Rockin’ the talk

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This article was published 11/04/2020 (2059 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a perfect world, Jordan Rogodzinski would be spending his days at Miles Macdonell Collegiate, where he’s in his final year of studies, and his evenings parked in front of the TV, glued to the National Hockey League playoffs that, before the NHL season was suspended because of COVID-19, were slated to get underway earlier this week.

More importantly — at least to his loyal legion of fans — the affable 20-year-old would also be busily preparing to host the latest edition of Jordan’s 411 Sports Show, a one-on-one talk affair he began recording at school in 2015.

Unfortunately, the world is less than perfect these days. So instead Rogodzinski, a self-described sports nut who was born with cerebral palsy and a cognitive disability, is killing time watching some of his favourite sports flicks, movies such as Any Given Sunday, We Are Marshall and The Waterboy, for the umpteenth time.

He says he’s also listening to a lot of music, as well as watching his brother Jeremy play sports games on PS4.

All 37 episodes of his program, in which he kibitzes with such notables as Canadian Football Hall of Fame member Joe Poplawski, Winnipeg Goldeyes slugger Reggie Abercrombie and avian gridiron sidekicks Buzz and Boomer, are available for viewing on YouTube.

In late February, four weeks before all classes in the province were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, Rogodzinski, who uses a wheelchair or walker to get around, welcomed TSN personality Sara Orlesky to Miles Mac’s drama theatre, where the majority of the shows have been recorded.

During the close-to-30-minute interview, Orlesky spoke of how, when she was a young girl watching live sporting events on TV with her father, she rarely spotted any female reporters in the booth or on the sidelines. That didn’t dissuade her from pursuing a sports journalism career, she told him, explaining her rationale as, “Since somebody has to do it, that somebody may as well be me.”

Rogodzinski couldn’t agree more.

“I wanted to show people that you can do whatever you want if you put your mind to it; that’s one of the big reasons I started the show,” he says, mentioning his love of sports even extends to his email nickname, Bombers22, and the family pet, a pooch named Wheeler, after the Winnipeg Jets captain.

“I’m limited to what sports I can play, so doing the show meant I was able to talk to athletes and hear their stories. If you want something enough, you’ll succeed.”

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In 2015, during his first year at Miles Mac, Rogodzinski met with his resource teacher Jennifer Jantz to discuss what his Grade 10 curriculum would look like. Their conversation started the same way most of Jantz’s exchanges with students do: she asked him what sort of things interested him, as well as what he felt he was talented at.

“Sports” was his answer to her first query. And her second question? He broke into an ear-to-ear grin. “Talking,” he told her.

“That’s kind of when a lightbulb went off in his head because he suddenly looked at me and said, ‘Hey, I could be the next Shane Hnidy,’” Jantz says, referring to the Manitoba-born former NHL defenceman who, at the time, was providing colour commentary on TSN3 Jets TV broadcasts.

“We talked about it a bit more until, ultimately, I proposed doing a little sports show where he could play the role of sports commentator as part of his English class,” she continues. “To make things seem even more authentic, I proposed recording it on my iPhone, and posting the finished product online for others to enjoy.”

“Deal,” Rogodzinski said.

The first instalment of Jordan’s 411 Sports Show — taped in front of a live audience of enthusiastic classmates — featured Rogodzinski, sporting a Blue Bombers jersey, peppering Miles Mac volleyball coach Melissa Vince about everything from CFL free agency to how she prepares her squads for games. The second episode saw him sit down with phys-ed teacher Colin Macdonald. As for the third episode… well, that’s when Jantz and Rogodzinski really upped their game.

“Without telling Jordan — I didn’t want to get his hopes up — I reached out to Blue Bombers great Doug Brown through social media, asking if he’d be interested in being a guest on the show,” Jantz says.

“Not only did he say yes, the team also got involved, sending over a bunch of Bombers paraphernalia for the 250 kids who packed the room. To this day, that’s still the most watched episode, with something like 1,500 views.”

Brown, the CFL’s most outstanding Canadian player in 2001, recalls being taken aback by how prepared Rogodzinski was for their tete-a-tete, and how familiar he was with his career path. (“I was surprised you knew my birthplace, all my stats, better than a lot of broadcasters I’ve sat down with, let me tell you,” Brown said on-camera after Rogodzinski asked, “Was that all correct?” after he’d listed Brown’s long list of accomplishments prior to bringing him out to thunderous applause.)

“It really was a great experience… one of the better sit-down interviews I’ve participated in,” Brown says. “He asked hard and thought-provoking questions, but he also blended it with a level of humour I wasn’t expecting.”

About that sense of humour; during an interview with Troy Westwood, Rogodzinski remarked, “You were a pretty accurate kicker, but not as accurate as (Justin) Medlock, correct?” Better, when pro wrestling bad guy and Miles Mac alumnus A.J. Sanchez teased Rogodzinski, calling him a “wiener” for wearing a fanny pack, the host shot back, “That’s OK, I like wieners,” while patting his tummy.

Jantz doesn’t hesitate when asked how the five-year-old show, which now includes a production crew of close to eight students and educational assistants, has aided Rogodzinski’s progress, personally and academically.

“For sure it’s helped build his confidence, teaching him that he can do whatever he sets his mind to,” she says. “Also, it’s been really good for other kids at the school, helping them see past the wheelchair, and see the person instead. Best of all, it provided a starting point for a lot of new friendships.”

When it comes to career highlights thus far, that’s an easy one, Rogodzinski says, citing his November 2016 interview with ex-CFLer Milt Stegall.

The host stole a line from Stegall while describing the league’s all-time touchdown king as “thin in the waist and pretty in the face.” And while he admits to having been a little nervous sitting a metre away from the nine-time CFL all-star, who flew to Winnipeg expressly to be a guest on the show, he wasn’t so lost for words that he didn’t invite Stegall to “bust a move,” after asking him, “You’re a pretty good dancer, right?” (If you’re curious whether Stegall obliged his host, fast-forward to the 12-minute mark of their 16-minute, 47-second chat.)

Although the show, which has also welcomed Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea, Jets assistant GM Craig Heisinger and media legend Bob Irving, is currently at a standstill, Rogodzinski is already planning ahead. He leaves Miles Mac for good at the end of June — he completed Grade 12 in 2017, but has been involved in a future preparedness program at the school, ever since — and likely won’t have access to the school’s recording equipment past that date. That’s one of the reasons he recently teamed up with Michael Gerl, another Winnipegger living with cerebral palsy, to figure out how the show will proceed down the road.

The two have a lot in common. Six years ago Gerl founded MIKE-FM, an online radio station that broadcasts Selkirk Steelers games, as well as action from the Manitoba Women’s Junior Hockey League. Gerl, a National Broadcast Academy grad, has also built a dedicated studio space decked out with camera and lighting gear, a facility he hopes will become the home of Jordan’s 411 Sports Show.

“I went to River East (Collegiate) but coming out of school I found it really difficult to get a career because of my disabilities, so I just kind of blazed my own trail,” says Gerl, 27, noting he also has a hearing impairment. “That’s why I agreed to meet with Jordan, who I already knew in passing from sledge hockey, which we both play.

“A mutual friend put the two of us together and, after chatting for a while about the show and our mutual goals, it sounded like a perfect fit. I’m excited for this COVID stuff to be over, so we can get back to work.”

One more thing; Rogodzinski, who has served as an ambassador for the Rick Hansen Foundation, a role that has required him to discuss his experiences with students from other schools, would like anybody reading this to pass along a message to the NHL’s career scoring champ: if he could conduct just one more  interview, it would be with the Great One.

“Meeting Wayne Gretzky would be so awesome,” he says.

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca