Meeting Your Heros

Sunset beginning at Mann Island, TAW's new home.

Although the phrase 'Never meet your heroes' doesn't seem to be as old as it probably should be, it's had plenty of mileage in the last 40-odd years. So it was with some trepidation, that I went to meet a few of my heroes.

Those of you who might listen to The Anfield Wrap are almost certainly laughing right now. You may love The Wrap, find it amusing, educational, or re-enforcing...but heroes?

Since I fell into the great gaping hole that is LiverpoolFC and the Premier League, I have spent countless hours listening to podcasts. I can putter round the house and listen to an amazing array of approaches to securing regular listeners. Sooner or later, most podcasts feel the need to monetize, and that is where so many of them go astray.

One approach is to try to be the funniest. Not mentioning any names here, but one of the pods I seldom listen to any more is so busy being amusing they fall very short on content. One of their number seems to be there simply to provide a constant (irritating) background of hysterical laughter.
Another approach - to be rabidly partisan. Now I like a good Manure attack as much as the next Red but too much acrimony gets old after a while. When someone is not rational about their enemies, you pretty much assume they aren't rational about themselves either.

Slowly but surely, I found that The Anfield Wrap was getting most of my listening time and when they began their subscription service, I was one of the first to sign up. I now feel like I know most of them personally, they each have a persona:
    Neil - the poet
    Gibbo - the party guy
    Andy - the loose cannon
    Robbo - the journalist
    Gutman - the crank (he's mellowed considerably)
    Josh - the cutie-pie
    Ian, Craig, Paul, Mel, Mo, Ben, Mike, Sean.....

They are smart, honest, professional, funny, and rational (well, mostly). They care about their city as much as they care about their team. They write well and someone proofs before they post! They are my heros.

This week, I will meet several of them. I'll let you know what happens.