New York sports fans have known Jon Jastremski for nearly a decade. First, it was as a regular on WFAN. Now, they can find him on The Ringer, where he hosts New York, New York, East Coast Bias, and The Ringer Gambling Show. 

I first met JJ on the same day I met a fellow Meet the Bettors star, Ariel Epstein. I led a panel they were featured in during the 2022 BSM Summit in New York. What struck me instantly about him is he knows how to command a microphone and he has just as many opinions about the business as he does the games.

JJ has been gambling since before that was a-okay by the state of New York. He has seen not only practices change, but attitudes and conversations around sports shift too. It all makes him an ideal candidate for the final Meet the Bettors column of the season, presented by Point to Point Marketing.

During our conversation, JJ and I were both trying to find air conditioning to combat the heat waves we were dealing with in New York and North Carolina respectively. We talk about what is new on boards across the country, why we will talk to kids about spreads and totals in the future like we do trades and lineups now, and so much more. 

Demetri Ravanos: When you are recording, whether it’s New York, New York or the gambling show, what sort of is the attitude or the goal for gambling content at The Ringer? 

Jon Jastremski: It’s a great question. I would say for me and what I’m trying to do with the particular pods I have is I try to make the gambling talk that we do as relatable as possible to any common man or woman that’s out there. I know that’s going to sound cliche. I know it’s going to sound obvious, but I think there’s a sentiment in your audience that is very novice when it comes to gambling. That’s okay. I mean, it’s a new phenomenon across our country and really within the Tri-State Area over the last 5 to 6 years. It’s just become far more commonplace.           

We try to have fun with it. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, whether it’s me by myself or me with [Joe] House and Raheem [Palmer], we want to get things right. I think there’s definitely a little pride that comes in, but the biggest thing is we have fun talking about the games, educating the audience, and letting it rip in the best way possible. 

DR: I did a session with Mina Kimes at the BSM Summit last year, and we were talking about gambling. She said, “Obviously it is not the core of what I do, but the way I understood how it mattered to me is lines were a good way of understanding just how much better people thought one team was than the other.”           

Do you find that people that maybe don’t start out listening to you, interested in hearing your take before they put their money down, can still find value that way? It’s almost a different way of explaining analytics to people. 

JJ: No doubt about it. For me, when I’m looking at games and all of a sudden, the point spreads come out, if I’m kind of like looking at it and saying, “Yeah, I think Kansas City should be a seven-point favorite against Miami,” and all of a sudden, they’re a three-and-a-half-point favorite, and I’m off by a considerable amount. The oddsmakers in the way they kind of set this up from a power rankings standpoint, are usually not wrong.          

Kansas City might not be the best example because they were underdogs, I think, in three consecutive playoff games and ended up winning the Super Bowl, for goodness sakes. So maybe that’s the wrong example there, but in general, when I look at a game and have like a general idea of what I think the spread is, you’re usually not going to be that far off.           

I think, a good way for a whole lot of folks to kind of look at it where you see why you think somebody is a touchdown favorite, but they’re only three-and-a-half-point favorite, is to ask “What am I missing here?”           

I think the lines, without question, tell a story. Like if you think a team should be no way, shape or form an underdog and they are, usually Vegas and the oddsmakers aren’t wrong about that sort of stuff. 

DR: You mentioned that gambling is pretty new to the Tri-State area. It has been a theme that everyone I’ve talked to in New York has complained about the differences in restrictions between New York and New Jersey and Connecticut. So, I wonder what restrictions has New York specifically put on bets and gambling that just don’t make sense to you? 

JJ: Now, listen, I’m not going to be able to speak to whatever the high rollers are dealing with, you know what I mean? I’m not sure what they’re not allowed to do and whatnot, but I’ll say this. From like, a state-by-state basis, I know it’s especially annoying for a lot of folks in the New York area being unable to bet awards, MVP or Cy Young in baseball. You can’t bet on that stuff in the state of New York. If you go to Jersey and you go to Connecticut, I think you can bet on it there. Why that’s the case? No idea. That’s something that I think is a bit frustrating. But, you know, that’s kind of above my pay grade as far as why they made that decision.

DR: Listen, that is the majority of what the complaints have been. The things that just aren’t on the board in New York. Speaking of what’s on the board in New Jersey, any interest at all in betting Car-Jitsu?

JJ: You have to explain to me what it is. I don’t even know. 

DR: I stumbled upon this the other day because a bunch of people were talking about it on Twitter. It is basically like a street fight, but inside of a car. New Jersey just made it legal to bet on this thing. 

JJ: Oh my goodness! I mean, listen. Unless I can get some insider information, maybe you can make me a box. I love betting on sports, don’t get me wrong, but this is a hard pass for me on this one, Demetri. I’m not gonna lie.

DR: We see eye-to-eye here. This felt like one of those “did New Jersey find the end of the Internet?” situations. Are they so bored with every other sport?

JJ: Hey, listen, you put it up on FanDuel, you’ll find somebody who’s taking action. 

DR: Do you think gambling will be a part of how you experience sports with your kids? Maybe your toddler isn’t asking you to put money on the Yankees’ over, but do you think it would be part of the conversation about how the game is played? 

JJ: Yeah, I think it’s inevitable at this point. And it’s not just me and how I’m doing content and how I’m doing shows. Think about just watching The Bottom Line on ESPN now. Every single game features a spread and a money line. So, it’s kind of inevitable that if you’re going to have your ten-year-old son or daughter say, “Hey daddy, why are the Yankees -165? What does that mean?”.           

It’s like anything else that becomes so much more mainstream. You have to do it responsibly. You have to have limits and whatnot, but I think we’re in a culture now with sports and gambling where it’s just so intertwined, and I’m sure that’s going to be true for a whole lot of young people.          

You can’t escape it, but you know, it was always a part of the fabric of sports. Point spreads have always been a thing. It’s not like they came out five years ago in the NFL, but now it’s bigger than ever before, and these mainstream brands have made it part of their vernacular more than ever before. 

DR: With it becoming so much a part of the mainstream, how do you as a gambler feel the odds projection content on pre-game shows has been handled? Do you feel like you’re getting served? Do you feel like it’s too dumbed down for someone like you to get anything from because it’s catered to inexperienced gamblers? 

JJ: For the experienced gambler, they’re going to want numbers. They’re going to want as nuts and bolts as you’re going to find and sometimes that’s just not entertaining. I totally understand that, and that’s why, to me, it’s a fine line on how you discuss it and how you present it, at least from my end.           

I think we try to present numbers but be as conversational and as fun as you possibly can be, because if you just start throwing out a zillion numbers at your audience, you’re going to lose them. It’s going to become way too complicated. It’s just bad content.           

I think the experienced gambler, to be perfectly honest, they’re going to make their opinions and do their homework, research without the help of us. You know what I mean? You could have a sharp and as hardcore X’s and O’s type of show, but I think for the hardcore gambler, they’re going to trust their research. They’re going to trust their models and homework and whatnot and kind of go from there. 

DR: Can you imagine the sports content at The Ringer without the gambling element? You mentioned yourself and your partners on the gambling show, but you also have Cousin Sal. You have Bill. Everybody there looks at sports through a gambling lens it seems. 

JJ: No doubt. And that was always something that was very appealing to me when it comes to working with Bill. When he called me back in 2012, he had been doing this on his podcast with Sal, geez, since I was in college. I mean, going back to when people didn’t even know what a freaking podcast was!          

2006, 2007, they’re guessing the lines on the NFL games, so it’s definitely a big part of what a lot of us are doing on our specific shows. It’s obviously a big part of what I’m doing. I kind of look at my New York show and my gambling show in two different lights. I’ll do some gambling on the New York show, but it’s going to be more content driven, and we take it from there.         

Our podcast, East Coast Bias, with House and Raheem, is far more “Hey, let it rip. Here’s what’s going on in the country and sports. These are lines for NFL, NBA, college” and kind of take it from there. But yeah, it’s a big part of what we’re doing across the board and it’s definitely a big part of what I’m doing. So, I guess to answer your question, no, I could not imagine our platforms and what we’re doing with, you know, the FanDuel partnership and whatnot without gambling being a thing, dude. No doubt. 

DR: Let’s talk about sites like Prize Picks. They kind of reframe the old daily fantasy model, and obviously that particular site has had success. But for you, I wonder if it’s possible to mine that kind of stuff for content, or as long as books have prop bets available, will daily fantasy always kind of be behind the eight ball in that way?

JJ: I kind of get the sense that, yes, they’ll be behind because the books are just so good now when it comes to the props, and it’s become such a big part of what kind of takes place in the gambling space. I’ve always been a sides guy. Like, I was never a guy that really got involved with betting guys to hit home runs or taking the over on strikeouts and points.           

But, you know, what ends up happening is you’re doing daily content or weekly content, and we’ve got to put together a four-leg same game parlay on a Yankee game. So, I’ll end up finding myself looking into that market a lot more than I used to. You know, you kind of hit the end of the NBA season where, “Hey, we have a pod that we have to do.” Well, you have one game that you’re talking about, so, you know, you can’t just rely on saying, “all right, who do you like?” You got to kind of look into Derrick White three-pointers made or you got to look into Al Horford rebounds or whatever.          

I think the prop markets now, for all of these sites, they’re such a big part of what they’re going to do. I don’t get the sense that’s going to go away.  I know, for me, it’s become a bigger part of what we’ve discussed because listen, it’s no days off with this now, you know? You have a show to do. You’ve got to do good content. So, the audience is counting on it from you in that respect. 

DR: Have you thought about, how you are going to handle the Olympics from a gambling perspective? 

JJ: That’s a good question. I haven’t. I’ll be honest, the basketball I know I’m going to be into. The other sports, I’m not going to have the slightest idea of what I’m doing.           

Maybe I get into the golf, maybe I’d consult a buddy of mine on the tennis, but, you know, I’m not going to pretend that I’m the master of handicapping swimming or track and field. I don’t even know if they’re putting lines on them. I’m sure they are putting lines on that stuff, but how to read it and how to play it? I mean, I couldn’t tell you what’s what.           

So, you know, the way I look at it is, “Hey, Olympics are in a couple of weeks.” We’ll see what’s in front of me, and we’ll try to navigate sport by sport what we want to get involved with and what we should probably avoid. 

DR: I am going to need a text message if you decide to put some action on Olympic breakdancing this year. 

JJ: Oh, yeah! Absolutely, I gotcha!

To learn more about Point-To-Point Marketing’s Podcast and Broadcast Audience Development Marketing strategies, contact Tim Bronsil at [email protected] or 513-702-5072.

Well, here we are again. The NBA and the NHL have wrapped up their seasons, college baseball crowned a champion and the proverbial ‘countdown to football’ has begun. Yes, we still have baseball, and the Olympics will happen, but most sports radio stations look at this as the slow time of the year.

Tune in around the country and you will start to hear your ‘5 Best Cereals’ or ‘Top Sports Movies of All-Time’ segments as the hosts scour the internet for something, anything interesting to talk about. If only they had prepared for this time they knew was coming.

The funny thing about the sports calendar is that it rarely changes. You have things like the Olympics or your team doing well in a particular postseason which can change up the schedule a bit, but for the most part, we know when things will be heavy and when they will be light.

This is where it is important to plan, and the time to do that planning was towards the end of last year. If you woke up at the end of June and decided to first think about what you will spend July and August talking about, you’re already dead. Keep searching the internet and social media, perhaps you will get lucky.

If you planned properly, this can be a great time to do some specialty programming, features or events that can be a hit with the sales team and the bottom line. Programming segments don’t typically cost anything, yet advertisers love being tied in with special programming and getting some great frequency in a short period of time.

Are you in a market where football is not only King, but Queen, Prince and Princess as well? What about a list of top players from the area or the top games ever played? Perhaps something you could have listeners weigh in on through a poll or a nomination process, something to get them engaged and something that gives the sales team a digital product to sell in addition to an on-air sponsorship.

I have talked a few times in this space about nostalgia. It hits. This would be a great time to play into the nostalgia of your local sports market and have programming geared towards highlighting former players, coaches, broadcasters and more.

Take a page out of what SportsRadio 610 did in Houston did recently and pick a day to look at the history of your radio station and bring back old voices. Or look at what ESPN Chicago has coming up with their event to kick off the football season with Adam Schefter and Field Yates in attendance.

Or look on TV and see what ESPN does on the SEC Network with their SEC Takeovers.

It’s summer, people are looking for activities and always love to interact with your station personalities. Do you have a summer event, or something planned that brings your audience closer to your station personnel? These things become harder to do as the fall rolls around and football gets underway.

Heck, it could even be just a simple ‘Countdown to Football’ that could be sold and turned into an on-air segment each day. The point is, there is time to do some out of the box ideas and drive some additional revenue.

In situations like these, I would always like to gather my staff together and have a brainstorming session with programming, sales and marketing all included. Get creative and figure out what fits the market, figure out where there is a hole that needs to be filled. If a great idea comes out of it, start testing it by pitching it to advertisers and get their reaction.

I was always a big believer in getting buy-in on things like this early. If the programming and sales teams had something to do with the brainstorming and coming up with the idea, they will be that much more likely to support it the way something like this needs to be supported. If it becomes something where programming management came up with an idea and the sales and programming teams were simply told what the station was doing, there is a greater chance it flops.

This to me is where we separate the good from the great people in our industry. It’s easy to figure out what the station will talk about when football is going on and the other sports get ready to get started. It’s when it is ‘dead time’ that real thinking and creativity needs to happen.

By the way, if you’re wondering, my answer in no order is: Crunch Berries, Lucky Charms, Frosted Flakes, Fruity Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

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The Best Thing I Heard/Watched Recently

Am I allowed to pick Sean McDonough two weeks in a row? I suppose since last week was an interview and this week was a call of a game, I can do it just this once.

I didn’t watch most of the Stanley Cup Final, just popped in here and there. Game 7, however, I was all over. Not much else in sports can compare to the most important hockey game of the year. McDonough was up to the task and then some. After being sick for part of the series and getting ripped for a lack of energy because of the illness, McDonough shut everyone up and had a banger of a broadcast.

Andy Masur chronicled McDonough’s Game 7 in a column and you can listen to the final moments of the game by clicking here.

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In Case You Missed It

Earlier this week, Derek Futterman had the chance to catch up with the great Jim Nantz to talk golf, football, basketball and life. In the feature you learn how much longer Nantz wants to call The Masters, you learn his thoughts on this year’s Super Bowl call by he and Tony Romo and much more.

“I can’t quantify it any other way than just the kindness that comes in my everyday life from people that want to say ‘Hello’ or say something nice or take a picture or whatever it might be,” Nantz told Futterman. “I’m touched that it means something to them because I long for nothing [and am] grateful for everything, but when I was a little boy, this was the life I wanted. This was the life that I obsessed and prayed for, and I’ve been given that chance and I will never take it for granted – never.”

You can read the full feature by clicking here.

Many consider these, the best two words in sports: Game Seven. The intrigue, drama and suspense of the ‘winner take all’ game takes a special announcer to be able to convey the feeling without going over the top. Announcers that can control their emotions and at the same time make sure their audience knows and feels the tension involved, are the ones I want calling a game seven. Having control and command of the situation is critical, without getting too swept up in the moment is the key to success in these decisive games. Monday night, Sean McDonough showed he belongs in this group of announcers.

He was tasked with calling Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Oilers were trying to become just the second team in history to win the cup when trailing in the series 3-0. The Panthers were looking for their first ever championship. In what started as a rather one-sided series, it came to an end in dramatic fashion in Florida.

During the final moments of the game, with Edmonton swarming the Florida end of the ice, with all they had, McDonough made a great observation about the group that was on the sheet for seemingly 20 minutes.

“They all look gassed in the Edmonton white,” McDonough said with under a minute left.

Surprisingly with the flurry of activity, McDonough kept his energy and strength up.

“20 seconds to go! One last gasp for Edmonton … 12 seconds to go!” McDonough exclaimed. “Florida trying to end it up against the wall, which would be fitting. Three seconds to go! The Florida Panthers have won the Stanley Cup!”

McDonough then laid out for 68 seconds. Great announcers know that they can’t say anything as poignant as the pictures can. While he was silent, the ABC/ESPN production let us hear and see everything that was going on. The crowd was roaring, the goal horn blaring and the PA announcer anointing the Panthers as champions. It was also a great time to show the contrast between the emotions of winning and that of losing, with a shot of Connor McDavid with his head resting on the boards in front of his bench.

When it was time to speak again, McDonough made sure to recap and put a bow on what happened.

“For the first time in their 30-year history, the Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup Champions. They made it about as hard on themselves as they possibly could.”

Subtle, in control, succinct and simply brilliant. Most on social media agreed with me.

McDonough is no stranger to calling a Game 7. Back in 1992, when he debuted as the lead voice of Major League Baseball on CBS, he was in the booth for the deciding game of the ’92 NLCS between the Braves and Pirates. With Atlanta trailing 2-0 going to the bottom of the 9^th, the Braves would score a run, then with two men on,  Atlanta’s Francisco Cabrera came up with the game winning hit.

‘Line-drive and a base-hit! Justice has scored the tying run, Bream to the plate…and he is SAFE! Safe at the plate! The Braves go to the World Series! The unlikeliest of heroes wins the National League Championship Series for the Atlanta Braves. Francisco Cabrera, who had only ten at-bats in the major leagues during the regular season, singled through the left side, scoring Sid Bream from second base with the winning run. Bream, who’s had five knee operations in his lifetime, just beat the tag from his ex-mate Mike LaValliere and Atlanta pulls out Game 7 with three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. This place is bedlam. There will be no second nightmare for Bobby Cox. Final score in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series: The Braves 3 and the Pirates 2.’

Another great call by McDonough.

He’s not alone in being adept at calling Game 7’s. I started to think about assembling a ‘fantasy team’ for announcers that I would like to hear on that ‘win or go home’ broadcast. The broadcaster could have done a bunch of those games, one, or even none to get on this ‘team’. There’s a certain style that I’d be looking for, including many of the traits I’ve already discussed when talking about McDonough. The broadcaster doesn’t have to be active to be on the list either.

Game 7 Team (in no particular order):

Al Michaels

With six words, he’s a must to be on this team. “Do You Believe In Miracles? Yes!” Michaels handled the US Olympic Hockey win over the USSR in 1980 pretty perfectly. He asked the question we were all probably thinking when the clock hit zeros. He’s a first team All-American “big call” announcer to me.

Mike Breen

He’s been on the call for nearly two decades of ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals. Breen has the big game touch, based on his enthusiasm and command of a broadcast. His energy is close to being unmatched among the big four sports broadcasters.

Doc Emrick

I still miss Doc on the call. Nothing against McDonough, but I enjoyed Emrick so much all those years on NBC. Doc had a distinctive voice that lent itself to big moments. The way he articulated his words was pure poetry. His vocabulary, his humor and his enthusiasm make him an easy addition to this team.

Jim Nantz

For years his voice has been synonymous with big moments in sports. Whether it be a Superbowl, an NCAA Championship game or a big finish at Augusta National, Nantz was probably on the call. His call on Tiger Wood’s 2019 win at the Masters was epic. Woods completed the tap-in to win, with Nantz exclaiming , “The return to glory!”, then nothing for 2 minutes and 42 seconds. Nantz let the moment speak for itself.  No brainer for him to be here.

Gary Thorne

A nickname like “Game Seven Gary” gets you an invite here too. While he hasn’t been working since being let go by the Orioles, his previous life as a hockey play-by-play announcer was legendary. He alongside Bill Clement were around for many big moments in the NHL. He was there when Wayne Gretzky became the all-time leading goal scorer in NHL history. Thorne was on hand when the Rangers won a Stanley Cup for the first time in 54 years back in 1994. What’s he up to now? Check it out.

Once a play-by-play guy, always a play-by-play guy.