On episode 240 of the Digital and Social Media
Sports Podcast, Neil chatted with Adam Tabathcnick,
On-Air Talent and Social Media Producer for The
Game Day and Co-host of the Caps Off podcast.
What follows is a collection of snippets from the
podcast. To hear the full interview and more, check
out the podcast on all podcast platforms and at
www.dsmsports.net.
@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

Adam’s Career Path
“I definitely am still very much a young guy and, and
very much new in this space, but this goes all the way
back to when I was really in middle school and high
school and just being on camera and doing a lot of
film, creating a lot of content, just walking around,
doing ‘man on the street,’ so being able to engage
with random people that you would run into. [I did
that] every single day from when I was maybe 13 up
until I was 21.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“I went to Colorado [for school], and [studied] film, but quickly
realized the film that I was going to school for was not the film
that I was gonna want to get into. I definitely was not gonna be
able to sit through a three-hour black-and-white movie
otherwise known as Raging Bull. So I quickly realized that the
film that I very much liked was not the film that I was there for.
But my junior year going into senior year, I had an internship
with WME Endeavor, and I was working under the media and
sales division. So for me, I was very much exposed at a quick
pace to things like Wimbledon and Professional Bull Riding and
whatnot, and [was just] able to work behind the scenes of media
in general and saw the impact of what brands could do for a lot
of these sporting events that I very much grew up watching…
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“So being able to work on things like that was
awesome, and it quickly propelled me, you know
[that experience] being a validating thing of like,
‘Hey, you wanna work in sports?’ And so I kept
saying to myself ‘work in sports, work in sports.’
And then you always have your family kind of on
the back burner being like, ‘Just get a job. Just get
any job. It could be anything.’ And it's like, no…I
very much have an ego saying to myself ‘I'm gonna
work in sports, whatever the hell that looks like.’
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity with
Overtime as they were building out their app very early
on through a friend, and they were trying to really, for
lack of a better term, create the TikTok of sports apps.
Something that was like, ‘Hey, I could just mindlessly
scroll and consume sports content.’ So I was hired
roughly at the end of February, and about a week later,
Rudy Gobert decided to touch a microphone and the
sports world kind of stopped because Covid had taken
over. For so many years, wanting to get into sports, I
finally get into sports and the doors shut on sports
content.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“So we very much spent the next six months figuring out what is content, why
are we creating content? And, frankly, we [needed] to create things out of thin
air. So I worked on the app for about six months before I was promoted to
overseeing all the NFL content on the app. That was an awesome experience
for myself and very much [was] able to focus on the NFL and, for lack of a
better term, making the NFL align with Overtime's vision.
“Then I got the opportunity to work at The Game Day back two years ago
now…where I was a community platform manager and was overseeing a lot of
the social platforms, specifically NFL, and later became a social producer and
on-air talent, so doing a lot of on-camera work, but [also] producing a lot of
original content for us, being able to travel to sporting events like the Big3,
the NFL Draft and creating original content there for us under The Game
Day's brand. Fast forward to a couple months later where Caps Off was born,
an NFL-specific podcast, [with] four guys that, for lack of a better term, are
just really shooting the shit.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

On being a content creator growing up with so much technology
and platforms in place
“I was actually the shyest kid growing up. My parents talk about
how I never said a word until I was about six years old. I was just a
very shy kid overall and I think as I kind of grew into my own, I
began to realize that I had a knack for entertaining, I had a knack
for wanting to, as cliche as it sounds, putting a smile on someone's
face. And in middle school, I took a film class one time and I was
just like, ‘I kind of like this. I don't know what I'm doing here, I
have no interest in editing, I have no interest in directing, but I very
much just like acting a fool. I enjoy being able to be a source of light
for someone and a source of positivity.’ And that kind of just grew
into its own.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“So that grew into being able to work on the film team and take film
classes in high school. Every week you have [advisory period], so
once a week you'd go into specific rooms and they would put on like,
‘Hey, this is what's going on in school.’ Well, that was [me], right? I
was giving the update of what was happening. And at the time I was
on the basketball team as well, so it was somewhat, I don't wanna
say unheard of, but it was, for stereotypical purposes, I was playing
like the jock aspect of like, Hey, you're on the basketball team…but
then, on the other hand, it's like you're just creating a lot of just
nonsensical content for all these other sports teams and kind of
being the backbone of keeping people in the loop.
“So I guess, yes, it started just out of thin air of like, ‘Hey, you like to
entertain, let's start entertaining,’ and it kind of grew into its own.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

On content creation among Adam’s generation and peers
growing up
“Instagram was born in my early times of high school, but
it was very much Facebook [then]. It was always Facebook
or iChat or AOL — I was right after the MySpace phase, so
I didn't get to experience My Fave Fives of T-Mobile or
something, but I very much was playing Brick Breaker on
a Blackberry or something. But I was very much [on]
Facebook and then Instagram came up and we didn't have
obviously videos, but it was always pictures. It was always
‘give someone an idea of what you were doing.’
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“I was very much a sneakerhead growing up, so I was
always trying to show someone a picture, and if I go back
to my Instagram, it's just a mindless scroll of shoes. But
when I look back on it, what I saw was that you just always
wanted to give people an update as to what you were doing
and that, as social grew, so did my own presence. So, you
know, you always had the ‘like for TBH’ or the ‘like for
rates’ on Facebook or something, and I always found
myself just wanting to talk to someone. I always found
myself wanting to make some pieces of video. So I
wouldn't say I had Instagram to that advantage, but
Facebook definitely. Facebook and I were best friends.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

On Overtime developing its NFL vertical
“For myself, my experience with Overtime growing up was
interesting because I was a basketball player. I wasn't
good enough to get the highlights of myself from
Overtime, but a few of the kids on my team very much had
Overtime highlights, so I always saw those highlights. And
now to be there working on the app was definitely
something interesting because I never had an interest in
working on an app specifically, but I was handed this
opportunity to curate almost like ‘What would I want to
see in the NFL or what does NFL fandom mean to me?’
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“One of the biggest takeaways I think, with my time at Overtime was they
very much focused on the player and not the team. And I didn't have this
understanding growing up. But as you begin to have your eyes exposed to
other media organizations and outlets and why content works in the
business of sports, you begin to realize, alright, well everyone's got their
niche. What's their value proposition? And Overtime's value proposition
wasn't just highlights, they were focusing on the individual, they weren't
focusing on the team.
“So at a time where no one really cared as much about the Warriors as
they did Steph Curry or the Heat at that time — you know, for me it was
LeBron James, I loved the big three. So being at Overtime, it was like, how
do I marry this brand that wants to focus on the player with the fans of
Overtime? And you know, like I said, this was at a time where we had
Covid, so there wasn't necessarily real games going on, or there wasn't
UGC from the perspective of a fan taking a video of a player.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“The shortcut that I guess we took and, and [I] took was we created an
Instagram burner account and we followed about a thousand different
NFL players and would just watch their Stories continuously
throughout the day. And I'm talking like 8:00 AM to about midnight,
we would just consistently watch and we would take screen recordings
of those videos. A great example that I love to give is Keenan Allen once
posted a Story of him singing in his car, and a quick Google search
would tell you that Keenan Allen was doing choir, he's a musician,
that's one of his hobbies. He's passionate about playing the piano and
whatnot. So we would take that screen recording, and then the way
Overtime’s app would work is you would have a piece of content
upfront, almost like the social hook, and then you would scroll and
you'd get a couple sentences of the summary afterward. So a quick
Google search would tell you that this is who Keenan Allen is off the
field.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“And what I'm getting at with this is that I began to realize that
myself as a fan didn't as much relate to the person on the field with
the helmet because I'm just a short little white Jew that didn't have
the talents to be a professional. But what I did have was maybe an
interest in some good piano or a good singer or something, I could
very much relate to that. So being able to create content off of that
and have an understanding that Keenan off the field is way more
interesting than the person on the field because it's far more
relatable was something that we very much dove into.
“So that began to grow into its own and taking a lot of stories and
creating stories off of that. So the UGC ended up becoming the story
rather than just a mindless scroll of just regular content.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

On the athletic highlight vs. the human behind the highlight
“I think, and granted this is strictly my opinion so I could be wrong, but I
think that for us as fans a big part in this is, like, you almost have to be
the producer and the consumer of your own content these days. So if we
take it to another level, it's that most of these guys would just produce
the content, they just put it out there, right? You put a highlight out
there, great, it's awesome. DK Metcalf is jumping 45 in, whatever, into
the sky — like, I can't do that. I can't relate to that. I'll share it, I'll send it
to my friends, but it's a short-lived high. But what resonates with us as
fans a lot more is do I actually want to consume the highlight or is there a
far greater chance of me wanting to consume larger portions of DK
Metcalf is maybe a chef off the field now? I just made that up on the spot.
[But] if DK is a chef…I would love to watch content of him cooking
because to me that would just be hilarious.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“I'm far more interested in not only engaging with that,
consuming that, but [also] sharing that. I can only share
a highlight once, [but] I could share stories and pieces of
content of DK cooking meals at a far greater clip. So I
think, just back to your point, the highlight's great and
all, but I think the human connection of understanding
that these people are just us at the same age, right? Like
DK Metcalf being the same age as I am, and not only just
being this absurd specimen that was created in a lab, but
also someone that's very much like myself that just may
happen to want to throw together a pancake or two in the
kitchen late night. I think it's just far more relatable.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

On aggregating great content vs. producing personal content
“It's funny; like you could create a great piece of content. Now,
objectively speaking, you could create a sick edit, right? You could put a
bunch of effects on it, something could happen, I don't know what could
happen, but no one could watch that, right? What objectively is great
content, it looks really cool, but if I don't have an audience or there's
nothing engaging about it, then why am I creating it?
“At the end of the day, you're creating it for people like myself, yourself.
Like, we just want to be the ones that engage with the content. So I would
even throw it back on you, like, what type of content do you wanna see
these days? And you know, have you ever been able to look in the mirror
and say ‘This is the reason I'm actually watching this content.’”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“…I also think today, specifically with content, you don't know what you
want until you see it. I'm convinced by that, right? Like, you might have
an understanding, I might like this sport, or I might like, you know, I
keep using the cooking example because I very much like cooking…you
don't know what you want until you see it. So they'll suggest it to you and
[you’ll] be like, ‘You know, yeah, maybe I do wanna see some dog tricks. I
don't have a dog, but maybe I wanna just watch this dog do this trick
because I'm entertained by it.’
“So I think content today, you don't know what you want until you have
it. And the algorithms, they very much throw anything at you and it
sticks, and that's why TikTok is working and that's why every other
media platform is really copying TikTok right now, whether that be
YouTube Shorts or Reels and now Twitter being able to roll out their own
short-form content.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

About The Game Day platform and brand
“The Game Day is a sports betting [and] sports media
company. Our slogan is ‘The game day is every day.’ But
then you try and think about it, it's like, what does that
actually mean for me, and what it means and really what
we're focusing on is it's by the fans, for the fans in a way,
right? Like, at the end of the day, we are just people,
we're just fans of the game that happen to talk about the
same things that every single person is saying and
watching. Just because we may have a platform doesn't
mean that we're any better than anyone else.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“So we want to create content that feels organic and
satirical first and just feels like a human being. So
where other media outlets might get the courtside
seats to a game, we're very much sitting in the rafters,
right? For us, it's not about having this tremendous
access, the access is to us as human beings, as fans,
and that connection. So at The Game Day, we very
much focus on just being humans first and [create] the
content that we want to consume. You know, we're
consuming it or really we're producing it for ourselves
and not just for the audience. By the fans, for the fans.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

On developing the brand, content, and strategy around the Caps
Off podcast
“We were talking about it before, but Caps Off really did
originate from four friends — myself, Matan, Felipe, and Jack.
We were four guys that very much hung out outside of the
office. We had known each other about a year and a half, some
even more because they were at the company a lot longer. And
it was very much being able to respect one another as
individuals. So we just began arguing in the office a few times
about NFL narratives and hot topics and takes, and a few
people would hear overhear us kind of arguing almost like we
were brothers. And there was something there. It was like a
spark was lit.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“From there we kind of just realized, you know what? Maybe there are a
lot more people like us, right? Like your group chat, your everyday
friends that you talk to about sports — you're gonna have these
arguments where no one really has the answers. None of us are analysts,
none of us are professionals. It's not like we can actually speak on the
topic from a standpoint of being objective, but we can be very much play
in the subjective space. We can very much be like, ‘I see it like this. You
see it like that, let's debate to debate. And then at the end of the day, let's
just be able to hug it out.’
“Coming back to the group chat — the group chat, which is really Caps
Off, is you'll get 75 to 85% NFL content, but then maybe out of the left
field you'll hear a debate about some thing in pop culture or Rihanna's
baby and whatnot. So it's just very much wanting to replicate that group
chat feeling of friends first.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“So back to your initial question of like, do we play up
anything? Do we have the intent of who's listening and
what The Game Day's brand is or do we just be
ourselves, and it's so cliche, but the cliche actually ended
up being the thing that got us to where we are today,
which is still so small, which makes me excited for the
future. We were just us first, we were human beings first
and we felt that a lot more people would be able to
resonate with us as humans and fans first than anything
else. Just because we had the platform didn't make us
any better or worse. So we were just ourselves and
having fun and it ended up sticking.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

On creating to drive results and viral reach against also cultivating
a community of super fans
“Yeah, I mean we obviously want numbers and when you work at a
company and you need to have the numbers in order — it's always
a business — but for us, it was very much engagement and
community first. We started a Discord, I think it was like week
four or five. Now, granted in those first four weeks, we didn't know
what the hell we were doing. We were just talking and shooting
the shit and arguing, but it wasn't really doing anything. So we
were like, you know what? Even if there's 10 people there, we're
gonna focus on these 10 people as if they are our best friends, as if
they have given us everything right? Because their time is so
valuable.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“And in those few weeks where we did have 10 people in the
Discord we were talking to them every single day. So that
meant not only were those Discord people getting the
attention that they deserved, but every single comment on
TikTok, right? So even if there were 10 comments or 20
comments, they were gonna get an answer from us every
single time. And not only that, we would be able to have a
conversation. So that really comes back to that value
proposition of like, we were just like you and me, right? We
were just normal, average Joes being able to have a
conversation and just because we may have had a podcast and
the production behind us didn't hinder us from being able to
really have that conversation, that one-to-one dialogue.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“So we put an emphasis on that and it very much grew to now
having almost 100,000 followers across multiple channels.
But it very much wasn't like that for the entire time. And I
think you have those moments where you're trying to start
something from scratch, but you feel very handicapped by the
numbers. But at the end of the day, the numbers do end up
growing. There is real validity to saying, ‘Hey, post volume on
this platform, or comment back to everyone;’ focus on those
that you are interacting with because those are gonna be the
people that tell someone else and someone else — it is gonna
grow rapidly. So it's very much rooted in one-to-one
connection and being able to focus on the listeners and really
just taking it one day at a time.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“Coming back to passion — this was just that we were four guys that
just very much weren't afraid to say something that many people
would not believe in. We were definitely not contrarians in wanting
to just go along with the popular opinion, we very much wanted to
say what we believed, whether it was factual or not. And I think
there was a lot of pushback early on with that in terms of one of the
four of us was saying some nonsense, naturally. But I think in time
people began to realize that it was very much satirically driven. It
was very much trying to have a lot of these different perspectives. So
while we weren't trying to sit here and necessarily be the most
credible in terms of being able to argue why player A is better than
player B, I was just gonna come out here and say that I think player
A is better than player B. I don't know for a fact, there's no way for
me to tell, but I very much didn't shy away from that.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“So I think that's what makes Caps Off and the four of us
unique and our understanding of the landscape of sports
media, which is I'm not afraid to be wrong. The other three
are not afraid to be wrong. We could argue that we could
attack you for that, we could love you for that, but the
feelings that you're gonna get amongst the four of us are
very much what we would love to have in the entire sports
media space. And I think it's just become a very triggering
space, I guess, because everyone's like, ‘Oh, he thinks Joe
Burrow is better than this person. Oh, he doesn't know
anything.’ No, we wanna bring that community and
camaraderie back to sports fandom, I guess.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

On arguing contrarian views for the sake of debate
“We very much believe in the things that we say. Now,
whether or not that could be a horrible take, that's
totally valid to that point. But I think we definitely
lean into narratives, I would very much say. Now
whether that means agreeing with it or disagreeing is
a completely different story. But it's funny, we'll throw
out a take — and one of our slogans we always like to
say is ‘We may not have all the answers, but we
certainly want to ask all the questions.’
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“So being able to ask those questions — someone might
have seen some narrative on Twitter and we wanna
throw that back out into our audience, right? And then
our CTA that we always add on top of things is like, ‘Do
you agree or do you disagree? Join our Discord and let
us know. Come talk to us and tell us why you think that.’
So, although we'd be having these takes or these
opinions, what was authentic about it was the fact that
we were like, ‘Come talk to us about it. Don't just hide
behind the Twitter fingers, actually come talk to us and
let's debate it.’ So I think it was a mix of authenticity and
leaning into it and having fun with it…
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“And I think we live in a culture right now, which is
like, ‘I have to be right.’ Like, you're afraid to have
someone come back [at you]. The amount of
comments we get from like user4968421 on some
social media with no profile picture is saying ‘Three
weeks ago you guys were saying Joe Burrow's the
best player in the NFL, now you guys are saying
he's not even top five.’ It's like, ‘Yeah because we
just wanna have fun. He's not playing like he's top
five right now, but a couple weeks ago he was.’
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“So it's being able to understand and honor the fact that
we have no problem being wrong. We have no problem,
for lack of a better term, being the asshole in the room
like, ‘Hey, I'm gonna change my take.’ And that is what's
authentic about it. That's what I think makes us really
unique is that we're not married to any of the things we
say. Unless it's, you know, someone like myself talking
about the Dolphins or Felipe talking about the Cowboys.
But outside of that, where the authenticity lies is that we
understand that we're just fans first and we just want to
have those conversations.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

On Caps Off’s success on short-form platforms like YouTube
Shorts, TikTok, and Reels
“Well, first and foremost, credit to the edits. It's me and Matan on
the edits and just our entire team. We very much have an intent
there, right? So it starts with an intent. And I think one of the
biggest things we started to do at the beginning of the podcast was
these social hooks [that] were meant to be placed within the
podcast. So instead of just being able to talk about a player and say,
‘He's [sic] been really good lately,’ we really put an aggressive
emphasis on like, no, you need to say, ‘Joe Burrow's’ [sic] been
really good lately, because no matter where the podcast is, I want to
be able to clip out that moment so that I don't need to have this
context.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“Because I think in social short-form content today, you
need to have context and maybe the argument at the end.
But if I as a user don't understand what you're talking about
within those five seconds, you’re lost. So it was very much
somewhat of a shift in how podcasts go about really
recording podcasts. It was that we were gonna have these
short-form hooks across the entire podcast. So if you listen
to one of our 45-minute clips, you're gonna hear us throw
out the names and the team names all the time because what
we're doing is we've trained ourselves to be able to have
those hooks in there so that we can begin to edit these viral
moments out where we can argue, so you don't need to have
the context there.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“I think in going back to thinking about virality, it's
really just us having those honest conversations, but
at the same time, we've very much been able to clip it
out and edit it at a very high volume that is very
social-first. Which is about time. Social-first to me has
nothing to do with the platform that it exists on, it has
everything to do with the rate at which you consume it
and whatnot. So credit to Matan, our main editor on it
who really built out the entire look and identity of the
actual page and those edits, and I think that's actually
a really huge thing to the virality aspect of it.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“Now, that doesn't mean that the content isn't there.
Obviously, we have these long conversations, but the pacing
has always been there. So when we are trying to think of a
viral clip, we know it's gonna go viral when it's something
that's being talked about. And because we know, going back to
that authenticity, we know we're not afraid to say something
that is not necessarily gonna be the popular opinion. So
whether that be Dak Prescott is a top-four quarterback or a
top-three quarterback, we know a lot of people aren't gonna
agree with that and we know a lot of people disagree with that.
So we're not afraid to mix the authenticity, the hot take, and a
really strong edit. And I think all of which is the formula to
creating a piece of viral content.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“I just think, going back to what makes those viral clips, as I was just
thinking about it is that there's all four of us, and we can go into the team
of The Game Day, but if we just take the four of us specifically, we're all
very much in the trenches of how we build this. So whether that be
Felipe, he's the Director of Social at The Game Day, Jack is someone that
oversees all the MLB content but also is very much on camera and does a
lot of social producing as well, Matan is the lead social producer and
myself, [I am] a social producer. So all of our backgrounds are very much
rooted in social content in general.
“So when we're able to put all of our heads together, we can create
something that's really strong. And I think that's what we've been able to
do is just all having these really interesting perspectives on what short-
form content needs to look like and through it all we've been able to
create something really unique.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

On elements or nuances that go into their successful social content
across different platforms
“From our perspective, I think it's the way the platform is and the
way people are using those platforms. Obviously, TikTok has been
something from really Covid on that has been the biggest player in
the space, right? They're like the grandfather at this point. And now
you have YouTube Shorts, which is very much coming in and
providing a lot of dividends for us. But we definitely have the intent
of this, ‘Hey, this might be better on this platform versus others.’
Now that could be rooted in the followers that we have on a specific
page, whether that be demographic whether that be a specific
gender or something. Or it might just be the fact that we can collab
with The Game Day NFL or another Game Day account [on IG].
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“There's very much the intent of where it should go, but for the
most part I would say [with] short-form content‚ they all want to
be TikTok. So we do know that if it's gonna hit on one, it usually
will hit on another. But it varies and I think everyone's trying to
catch up with TikTok and what their algorithm is and they've
done a great job. But there's definitely intent. There's always
intent and whether that be TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram, a
huge emphasis for us is on YouTube shorts right now — we're
excited to keep playing through that and seeing what that intent
looks like as these specific platforms really build out their specific
algorithms, because everyone obviously always wanted to copy
TikTok, but for the most part I would say it is somewhat
consistent across platforms.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“It's so funny [about their success with YouTube Shorts]. We
have 2000 subscribers or something on YouTube, but I think
we just amassed a million views and it's really strictly from
Shorts. Credit to Shorts and credit to Google in general I guess.
But Shorts are hitting and Shorts are awesome, but we've very
much put an emphasis on the short-form content. We've
always said to ourselves that we're gonna create this short-
form content first, and then the long form will come. Whereas
in the past, the content has really been, ‘Hey, let's create long
form and then create cutdowns.’ For us, it's been backward and
it's really not only for Caps Off, but really The Game Day also,
it's always been about the short-form content and I think that
that's what's making us as a company really unique right now.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“It's a great question. I don't even think I've thought about that to that
extent, and now my brain is turning. But I think, yeah, Discord right now
has been a place for us, it's a holding spot, a little incubator where we could
have all those dedicated followers really come in and be able to send them
the podcast when it releases, any new content, anything that we might want
to push specifically where we know that those dedicated followers are really
gonna want to engage because they've shown us enough and they've wanted
to join. They've taken time out of their days to really join.
“But I do think there should be a dedicated space right now, even outside of
our Discord, I think we live the most in our comments section. You know,
one of the biggest things we began to do was we would host these live chats
with our Discord and just really be able to get to know those that were
joining to now be able to say ‘I know what this person's TikTok account is,
so when he comments, I can make sure to go back and play off of who they
are as people and not just what they're showing on their account.’
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“So we very much put an emphasis on the people
[that are] following us, and that took the time in
our Discord. But I don't know if there really exists
a specific platform for people to go. I think
Discord’s been the one. But like I said, we really
live in the comments. Not only as the Caps Off
actual account, but all of us comment back from
our personals, and I think that that's a huge thing.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“Going back to a question that you asked earlier, does [strategy] change
from platform to platform? What changes is the fact that we're
commenting from our own personals, right? So on TikTok we might have
‘X’ amount of followers under my name and on Instagram I might have a
different amount of followers on my own Instagram account — but every
single time I'm gonna comment from my own personal platform, Felipe's
gonna do it, Matan’s gonna do it, Jack's gonna do it and I think that has
very much been our bread and butter of where we engage with the
comments and where those dedicated followers live. Because we
understand our TikTok follower may not also be our Instagram follower
and same and vice versa with YouTube.
“So we've taken the time to comment back on every single one because we
understand they took time out of their day to comment. We need to do the
same and that comes back really to our value proposition of we're just fans
first and just human beings.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

How does Adam define a podcast these days?
“It's literally just audio. I think the idea of a podcast,
everyone thinks like, ‘Oh, it's just a bunch of talking
heads talking,’ for lack of a better term. But I think the
idea of a podcast is very much just the audio form of
content. At the end of the day, you have the content
holding, so you might have social video content, which
would actually be the video aspect whereas the podcast
is just the audio…So I think it's just that a podcast to me
is strictly audio. The audio form of original content.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

Adam’s favorite sports memory from his time at Colorado
“Well, I'm a big football guy, obviously, we're here talking football. My first two
years at school or really my first three years is when Colorado was a top 25
school [in football]. We had Mike MacIntyre as our head coach and we made a
Pac-12 Championship run and we definitely got smacked by Washington. But
really that entire, I think it was my sophomore year, we went to every single
game. We were front row at all these games and it was just the camaraderie of
being around my friends and being at a school that is very much not a football
school up until I guess the late nineties you could really reference.
“But outside of that, I always wanted to go to a Big 10 school for that rah-rah
feeling that you get at football games, and to have that experience throughout
an entire season was definitely something that is one to remember. I don't
know if I'd pick out one specific one, but the entire season was just one to
remember.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

The most viral clip all time from Caps Off
“The most viral clip we created was actually based off of the
World Cup. We said that [Leo] Messi is the greatest athlete of
all time over guys like Brady, I think it was. It was very much
rooted in us doing a crossover of sports and it was very much
also seeing that another version of football dominates the
world sports landscape and it's not the football with two o’s.
So that was definitely our most viral clip, I think. That one is
over probably three, maybe four million [plays] at this
point…[The] most surprising [viral clip] would also probably
be that [one] because we very much talked on soccer, but we
don't have any soccer followers…
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“There was another one that is probably not
something that's the most appropriate to talk
about, but there was a comment that Jack had
made about his, let's just say extracurricular
activity life, outside of work and podcasts and his
social life. And he was very specific in that
instance and I think it did a couple hundred
thousand views because he was just hilarious with
it. So I guess the old saying sex sells still applies.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

Adam’s favorite sports media personality today and also his favorite
sports personality growing up
“It’s Pat McAfee for sure. I would give him a kiss if I saw him in
person. I love Pat McAfee. I very much resonate with his entire aura
and vibe. I love the way he treats those around him. Even when we
were at the Super Bowl, just seeing the way he talks to others, the
moment is never too big for him and the people around him are
never too big for him. Even though he is at the top of his game, I
don't think he acts like that. So I love Pat McAfee, I would love to
have him on the podcast. And we very much are trying to recreate
the Pat McAfee show, but for a younger generation, almost, in a
different way.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“My favorite sports personality growing up — I
don’t know if he’s a sports personality, but player
would probably be D-Wade. I grew up as a
Dwyane Wade stan, so I guess if we have to apply
it to sports personality, who he was off the court
with fashion and he was a Miami icon…”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

The number one sports take hill that Adam will die on, even if he’s
wrong
“There are so many. Well, I have to be on brand and talk about Tua
Tagovailoa and just really say Tua Tagovailoa in general is just a
top-10 quarterback and I'll even go as far as saying I think he's a
top-seven quarterback. I can't put him in the [top] five. But from a
pure passer standpoint, I think what we were able to see with Tua is
that he could operate at the highest level and he possesses qualities
and traits that don’t necessarily become the most attractive things
for a lot of sports fans today, whether that be a Josh Allen run or
Patrick Mahomes off-script throw, but Tua can very much
manipulate a lot of defenders in ways that I would say casual fans
can't appreciate as much.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“Now, a huge reason, to me, dying on that hill is because I'm
incredibly biased and a Dolphins fan as I'm looking at my Tua
Tagovailoa Funko [doll] next to me, but I definitely will die on that
hill. I'll also die on the hill saying Cooper Kupp is a product of the
system. I very much love that take. He was a triple crown winner
(leading the NFL in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving
touchdowns), a guy that was absolutely incredible for that one
year. But with that being said, a Sean McVay offense, a coach like
Sean McVay can put his best players in a position to succeed. And
I don't think if you have Cooper Kupp with that system, with
Matthew Stafford, with Sean McVay, is he a triple crown winner?
Now, is he a top 10 wide receiver? Yes. Is he the best wide receiver
in the NFL? Probably not. So I'll die on that hill, whether that's
alone or not, I'll find a way to entertain myself on that hill.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“And then things that I was right about, well I would
probably say Tua as well. I mean, I was talking so much
shit about just what Tua was gonna do this year in the
offseason, and I was very afraid that I was gonna be wrong
just more so because I'm a — my followers anywhere else
and my friends really, we’re all diehard Dolphins fans, so
just to be able to have some sort of validity and credibility
there to be able to be like, ‘Well, I told you Tua was gonna
have a good year. I didn't specify, but I said he was gonna
have a really good year.’ So just to have that means I'm
just gonna be even more of an asshole when it comes to
Tua next year and having to make some more egregious
takes.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

Which comes first — is it the community building and the social
media presence or the content?
“I think it's a little bit of both, but I would definitely put an
emphasis on the community. Like I said, y we always had a motto
that we very much ran with and shoutout to a lot of the other
people that we've worked with that help build the entire podcast
that are no longer with The Game Day, but it was really, like, if the
content's at 70%, we gotta push that out. So if you're looking to get
100% out, you don't know what 100% looks like, in my opinion.
You don't know what that is because that's really where the
community and engagement comes back into it. If it’s resonating
[with someone] and they’re engaging with it in a certain way, then
you might be able to say, okay, the content aspect's there.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“But I would always say the community’s first and
the engagement’s first, because those 10 people, if
you give them a platform and if you give them the
light, they're gonna give that light bulb to other
people. So it will always come down to the
community first and that community can spread
like wildfire once you start getting that content
right.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

Adam’s top tip for a podcast, especially for a group podcast,
to ensure it's smooth and well-executed
“I would say first and foremost [is] respect. It's super cliche,
but like I mentioned earlier in the podcast, we're very much
friends outside of the podcast. We hang out outside the
podcast, we attend each other's birthday dinners and
whatnot. So we're friends first. And with that friendship
comes respect, and I think you could sense that camaraderie
through that respect. So whether that means we attack
someone for a take, we make fun of someone, or we know
their past, that's very honest, that's very truthful and that's
very authentic.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“I would say to ensure chemistry and smoothness don't just
make a podcast because you think you have a good idea. If you
have a cohost, do you guys have good chemistry? Are you able
to attack them? Are you able to question them? Are they gonna
take it personally? It very much needs to feel authentic. I think
today's consumers can read through the bullshit. You know, you
can't bullshit a bullshitter, and in 2023 there are so many
bullshitters. So I think they could read through when the
chemistry is forced.
“So you really just need to revisit the drawing board if you're
just trying to throw together a podcast, you gotta be friends first
and, at the end of the day have that respect for one another.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

The best meal to get in Miami and
where to get it
“Well, there's a wide variety of things,
but I would have to go back to just
something that hits from a nostalgic
perspective. There was a little sub
place called Sub Cafe in Davie,
Florida that I used to go to with my
friends that's a little Cuban spot that
was unbelievable. But if you do want
Cuban food, Cafe Versailles. I feel like
you have to be a South Floridian to
say Cuban food, so I would definitely
say Cafe Versailles is definitely the
place to get Cuban food.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

“[Get] a Cuban sandwich.
It's something you have to
do. But I've lived in New
York for the last four years,
so I feel like I no longer
even feel like a Floridian in
terms of the food that I
consume. I find myself
eating a lot more Italian
than Cuban food. I'm
actually gonna get Italian
after this, so that very much
applies.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

Which sports league will be the strongest 100 years from now?
“I think everything's gonna be automated. We're gonna have
AI everywhere, so I don't think any one of these would be alive
around in a hundred years. They're really gonna be able to
evolve tremendously. But if I have to just pick one, I would
probably say the UFC, I feel like, if you begin to automate
fighters. But then at that point it's like [robot fighting]…
“That's a boring answer. But I don't know, I was a big
Transformers fan, so at that point, I guess it's the UFC 100
years from now is really just Transformers. So just for the sake
of fandom, I guess I'll go with the UFC.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

One currently active athlete has to represent the
human race and earth to compete in 25 sports
against invading aliens — who are we picking to
represent us?
“Probably Joey Chestnut. I mean [he’s] the real
GOAT, the greatest athlete of all time. I mean, no
one consumes like that man does. And I think if he's
gonna have to consume anything, it's gonna be all
these aliens. So I'm gonna go with Joey Chestnut.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

Adam’s Social Media All-Star to Follow
“I gotta give a shout-out to J Bobby (Justin Bobby on
YouTube, @Justinbobbyx13 on Twitter,
@jbobbyversus on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube).
I work with him at The Game Day. J Bobby Versus.
He's got his own show where he reacts to moments in
pop culture. And I guess the best way I'd put it is like,
if you wanted Ridiculousness, but for sports, that's
very much him and he's a hilarious guy and I love his
content. So I gotta shout out J Bobby Versus”.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

Where to find Adam, The Game Day, and Caps Off on
digital/social media
Adam is @TGDTabs on Twitter, @Atabssss on Instagram
Caps Off is @CapsOffPod on IG, @CapsOffPodcast on
TikTok, and find them on YouTube
Follow all of The Game Day’s socials — @TheGameDayNFL,
@TheGameDayHoops, @TheGameDayMLB across all social
platforms and @TheGameDay on TikTok
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick

Thanks again to Adam for being so generous
with his time to share his knowledge,
experience, and expertise with me!
For more content and episodes, subscribe to
the podcast, follow me on LinkedIn and on
Twitter @njh287, and visit
www.dsmsports.net.
@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 240: Adam Tabatchnick