‘Mr. Portland’ Jake McGrady is doing it for Rip City culture, Blazers fans
By Dayton Brown
Keep Listening
Nowadays, you can listen to McGrady and Ocampo hosting 2nd String Sports one to two times per month. Their episodes are available on iTunes, SoundCloud, and Google Play. Following either McGrady or Mr. Portland on Twitter will keep you in the loop in regards to polls for the shows as well. They also have a new Instagram account.
The podcast has grown to a level McGrady never really expected to see. He says he constantly gets messages from fans of the show. Some are heartwarming; others are hilarious.
“Yeah … ” McGrady says, “I still can’t fully comprehend how often I get recognized in public. I’m so grateful. It’s amazing.”
Internship with Blazers
Building upon his podcast and new Rip City social media status, McGrady turned to bigger opportunities. After countless sent emails, connections on LinkedIn and other interactions, he landed an internship with the Portland Trail Blazers media team. He messaged seven different people with the team before former Blazers social media strategist Kris Koivisto gave him a shot.
“Really, I had no expectations beyond shaking his hand, asking him some questions, making a connection,” McGrady says. “But after spending a day with Kris, he let me know that there might be a way a position can open up for me.”
Less than two months later, McGrady was an intern yet again. This time, it was for the Trail Blazers — his favorite team on earth — doing digital media work for the first time.
“I was just awe-struck,” McGrady says. “I’ve been watching my favorite team my whole life, and now I’m in their practice facility. Doing work for their social media. It was an amazing experience.”
His duties included researching important dates for the Blazers’ social media team to use for posts.
McGrady was also in Portland’s “war room” for the 2015 NBA draft. He saw a message from Blazers owner Paul Allen instructing the team not to keep their first-round pick. Sure enough, that pick, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was traded for Mason Plumlee minutes later.
“It was just such an amazing experience for me, and unexpected as well,” McGrady says. “People asked me ‘How did you get an internship with the Blazers? How did you apply?’ There was no opening for me. Job openings like that don’t just open up for anyone. If you can find a way to network, just even by sending an email, it’ll go a long way. The worst thing that can happen is they don’t reply. And so what? It only took you 20 minutes.”
Blazers College Ambassador
The internship and network connection led to an even bigger title for McGrady when the Trail Blazers began a local college ambassador program. McGrady was named the Blazers’ ambassador for Oregon State.
“Their goal,” McGrady explains, “was to target that younger, college-type crowd to go ‘Oh, I’m motivated to drive from Corvallis to Portland to catch a game this Friday night.'”
The bulk of McGrady’s ambassador duties: running meetings, promoting the team and individual games to peers, and making sure they rocked the Moda Center during Blazers home games.
The Trail Blazers then launched a student ticket online program. The ambassador program doesn’t exist anymore, but the student ticket program does. Active students can get tickets for as low as $10 to Blazers games. The younger audience for Blazers games is due, in part, to McGrady.