By Kathy Rowe
Think you’re a hardcore Toronto Maple Leafs fan? Think again. Steve Glynn, or Steve “Dangle” as most people know him, has made hockey fanaticism his career.
How is this possible you ask? Well, Steve has just written an honest and entertaining book that tells of the many hard life lessons he learned on the road to success in the crazy world of sports media. This Team is Ruining My Life (But I Love Them) is a roller coaster of a story, and I loved it! It’s a must-read for young people considering a career in radio, television or online broadcasting.
Born in 1988, Steve Glynn grew up in the Centennial area, attending school locally at St Brendan Catholic Elementary School and then Mowat Collegiate. To this day he remains good friends with several of his Centennial-area classmates. In fact, he now works with one of them– but more on that later.
“I loved growing up in this area and I loved my schools,” he professed during a recent meeting over coffee. As a young boy Steve never played organized hockey, but his passion for the game was undeniable. Completely obsessed with hockey (particularly the Leafs), Steve started a YouTube channel at the age of 19 under the moniker Steve Dangle. He vowed to make a lively and loud commentary video after every Toronto Maple Leaf game, and thus the Leafs Fan Reaction (LFR) video series was born.
The creative videos, filmed in his bedroom brimming with Leaf memorabilia, are full of passion, hockey analysis, funny one liners and lots of yelling! To say the least, Steve was ahead of his time. He carved a path and stuck to it and his YouTube subscribers began to grow. “I was always hedging my bets,” he admitted. “I could picture that this could possibly be a career, and then I would think…but this hasn’t happened yet!” He added, “I’ve been doing this for twelve years now and I just hit 100,000 subscribers!”
Not only is Steve a published author and YouTuber, he is also a sports podcaster (The Steve Dangle Podcast) and a sports personality who has a contract with Sportsnet as a content contributor. His twice-weekly podcasts feature Adam Wylde who is also the Virgin 99FM Radio morning host. Steve and Adam are longtime buddies from their days at Mowat Collegiate where they dreamed of working together in sports media. Their hockey podcasts comprise banter between the two and featured guests. “One thing Adam and I have over other tag teams is chemistry,” explained Dangle. “We’re like the Sedin twins! We always know where each other is on the ice.”
Born in the spring of 2013, the podcast has really gained traction. Steve’s notoriety has also grown and he has put his influence to good use. Easter Seals and Sick Kids hospital have benefited well from his fundraising initiatives over the past few years. His Marner Jar Campaign, named after Leafs player Mitch Marner, has raised $10,000 for Sick Kids Hospital so far. (Steve is pumped that the initiative, which began as an in-joke about an expensive hockey contract, morphed into a genuine fundraiser.)
While Steve’s accomplishments are pretty sweet, there were many years of hard work and perseverance. The adventures and opportunities that lead him to this point are both hilarious and poignant. To list just a few: a gruelling internship at The Fan 590 while attending Ryerson’s Radio and Television Arts program, summers working at the Toronto Zoo to make money, some failures, some successes and then, finally, a valuable opportunity to write for the nationally-syndicated radio show Junior Hockey Magazine. That is just the tip of his sports media experience iceberg!
When asked why he decided to write this book, Steve said “I was getting emails from media students who wanted advice from a YouTuber about how to navigate this world. I thought I had an interesting story to tell and I think a lot of people will find some good lessons in it.” Good lessons indeed.
This Team is Ruining My Life is available in paperback and audiobook format through Amazon and Chapters. Look for the Steve Dangle Podcast on YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify and more.
Steve now lives in Oshawa with his wife Sarah-Louise and their two Golden Doodles Iggy and Charlie.