After the Detroit loss to Winnipeg some of you noticed I didn’t do a post yesterday. The reason was two-fold. One, there was some healthy airing out in the comments. Two, I was trying to edit my favorite interview to date and my streaming software crashed. The video is gone, but the story is fantastic.
The “slanginthebizkitpodcast” became in one video my new favorite Youtube channel. In the modern iteration, the founder
Travis Ridgen shares hosting duties with Dave Wheeler, a 20 year veteran in Winnipeg radio and they talk about everything. Nothing is off the table.
It was this video that was suggested by YouTube on Ian White that drew me to the channel. Specifically, clips about what happened to Ian’s career in Detroit. Click onto the channel and subscribe and sort videos by most popular. The Ian White interview is at the top.
Before going into what I learned about and from Travis, the Ian White interview seems to confirm issues fans have had with coaching tactics. A line is clicking, you pull someone off that line to “get someone else going” and that player’s stats take a downturn. Then that’s part of the excuse of getting rid of them and not returning to a working line. I’ve at least heard rumblings that Walman went through something like this, but it’s speculative and I can’t give any definitive input. He was taken off of the line with Seider, his numbers dipped, and then a horrible trade was made. That can’t be the whole story, but it’s a floating “theory”.
On to the focus of the interview in Travis. It takes an insane amount of courage and self confidence to pursue a big dream. You can look at his elite prospects page in the hyperlink above and see the number of leagues he’s worked in. The video above goes into a journey that was going to see Travis play in Spain, and saw an almost immediate return to North America where he now resides in Indiana. The detail in the video gives a glimpse into leagues all over and Travis throughout the life of the channel has pulled back the curtain on what “the road less taken” can introduce you to.
The newest entry has Dave and Travis talking about the potential double edged sword of all that the journeyman goaltender has seen and how it may cause some discomfort for owners and GMs. There used to be a vault door at the locker room and in the offices. A lot of how businesses were run was unknown. What I soon realized in talking to Travis is that in his travels and by setting up his Youtube platform, this is someone who figured out “the business” of the business.
I asked at what age he made the connection. So many athletes play and assume things are fine. They know the contract they signed and don’t think about the possibility of retiring at age 30 as they “live the life”. Travis responded that he made the connection around age 21. In creating a social media platform, he ended up creating a career that still allows him to chase his dream. At 28, Travis has a clear vision of what he still wants to achieve on the ice but also a platform that has seen interviews with NHLers and a partnership with Dave Wheeler that makes for a well put together and intriguing discussion.
If you’ve stopped by the blog, take time to watch the Ian White interview. You will hear a candid take that goes from the power a head coach can wield in someone’s career path to the difficult road that players face when the NHL stops calling.
As for Travis, nothing is off the table in terms of discussion. His honesty and willingness to show “the other side” of chasing a dream that is incredibly difficult to obtain. For him to have created a business in the midst of it all that actually enhances his journey is shocking. If I can ever retrieve the interview footage, you’ll hear someone who can tell you about everything from the wear and tear of life as a tall goalie to the business model of a micro or macro social influencer.
For myself and many others, when “the dream” (whatever that was) got to the point where bills needed to be paid, it was shelved and the proletariat corporate ladder climb began. For Travis, he’s achieved success in the social media sphere and still works on the dreams of a 10 year old whose dreams have seen a fascinating journey. This was a break to go back a few years in Red Wings history and discover someone who used their life situation to create something that will still be there for years to come. We’ll be back at it as Detroit has a long climb ahead to show that there is a plan in place or if some sort of purge is imminent.
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