Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Van Gogh.
Eric, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The idea started on January 25th, 2023 after an interview with (then-Laker) Russell Westbrook where the reporter was nothing but love and amazing towards Westbrook after all of the hate he was getting his way for the past year. After I saw the delightfulness of his reaction to the positive words, it reminded me how athletes are human. How words still hurt regardless of how powerful you are.
And on top of that, I was tired of seeing all of the negative news and articles that talked down athletes as if they were just entertainers. They’re beyond that and they deserve nothing but respect.
So my colleague, Zach Warzpaag, and I (Eric Van Gogh) decided to reach out to a few of our friends to push to become the difference makers and essentially become the avenue/the PLUG for the positive lifestyle of athletes ON and OFF the field. Especially since news outlets are the ones to pick and choose what they post so we decided to pick and choose as well, but instead, we pick and choose the greater things in the athletes’ lives.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The journey we’ve overcome in the last four months has been nothing but a blessing. We’ve had our ups and downs because we cover NFL news (for now) and it’s the offseason.
So to have hit over 1 Million impressions and 1000 followers on Twitter has been amazing. On top of that, seeing our tweets and posts on a bunch of websites has been such a blessing to see. But this is just the beginning and we strive to push beyond that.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We want to be the NEXT upcoming outlet for NFL news, rumors, transactions, and positive actions ON and OFF the field. Our goal is to eventually move on to other sports but as of right now, our main focus is football. The Athletes Plug’s vision is different from other outlets because we genuinely care for the players and athletes. On our journey, we’ve met so many players who deserve more recognition but because they’re not playing well on the field, they get no love, and no recognition so we want to change that.
We want to help athletes with their brands, and their messages, and hopefully continue to shine a bright light on their achievements off the field such as charity work, camps, side businesses, milestones in life, hobbies, etc. We want the world to TAP in the news and walk away with a smile.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I have always loved sports, as cliché as it sounds, that was the ONE big thing that brought my step-father and me closer. From meet and greets to watching the games live in person, and even coming home to play him in Madden, I’ve always connected with my dad with sports. The first gift that I ever received from him was a Scottie Pippen rookie card back in 2000.
It was the first card that got me into a love for the love of the hobby of sports cards. Unfortunately, at age 4, I lost it like an oblivious child would, but since then my collection has gained far more than 4000 cards and I found a Scottie Pippen rookie card to gift to him for his birthday in 2016. It helped me achieve an appreciation for sports and athletes.
It was a blessing because I grew up as a Steelers fan and I was able to previously work for Juju Smith Schuster for a few years as a content creator under his organization which helped me gain connections with the athletes and other content creators in the field, such as now, my best friend, KayKayes.
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/company/28786398/ admin/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/
TheAthletesPlug - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.
com/@theathletesplug - Email: TheAthletesPlugCo@gmail.com
