Senior Project Reflection Paper: The D-Train

By: David Sacks

Both David Levine and I are huge fans of Mike and the Mad Dog, a sports talk show on every day on 660 AM. During some of our free periods or when we ate lunch together, we would argue about what they were discussing during the previous day’s show. David Levine proposed to me this past winter that we should try to do a talk show modeled after Mike and the Mad Dog for our senior project. I immediately thought it was a great idea, and told him that I was on board for it.

When we first conceived of the idea, we wanted to do a long show of about two hours. We thought that was a good length because we could cover every topic in sports and talk about things in more of a relaxed, conversation-like manner. We wanted to have a website and make the broadcast available to anyone who wanted to listen. During the winter and spring, whenever one of us thought of an idea for the show we would share it with the other. This was helpful because when it came time to write the proposal we already had the whole idea mapped out in our heads.

In early spring we met with Mr. Ragone to ask him to be our Senior Project Advisor, and happily, he agreed. We discussed our idea and he was very excited about it, but had a few concerns. He said that he thought two hours was way too long, and that we should condense it to about thirty to forty-five minutes, because there was no way to retain an audience for longer than that. Although I was disappointed because I wanted a while to talk about the many stories and scores in sports, I realized he was right and agreed to cut down the length of the show. We set up a website, customized the format and settings, and Mr. Ragone showed us how to record and upload a show onto our website.

When the project started, we were very raw. My speech was not good, and I used the phrases, “like,” “you know,” and “um” way too much. However, the show served as a good speech course, and I believe that by the final few shows the broadcast was crisper and more palatable. David Levine and I built a great rapport, and we were very comfortable conversing with each other. We made smooth transitions between topics and discussed topics in a succinct manner. I was especially surprised that we did not interrupt or cut off each other, and we were very cordial even when we disagreed.

At the beginning of the project, I only watched hockey and baseball. However, I started to try to watch every major sports event on a nightly basis. Furthermore, I started watching sports in a completely different way. Instead of watching for just entertainment value, I tried to memorize stats, specific plays, and game-changing moments. I also tried to remove my rooting interests and analyze games in a balanced manner. Every day I visited various websites and read articles and box scores to make our show more educational.

Our show has been more than I could have ever hoped for. We tried to market our show to a bigger audience by asking friends to tell their friends, sending e-mails to the conference folder saying that a new show was up, and creating a Facebook group that contained a link to our website and a description of the show. We also messaged every member informing them when a new show was up. We now have over 110 members in that group. We have gotten more listeners than I could have ever imagined. The most gratifying thing about the show is when students or teachers come up to me in the hallway and tell me how much they enjoy the show, ask when a new show is going to be recorded, try to argue with me about a point I made, or request that I discuss something on the show that I forgot about. I also love the fact that I can put the shows on my iPod and that the website will always be there for me to show people or and I listen to it some other time. Mr. Ragone has been a great advisor, enthusiastic and encouraging.

I hope our project demonstrates to people that if they spend the time to think of a project that they will really enjoy well ahead of the deadline, it can pay great dividends. I also hope that our project encourages other students to think outside of the box and do a Senior Project that is unique and genuinely fun. I am sad that our project has to come to an end, because I truly want to continue the project and look forward to recording each episode. Most nights before we record a show, I have trouble sleeping because I’m thinking of what to say on the show the next day. I am grateful to everyone who helped us in this process, especially Mr. Ragone who has been invaluable. Without him, this project would have been seriously compromised.