With Streak on Verge of 150, Meet The Man Behind ProCanes
Nov. 20, 2011
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – With the Pro Canes touchdown streak on the verge of reaching an unprecedented 150 weeks, HurricaneSports.com sat down with Platon Alexandrakis, the founder of ProCanes.com, for a one-on-one interview.
Q: How have the Miami Hurricanes been a lifelong interest?
A: I was born and raised in Miami. I went to high school here, and then did my undergrad and did two graduate degrees at the University of Miami. My father has been a professor at UM for over 40 years, so I basically grew up on campus. I learned to love the university from when I was a young kid. I went to football games as a child and it kind of grew when I went to school there. I wrote for The Miami Hurricane in undergrad for the sports section, and was also editor-in-chief of the Ibis Yearbook.
Q: What did you major in at UM?
A: My undergraduate degree was in physics, but I finished the JD/MBA program here in 2007.
Q: Once you graduated, how did you get started covering Hurricanes Athletics?
A: When I finished school, I wanted to stay involved in the Hurricanes Athletics world. I started my own blog reporting on the current Hurricane teams, but realized pretty quickly that no one really cared what I had to say. I didn’t have really much access to the team, and as far as media back then, they weren’t very open.
I was thinking of a different idea that people would be interested in that others weren’t really talking about. I realized we have so many guys in the NFL but also in the MLB, NBA and some in the WNBA, and no one really reports on what they’re doing. I found that little niche I guess. That was back in 2006.
Q: How has the famous Pro Canes touchdown streak affected the website?
A: The touchdown streak has brought a lot more attention. It has also helped built the brand and the name “Pro Canes.” Twitter has also helped a lot, and the streak has taken a life of its own on Twitter. On Sundays, everyone asks whether the streak has been extended, or right when someone scores a touchdown, it’s all over Twitter. The streak has added some good publicity for the site. The Miami Herald wrote an article and recognized the site as documenting the whole history of the streak.
Q: Is there a moment in time when you thought the streak would be over?
A: This year, I’ve sweated it out more than almost any other year. The amount of injuries there have been, and maybe not having all the offensive threats as in years past. I would say this year has kept me pretty antsy, but there’s only been around two times where it’s ever taken until Monday night to happen. This year’s been the toughest one.
Q: How do you keep track of so many athletes in so many sports all over the world?
A: It works two ways. A lot of times I get tips from family members of some one that we might not know about. For instance, there is a Pro Canes sailor. He’s won a silver medal in the Olympics. A friend of his emailed me and told me, “You should track Zack Railey,” so I’ve been doing that. Sometimes his mother will send me scanned articles from local newspapers, or other things I may not be able to get my hands on otherwise.
When you talk about basketball players playing abroad like Brian Asbury or Jack McClinton, I’ll get information from former players they’ve played with at Miami, or even contact them directly. I build through Google and check out bigger. For someone like Tamara James, who plays basketball in Israel, or our Pro Cane NASCAR driver Tim George Jr., it’s a little harder. I have to dig, but people with connections help me out.
Q: How does it feel knowing that family and friends of the Pro Canes look to your site for information?
A: It’s very gratifying. It’s gratifying when I get an email from a former player’s brother saying, “I love your site, but why isn’t my brother featured?” Or “hey, you should really follow this Pro Cane because they’re doing great things.” It’s gratifying that they’re going to the site and using it as a source of information for these alums and Pro Canes that are doing great things that aren’t really as real known.
Q: On a personal level, how important is it bringing publicity to alumni of your own alma mater?
A: It gives me great satisfaction. I’m very proud to be a three-times over alumnus of UM. I bleed orange and green like no one else, and it’s great to focus on the alums and to build up the great things they’re doing. I would love to be able to feature all the alums of the university, not just the ones in athletics – lawyers, doctors, everyone who has graduated from UM.
But being an alum, and focusing on those in professional athletics and showing how successful they’ve been, , it makes me really happy to see those guys successful ,even though many of them I don’t even know. The success that our graduates have had at the professional level, in the NFL, or even with Jon Jay winning a World Series ring this past year, it’s great. They take pride in the site.
