This story is featured in CityBeat's July 26 print edition.
It’s easy to talk to Brandon Saho. Sitting windowside at 1215 Wine Bar & Coffee Lab downtown, we discuss favorite sports teams (University of Cincinnati football, he said without hesitation), high school on the west side of Cincinnati and how well sour cream goes with Skyline Chili. The conversation goes a bit longer than planned. We share a sigh when trying to remember which Cincy EZPark zone will match our respective parking meters.
“Cincinnati is a big part of me,” Saho tells CityBeat. “I’m a Cincinnati kid. I tell every single person that I'm from Cincinnati, very proud of it. And it's in my blood, like I want to be in the same sentence one day as famous Cincinnati people. And I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now – maybe I might not be alive – if it weren't for the people in my life from Cincinnati, whether it be La Salle, UC, WLWT or just fans of the sports teams or my friends that I've made along the way. I love everything about Cincinnati.”
Saho is a former WLWT-TV sports reporter who found success in his career and gained a loyal following. He may have been well on his way to finding himself in that famous Cincinnati-people sentence. But about a year ago, he was battling a depression that welled up for 15 years, he said. So he took a mental health break, quit his reporting job and put the focus on himself.
“I've always felt alone. I don’t know why but I do,” Saho said in a YouTube video he posted eight months ago. “The first time I thought about suicide, I was 14 years old. The last time I thought about it was six months ago … From the outside, you saw a sports reporter who was living his dream job on TV, but on the inside, I was a broken man. For years I thought about jumping off of a bridge, crashing my own car or just drinking and drinking until I felt nothing. This past year, I hit rock bottom.”
Saho published the video after professional help allowed him to take control of his mental health. The video was a way to share his story and relate to others. It was also a formal announcement of plans to create a podcast in which he hosts professional athletes and celebrities to discuss mental health.
Saho said he was tired of fighting alone, and no one else should have to either, so he created The Mental Game podcast. Saho received around 2,000 social media messages and emails in response to his YouTube video. Some were motivated to find therapy, he said; others shared that they were also experiencing suicidal thoughts and his broadcast made them feel less alone, and some just said thank you.
The Mental Game podcast launched in November 2022, with Sam Hubbard of the Cincinnati Bengals appearing as his first guest.
“The podcast is about feeling relatable to the people that you look up to,” Saho said. “I wanted to make sure there was nothing like this out there. People talk about mental health. People talk about sports. But something where you're bringing these athletes, celebrities, musicians, entertainers into one spot and focusing, not solely, but mostly, on mental health has never been done before. That's why I wanted to make something unique and create a safe space for people to tell their stories.”
Saho visited Hubbard at his home, where they sat on Hubbard’s couch and discussed the highs and lows of winning and losing, pressures of being in the spotlight and how Hubbard monitors his mental health. To stay in control, Hubbard meditates and takes social media breaks often, he said in the Mental Game interview.
There's an air of ease throughout Saho's episodes. There are light moments, bouts of comic relief and even when the subject is heavy, Saho guides the conversation purposefully and genuinely. He says the key to an authentic and productive interview is mostly to listen. “Never interrupt a good answer,” he said.
Whether it’s the years of reporting experience or an innate charisma, it’s easy to talk to Saho. This charisma and experience is reflected in the first season of The Mental Game podcast, which features a star-studded list of guests like Hubbard, Joe Burrow’s parents, Dane Cook, Ricky Williams, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and The Office star Kate Flannery, to name a few.
Whether the topic is anxiety, depression, addiction, fame, panic attacks, grief, suicidal thoughts or physical injury, the audience learns that no one is exempt from mental health struggles despite success or fame. A lot of people just feel too alone or ashamed to talk about it, Saho said. When he interviewed Flannery of The Office, she told Saho that no one had ever inquired about her mental health during a public interview before.
“The way society has been for so long, it's ‘rub some dirt on it,’ ‘suck it up.’ Don't call in sick unless you're dying. Just work hard and keep going,” Saho said. “And so now is the time in my journey where it's okay to show emotion or let people know that shit’s not okay. And to see that, from the top of the NFL, to people who have their songs on the radio, to people that have the number one TV show of all time, to you and me sitting at a coffee shop doing this interview, all having the same thoughts, the same problems, the same emotions. That is the most powerful thing that I've realized since I started.”
After almost a year’s worth of episodes have been released, Saho is ready to re-envision The Mental Game. As a one-man show, he says he’s going to focus on refining production, creating an avenue to host live shows, sponsorships, providing mental health resources for listeners and continuing to push the limits on gaining access to big-name guests.
“I dream about this stuff every night, and I don't care if it sounds crazy,” Saho said. “People will be like, ‘That’ll never happen.’ Guess what? I didn't think I’d get Ricky Williams. I didn’t think I’d get Kate Flannery. I'm just not afraid to ask anyone to come on.”
His dream guest, he says with conviction, is Joe Burrow. But Saho feels like he can make that happen in the near future. So he rattles off a few other names as if to manifest their participation. “Any of the Justins, really,” he says (Bieber or Timberlake). Steve Carell and former President Barack Obama make the cut, as well.
Turns out, Saho has always been on his way to becoming a name in the famous Cincinnati-people sentence. Taking a break to better his mental health afforded clarity and the ability to create The Mental Game podcast.
“I always say two things about mental health,” Saho said. “Number one, do something. I don't care if it's call your mom, call your friend, go to therapy, check into a mental health hospital like I did – just do something. And number two: feelings are temporary.”
For more information about where to listen to The Mental Game podcast, visit mentalgamepodcast.com.
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