Welcome to Steelers Takeaways!

First off, what projects are you working on now?

I was self-employed for 20 years – I was a freelance illustrator until last Fall when Gary Vaynerchuk hired me to make comics for him. Now I’m working for him at VeeFriends. He has 250 characters he’s developing in cards and stickers and now we’re working on building stories around them in comic books.

I’m also working with Steven Bissette on Tyrant – a comic book he wrote years ago about the life of a T-Rex that we’re turning into a collection. It was one of the most beautifully done comics I had ever seen. I’d bring comics to my art teacher at college who would dismiss them until they say Tyrant – they said it was beautiful. So I’m excited to help put that together.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Cartoonist and Comic Book Illustrator Jim Rugg”

First off, how did you get started as a coach now?

I got started because I fell in love with wanting to help kids become the best version of themselves. That’s why I started my organization L.O.V.E, or Living Out Victoriously Everyday – to help kids get better every day – by doing it the proper way.

What does that mean – the proper way?

We teach them how to watch film the right way. A lot of kids don’t know how to watch football – they are smart but aren’t taught how to watch film in high school. Some schools do it better than others – like Pine-Richland, Woodland Hills, Thomas Jefferson… but it doesn’t happen everywhere in the WPIAL. We used to be dogs in this state but not as much now. We have a lot of good guys coming through the state – we want to help them take that next step.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Pitt/Steelers WR Tre Tipton”

First off, what got you interesting in being a chef – even as a kid in Hungary?

My grandmother was a chef in Hungary – I grew up in a tough, Communist country and had to take care of my siblings. I was the oldest of three and cooked at home a lot for myself and siblings. I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and cooked with her – she was a professional chef and I learned a lot from her.

I’ve been cooking since I was five – I never went to culinary school. I went to university for business.  I’ve always enjoyed cooking for others – I hosted events in high school and college and eventually dropped out of college to be a chef.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Executive Chef for Pittsburgh Sports Stadiums, Gabor Kovats”

First off, what are you up to now – what new projects should we be looking for?

I’ve been doing this for a minute now – I lost count of the number of records and songs I’ve done. I just finished my third covers album – I never thought I’d be doing those when I started. But I reached a point where I didn’t feel like I had much more to write about. When I started I wasn’t thinking about writing songs – the Beatles already existed. But when I do the covers I like being ironic and doing pop songs in my style. Continue reading “Exclusive with Pittsburgh-Born Musician William Fitzsimmons”

First, you have a lot going on – MySunday7, media analyst, the new book Smarter About Sports: My Life Navigating Athletes, Agents, Media, and the Business , NIL work, teaching….how are you juggling it all and what projects do you want everyone to be most aware of?

I’ve been teaching law full-time for the last 12 years – now my current project I want to work on is writing a sports law textbook.  A real textbook weaving in my case law experience  – that’s a concurrent project I have now.

That jives with the book – it covers the long, winding road through my career – the stops along the way and the lessons learned and gleaned – how to negotiate and operate through the sports business world.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former NFL Agent Packers VP, Author and Analyst Andrew Brandt”