Time Warner Cable films sports shows at Fort Riley

By Parker Rome, Fort Riley Public AffairsSeptember 9, 2011

Time Warner Cable films sports shows at Fort Riley
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – From left to right, Brig. Gen. Donald MacWillie, 1st Inf. Div. deputy commanding general for support; Fantasy Huddle co-hosts Chris Cough and David Nielson; Herbie Teope, the show's creator, producer and former Fort Riley master sergeant; and 1st Inf... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Time Warner Cable films sports shows at Fort Riley
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT RILEY, Kan. -- A former Fort Riley master sergeant made a return trip to post, and he brought his TV show with him.

Herbie Teope and the rest of the crew from Time Warner Cable Metro Sports' Fantasy Huddle recorded an hour-long episode of the Emmy Award-winning fantasy football analysis show in front of 100 1st Infantry Division Soldiers Aug. 24 at Fort Riley.

"This was a homecoming for me -- coming back to my roots, being around Soldiers, Fort Riley, so much prestige here, so much history here," Teope said. "So, of course, I was a little nervous at first, but once I got in front of the troops and settled in, it was fantastic."

Teope, who is the show's creator, producer and featured analyst, and co-hosts Chris Cough and David Nielson, discussed fantasy football draft tips and insight on location and worked in clips from around the country focusing on different NFL teams.

"We couldn't be happier to be out here," Teope said. "We just absolutely could not. I think you saw from the crowd today. They were very energized. This was just a fantastic show."

Teope said the audience made the show one of the best this season.

"For those of us on the set, I believe we have wonderful chemistry -- Chris Gough, Dave Nielsen and myself," he said. "We get along very well, and we feed off each other. When we had the crowd like that, really pumped up -- for me being a former Soldier and being home -- we really fed off of their energy."

Returning to Fort Riley to record the show he created was very special for Teope, he said.

"I've worked a lot of events," he said. "I've worked NFL scouting combine, I've covered Chiefs training camp, I've worked some of the home K-State football games, but being here (was) at the absolute top -- the absolute top because it was special for me. Again, it's me coming home, and I can't stress that enough. Being back around Soldiers was very unique for me. "

Spc. Jeremy Ganz, CH-47 Chinook helicopter crew chief, Company B, 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Inf. Div., was one of the Solders in attendance.

"I thought it was an incredible show," he said. "It was definitely a good experience to have. When you're working every day, it's an awesome opportunity just to take a break from what you're doing -- from your duties -- and actually have an opportunity to talk about something you enjoy on the side, like football. I'm a big sports guy, so I got to jump at this opportunity and just took well advantage of it."

Ganz, who said he's been in a fantasy football league with his Family for the last nine years, could probably have taken advantage of the advice.

"I've won once out of those nine years," he said. "I've come in last several of those nine years. I won't tell you how many of those times."

Still, he wasn't sure if he was going to use the tips, he said.

"I do my own picks," he said. "They had some choices that I pretty much don't agree with, but to each their own. There were a couple of picks in there that I agreed with."

After the show was recorded, Cough stayed on set to shoot footage for another show, "Braggin' Rights."

"We take four members of our on-air staff or maybe some editors -- guys around the studio who obviously love sports, and pit them against teams of other companies, or this week, the Army, and see who's the best at 20 questions," he said.

A team of five Irwin Army Community Hospital Soldiers and a team of five CAB Soldiers participated.

"The guys were really in to it," Gough said. "The only thing I didn't account for was a lot of my questions were a little older. These guys did a really good job. It's always funny -- the ones they get right, and the ones they get wrong. It's usually flipped. You'd think the ones they got wrong, right, and vice-versa. They did their Army proud because they were both on the positive side out of 20."

The IACH team correctly answers 14 of 20, and the CAB team got 11, which probably won't be enough to beat the Time Warner Cable team, Gough said.

"We've done over 300 shows, and they've probably lost maybe 20 of those," he said.

Sgt. 1st Class John Cunningham, Warrior Transition Battalion, competed with the IACH team and said he was happy with their effort.

"The questions were pretty challenging, but will all of us coming together, I think we did pretty good answering them," he said.

All of the contestants said they enjoyed the opportunity.

"The experience was totally great," said Spc. Wilbert Glen, who was on the IACH team. "I enjoyed it. I enjoy being on TV and getting Fort Riley some well-deserved exposure."

Both shows aired on Time Warner Cable, but also were made available to Cox cable subscribers in the area.

"This is a Time Warner Cable show that's in the Cox community, but Cox is going to air this show, and I think that was a wonderful gesture on their end as well," Teope said.

For more information on either show, visit www.KCMetroSports.com.