Below is a question and answer with Cecil Lammey. As his Twitter bio says he wears many hats as Digital Talent for 1043TheFan.com Broncos, NFL Draft and Fantasy Football. Cecil is a senior writer for Footballguys.com and a member of the PFWA. This was very informative and insightful information from Cecil. He gives you a look at how he got to where he is in his career, provides advice for professionals looking to get into the field and talks about his extensive shoe collection. If you aren’t following Cecil, make sure to head over to his Twitter page and do so.
Who is your favorite team?
It has to be the Pittsburgh Steelers. I know people hate that, but growing up in Colorado, in the country, we don’t have any family vacation memories. We do, however, have the memory of Sundays. We worked as farmers and ranchers and the only time we would take off as a family was Bronco games. My grandmother was one of the biggest Bronco fans I knew. She loved John Elway. My grandpa, who was pretty stern, would still watch football even though he really didn’t like it. We would take a break from work and go and watch the Broncos. Then we would go back to work. In the country my grandpa would always say “one cow will never break you, but you won’t make a lot of money”. So, we would go to Greeley to the secondhand store to shop for clothes. I had one pair of jeans in high school, not as a freshman, not as a sophomore, but one pair for the entire four years I was in high school. That is how poor we were. Nobody turns in their Broncos stuff, so I am buying a Terry Bradshaw jersey from the seventies for a quarter. Me being the “black sheep” of the family and being the kind of rebel growing up in the eighties, where we were super poor. Plus, in the nineties, in my heyday is when the Steelers had Kordell (Stewart), Deon Figures, Joel Steed, Chad Brown, the list goes on and on and on. I used to joke that it was CU (University of Colorado Boulder) Pittsburgh campus. I love the Steelers. In what I do now I don’t really get to be a fan anymore, but once in a while when they play the Ravens, who I hate, I will definitely put on my fan hat and wave my terrible towel.
Favorite sport to watch?
College basketball. I was way better at basketball than I was at football. I played 6-man football in high school. One of the reasons I transferred from my small school in Grover was because my coach wouldn’t play me in basketball. I left after playing football my junior year. He wouldn’t even play me at the junior varsity level. I would get like the last 30 seconds – and I am good, so I transferred to a bigger school. I went from an A-2 (which was a thing back then) to a 2-A school across the state line in Wyoming. I immediately started varsity as a junior. I wanted to play at the junior college level. They unfortunately collapsed the program at CCC (Laramie County Community College) the year that I got there.
Favorite sport to attend?
I haven’t been to many hockey games, but the ones I have attended have been off the charts. I have been fortunate to have rink side seats. That is really, really fun. Baseball will put you to sleep on television, but if you go to a game it is really fun. The energy, the vibe, keeping track of the score and eating peanuts – the traditional thing. Those two sports stand out the most.
Favorite athlete?
Walter Payton. I wore #34 in high school; I carried the ball like Walter Payton – like a loaf of bread. I would get yelled at by my coach, but I never fumbled. All of my children were born with 34 in the time, somehow, someway. My son was born at 9:34, my first daughter was at 3:45 and my second daughter was at 2:34. I don’t have any tattoos. I am not against tattoos – I am against bad tattoos. If I were to get one, the first one I would get would be the Bears font, 34 with maybe the three stripes. Walter is a great man, unbelievable player and a joy to watch.
If you could go to dinner with three athletes who would they be?
Michael Jordan, Larry Johnson and Walter Payton.
How did you get to where you are right now?
I started as a caller, when we moved to Denver from the country. I don’t have a college degree, didn’t go to school for broadcasting and I actually wanted to be a comic book artist. When we moved to Denver, I was a landscaper. When winter hit, I went to be a machinist up in Arvada. I almost lost a finger doing that. I would sit around running machines all day making firefighting equipment and listening to sports radio. I would get up the nerve to call in. I was an extemporaneous speaker. I won creed speaking – I won sliver in state (I should’ve won gold), but Greeley West was biased. The tournament was held there. I felt really good about my voice. I would call in to Jim Rome and wait on hold for three hours behind my machine. I would get on and start talking about football. Then one day – I had been playing fantasy football since 1993 – and Mark Schlereth was talking about it on his show and it was awful because nobody knew what it was in 2003. I called in and Stink kept me on for 30 minutes, which is very rare for a caller. I told him I played in an elite league, I have played for 10 years and I know exactly what is going on. I was giving him the reasons Musa Smith was the right backup to Jamal Lewis at the time. It was cool at the time to bring that knowledge to the call. My best friend’s a landscaper in Fort Collins at the time and he calls me while I am driving home from work. He says, “I heard you on the radio” and asked if I heard the caller after me. I told him I was on my lunch break and had gone over and thought I was going to get fired when I went back to work, so I hadn’t heard the caller. The caller said, “that I was pretty good and you guys should hire him”. When my friend, Eric, told me what the caller had said I thought it was pretty cool. I had an amazing ego even though I hadn’t done anything at the time. I was like “they should hire me”, so I emailed the producer of Stink’s show, which happened to be Andy Lindahl (who is a dear friend of mine now). I said I didn’t want any money, I just wanted to talk about football – fantasy football – and that I really enjoyed my time with Stink and asked if I could I do it again. My life philosophy is the answer is always no unless you ask. You will be amazed in this industry about what you can get by merely being cool and asking. I asked Andy the next week and every Friday after that I was on with Stink for an hour talking about fantasy football. I did that for four years (two years on 760 The Zone and two years on KOA 850 The Sports Zoo with Dave Logan and Scott Hastings). I did that for no pay and really didn’t ask about it. I just wanted to get my name out there. In 2007, I was then hired by 950 The Fan as my first paid radio gig. I then worked my way up from ESPN Denver and back to The Fan in 2016 and here we are.
How did fantasy football become so big?
People are competitive, especially people who love sports. Plus, we all think we know everything about the game. Ask any Broncos fan and they’ll spend 10 minutes telling you how they could do better. In fantasy football you can actually control your team. You can run your team. You can build it the way you want. I remember when I started and Dave Logan saying “I don’t know about this”. I told him “trust me Dave it is just talking football”. There is nothing nerdy about it. I remember introducing Adam Schefter to fantasy football and he didn’t understand why Leroy Hoard was more valuable than Robert Smith and I was like Leroy Hoard is a touchdown vulture. He gets all the TDs and those are worth more points than yards. You used to be looked at as a dork if you played fantasy football and now you are a dork if you don’t play fantasy football. With fantasy football you get to share the human experience if you have an in-person draft and have that interaction with your friends.
How do you balance all the hats you wear?
I don’t (laughs). I know what hard work is because I grew up in the country. Nothing against anyone who has a job in the city, but when I was eight years old, I had my hands frozen to the reins of my horse. In that moment I thought I was going to die. It was below zero and I am eight years old. I understand working every day because I did it growing up. I work every day now. My next day off is the day after the Super Bowl. Once training camp starts, I don’t take a day off for six months. It is doing what I love, so it is not really work. I wear many hats because I love doing it. I love having a voice. The Draft community has been really good to me. I have been traveling to the Senior Bowl, Shrine Game, the NFL Combine and the Draft for 14-plus years now. You make a lot of friends in the industry and it is good to learn about this game. I will never know everything about football and that makes me love it even more because I want to know everything, I want to learn and I want to find out how you properly scout a quarterback. I am addicted to whatever I love. I love Star Wars; I am addicted to Star Wars. I love comic books; I am addicted to comic books. I love football; I am addicted to football.
What is the best event you have covered?
The 2010 scouting combine when Tim Tebow was there. They do the combine interviews different now. When Tim Tebow was there it was just this circus show – freak show. It was an incredible press conference with layers and mountains of people packed in like sardines around this guy who had never taken an NFL snap. Being there and observing that recorder up, hanging on everything Tim Tebow said, was fascinating to me. His fans were everywhere and I remember being in Mobile, Alabama and there was a lady with big New Jersey hair with a sign that said, “Tim Tebow is God’s Gift to Football.” He would throw it in the dirt and she would be cheering. Those people traveled with him. I saw those same people at the combine and saw them at the Draft in New York City. It was wild to see that.
What is one event that you want to cover that you haven’t?
I would say the Final Four, just being a big college basketball fan. I think that is where, truly, the beauty of the sport comes through. Even with the one-and-dones, the guys going overseas to play. I absolutely love the science behind basketball and I would love to cover a Final Four.
How have you adapted to social media?
Begrudgingly. I remember telling our program director back at 950 The Fan at the time in like 2009 that we need to get everyone on Facebook and Twitter. I don’t know why we need to, but we need to. I have been on Twitter since 2009. I did the first football show for the iPhone called “The Five-Minute Drill.” I did that for two years where I would fly to Austin once a week and film that. With social networking it is what are you about. On my Twitter it is all business. On my Facebook I am almost all business. On Instagram I will show the comic book side of me, my passion projects and a little bit more of a personal side. I don’t stay on Twitter all day; I don’t have my alerts on or my at mentions on. I like interacting with people and I like talking with people. It is great for a sports fan, Twitter especially. I am not about self-promotion. I know, like, Draft stuff I am going to be wrong about some players, but I promise you as a follower, listener or viewer that nobody is going to work harder than me. Nobody does what I do to cover the Draft nationally. I promise you that I will put in the work and I know some of my results will be wrong. Now, when somebody comes at me, I don’t ever respond to a “hater” – I usually just mute them. I don’t block anybody because some people take that as a point of pride. I can debate all day; I think conversation in all aspects is needed. I don’t see somebody who disagrees with me as the enemy. Let’s have a conversation. Life is about the energy that you give. You have two kind of people – fountains and drains. I would rather be a fountain and be positive as much as I can and I don’t respond to people who are trying to drain you of your positive energy.
How do you break your Draft coverage down?
First you dive into the film study. Film study is the most important. I do look at the advanced data for college football, but that has to back up the film. It is talking to scouts, talking to general managers, talking to coaches and understanding what kind of skill set it takes to make it in the NFL. Most of the time I am hyper-focused on the skill position players because of fantasy football. Looking into pass rushers or offensive linemen to see what makes them tick. Talking to guys like Mark Schlereth, like “what do you think and what should I be looking for?” Today, knowing what to look for has really cut down the process, but it is mainly being able to identify what skill sets for each position translate to the pro level and getting to know as much about their background as possible (that has been a problem in the past). Just trying to get to know as much as possible about these players. Everybody can watch the same player and everybody can have a different opinion on that player. Never make it personal. One example that I got completely right was Connor Cook because I knew his game didn’t translate to the NFL. There are a ton of examples that I have gotten wrong. I try to do as much work as possible, try to be as thorough as possible and not get personal. I love the fascination and the human story behind each player.
What advice would you give to someone who want to get in the sports business?
Don’t talk trash about anybody. This industry is very small and I remember telling a young Draft “knick” in New York City who had a website. The kid was 17 at the time and was trying to say he was better than Kiper and all these Draft guys. First off, no you are not. Secondly, Mel Kiper is the godfather of this industry of covering the Draft. Never run your mouth about him. Be humble, be kind and don’t be afraid to ask. Matt Harmon, who now works for Yahoo! Sports and was with the NFL Network for three years used to talk to me on Twitter when he was first out of college and he worked at it. A lot of these kids want something right away and don’t put in the work. Adam Schefter told me years ago – when we were on KOA together – he said, “see that guy running the board? Be nice to that guy because one day, he will be a program director and he will remember if you were a jerk to him.” Just be kind and don’t be afraid to ask because there are really good people in this industry. Mark Schlereth, Adam Schefter and Scott Hastings have helped me get to where I am at. I asked Stink “why did you help me? I am some country kid who loves football.” Stink told me “you didn’t ask for anything, you just wanted to talk football”. In this industry you can always smell the people who just want something from you and can get them something. It is about building relationships, being good at what you do and being passionate.
How did you get into your shoe collection?
I have 110 pairs of Jordans. I grew up poor and remember talking to Derek Wolfe in the locker room one time about who was poorer. I had the ultimate Trump Card, I said “have you ever stolen corn out of your neighbor’s yard to eat?” because I have. I did it for six months in high school because my family had no money, growing up poor in the country. And when I played high school basketball, I was really good for a small country basketball kid. Everyone on my team had the Jordan 1’s except me. I had a pair of the fake Kmart Jordan’s. God bless my parents – and I love my parents – but that impression that everyone around me had the Jordans lasted. So when I was able to make it, I just started buying Jordans and I couldn’t stop. Now I have shoe guys that listen (to the show) and I have two shoe guys who hook me up with new releases and I can get those ahead of time. It is just a text away. Only Jordans – I have one pair of cowboy boots, one pair of hiking boots and one pair of Cole Haans.
Who are your favorite social media follows?
I am on social media but I don’t really look at my timeline. I look at my replies and try to answer fantasy football questions. I follow people that I like and respect. I love Todd McFarlane.
