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MMA’s main man – An interview with Dana White

I have a lot of reasons for having big feelings about this interview, conducted back in 2012.

No matter your feelings about MMA in general or UFC in particular, you can’t deny the massive impact that White has had on the sporting world. I spoke to him ahead of UFC 152 (yeah – this was a LONG time ago) about the event, the sport and more. But it wasn’t just the interview, but how the interview came about.

See, this interview took place in a booth at a general store in Levant – the town I grew up in … and the town where Dana White spent a good part of his teenage years. It’s a place he still holds near and dear; he even maintains an estate there. As for how I landed the interview?

My dad got it for me.

My dad was someone that everyone in town knew – and that included Dana White. And one day, when Dad was out driving around, he happened upon Mr. White working on something in his driveway. My dad stopped, mentioned that I worked for a local publication and asked if he’d be willing to speak to me. And he was.

My father passed away back in 2018. Landing this interview was a great get, but it is how I got it that is a memory that I cherish to this day.

The view from the booth/Brothers in Black Bear broadcasting

This one is a twofer, a pair of stories involving the University of Maine Black Bears football announcing team. Rich Kimball and Bob Lucy have been sharing the booth for well over two decades at this point; the first of these features offered a behind-the-scenes look at the partnership and what the experience of a UMaine football game was like from a booth’s-eye view, while the second was a story in advance of the pair’s 20th year calling UMaine football together.

That first story was a lot of fun – there’s something really rewarding about being able to share an experience with readers that they might not otherwise ever get to have. As for the second, well … any partnership that lasts two decades is going to feature a lot of interesting tales, and while I got a lot of good stuff into the story, the truth is that there was so much great material that I couldn’t fit anything close to all of it into the piece.

Bon match! A CFL experience

There are those that would say that I am the preeminent CFL writer in New England. Granted, by “those” I mean “me,” but still – I am people, hence people say it.

My fascination with the ever-so-slightly-skewed version of gridiron football played by our neighbors to the north has long been fascinating to me, but until a few years ago, I had never actually been to a game. When that finally changed, I took it upon myself to write about the experience.

It was a great time, a midsummer matchup between the Montreal Alouettes and the Saskatchewan Roughriders. It was a hard-fought game, one that featured – among other things – a halftime jersey retirement ceremony for Alouettes legend Ben Cahoon. I still have the giveaway T-shirt. I met Rouge, the Alouette’s mascot as well.

It’s not the NFL and doesn’t aspire to be. That’s what’s so great about it.

A swing through history

As a lifelong baseball fan – one who went to college in upstate New York, no less – it’s kind of remarkable that I had never been to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. When I did finally make the journey, it was a dream realized for a kid who grew up loving the game and never really stopped.

Whether making my way through the plaque gallery – that’s the repository where the players elected to the Hall are remembered – or wandering through the various exhibits that brought the history of the game to life, I was mesmerized by the experience. I saw pieces of the game’s century-plus of greatness up close and personal, all of it representative of the very best that my beloved sport had to offer.

Of COURSE I was going to write about it – it’s what I do, after all. And after so long, to finally be there … it was an experience I will never forget. And thanks to this job, I have a written record to go with the scores of pictures – a wonderful memory rendered permanent.

Mahaney Diamond’s Field of Dreams

Last on this list, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about one of my absolute favorite experiential stories from my time at The Maine Edge – baseball fantasy camp at the University of Maine.

I was a decent baseball player in my younger days – I had a couple of high points that I’ll happily tell you about if you ask – but my playing days were about 20 years in the rearview when I took to the field as part of the University of Maine’s Fantasy Baseball Weekend.

Hosted by then-coach Steve Trimper along with a handful of assistants and former major league pitcher Jon Warden, it was a weekend where I got to pretend that I was still a player alongside a couple dozen other guys with the same idea. I got to be in uniform again, swinging a bat and tossing the ball and generally soaking up the camaraderie that comes with being on a team.

I got some hits and scored some runs and made some plays. I also dealt with the aches and pains of age. Even in my late 30s, I was one of the youngest guys there, though there were dudes 15 years older who could run rings around me.

It was an experience I cherish, one of the most fun things I ever did in the line of duty – so much fun that I’d do it again even if I wasn’t going to write about it … although of course I would write about it.