SPORTS FLASHBACK Rick and James have fun as the “2 Sports Guys”

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This article was published 04/06/2023 (777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The 2 Sports Guys hit the radio airwaves for the first time January 27 in what Rick and James Loewen consider ‘a break’, getting the opportunity to have their own show on Winnipeg radio after an extended stint on community access cable television.

Rick and James Loewen see sports as being more about entertainment, and less about stats and game scores and results, and that fits in very well with the format of their late night radio slot.

It is entertainment that the 2 Sports Guys provide on their regular sports call-in show on Winnipeg’s 97.5 FM radio.

James and Rick were already well known in Winnipeg through the 2 Sports Guys community access cable television show when they got the call from Ralph Warrington, General Manager of CJOB and 97.5 FM, requesting a meeting with them in November.

Rick 29, and James, 28, live in Winnipeg, but are both natives of Steinbach. James grew up in Steinbach, and Rick moved from Steinbach to Morris at the age of seven,

The two second cousins first met during a Red Rock Bible Camp cycle-a-thon years ago, where a friendship developed.

Rick, who is a natural comedian, took those talents to the airwaves in 1987, starting a cooking show called Celebrity Eats, with a few friends on local access cable television.

Each week, the show consisted of different ways to cook Kraft dinner, such as Chinese style, in a fondu, with shish kebabs, and experiments with a few other variations.

But after Rick and his entourage ran the gamut of ways to cook Kraft dinner, the focus of the show switched to sports, with Rick providing the comedy relief and James providing his opinions, sometimes in a more serious vein.

Thus began the two-and-a-half year run of the 2 Sports Guys on local cable TV. It was a weekly half-hour sports call-in show, with any topic, preferably sports related, allowed.

“We tried to offer something different on our show,” says Rick.

“If people wanted sports scores, they could get that elsewhere.”

The profile of the 2 Sports Guys increased significantly when they were voted the best community access show in Winnipeg in 1990. The Winnipeg Sun and Winnipeg Free Press also ran articles on their show.

The 2 Sports Guys made their radio debut on January 27, in what some people refer to as Super Bowl Sunday. Originally slated for two hours on Sunday evenings, during a three-month trial period, the two sports comedians were quickly signed to a one year contract.

After just one show, management at 97.5 FM liked what they heard. The show is now on five times a week, Monday through Thursday, from 10-11 p.m., and Sunday from 10 p.m. until midnight.

The talk show has already featured well-known guests, Danny Gallivan, Charlie Francis, Tiger Williams, Don Cherry, and Olympic volleyball player Michelle Sawatzky of Steinbach.

The show, which is liberally laced with comedy, maintains a lighthearted approach throughout. Most of the comedy comes from Rick, who used to work as a professional stand-up comedian.

Voted Winnipeg’s funniest man in Winnipeg in 1986 earned Rick a trip to Los Angeles (accompanied by his sidekick James), where he performed at the world-famous Comedy Store.

Rick went on to work full-time for Yuk Yuk’s Komedy Kabaret, travelling to such exotic locales as Moose Jaw, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto.

Rick’s skills as a comedian and performer are evident on 2 Sports Guys. There is no shortage of one-liners from both of them, but James leaves most of the comedy up to Rick, much like Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster used to.

What makes the show successful is that James and Rick have fun with it. Laughter frequently punctuates the airwaves during the show, as they laugh at each other, or perhaps along with a caller.

With files from Terry Frey