Burke contacted the Gaels in mid-June after stumbling upon their Web site. Burke decided that the international aspect of the Gaelic Athletic Association needed to be brought to the attention of GAA clubs within Ireland. So he sought out successful North American GAA clubs to demonstrate the massive absorption of Irish sport internationally, and there he found the Denver Gaels.

Hurling World’s Gala Camogie Summer Supplement was distributed Friday, June 19 and featured a cover story titled “Hitting the Sliotar a Mile High!” Burke wished to highlight Denver Gaels camogie in light of major camogie tournaments occurring throughout Ireland in the end of June. Burke stated how impressed he is with the status of GAA clubs popping up all over the world and also how professionally organized larger clubs are of the North American GAA (NAGAA), including Denver.

Within the article, which will soon be available on the Denver Gaels Web site, Burke mentions some upcoming events for the Denver Gaels, especially highlighting the Colorado Irish Festival the weekend of July 10-12. For the delight and athletic entertainment of festival attendees, the Gaels are hosting five different teams from all across the country, including the Seattle Gaels hurling team and women’s Gaelic football team; the Columbia Red Branch hurling team from Portland, Oregon; the Chicago Wolfe Tones men’s Gaelic football team; and San Diego Na Fianna women’s Gaelic football team.

Games are scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to sunset on Saturday, July 11, at Clement Park, just outside the festival gates. If you’ve never seen the sports of the GAA played live, the Colorado Irish Festival offers one of the best opportunities in the country to witness the sports up close and personal.

Saturday is not the only day for Irish sport at the festival. On Sunday, July 12, the Gaels will crown their annual pub league champion in a battle royale of local talent. In addition, the Denver men’s Gaelic football team will compete against Australian Rules Football team, the Denver Bulldogs, in an “international rules” match. Physical and fast-paced doesn’t even begin to describe a compromised rules match, which has a history of bloodshed and controversy. The teams have not met in international rules for a few years now, so the game will be a sight to behold.

After the Gaels have crowned a new pub league champion between Dougherty’s, the Irish Rover, Scruffy Murphy’s and the Celtic Tavern, they will set their sights for the North American County Board (NACB) Finals of the North American GAA. The finals take place over Labor Day weekend every year. Like last year, Boston hosts in 2009.

Prior to their departure though, the Gaels are hosting a benefit to raise money for club expenses at the finals. The Annual Denver Gaels Benefit Golf Tournament is scheduled for Saturday, August 8 at Thorn Creek Golf Club (13555 N. Washington Street, Thornton). Tee off is 1:30 p.m. and like previous years, busses will run from the Celtic Tavern/Delaney’s to and from the golf course. Prizes include, but are not limited to, two rounds of golf at Aspen Golf Club and a two-night’s stay at a luxurious downtown Denver hotel. The cost for the event will range from $80 to $100. More information will be posted to the Denver Gaels Web site when it is available.

For more information on any of these events, especially the Colorado Irish Festival or the Gaels Benefit Golf Tournament, please visit www.denvergaels.com. You can also receive monthly updates from the club by emailing denvergaels@yahoo.com, or follow the Gaels online through Twitter (@DenverGaels) and Facebook.

The Denver Gaels are a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and an official member of Ireland’s Gaelic Athletic Association, the governing body of Irish sport.

Don’t be intimidated by the online audio behemoths that are podcasts. You could be missing a major audience of audio information junkies by shying away from what was once, but is no longer, a technically complex tactic. True, podcasts can also include video, but I am focusing more closely on the simpler version to implement, the audio podcast.

I’m a writer, not a tech guy. But I am savvy enough to type “How to podcast” into a

Apple Podcast Logo

 Google search. Guess what. A bajillion hits came back. Results include free information about how to start and maintain a podcast for little or no money. Here’s one. Here’s another. I’m certain there are even podcasts about how to podcast. There are also plenty of videos with step-by-step instructions and tutorials. Remember what I said about not being intimidated? Here’s why you shouldn’t be: it’s not rocket science. It can be learned. You can even become an expert. And it’s not a bad skill to have in your professional arsenal either, no matter what your specialty is.

When we stop thinking of ourselves as “the people who interact with the media on behalf of the client” and start thinking of ourselves as “storytellers for a client who has something important to say for anyone who will listen,” we will drop the shackles of traditional PR and burst onto a more worldly stage of grass roots interaction on a massive level and find incredible opportunities to reach publics never before considered. And a simple podcast may be a great way for you to move in that direction.

Tyler McNally is a freelance writer and PR professional who specializes in social media and non-profit public relations. Contact him via LinkedIn, Twitter, WordPress, or regular old email: tymcnally@gmail.com.

The old standard.

For Immediate Release

For More Information, Please Contact….

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz. Boooooorrring. Asleep yet? I don’t blame you. Dare I say the old standard news release is dead? Or at least dying?

Credit: Kerry Ezard

We PR people are, by our very nature, professional communicators, and communication has changed. If “interactive” isn’t a part of your daily vocabulary, I’ll assume you are working the PR strategies of a Trans-Siberian oil rig, cut off from the outside world. More than ever before, it seems communication is a two-way street and that is why the old standard has evolved beyond recognition (it was primarily one-sided). Especially in today’s saturated and over-stimulated sensory experience that is our Web-based world, if you’re not smack-dab in the middle of the discussion, you’re not doing your job. And I think I saw a great deal on Travelocity to Novokuznetsk, near Siberia. I hear they’re hiring.

Two-way street, remember. Content is posted. Viewers can comment. The content originator responds, and on and on it goes, all over the Web. Somewhere in there, your client is mentioned, perhaps even slandered, and all of the sudden 100,000 people have just read something inaccurate or unfair about your client that you were not responsible for. Ah, but now you are responsible and this is key in understanding the new model: it is our duty to know what conversations are occurring all over the world that pertain to our client (far from the old generate-media-kit-distribute-watch-the-articles-appear model). It’s our duty to interact. My advice is one word: vigilance. It is absolutely vital in policing the perception of your client in the never-ending galaxy of the Internet. Now get out there and moderate.

Tyler McNally is a freelance writer and PR professional who specializes in social media and non-profit public relations. Contact him via LinkedIn, Twitter, WordPress, or regular old email: tymcnally@gmail.com.

At the 2009 Colorado Irish Festival, the mile high kingpins of Irish sport will host numerous national teams for an athletic exhibition unlike any other in Colorado. The fast-paced, physical sports of the Emerald Isle will provide lively entertainment for festival attendees all day Saturday. Competitive exhibition matches will be played on a regulation-sized pitch (field) just outside the festival grounds of Clement Park.

National teams traveling from afar to take on the Denver squads this year include the Seattle Gaels hurling team and women’s Gaelic football team, the Columbia Red Branch hurling team from Portland, Oregon, and the Chicago Wolfe Tones men’s Gaelic football team.

Aside from serving as high-energy festival entertainment, these exhibition matches also double as training for national championship competition hosted in Boston over Labor Day Weekend.

The Denver Gaels have a history of success at the North American County Board (NACB) Finals. After just four years from the club’s inception, the men’s Gaelic football team brought home a trophy in 2000 as Junior B national champs, just two competitive levels below the best in the world. In 2004, the Gaels hosted the North American County Board Finals in Boulder to critical acclaim. That same year, the club’s new youth Gaelic football program was crowned both U12 and U14 national champions. With the inception of a hurling program five years ago, more national titles would arrive in 2007. The Junior C hurlers and, yet again, two more Denver youth teams brought back a total of three trophies to the Mile High City.

Most recently, at the 2008 NACB Finals, the Gaels were able to field not one, but two hurling teams, Junior B and Junior C, and also its first ever camogie squad for national competition.

2009 is ramping up to be even more successful for Denver’s Irish athletic warriors, so come out for a taste of the very unique sports the weekend of the Colorado Irish Festival.

The Gaels will be on-hand to instruct any newcomers or interested attendees in some of the basics of the national sports of Ireland played right here in Colorado’s own backyard. Below is a brief description of GAA sports. Instructional videos and other club information can also be found at www.denvergaels.com. Or email the Gaels at denvergaels@yahoo.com.

Gaelic Football (Men’s, Women’s & Youth)

Gaelic football is most simply categorized as a fusion of soccer with hands, rugby and Australian rules football. It’s a rough and tumble game not for the faint of heart – very physical, very fluid and fast. It is a field sport played with a ball similar to a soccer ball but a little heaver. The object is to kick the ball in the goal, for three points, or between the uprights for one point. Players are allowed four steps with the ball in hand, but in order to take more steps thereafter, a player must either bounce the ball or toe-tap it back to themselves while on the move. Another option is to kick or hand-pass the ball down the field or to a teammate.

Full-on tackling is not allowed, but shoulder tackling is allowed and the ball is always live so can be swatted even when in another players possession. The physical nature of Gaelic football cannot be understated!

Hurling (Men’s) and Camogie (Women’s)

Hurling (and its female counterpart, camogie) is a stick and ball game that is credited as the historic precursor to ice hockey. Like hockey, it is very fast-paced, intricate and incredibly physical requiring dexterity, balance, agility, grit and determination.

The object is to strike the ball (or “sliothar” in Irish) into the goal for three points or through the uprights for one point. Players are allowed four steps with the ball in hand, but can only have ball in hand twice per possession. Players must advance the ball by striking it with a three-foot hurley (or “caman” in Irish), which is wooden and flat with a curve at the end, or by “hand passing” or kicking it.

The intricate nature of hurling provides for lively matches, fast-paced action, top-notch athleticism and especially big hits!

The best local opportunity to witness these vivacious sports of Ireland in action is the 2009 Colorado Irish Festival at Clement Park!

This anecdote explains how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA, has immediately and closely affected me personally.

I was laid off on February 3, 2009. On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recover and Reinvestment Act, a 787 billion dollar effort to stabilize our faltering economy. Some call it stimulation. I call it survival.

The two weeks between my lay off and the signing of the stimulus bill were spent equally between two activities: searching for a new job and navigating the bureaucratic regime that is “unemployment” and all the sticky little branches that shoot off of its ugly trunk.

One of those serpentine branches takes the form of COBRA continuation coverage insurance. I came to learn that my insurance benefits at Metrolist, which were significant and so lovely came to an abrupt close at midnight the day of my termination.

I have diabetes. If I don’t have access to insulin, I’m dead. No joke.

Feel free to take a guess what a one-month supply of insulin costs this diabetic at retail. (I blow through two vials a month, and I’m a well-controlled diabetic.)

$227.99

Two vials of insulin. The stuff of my functioning and survival.

So, I’m laid off and my insurance expires at midnight. What am I supposed to do? Never fear, despondent diabetics! COBRA to the rescue! Or so I had hoped. I learned a few weeks after the lay off that COBRA continuing coverage would cost me a $500 premium per month in order to continue the coverage I received when I was employed. I might as well just pay for the damn insulin! (If only insulin were the extent of it – don’t forget about pump supplies, syringes, test strips. It goes on.)

I was not working the sexiest, highest-paying job in the world. In fact, it was pretty low-paying and bland. $500 a month would have been impossible for me when I was employed. Now they expect me to shell it out when I’m not even earning a paycheck. How does that work? Still trying to figure that one out.

Enter big government. I say “government” because, while I am a staunch Obama supporter, I also recognize that the stimulus package was a concerted effort of incredibly many people in Washington on both sides of the aisle.

Amid the lengthy legal jargon of the ARRA, there resides the happiest little provision I’ve ever read in such a boring document. It states that anyone laid off between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009 may be eligible for COBRA premium payment assistance – specifically 65 percent of it! So that $500 premium I would have otherwise literally been forced to pay in order to survive is chopped down to a much more manageable $177 per month. I can handle that, barely.

I just received my confirmation in the mail a few days ago that I am considered eligible for the assistance and my monthly obligation to continue health insurance under COBRA is drastically less than it otherwise would have been.

So there it is. The real world application of a bureaucratic nightmare that turned out to truly benefit the people it sought to help. It worked.

I’m happy, jobless, but happy, and best of all, I’ve got three sexy vials of insulin in the fridge just waiting for me to shoot up whenever I need.

As I went for a run this afternoon, I was thinking about this topic: what it means to be on a member of a team dedicated to the success of the group rather than the self. As my thoughts drifted from personal experiences as a team member - many successes and many more defeats – a road cyclist pedaled towards me headed south as I headed north. The domestique! I thought. Aside from being quite possibly the coolest word ever, the domestique is also the most altruistic aspect of any sport I have ever encountered. In all my years of team participation and athletic endeavors, I have yet to find a category worthy of such selfless admiration.

I’m no expert in road cycling, but I’ve followed my share of Tours and Lance triumphs so I think I have the basic concept down of the noble domestique. Road cycling is a team sport. The domestique is a designated position on the team whose sole purpose is to support the team leader in any capacity necessary. And I mean any capacity.

The team leader is tired? The domestique literally presses him on by placing his hand on the leader’s back giving him a subtle but meaningful boost. The leader needs a slipstream to ride in for a while? The domestique is there to provide the break in wind resistance. The team needs to tire out the field? The domestique will sprint at strategic times forcing the field to give chase.

The domestique begins a race knowing there is virtually no chance he/she will be sharing the winner’s podium with his leader at the end of it. And unfortunately, the spotlight rarely features the sacrifices of the domestique. He knows his place on the team and gives everything in support. Altruistically. Selflessly.

I salute all you domestiques out there, in cycling, other sports, business, and life. Leaders would be nothing without you.

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I for one was of the minority of Denverites jumping for joy when I found out that a local celebrity was diagnosed with a chronic and commonly misunderstood disease. Why was I so happy you ask? (If the title of Denver Diabetes Examiner isn’t obvious enough.)  

August 17, 1997, I was diagnosed with diabetes. Of course, I didn’t make the announcement at a press conference to a gaggle of journalists looking for the scoop. It was just my parents, my brothers, me. Hardly the support of entire city.  

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the most prime stage of awkwardness I could ask for, age 13! I was overweight with long hair, and often mistaken for a girl. Yes. Awkward. Quite.  

When I was diagnosed on that fateful day 11 years ago, I was given the most important ultimatum in my life. I could slough off the responsibility onto my parents to control my disease for me or I could take the reins myself, manage my disease day to day and ensure that my health was a top priority. Scattered between day-to-day diabetes management, not unlike Mr. Cutler, I played sports: soccer, ice hockey, golf, water skiing. You name it.  

And like millions of other overlooked Americans coping with this potentially debilitating disease, I refused to see it as a handicap, but rather as an inspiration. I knew I had to be that much more vigilant about my health than my teammates. I had to be that much more dedicated. I can’t say I enjoyed the minor daily frustrations that a high blood sugar brings on, but I have always looked at my disease as an opportunity rather than a weakness.  

Jay Cutler was recently faced with the same ultimatum. I’m hoping for the sake of his teammates, his city and most importantly, for himself, Jay Cutler can have the strength to view his new condition in the positive way that so many of us in the same boat have chosen to.  

There is also a delicate balance that I feel Jay will be presented with when dealing with his disease. I’m not in the public domain, far from it actually. Jay Cutler is. I don’t have media coverage at my disposal to espouse an important cause. Jay Cutler does. I’m not quoted in the sports sections on Monday morning. Jay Cutler is. I don’t have a barrage of assistants or managers to remind me of public appearances. Jay Cutler does. 

I would hope that along with these responsibilities and resources at Jay’s (newly pricked) fingertips, he takes full advantage of how much good can come of a public figure putting the spotlight on our shared disease. Be an advocate, Jay. Be a role model for young diabetic athletes. Be strong for yourself and your team in the face of adversity. And believe me, friend, strength in the face of diabetes is the only way to cope.  

I can’t remember anyone so prominent in my lifetime being faced with the obstacle of diabetes and being forced to talk about publicly. Adam Morrison of Gonzaga basketball/Charlotte Bobcats fame also balances diabetes with a professional athletic career. Also in Jay’s new company, a famed former CU Buffalo, Jay Leeuwenburg who also has a notable 9-year NFL career under his belt. Leeuwenburg has gone on to pen a book on the subject of diabetes in the professional sports arena (Yes I can! Yes You Can!). He has handled the balance professionally, charitably and with class. But my personal favorite is NHL legend, Bobby Clarke who revolutionized how young skaters like me played defense. 

There are a countless many other celebrities, singers, actors, intellectuals and average Joes who wake up with the courage to take shots, prick fingers, give blood tests, keep meticulous records and live a long and fulfilling life. Jay Cutler now joins our elite group of diabetic overachievers with more support and knowledge than I ever thought possible 11 years ago.   

And if he’s as dedicated to diabetes as he is on the field and vice versa, there is nothing we have to worry about, Denver. Be proud of our famous diabetic and give him the support he needs.