Podmatch

I joined Podmatch yesterday, but I gotta be honest. I already think this isn't gonna work out. The service isn't cheap. It's $38/month. That would probably be worth it if it gave me the opportunity to talk about As For Football on a bunch of podcasts, promote my other work, and get a bunch of cool new guests on the College Football Roundtable Show. 

Unfortunately, I don't think that's what's gonna happen.

If you're wondering, Podmatch works like Tinder but for podcasts and their guests. Finding and scheduling guests is, in fact, the hard part of having folks on, which is one of the reasons we rarely have guests on the AFF Army Football Show. We can get an infinite number of former Army Football players, and for the most part that's great, but getting a wider variety of folks on for Roundtable -- where it would actually help -- is a lot more challenging. Not because people don't want to come on but because finding folks and then figuring out who we want and when they're available can be a pain in the ass. In theory, Podmatch helps with that, but only if it actually works.

I wrote this whole profile yesterday, but in truth, Podmatch works solely via selected keywords. After trolling through the assortment, I selected College Athlete, College Football, Science Fiction, Swimming, Writing, and Writing a Book as my keywords. After thinking about it a bit, I added Adventure just this morning. I then backed that up with the following "About Danno Cabeza" bio:

I am an engineer, adventurer, swimmer, memoirist and novelist.

I graduated from West Point with the Class of 1995. Swam at the Academy all four years, specializing in the 100 and 200 Butterfly. Won two individual Patriot League championships; my team won the League all four years I was there. Today, I still swim four times/week and lift weights twice/week.

After graduation, I commissioned into the Army as an Armor Officer, served my five years, and then left the Army from Korea way back in September 2000. Since then, I've worked as an electrical engineer in New York City for more than 25 years.

I've always liked to write. I write about sports because I know and love sports. The sports I like to watch aren't necessarily the sports I like to play, but I very much still think of myself as an athlete. Writing about college football, college lacrosse, and (occasionally) college baseball helps keep me connected to my alma mater, especially to the athletes there. I've been blessed to find that other people like my work, and so it's become a whole thing.

AFF was invited to cover the Army-Navy Game from Radio Row last year. We were the first Army-specific podcast invited. We'll be back this year, too.

I wrote a memoir about my swimming career and about growing up in a military household called Swim, Bike, Run, Live, Love, Repeat.

I'm also a novelist. My new book is called The Return of Dr. Necropolis. It's kind a crime fiction story with classic superhero elements that I'm hoping to release later this year. It takes place ten years after the government nationalizes all superheroes, so the book still has a military/service angle.

When I'm not working, swimming, or doing AFF, I am an enthusiastic snowboarder, mostly in Vermont.

Honestly, that seemed like a lot of text for a guy who's gonna come on your show for fifteen minutes to talk about Army Football and/or the Army-Navy Game, but whatever. My goal here was to at least give myself the opportunity to talk about my book occasionally, too.

Friends, it turns out that Podmatch considers ALL OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL a hopelessly niche interest that maybe a few people like.

Facepalm. I feel like we're not even speaking the same language right now.

Here I am, trying to sell a podcast about Army Football and the fucking American Conference, and these guys think ALL OF FOOTBALL (NFL included) is, like, just not that interesting. Instead of that, I've seen a BUNCH of publish your book-type shows and a handful of obvious grifter "entrepreneurs".

Guys, the NFL is going to make more money every week of the year than all of publishing will make in that same year's entirety. College Football puts millions of people into the stands at games all around the country and tens (if not hundreds) of millions more in front of the TVs every single week. And you want to talk to me about entrepreneurship? 

WHAT ARE WE DOING RIGHT NOW?

Needless to say, I've matched with no one, I don't think I'm going to match with anyone, and it all makes me want to fucking scream. Once again, I'm a stranger in my own country, marching to the beat of a drum that's so unique other people don't even seem to realize it's coming from a musical instrument.

I hate all of you SO MUCH right now. I really... I hate you.