The Thunder Sports Network: How a Con-Man and a Cripple Wound up on the Sideline of the Super

By Chris L. Brown and Rich Hallstrom

"This is the NFL!" He asserted.
"I don't care! I work for Jesus Christ!" I shot back.

In the ultimate true tale of the Small Guys vs. the World, The Thunder Sports Network tells the story of two friends and brothers in Faith who dared to defy convention and foray into the domain of Big-Time Sports. The inspiring doors that were flung open include pro locker rooms, NFL front offices, the NCAA third base line, and peaked on the sideline of the most Super game of all.

This is not a self-help book, or a linear "how-to" for budding producers. This is an intentionally and thoughtfully woven true tale, hitting on familiar faces and places all along, sealed together by a Common Denominator that proves to be the best Author ever. A fun, fast read that takes you where your favorite sports network cannot.

"Thunder Sports Network was a unique idea that took vision and guts. These are great men to "Huddle Up" with in the game of Life!"

--David Baker, President and CEO, Pro Football Hall of Fame

"Thunder Sports Network shines the light of Christ on pro sports."
--Brock Huard, ESPN College Football Analyst

"Thunder Sports Network is the story of what happens when David rubs elbows
with Goliath. A true life adventure in faith."
--C.L. Brown, former ESPN / Current theAthletic.com
College Basketball Reporter

Follow the action on Twitter @ThundrSprtsNet

See the videos at ThunderSportsNetwork.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973618300

Chris L. Brown

CHRIS L. BROWN has written and produced sports programming for national Christian and secular media portals alike. The UNC-Chapel Hill Journalism major has worked for NBC, Nickelodeon, JCTV, and SBNation.com. He studied at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon, and has served on the staff of churches on both coasts of the US. He has had a passion for football, in particular, since his childhood in North Carolina; moreso, he has had a passion for his Faith in God. When he is not fanboying his Baltimore Ravens or Tar Heel sports (not just basketball!), he is either hanging with his wonderful wife and kids, engaging his church body, or seeing the latest Captain America movie on opening night. RICH HALLSTROM has been a freelance sports reporter in Seattle Washington for over 30 years. During that time he has covered the NFL the NBA as well as major college sports. He has written for numerous publications including Inside the Seahawks magazine, Athlons Pac-10 football preview, and Sports Washington Magazine. He loves to inspire people by telling the stories of individuals from all walks of life. Rich and his wife Sheila currently reside in Bellevue Washington. They are members of Timberlake church in Redmond, Washington.

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 Chris L. Brown.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1829-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1831-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1830-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018901375

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/08/2018

In loving memory of Tanya Butler, Rich’s Mom. She was his biggest fan from the beginning.

Contents

Prologue CB

Intro - Chris

Intro - Rich

The Wes Welker Miracle CB

Bienvenido a Miami RH

Football really IS Family CB

Chaplain Hallstrom RH

The Quarterback from Church RH

Home of The College World Series CB

Thunder in the New Orleans Hurricane RH

The Arena Commish CB

College Football NotION CB

LT and the Chargers CB

Seattle Seahawks

Exit, Thunder left RH

The Unofficial Thunder Sports Network CB

The Sideline of the Super Bowl

a.   Deadline? What Deadline?

b.   NFL Disability Services

c.   The Dynamic Duo meets the Dynamic Twins/Snooper Bowl

d.   Mistaken for a Pro

e.   C.L. Brown vs. C.L. Brown

f.   Shaun Alexander’s Bookends

g.   The Sideline Story

h.   The Birth of Thunder

All Roads Led Here

i.   Thunder Sports Network

About the Authors

Dedication

Chris L. Brown

Thanks to my Lord, God, Daddy, and Friend: Jesus.

Thanks to my ever-supportive, angelic mother, Carolyn A. Archie.

Thanks to my wonderful first born, incredibly artistic and beautiful daughter Sydney Hope.

Thanks to my Number One Sport, my proudest moment, my heir superior, Zachary Christopher.

Thanks to my younger sibling C.L., our adventures have defined me my brother.

Thanks to my big sister Sandy, your faith is pure love to me.

Thanks to my older brother Cedric and younger sister Carol, I thought of you often as I wrote this book.

Thanks to my mother-in-law Sandy Greene, for your inspiration to write something great.

Thanks to my father-in-law Jim Greene, for treating me like a son since day one.

Janine David - WestBow Press

Thanks to the following people or entities:

Thomas Nelson Publishing, for pursuing me all these years.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Antioch Bible Church

Grace Community Church

Westover Church

Calvary Assembly

Chapel Hill Bible Church

Western Seminary

Brunson Elementary School

Coach John Harbaugh

Coach James Mitchell

Coach Butch Davis

Lee Brown, Jr.: RIP Dad.

Miles Slash Brown

Jasmin Douglas

Ed Archie

Bernard Archie

Ella Ruth Archie Academy

Poppa Charlie

Jimmy Styles Hunt

Herrell Fields

Steve Johnson

Reggie Hunt

Aunt Marvis and Uncle OJ

Aunt Veet and Uncle Bunt

Jeff McSwain

Chuck Chitwood, friend and author of The Trial of Job

Dr. Mark East

Mark McCallie, JCTV Network

ION Network

David Letterman

Jamal LaFrance

Dennis Starns

The character currently shown as Zach

Steve Huber Love Somebody

Shaun Alexander

Wes Welker

Jon Kitna

David Baker

Kevin Best

My stepkids Joshua, Rose, and Jessica. You guys rock!

And most of all on this Earth, my better half, the love of my life, the lovely apple of my eye, my gift from the Lord, my wife Jacki Brown. Your patience, love, and encouragement literally fueled these pages. Without you, there is no me. I love you very much my Beautiful. Thank you!

Dedication

Rich Hallstrom

I would like to thank the following people for their support inspiration and influence on this project and my life through the years.

The Champion: Jesus Christ

Romans 1:16

The love of my life, Sheila Hallstrom

Chris Brown, Thank you for all our adventures there is much more to come!!

Mom & Dad thanks for letting me watch all those games I think it paid off!

The rest of my family, you know who you are

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Huskies Football

Jon Kitna

Matt Hasselbeck

Steve Largent

Jim Zorn

Norm Evans

Mike Holmgren

Brock Huard

Timberlake Church

Antioch Bible Church

Run to Win Outreach

Maryanna Young

Kim Fletcher

Mercy Hope

Tom Hansen

Don & Sue Eggart

Prologue

by C.L. Brown, theathletic.com

When I got the call from Chris, I needed him to speak slower, although he wasn’t really talking fast. What he just said was so far outside the realm of what I was expecting, I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly.

I knew with the Super Bowl in Detroit that he was likely to go. The aunt and uncle who we’d frequently visit during the summers growing up happened to be season ticket holders for the Lions. They had access to purchase tickets at face value, which at the time was $600. And this was like our own personal battle. My favorite team was matched up against the favorite team of his childhood, which made it for the first time ever.

When that phone rang, I just assumed Chris was calling to tell me he was getting a ticket from my aunt and uncle and going to the game. But he was actually telling me that I should do that instead. He’d already checked and my uncle was willing to give up his ticket to let me go.

Naturally, I asked Chris why he wasn’t going to use the ticket for himself.

You’re going to do what?

You got a media credential?

But how?

Let’s backtrack for a minute. Chris is my older brother that’s closest to me in age. I’ve followed him down many paths we had no business traveling -- or at least paths that we mischievously traveled -- for the simple fact that if my big brother says we could do it, then it must be okay. I never thought twice about the times we skipped Sunday school as kids by snugly squeezing into the underbelly of balcony pews. The act of being dressed in our Sunday best while crawling military-style on our stomachs to get there seemed perfectly normal. It was perfectly absurd when I think back on it as an adult, but that sums up Chris. He’s always been the type that, identifies a mission and starts chipping away at it.

And it must have summed up Rich Hallstrom too. I got the feeling that in his time working with Chris, he reasoned much like I did growing up. If Chris said we can do it, then it must be okay.

So when he first told me about the idea that he and Rich had for the Thunder Sports Network, I knew they were on to something with the potential to be a big deal. They’d be filling a void in the world of sports reporting. There were no outlets dedicated to telling stories of Christian athletes. Even on a shoelace budget – like seriously just one string, they couldn’t afford a pair – the chipping away process could begin.

The prayer started first. Lots and lots of praying while a series of small victories started adding up. They were recognized as a legitimate media outlet by major sports organizations and were able to land several big interviews.

They stayed faithful to their vision, which is why there was no need for jaw dropping during that phone call from Chris. They were on a journey much greater than what they could accomplish on their own.

And the tales they lived to tell sound perfectly absurd all these years later.

Intro - Chris

I am not a Con-Man.

It’s just, people sometimes assume that I am.

One look, and they think that the snappy Black guy hanging with the wheelchair man must be up to something. They’re both journalists? Yeah, right. They both got here—wherever ‘here’ is—on their own merit? No way.

This is the NFL, after all.

Or, insert Big League name in the place of NFL.

So either, Sport Coat Dude was the helper of Wheelchair Guy, or he was the agent of Wheelchair Guy, or he had just farce-d his way into this situation—maybe even by using the Wheelchair Guy.

The perfectly absurd truth is that I wound up at these places because of simple hope.

Hoping enough to ask.

Hoping enough to dream.

Hoping enough to not give up.

That’s where the Thunder Sports Network came from.

I was returning to my cubicle in the office where I was interning. However one would get a quick message back around 2005, I got one, from my boss. He was beckoning me to his closed-and-blinded office. I hit him back with, I’ll be there in a minute.

The minute came and went and was added to by identical brothers. I stood up from my space, looking at a paper that perhaps I was going to make a copy of. I wonder what was on that paper, now. Whatever it was, it soon would be in the much forgotten pile of life trivia, because of what came next.

Chris!

That wasn’t Mitch’s voice. But it came from his office door. I looked up, and almost fell back.

Chris! Get in here!

So, when a reigning NFC rushing champ tells one to ‘get in here,’ one goes.

Shaun Alexander of the Seattle Seahawks was standing in Mitch’s door, smiling with the smile of a successful sur-prank, holding it for me.

I went in straightaway to this very exclusive meeting.

I was getting to meet the guy that dripped potential, that captured the cheers of tens of thousands, that one could strongly argue was the most popular athlete in the Pacific Northwest.

We shared a mentor. James Mitchell mentored the (soon to be) MVP, and me.

And, it was not so much the fact of the meeting, it was the meaning of the meeting. For I would be meeting with Shaun in various places of varying degrees of sporting importance, and life importance, for years to come. Me, a UNC J(ournalism)-school grad who opted to leave the television field, even after the promise of appearances on David Letterman and Nickelodeon, in order to work with kids. A higher calling. I, who in the course of this higher calling years later, had begun doing a network-level television show for free. You read that right. My inadvertent, partial entrance back into the field was a Los Angeles-based show called Top 3. I did a segment for it from Seattle. Weekly. For free.

That work led to a connection with a local TBN affiliate, KTBW. That connection led to opportunities to do programming through this affiliate like a late-night talkshow called Late Haven.

There was a comedy writer on that show named C. Rich Hallstrom. But that’s another chapter.

An opportunity I kept trying to create was getting a Seahawk for an interview, or an appearance on the show. And thus, I enter what is destined to be a repeating theme in this book: the difficulty of NFL Public Relations offices.

Beautiful people, I’m sure. Also not averse to shutting an idea down in a heartbeat. So after multiple tries, the Seahawks had kindly but definitely sent the message that I was not on their insider media list. Even with the KTBW call letters behind my name. I took the losses and kept moving, every