Halftime Heroes

Welcome to Halftime Heroes. I'm Ryan Dunn. Former Division 1 soccer player turned brand marketer and aspiring creator. Over the last decade I've experimented across newsletters, podcasts, short-form video, and now YouTube. On this show, I'm chatting with other former athletes and creators from the world of sports about how they are building their love of sports into a full-time career. New episodes of Halftime Heroes go live on the 3rd of every month (I was #3 in my playing days) across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube

Halftime Heroes is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 9 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Halftime Heroes, a business show with 9 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #8

  How To Become a Sports Writer (ft. Ellyn Briggs of Front Office Sports)

  Sep 7, 202648 min

  Matchday 8 is here and host Ryan Dunn is going back and forth with guest Ellyn Briggs. After getting laid off from her research job at Morning Consult, Ellyn decided it was time to go all-in chasing her dream of becoming a sports writer. In just a few short months she has already started writing consistently about the business behind sports for publications like Front Office Sports and Awful Announcing. Headlines like “The New Way Colleges Are Wooing Athletes” and “College Athletic Departments Are Becoming Full-Blown Media Companies” have garnered attention for Briggs’ unique ability to marry research with timely topics happening around the world of sports. We went deep about how she has been able to crack into the big leagues of sports writing with limited experience, advice for others looking to turn their love of sports into a living, and her predictions for where the future of sports is heading. This is the story of Ellyn Briggs. Let’s chip away. SUPPORT THIS HERO: X: https://x.com/EllynBriggs Instagram: / ellynbriggs Front Office Sports: https://frontofficesports.com/author/ ... Awful Announcing: https://awfulannouncing.com/author/el ... GET IN TOUCH WITH HALFTIME HEROES Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halftimeheroesshow/ X: https://x.com/TeamHalftime TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@teamhalftimeheroes Substack: https://halftimeheroes.substack.com/ ABOUT HALFTIME HEROES: I’m Ryan. Former Division I soccer captain turned creator. Halftime Heroes is where sports and creativity collide. I sit down with athletes, creators, and entrepreneurs to understand how they’re channeling their athlete mindset into building their next chapter.

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  Episode #7

  Tony Reali’s Reinvention After ESPN (ft. Tony Reali)

  Sep 4, 20261h 8m

  For almost 25 years, Tony Reali had one of the most well-known jobs in sports media. Then Around the Horn ended and he had to figure out what came next. On this episode of Halftime Heroes, I sit down with Tony to talk about what it feels like to go from hosting one of ESPN’s signature shows to becoming an independent creator and building something from scratch. For me, this one was personal. I grew up watching Around the Horn almost every day after school. Tony was a character we welcomed into our early 2000s, sports-obsessed living room with open arms. So getting the chance to sit across from him and hear about how he built that career was pretty special. It's hard to ignore Around the Horn, but we talked a lot about what he's doing now. Instead of immediately jumping into another TV job, Tony spent the last year studying YouTube, podcasts, and the creator economy. Eventually, he started building The Real Deal. His new sports show centered around the moments and emotions that make us love sports. Tony spent 25 years getting really good at TV. Now he’s back to being a rookie again. SUPPORT THIS HERO: X: https://x.com/TonyReali Instagram: / tonyreali Instagram: / realdealwithreali Youtube: / @tonyreali GET IN TOUCH WITH HALFTIME HEROES Instagram: / halftimeheroesshow X: https://x.com/TeamHalftime TikTok: / teamhalftimeheroes Substack: https://halftimeheroes.substack.com/

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  Episode #6

  He Built A Soccer Shoe Company From One Cold Email (ft. Ben Chehebar of Eleven Football)

  Aug 4, 202655 min

  Ben Chehebar is building a soccer shoe in a space Nike doesn't even think about. While the biggest brands treat turf shoes like an afterthought, Ben saw an opportunity. And he went all in. He spent over a year designing his first prototype from scratch, obsessing over every detail most players never think twice about. Now, he’s betting everything on Eleven Football. Ben isn’t new to the grind either. He spent a decade building and selling his previous company, Compology, so he knows exactly what it takes to build something from nothing. In this episode, we cover: Building in public The reality of starting from zero (again) Designing a shoe from scratch Obsessing over craft and quality Competing in a world dominated by giants The power of creative collaboration This is the story of Ben Chehebar and what he’s building with Eleven Football. Let’s chip away. SUPPORT THIS HERO: Buy Eleven boots: https://elevenfootball.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevenfootball GET IN TOUCH WITH HALFTIME HEROES YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HalftimeHeroesShow X: https://x.com/TeamHalftime TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@teamhalftimeheroes Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halftimeheroesshow/ Substack: https://halftimeheroes.substack.com/ ABOUT HALFTIME HEROES: I’m Ryan. Former Division I soccer captain turned creator. Halftime Heroes is where sports and creativity collide. I sit down with athletes, creators, and entrepreneurs to understand how they’re channeling their athlete mindset into building their next chapter.

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  Halftime Heroes

  The Playbook for Life After Sports (Solo Episode)

  Jul 28, 202613 min

  My entire life has revolved around sports. Every hour of every day as a kid was pointed towards one thing… playing college soccer. Then, it happened. I was living out my dream. And just as quickly as it started, it ended. Everything I had ever worked for came to a screeching halt. And I was lost more than you could ever imagine. Chasing new experiments, always trying to find something to fill the void that being an athlete left. It’s hard to say for sure if I found something here with Halftime Heroes, but I think this one might be different. I think this might be the thing that becomes my life after sports. If you’re a former athlete or a current athlete looking to unleash their creativity or start a business or launch into life as a creator, this show is for you. ** EDITOR’S NOTE ** I recorded about an hour of footage for this video with a nice fancy microphone. It felt like I finally nailed the script. I had a good cadence. I was calm and delivered on what I wanted to say. Went to check the recording andddddd no audio. Mic glitched out or something. 11 o’clock at night. My wife and baby sleeping in the other room. I dove back in with my Airpods and recorded this whole episode again. If we’re being honest with ourselves… the audio sucks. And my delivery kind of sucks too. But at the beginning of the year I promised myself that on the 3rd of every month I would release a long-form video and it’s the 3rd of the month, so I’m releasing a video. We learn from it and move forward. Let’s chip away. GET IN TOUCH WITH HALFTIME HEROES X: https://x.com/TeamHalftime TikTok: / teamhalftimeheroes Instagram: / halftimeheroesshow Substack: https://halftimeheroes.substack.com/ ABOUT HALFTIME HEROES: I'm Ryan. Host of Halftime Heroes. I'm a former Division 1 college soccer captain and serial content creator. I've tried everything from blogs to podcasts to newsletters to very bad TikToks. With this show I'm hoping to bring together my two favorite things: sports and creativity. My goal is to get to the bottom of how these incredible creators and entrepreneurs are bringing their athlete mindset to the creator economy.

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  Episode #4

  The Man Who Built SportsCenter… Without Video (ft. Kendall Baker)

  Jun 15, 202659 minS0

  <p>Kendall Baker grew up watching SportsCenter.<br /><br />He eventually worked there. Running the teleprompter for Scott Van Pelt, cutting highlights, helping to manage the show he watched his whole life.<br /><br />During his time in Bristol, an idea hit him... "I should rebuild this show I love… in an email."<br /><br />No highlight reel dunks, no extra sizzle.<br /><br />Just words.<br /><br />It took a few years before that idea became a reality in the form of a daily sports newsletter called Sports Internet. Since then, Kendall got Sports Internet acquired by Axios Sports, an...

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