Editor's Note: Andrew's latest in his series of interviews with notable podcasters might be his best yet...of course, I may be a little biased. Give it a read to learn just how much globe-trotting adventures have to do with sports videogames. (Hint: More than you'd think.) -Greg

Few things from real life translate as well to videogames as sports. Even from the early days, you could always pick up your favorite sport in videogame form. These days, dozens of sports titles are released each year, forming a large chunk of the industry. Despite this, they are often ignored by "core" gaming outlets, and even sites that do cover them have trouble finding the right people.

Todd Zuniga is one of these few, and no one knows this genre of games better. His particular brand of coverage (both sports and nonsports) has been featured in OPM, EGM, 1UP.com, ESPN, Wired, The Onion, and What They Play, all while founding the literary magazine/website Opium.

He's worked both on the outside and inside of the industry, and his adventures have taken him all over the world. It only makes sense that his podcast, the Sports Anomaly, is as rambling, exciting, and surprising as his life experience. Todd was gracious enough to spare a few minutes for an interview.

Andrew Hiscock: The Sports Anomaly is the 1UP Network's second longest running "still active" podcast, but it has a very specific and niche subject matter, especially in light of 1UP.com's normal audience. How did the podcast start and what was the reaction (if any) around the office during the early days?

Todd Zuniga: Oh, man, the beginning was a wild time. The NCAA basketball tournament had just begun, and I thought: We should do a podcast. So we did -- Greg Ford, Bryan Intihar, and myself. And then we got it on the site, and it went live on iTunes. Thing is, we never asked permission; we just did it. So Editorial Director John Davison called me into his office -- I was a freelancer then, but he'd been my boss at OPM -- and he was like, "You've gotta ask me first." I felt bad, but like that, we were off and running.

As for the reaction, the first episode we were like NPR's Delicious Dish satire from SNL. I can't believe how quiet we were back then! So no one noticed, but once we got approval, we went ballistic. Shouting, chanting, arguing, laughing. We didn't record in a studio, we were just in a little office, so marketing and sales people would walk by, confused and annoyed. It's like we dropped an enormous noise-bomb for 30 minutes a week on their otherwise pleasant lives.

AH: Despite plenty of changes to the cast, the podcast is known for its kinetic energy and chemistry. As host, how have you been able to sustain this energy and chemistry, despite changes?

TZ: When I do anything, I try my best to do it all the way. I know it's easy in life to get bored, to lose focus on why one does the things they do. And of course this happens to me, like anyone. But I'm the last of eight kids, and there's always been a bit of Barnum in me, an obnoxious (but well-meaning) showman.

I like firing up the people on the podcast, tweaking them and getting them to mock one another, to say absurd things. If it's fun for us; it's fun for the fans. If we're fired up and into it, our fans will be, too.

AH: The podcast is a meme factory. What are your favorite chants, sayings, and persistent jokes, and how did they come to be?

TZ: So many to choose from! The classic one that got us off the ground is the "yak attack," which was borne from the curveball in The Bigs (the original). Everytime we threw a curveball, Greg Ford or I would call it a "wicked yakker" -- at the top of our lungs. Baseball's full of great slang like that, and most of it is so ridiculous and laughable. Like calling a curveball "Uncle Charlie." Hilarious!

Anyway, right now my favorite is probably "Wipe it up!" because the backstory shows off how idiotic we can be. I put together a Madden NFL 10 Minor Improvement Tournament (see breakdown below). Towels have been added to the game, something I thought was a meaningless addition, but by the end of the three-minute segment, the 8-seeded Towels had stomped to victory over refs on the field, single digit helmet numbers, etc. Then we started shouting, "Wipe it up!" It's moments like that when you're like, "Holy wow, life is worth living."

1 Custom Super Bowl Fields v. 8 Towels
4 Super Bowl Patches v. 5 Secondary Color Equipment & Better Nameplates
3 Chain Gang on the Sidelines v. 6 Referees on the Field
2 Steelers & Cowboys Don't Wear Captains Patches v. 7 Single Digit Helmet #'s

AH: Every now and then you insert interviews with sport stars. How seriously do they take their involvement with videogames, and how have they responded to your requests to get them on the podcast?

TZ: I think, for the most part, athletes are pointless interviews. But in the beginning I thought they were cool for credibility. So I went at them with the Sports Anomaly energy and off-the-wall questions that got surprise answers. We get some good stuff -- particularly from super gamer Matt Ryan, the Atlanta Falcons QB.

But I think our audience, a gamer's audience, doesn't really care about hearing celebrity's blab, and that's what pro athletes are -- most don't have much to say about gaming. So, now we push to get more developers on the show, because that's fun, and if we use the same energy, we make development chatter fun. There's no truer proof of that than the Madden NFL 10 interview that'll be on the July 22 podcast. It's the height of sports gaming jocularity.

AH: A couple episodes featured botched recordings, where your audio went missing. The fact that you went back and re-recorded your part, while simultaneously destroying the forth wall, is a credit to the how regular the podcast has been.

Now that, technically, only one employee of 1UP is still on the podcast, what's the motivation to keep it going, despite scheduling, technical difficulties, geographic location, or any other barrier that sees many podcasts miss episodes?

You know, after we did about 12 or 13 shows, there was a time when it was going to be a real pain in the ass to do the next episode. But in my head I thought: No way, we'll never miss a week. And that was that. It's been hard, sometimes. I've recorded the podcast (via the phone) from Warsaw, London, Paris, Berlin, Beijing. Once I recorded it in nine minutes at JFK while my flight was boarding.

But in a way, I think that's what's gotten us such a huge and committed audience. People know that no matter what, I'm going to deliver this podcast, even if I have to do it alone. It's exhausting at times, but it's so worth it. There's a lot of love from our fans, and we love that they love us, and we love them right back.

As for why keep it going? When we hit show 100, I was like, "How did this happen?" I mean, 100 of anything is a lot. And when we did that show, I was honest in saying that there's no way it would get to 200. But now we're at 118, and I'm like, maybe?

AH: You've carved out a very specific role in the industry as the "sports game guy" (it's your nickname after all). What about the intersection of sports and videogames inspired you to take to the subject matter? Was there a particular gap in the enthusiast press?

TZ: I broke into the industry because I was a "sports guy." I was hired because it is a rare person who a) loves sports, b) loves videogames, c) loves writing about sports videogames, and d) knows how to write. There's maybe five, total, now -- Aaron Boulding and Jon Robinson are two great ones that come to mind. So, it wasn't so much that I wanted to fill a gap as that there was a gap that needed filling. Does that make sense? What I mean is, I just wanted to get into games, and have been thrilled over the years that I can make money this way.

Too, I have said this in the past, but sports games aren't covered properly. Major videogame websites don't do it right. Nerds that like action-adventure games feel like the nerds that like sports games are the kind of people that wanted to beat them up in high school, so their revenge is to undercover or ignore sports games because "it's the same every year."

It's not the same every year. But I do see why it's seen that way. Thank heavens there are a few independent sites that are doing a good job of covering sports games (Pasta Padre, Operation Sports), but I'm really shocked that more major sites haven't figured out how to properly cover, and monetize, sports gaming coverage. I think that will change. There's money to be made. I have a Powerpoint presentation that even shows how to do it -- now if only I had four more hours in a day and a marketing and sales team behind me.

AH: As much as you play videogames, you're also a modern renaissance man. The podcast is replete with stories of your globe-trotting adventures, late nights drinking with sports fans in Eastern Europe, the women you regularly "fall in love" with, and other miscellaneous hijinks. This tangential approach seems to work perfectly with sports discussions.

Has this "man-focused" approach to discussion been deliberate? What has been the reaction from fans of the podcasts concerning these off-topic discussions?

TZ: I'm a fiction writer at heart (my agent just submitted my novel to publishers, so it's fingers crossed around here), and I just plain love narrative. And I love the character aspect of the Sports Anomaly. Andrew Fitch has long arms and has never kissed a girl; Greg Ford goes to New York City and stays in his hotel room instead of going to a list of bars I gave him; David Ellis used to work for the Republicans; I have no money but I still manage to buy flights to somewhere strange to chase the belles. That stuff's just fun to know and to relate to, I think.

I listen to 1UP's Listen Up podcast, and my favorite bits are when they break from games to discuss TV and what they think about certain things outside of games -- but they're very careful about not doing it too much. I'm not. I like dropping these types of things in, I love culture -- film, TV, books, art. I think people want to know what's cool, and if you spend 30 seconds or less on it, they're going to appreciate that.

AH: You are the founding editor of a literary magazine, Opium, and you are still very involved. What exactly is Opium Magazine (and its associated Internet presence), and how did it come to be? How does it fit into your involvment in the very different world of sports videogames

I started Opium as a website in 2001, one of my experiments that I had intended to run for a year. Then it caught an audience, so I kept going, and going, and going. In 2005, I got bored, so I decided to launch a print magazine. We're now on our eighth issue, which has almost sold out, and it just released weeks ago (thanks to a cover by conceptual artist Jonathon Keats that takes 1,000 years to read).

Then I started the Literary Death Match reading series, which will have launched in 12 cities -- San Franciso to New York City to London to Beijing -- come September. Just a few weeks ago, we got nonprofit status, and we can take tax-exempt donations (donate!). It's a very exciting time, a small magazine that's growing exponentially.

The best part? It's name came from Official PlayStation Magazine: OPM. Opium.

As for how it fits with the sports videogame stuff: evolution. I'm always thinking of a way to stay ahead of myself, to keep pushing myself. And that's what I like to do with writing about sports games and covering them. Try to make it fun for the audience, try to make it fun for myself. Even just doing this interview has given me a whole load of new ideas about how to significantly improve the podcast. Wish you'd have asked me these questions three months ago....

I'd like to thank Todd again for the interview, and I look forward to his book once it gets published. And you should too.

For more interviews with notable podcasters:
Phil Kollar formerly of Evil Avatar Radio, 1UP FM, and Rebel FM
Shawn Andrich of Gamers With Jobs Conference Call
Aaron Simmer, organizer of GFW Radio Reunion