Sports

Radio producer looks to Score

SPORTS FAN: Mark Sheldon is hoping that he’ll be chosen as the Score’s new on air personality in their Drafted 2 contest.

Mark Sheldon doesn’t want to have a face just for radio anymore.

So the 24-year-old Royal York Road and Bloor Street resident is taking the next step as he auditioned for sports channel the Score’s Drafted 2.

Applications are available online at drafted.ca, but on May 15-16 the Score, along with the folks from Gillette, had an audition booth set up at the Eaton Centre.

Without reservations, Sheldon opted to pick up the mic and do a play-by-play sportscast of game 5 of the Chicago Bulls/Cleveland Cavaliers playoff match.

The reason: to keep the ball rolling on a sports journalism career. Sheldon is currently a producer at the Fan 590.

“It would just come down to the opportunity to continue to gain experience in the field, obviously to make the transition from radio to television but help further my base knowledge in sports broadcasting,” he said. “For me it’s a no-brainer.”

Was he nervous? Hardly.

“After about five minutes I looked up and said I’m going to beat myself up over these lines that I can’t even read. I said forget about it and I winged it.”

Last year’s winner, Paul Brothers of Bishop’s Falls, Newfoundland, was on hand to offer sage advice to the next Ron MacLean.

He’s been working full-time with The Score as a sportscaster for the past three months, along with being the face of Gillette Canada for the time being.

“It was an amazing experience for sure. It was a bit different, last year they did it in sports bars around Canada,” he said.

The highlight so far has been sharing some ice time with some of hockey’s legends.

“Just last week I played hockey with Mats Sundin and Curtis Joseph in Niagara Falls,” he said. “Not only did I get to play hockey with them and Claude Lemieux, I got to interview them as well on the bench.”

When it comes to the results Sheldon won’t know if he’s the next Brothers until June 6 — the deadline for submissions.

He’s not worried if he doesn’t get drafted to the Score team though. But if he does he’ll have his own peanut gallery: his parents are fans.

“It’s kind of funny, I was talking with my mom and dad and they said, ‘Son, how’d it go?’ They’re curious because they want (me) to get the hell out of the house,” he said with a laugh. “But I compared it to being in high school when you’re buddies asked you how’d you do on your test.”

As for his competition?

“It’s very funny to see the looks on the faces of others. You could really tell some people were really stressed, others were comfortable and others just wanted some free Gillette products.”

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