Check out an article published in The Mississauga News about The NBA Breakdown.
Third season looms for show
Having a ball. Dave Mendonca (left) and Audley Stephenson host The NBA Breakdown, an internet radio show about basketball and a whole lot more. Staff photo by Rob Beintema
But if you ask them, that's what makes their internet radio show, The NBA Breakdown, so appealing.
Each Sunday night from October until the following June, coinciding with the National Basketball Association (NBA) season, the former Mississauga residents deliver hoops talk in a way they believe is fun, enthusiastic and entertaining.
"We're not a bunch of guys in suits telling you the news," said Mendonca, a former entertainment reporter, and sports reporter at The Score Television Network. "We're two guys who talk as if we're your buds, and that's been a key to our success."
They'll be back in action this Sunday night for their third season, continuing to do the show from various locations, mostly in Brampton. Since its inception, the show has attracted hundreds of thousands of listeners/viewers who tune in to watch and listen to Mendonca and Stephenson banter back and forth.
Stephenson, a leadership speaker and part-time usher at Toronto Raptors games, says the show's success snuck up on him.
"In the beginning stages, it feels like you're talking to yourself in a room," he said. "You've got no idea who's listening, but then you see the numbers go above 100,000 and you realize you're not in a room by yourself anymore...If you told me I'd be doing this two years ago, I'd say, 'Wow!'"
The show has increasingly attracted quality guests; former NBA greats Spud Webb and Dominique Wilkins have put in their two cents' worth.
Still, the hosts like to go outside the NBA to welcome entertainers who are basketball diehards like themselves; they've been joined by actress Vivica A. Fox and R & B singer Brian McKnight, among others.
Mendonca adds many guests want to appear again and have contacted them to do so. He says the power of the internet has been incredible and he expects to see the show reach 15 million viewers one day.
"We've had a lot of laughs for sure," he said. "People are really getting pumped about two dudes going back and forth ripping each other and it's really exciting to see our crowds growing bigger and bigger."
The NBA Breakdown airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on www.blogtalkradio.com/thenbabreakdown.
icolpitts@mississauga.net
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