Alex McCreery (left) and Thomas Christian (right)
By Jose Garcia (@JoseDGarcia__) — Reporter
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Batman and Robin. These are some of the greatest duos of all time. Part of what makes these tandems so legendary is their amazing chemistry and prowess.
Thomas Christian and Alex McCreery are a team that arguably aren’t at the level of the aforementioned duos, but are striving to be their best. Christian and McCreery are reporters for the Spear and also host the Spear podcast.
The Spear podcast has been running since 2017 and is a platform for Spear students to discuss topics surrounding San Jose State sports. Most recently, Christian and McCreery chose to take the podcast a slightly different route.
The duo regularly invites guests on the show, usually other Spear reporters. These guests often go in depth about a story they have recently written. In addition, the podcast hosts read snippets of stories posted on the Spear site to keep the audience up to date with SJSU sports.
Christian has had previous podcast experience in the past and is currently running his own NBA podcast on the side. That experience has served him well with the Spear.
“I was covering tennis back in February and Max [Bechtoldt] was just there,” said Christian. “He came up to me out of the blue and asked me, ‘oh yeah I saw that you do a different podcast. Would you wanna do the Spear podcast?’ Then I just said yeah. It was just super on a whim, he was like ‘ask Alex if he wants to be your co-host.’ That week we recorded an episode.”
Whether it was a random draw or just a suggestion, Bechtoldt, the executive editor for the Spear, had just birthed the start of the Spear podcast for the semester. The idea of Christian and McCreery being the tag-team duo that runs the podcast may have begun on a whim, but their chemistry has been an organic relationship.
“It’s been great, he’s a really good co-host,” Christian said. “He’s been super solid in coordinating dates and times. He’s been super flexible. We’ve been able to work really well together because of that sort of thing.”
Preparation is a key to many things in life. Running a successful podcast can’t function without preparedness. Christian is well aware of that and has gotten the podcast routine down.
“We wanted to bring on at least one or two writers every single week,” Christian said. “In order to prepare for that, we would look at the Spear’s website every week and read all of the stories. Then we would figure out which ones would be good to reach out and bring writers on.”
The concept for the Spear podcast this semester was a culmination of ideas with Christian and McCreery. After the foundation was laid out, the duo hit the ground running. Christian isn’t the only one who’s had prior experience to speaking at length through a mic.
“I’ve had two other experiences with podcasting,” McCreery said. “The first one I did in my senior year of high school and I just did that one solo … I just did basketball, an NBA podcast. I did about three episodes of that. Then I did a second one with my best friend.”
Having prior experience certainly helps whenever you begin a new venture. That was the case for both Christian and McCreery. While the two barely met this semester, you wouldn’t be able to tell if you listened to the podcast.
“Me and Thomas’s chemistry has been really good,” McCreery said. “I would consider him a friend even though we’ve only known each other for this entire semester … Every podcast we do, our chemistry is just better and better because we know what to expect from each other.”
Chemistry is a word that is often thrown around when it comes to sports. Podcasting is no different. If there’s multiple hosts for a podcast, there should be a level of chemistry between the individuals. Christian and McCreery have achieved a solid level of chemistry with one another up to this point.
The idea for Christian and McCreery to continue the Spear podcast was pitched by Bechtoldt, the executive editor for the Spear. Bechtoldt oversees what Christian and McCreery do with the podcast and is pleased with what they’ve done with it.
“I think they’re great,” Bechtoldt said. “I think they’ve done a really great job. They kind of went with a different style that I was expecting, which I like. I thought they were going to bring in one person per week and talk about the major sports. Men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball and softball. Instead they’ve really paid attention to the website.”
Christian and McCreery have carved their own niche with the Spear podcast. They’ve evolved the platform by going a different route than prior iterations over the years. The only thing left is to see what’s next to come for the Spear podcast moving forward.