Dream Of Local Sports Podcast Realized For Livonia's Otto

Hometownlife.com - (CBSDetroit)

With sports across the country shut down, the entire industry is facing new challenges that impact every person in a team's organization.

With every canceled game or paused season, team broadcasters, scouts, coaches and athletes have been forced to adjust both what they do and how they do their jobs — something Livonia resident Jeremy Otto is exploring with a new podcast called In the Absence of Sports.

Otto, a Madonna graduate, is the TV play-by-play broadcaster for the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team when sports are in session. He also does play-by-play for Catholic League football games and Michigan Stars soccer (a NISA league pro team that was set to start its first season this year).

Starting a podcast had been a goal of his for a while, but until now he never felt he had enough time to adequately devote to one. With games and, in turn, his jobs being canceled, Otto quickly decided to make a move.

On March 16, just days after high profile sporting events began to get canceled, he reached out to a friend for help on a voice-over and got to work on booking guests. His idea was to tell the stories on how coronavirus was affecting individuals in the sports industry.

"Content out there, it seems, is negative at this time," Otto said. "Obviously we address some issues on the podcast that aren't the most positive always in terms of talking about seasons getting canceled and paused, but I'm also trying to bring some good stories to it and search for some guests that have positive things to say, too."

For his first episode, Otto reached out to Detroit Tigers radio broadcaster Dan Dickerson, who he worked with when he interned several years ago in the team's broadcast booth. Dickerson obliged, and the podcast was underway.

"I've had a really good relationship with Dan," Otto said. "I consider him a friend at this point more than a colleague. He's been really helpful in terms of mentoring me. He's my go-to if I have questions about how I should handle this situation, I'll often send him tape and he'll break it down for me, the good bad and ugly in terms of what he thinks. He's been awesome for my career."

As of Monday, Otto released 10 episodes of the podcast, each about 25-35 minutes long. His guest list is impressive, featuring interviews with Fox Sports broadcaster Gus Johnson, New York City ABC7 sports reporter Ryan Field, Kansas basketball broadcaster Brian Hanni, The Athletic's Emily Waldon, a scout from the Texas Rangers organization, former Michigan basketball player Jordan Morgan, recruiting insider Allen Trieu and more.

The podcast is available on SoundCloud and Apple Podcasts, and can be found by searching In the Absence of Sports. You can also connect with Otto and the show on Facebook and Twitter (@jeremyottopxp).

"The biggest thing in starting it all was creating content for a crop of people in the sports world that are craving for it," Otto said. "With everything at a pause, this should be a time when sports should be buzzing."

Contact reporter Andrew Vailliencourt at availlienc@hometownlife.com or 810-923-0659. Follow him on Twitter @AndrewVcourt.