The Matt Brown Interview

My schedule is often a pain in the neck.

I try to get to WGCH to do Doubleheader when I can, but I get games thrown at me a lot. Sometimes those games are offered to me either the day before or the day of.

(Did I mention I'm calling Columbia/Yale baseball Saturday at 11:30? Not sure if I did. Yes, I know I did.)

So scheduling interviews can be tricky. That's why Doubleheader is often just me yapping.

But interviewing Matt Brown was a priority. It was also an opportunity to use a new mobile system that I can utilize for phone interviews.

Matt is a survivor. He's an inspiration. His story is real, and in his book (Line Change -- please buy it wherever books are sold, including this link at Amazon), he doesn't sugarcoat it.

I read the book last night into this morning, and the person I first met over the phone is 2011 has grown up into a remarkable man.

The basic story is this: Matt was on the ice when he took a legal hit and slammed into the boards awkwardly. He couldn't move and has been paralyzed since. He was taken to Boston's Children's Hosptial before being moved to Atlanta and finally coming back to his Norwood, Mass home.

(WBZ-TV interviewed Matt last September.)

His story, frankly, is multifaceted. My heart ached at times. I laughed at others.

I first learned of Matt via Rich and Rit Spezzano in Greenwich. They came on my old national talk show and we interviewed Mike Brown, Matt's dad. Eventually, a charity hockey game was held at Webster Bank Arena and I was invited to be an honorary assistant coach along with Chris Kaelin and my son.

Assistant coach Sean with his assistants Big Kitty and Milk Dud at the Matt Brown charity game in 2010.

Mike Brown has since become a Facebook friend, and you just know that, even from a distance, their home is always open for a visitor. Mike, Sue, and their daughter Kelley are wonderful people. They demonstrate what family strength is all about.

This book is absolutely worth it. Don't shy away from it because you're not a sports fan or a hockey fan. Read because you're a fan of life. It will uplift you.

Don't believe me? Listen to the interview from earlier today.