Q and A with Damon Amendolara
I recently caught up with national sports talk show host and Syracuse University grad Damon Amendolara on the world of sports. DA breaks it down like no other. Enjoy.
ML: When you look back at the NFL season and playoffs as a whole, what’s your highlight or favorite moment?
DA: AFC Championship Game. Yes, Chiefs fatigue means that most of us were disappointed the Bills lost. But it was another instant classic, filled with twists, turns and melodrama (conspiracy theories?). This rivalry, particularly in the playoffs, is the good ol’ days right in front of us. I wish the Bills would’ve won, but I know we’ll be talking about how great all these Bills/Chiefs games were when we’re older.
ML: Syracuse University. Football school?
DA: Not yet. But I like how that began to catch on. It proves that there’s a love of football in CNY and among the students that has been diminished over the years, and is just waiting to be relit. Football is so overwhelming as our nation’s passion that when you have a good program – or just a Cinderella season – it captures an audience so much larger than anything else.
ML: Mets and Yanks outlooks for 2025?
DA: Incredibly strong. The Mets aren’t just using money as a sledgehammer, they’re also being run effectively and shrewdly. Yeah, they needed Cohen’s billions to throw at Soto. But everything has a long term vision, finally, in Queens. The Yankees had an impressive Plan B after losing Soto. Not sure how they could have recovered any better. Both teams should consider anything less than the LCS an underachievement.
ML: If an 18-year old DA wanted to do the journalism and broadcasting thing today, what path would you try to carve out? Same or different than years ago?
DA: I’d probably have done many of the same things I did in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, but have far better technology to create it. I was capturing high school sports and my own adolescent antics on a Hi-8 movie camera, then editing those using two VCRs (yes, insane). Or I’d capture video with my school’s VHS camera and edit there. But now, I could do it all with a phone, a $25 tripod, and my laptop. I’d also assuredly have created a podcast for myself in high school, and began to figure out what my voice was. Back then, I submitted it to my local cable access channel. Now, I’d post on YouTube and Apple Podcasts. But the difficulty of the process back then taught me so many lessons, and honed my skills because it forced me to be ingenuitive. I also love analog technology. You can see why since it’s making a comeback.
ML: What’s the one thing you would fix in sports?
DA: Football and baseball inside and on artifical turf. If you have a dome and want an NFL or MLB team, it should be a mandatory retractable roof. And if you need the roof closed for concerts and the Final Four, you have to keep it open for ball games. No one stopped going to Seahawks or Twins games once they moved outside. It’s a sin. And if you have an outdoor stadium, you are pathetic if you don’t play on grass. The Packers play on grass and they have the worst climate in the country.
ML: Thanks so much. Keep up the amazing work. You help set the standard in the business.
DA: Thanks MIke. Back at ya. Always fun to catch up.
The DA profile: Host • Mornings 6-9a ET • SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio • “Watch D.A. Live” Sundays 7p ET on YouTube • SXM NFL Radio • YouTube: @damonamendo
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