few years ago. He's back on the scene and this time he's serious, with a growing tournament base that is gaining traction. It'll be nice to catch up with a commissioner who's had his fair share of struggle and appears to finally be finding his target audience in an area not know for their attraction to the sport.
Episode 37: Trent Steffes (Minnesota Wiffle Association)
Trent Steffes is believed to be Josh Smith's wiffle soulmate. Hopefully they can keep the PDA to a minimum as they discuss the similarities and differences of their leagues. Trent is a fashion nazi and regularly ranks and praises/ridicules the jerseys and uniforms of NWLA teams on a yearly basis. When he's not covering the red carpet, Trent commissions his own league (MNWA) and plays in HRL: Twin cities.
Episode 38: Brandon Corbett (Wiffle In Southeast Michigan)
Brandon is the Co-Founder and commissioner of WSEM. He may be one of the hardest working commissioners in the nation and yet, he doesn't speak up much. A few years ago he ran a blog analyzing and cataloging all the logos of every league (and their teams) that had ever existed and was an occasional contributor to the Wiffler's Digest. Back in 2013 we had Carl Coffee on the episode and it was wild. But we have a feeling that Brandon will have many interesting takes on the world of wiffle as well. This will be VERY interesting.
Episode 39: Justin Tomkins (Ontario County Wiffle Association)
Justin in the chief organizer of the NWLA Tournament and commissioner of the infamous OCWA. Tomkins has solid wiffle street cred and has played in almost every notable league and tournament in the Northeast. Tomkins is known for his fierce opinions and tenacity on the field. Tomkins had a front row seat to seeing the NWLA team we assembled fall flat at the 2017 regionals and will no doubt field questions from that from listeners but deserves to be heard out. Also, like our league - OCWA has dramatically changed its format over the years to account for league growth and contraction and the sake of parity.
Episode 40: Blaine Milam (Atlanta Wiffle)
Blaine is the former commish of Wiffle ATL (now Atlanta Wiffle). He's a seasoned vet the game and knows a thing or two about the region and it's history with the sport. Atlanta wiffleball has been through it's ups and downs throughout the past decade and there are fewer better guests to have on to discuss the state of southern wiffleball than Milam.
