The Video Professor spends a day at ESPN™.

A few weeks ago my Public Relations representative came down to my office and said ESPN™ was interested in using me for a promotional spot for a new show.

I kept on waiting for the punch line! A few days later he was back and told me, “You’re going to Bristol!”

Is anyone not a fan of ESPN? Granted, a lot of people cover sports on television. But when it comes to sports coverage (and sports promos) there’s ESPN and there’s “not exactly.” ESPN re-invented sports coverage. Heck, they re-invent it every day.

ESPN is located in Bristol, CT. It’s a small community near Hartford. Their facility takes your breath away. It’s a huge campus full of studios and state of the art technology. The home of Sports Center!

ESPN promotional spots are among the best. They’ve developed a unique brand of humor and style, and I admit to being a wee bit nervous. I’ve been on TV for years, but this was something entirely different. The ESPN crew was great and made me feel right at home.

(John W. Scherer with ESPN Production Team)

The easy part was that I got to play myself. Sort of. ESPN2 is launching a new interactive sports talk show hosted by Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle called SportsNation. But this isn’t your Dad’s call-in sports show, this is all about interactive. You can Skype™, Twitter™, e-mail or even make old-fashioned phone calls with your questions and comments to Colin and Michelle in real time.

That’s where I came in. I’m a sports fan named VidProf45 and Colin Cowherd is talking about Manny Ramirez. I’m Skyping into the show telling Colin I taught Manny everything he knows about the Internet. In fact, I can even teach Colin, to which he responds that he’s been there done that. I close out with my famous commercial tagline, “What have you got to lose? Try My Product!®” Colin quickly moves on to another call.

(John shooting his lines for Sports Nation Promo)

I know they have a few other folks who’ve cut promos and like you, will see them on ESPN2. Check them out here: http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/screentest.

But for a day, at least, I got to hang out at ESPN and shoot promos that I hope will be successful in promoting SportsNation along with its terrific co-hosts Colin and Michelle. I’m honored that the folks at ESPN and The Martin Agency thought enough of the Video Professor brand to use it to promote their brand.

(John on the set of ESPN’s SportsNation)

When I started out Video Professor almost 22 years ago, I had no idea where computer technology was going and what it could do.

Now I know!

So, what have you got to lose? Try ESPN’s product (and mine, too)!

-John

John W. Scherer

John is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.

You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.