Name: Herbie Teope
Nickname: N/A
Job title(s): Sports writer and on-air analyst, Time Warner Cable & Metro Sports, Kansas City, Mo.
Full-time in fantasy?

I’d go with 50-50 because I’m a credentialed sports journalist along with being involved with fantasy sports.

Outside of latter, I draw assignments from my news director to cover events for which fantasy writers, on average, will unfortunately experience challenges to get recognized as members of the working media by credential-issuing authorities. I have hope the day will eventually arrive when the door opens for strictly fantasy writers to have an opportunity to cover live events. I personally know strong fantasy writers who I have no doubt can uphold the journalism ethics and standards.

Some events I’ve covered the last five years include NFL Scouting Combines; Kansas City Chiefs organized team activities (OTAs) and training camp; Big 12 Conference Football Media Day; Kansas State University home football games; and some Kansas City Royals.

Additionally, I’m a member of the Kansas Professional Communicators and Pro Football Writers of America and. My affiliation with the latter since 2004 affords me a vote in the end of season NFL awards (MVP, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Executive of the Year, etc.) in conjunction with Pro Football Weekly.

Age: 41
Education: It’s a career thing with Kansas State University, majored in print journalism with secondary in psychology
Family status: Single
Favorite fantasy sport to play: Football, and nothing else compares
Favorite sport to watch: The NFL
Favorite team (any sport): Seattle Seahawks
All-time favorite athlete: Michael Jordan
Years playing fantasy: 17 years
I got my start in the fantasy industry when: Dave Smith, owner of the now defunct DraftZone.com, “discovered” me on a message board in 2002.

Since then, my fantasy résumé includes: My work has been published in national magazines, Web sites and newspapers. My weekly column, “The Top Spin,” is exclusive to The Kansas City Star. I appear on TV and have made guest spots on the following radio stations:

• 610 Sports Radio Kansas City
• Seattle Sports Radio 950 — August 2007 for the station’s preview of the AFC West
• The Pulse & 1670 Madison — Friday night and Sunday morning NFL pregame shows, 2005-2006
• 1510 The Zone: Boston’s Sports Station — 2005 NFL Season Preview Show analyzing the AFC and NFC North Divisions
• 90.7 Cape Cod Sports — Sunday evening NFL postgame shows, 2005
• KFRM 550 Sports Talk Kansas — 2003-2004

Three questions

1) How did the Roto Sports gig come about, and how has it fed into your succeeding fantasy opportunities?

Scott Pianowski, former senior editor at RotoWire.com, discovered my work on DraftZone.com in 2003 and brought me over in 2004. Writing for Pianowski and RotoWire’s managing editor, Chris Liss, opened the door for “The Top Spin” to appear on Yahoo! Sports NFL and EA Sports.

RotoWire proved to be a great place to work and write for. To this day, I count Pianowski and Liss as two of the best editors I’ve had.

2) Can you describe the creation of your TV show, Fantasy Huddle? How has that grown since its 2007 launch?

I was in River Falls, Wis., in the summer of 2006 covering the Chiefs training camp for Time Warner Cable & Metro Sports. Upon return to Kansas City, I pitched the concept of a 30-minute TV show to my news director, general manager and the Time Warner media ad sales regional manager. They loved the idea, but we were already in August, so we put it off until the 2007 season.

The show, which is co-hosted by Emmy award-winning sports anchor Chris Gough, Dave Neilson and me, started off locally to Time Warner Cable subscribers in the greater Kansas City area and extended to parts of Missouri and Kansas. I consider it my baby since I created and am primarily responsible for the on-air discussion topics. We received excellent feedback from viewers.

In the early summer of 2008, Time Warner Cable distributed the show to 17 of its 21 national markets. Some major areas, including bona fide NFL cities, and surrounding communities to watch the show are:

• Los Angeles, Palm Desert and San Diego, Calif.
• All of North Carolina and South Carolina
• Kansas City, Mo.
• Lincoln, Neb.
• Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, N.Y.
• Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio
• Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Killeen, San Antonio, Waco and Wichita Falls, Texas
• Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wis.

The market response to the show was explosive. The distribution also led to an opportunity with The Kansas City Star to carry my column, “The Top Spin,” which is exclusive to the newspaper during the NFL season.

3) You spent 20 years in the military before moving on to this media career. How did that time prepare you for what has followed?

The interesting thing is I wasn’t a journalist in the military. I freelanced for various Web sites and publications while still in uniform and this led to my submitting my resignation when I became eligible.

Translating what I learned and digging into my time as a U.S. Army Drill Sergeant, the obvious advantage was discipline. My editors, and from the TV side, producers and news director, never have to worry about beating me up before a deadline. They know I have the discipline to get the job done.

Bonus: Among the Facebook groups you have joined is “It’s a Jeep Thing … You Wouldn’t Understand.” What exactly wouldn’t we understand? When you buy a Jeep, does it come with a secret wave like a Harley does?

This is funny! And you’re right; there is a camaraderie and friendly wave among Jeep owners. Instead of giving away our secrets, I recommend everyone buys a Jeep once the economy settles so they’d understand.