RACHEL BONNETTA

NFL Network host Rachel Bonnetta is known for her endless amount of creativity and energy onscreen, but this time we get to know more about what she went through to build the person we see on TV. Bonnetta is a testimony to the fact that where there’s strength, there was a struggle.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at
production of The Black Effect and I heart Radio. I'm
Steve Smith Senior and I'm a little John and this
is cut to it. Good do it, Good do it.
Let's get down to do it. Good do it. We
asked the questions you always want to know, but no

(00:22):
one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard
about it, then we're about to let you. Now it's all.
I'd like to welcome a workmate, a person who is

(00:44):
she's pretty talented, UM reporter, television host for of course, NFL, networking,
a lot of other things, and from Toronto, miss everything,
cut to it. Please welcome Rachel, but I'll miss every boy.
I think, thanks guys, thanks for having me. Thank you.

(01:08):
I'm looking at your career stuff because you know, obviously
when you work with someone, you don't necessarily know all
of the things they've done. And I mean, you've been
in this game. You've been hustling since You've been hustling
since toil. But I know you've been hustling toil, but
you've been hustled a lot longer than that. I've been
hustling since I've been twelve yea, because she's also she's

(01:34):
also one of three other brothers, so that's she's one
of three brothers. So that is like one of the
only girl. I've got three older brothers. And as soon
as I tell people that, they're like, oh, okay, now
you make sense. Do you know why that is? I

(01:55):
assume it's because I'm a I'm a tomboy and I'm tough,
and you know, one of the guys. That's kind of
how I've always taken it. Let me sit my tea.
It has to do with more of your personality. And
I'm a father of four and I got three boys
and one girl, and so I can I know, you know,

(02:18):
my daughter listens to this periodically. So where is the
girl in the age spectrum? Well, before our last she
was technically in the middle. She was the second oldest, okay,
and so it's soon to be seventeen and seven. But
she's a girl. So it's kind of that I don't

(02:41):
want to say, like, what was me, but it's that
you know, you're the girl, so you are used to
the spotlight. Yeah, I guess. So there's also a huge
age difference between me and my and all my brothers,
Like the oldest one is thirteen years older than me.
Then it goes ten years older than me, and then
it goes eight years older than me, and then there's
a huge gap between me and my youngest brother, um,

(03:05):
and then there's me. So it's weird. It's like I
was kind of an only child and the youngest because
by the time I got to like high school or
even middle school, they were all gone. So I got
I got that like I was only the one in
the house. And then I also got I was a
part of a huge family. Yeah, generally the only girl

(03:27):
gets the middle child syndrome without being the middle child.
So does that mean that I just like I'm always
trying to get attention because that doesn't check out. You
snitch on yourself. I'm not dryt niche in the podcast
that work with me, honest about that was the rule.
You come across like you're very needy. Sorry, that's fine,

(03:51):
not the first time I read that. So let me
tell you our second interaction, and I have to I
have to say it so you Obviously Rachel's been on
for a while on the network. However, in COVID, we
haven't been able to like actually introduce ourselves to each
other in personal so you know, I worked from the house,

(04:12):
she's working in studio or I'm in studio, you know,
just missing each other. So I met Rachel second time
I met you, because I don't remember the first time.
It was very brief. So I said, hey, Rachel, Steve Smith,
you go, I met you before. Okay, check that off

(04:34):
the box, that's what you said. I was like, damn,
that's fine. There's so many people that work here. But see,
I'm intentional, like I don't ever want to come across
like I'm snooty, like, oh, I don't speak to people,
and so I was making sure I spoke. And also too,
it's like being in the house for two you know,
being ready for some interaction. Just you see all we

(04:57):
we hired a few new people, so I'm like, oh,
they're new, he's new. I've never been a part of
a company that has so many people working as like talent,
Like I came from Fox and there's only you know,
there's only our set lineup of so many shows. But
NFL Network there's like reporters and hosts and analysts and

(05:20):
all of these people. It's really cool to be a
part of you don't need to employee, cook out or something.
Got to meet something, pizza party, No we met. We
know we met a six flags something. No we met,
she said, I'll just talk. I blame you hr pizza
party that we do. So I'm still like experiencing new

(05:45):
things here. And apparently there's like a talent Summit. I
think that they call it, and every literally all the
every single person at NFL network gets together in the
summer and does exactly this. We just haven't gotten to
that yet. I'm book of my work exactly at those games.
You know, I'm joking. I'm choking. But all right, here

(06:07):
we go. Let's go. We're gonna start off with some
some good little ice breakers. You ready, okay, Yeah, alright,
A little quick quiz, like a little riddle, which is
faster hotter cold, cold hot because you can easily catch
a cold. That is Gerard, Gerard, damn you lying? And

(06:43):
it was like it was it was terrible, It was,
it was it was I'm on it all right. Um,
what is the last play song on your playlist that
you just you know, the last song you heard today
or yesterday. Um. I recently downloaded TikTok, which has been

(07:06):
the worst thing that I could have ever doubt I get.
Sometimes I just need to turn my brain off. I
have O c D, so my brain is just constantly going.
So sometimes I just need to sit down and turn
my brain off. And I do that by now TikTok.

(07:27):
And that stupid Harry Styles song is all over TikTok.
So whatever the new Harry Styles is, it's not stupid.
It's a jam. But that's what I last listened to.
I find it hard to believe that you don't like TikTok.
You like, you're like a content creator, so why don't you?
I know, I think I'm always so late to things
like I think that I uh, like I started in
YouTube and I was like, I'm not starting to my
own YouTube channel, Like I just don't want to be

(07:48):
you know, I just don't want that to be my things.
I'm not no, I'm not saying that it's the right, okay,
what you know. I was watching the Met the Red Carpet,
like half of them are influencers. Such such an old
school way of thinking, but I still have that mentality
of being like, you know, I don't want to be
like known as a TikTok or YouTuber, like I want

(08:09):
to be all of these things. I think that I'm
always just like hesitant to join. And also I know
that I get sucked into these like wormholes of content
and then I end up sitting back and watching instead
of making that. That is something that I kind of
get caught doing. So having TikTok on my phone just
means that I'm always on it, which sucks. Since you

(08:30):
play volleyball, favorite, what guys just really did some deep
deep diving you obviously obviously you have not worked with
I've never kind of we never really come in half
as I love this. Yeah, So so what position did
you play in volleyball? And what position did you what's

(08:53):
your dream position to play? Okay, so, because of my height,
I was always put in the libra position, which is
basically a designated passer. You're always in the back court.
But sometimes I would get to play power left side,
which was like just the cranker hitter you have. I did.

(09:14):
I couldn't really jump, so I would I would have
this like amazing approach and then I'd get like this
high off the ground and just slice it right into
the net and then back to libra, back to Libra,
you go, but I really had this. I would listen
to like I remember my my pump up song with
Gasolina back then, and I just went in warmups. I'd
just go for these amazing hits and just net every time.

(09:38):
So I was I was the designated pastor. That's pretty good.
Did you pick? I think it was just like hot
at the time, and it got my blood boiling. If
you could redo, what song would you pick now? Gasolina?
Probably classic still still gets me going. Why not? You're

(10:03):
going going nowhere? Though? That is listening into the net athletically,
just as a parent, because so my daughter played volleyball,
so I'm yeah, so she was a liberal. You know,
she's not actually killing in the height department, but she
can jump serve. Did I say, Libra I met Libero.

(10:27):
That's how it removed. I am definite. I was like,
I don't know anything about Bross. I do too, but
I just let it go. What about I haven't played
in like ten years? Who I was just letting she

(10:47):
got it? And uh, well that makes sense now why
you can never hit it over the neck? Most Liberos
they're they're not hitting it over the net, no man.
But I loved watching I love watching um volleyball, also
hate watching girls volleyball. Here here's the love and the hate.

(11:11):
The love is I always loved watching like in the
warm up because you see the ones that's coming, like,
you know, just me being an athlete, I like to
try to pick out can't play, can't play, can't play,
you know, just because that's what No, no, it's it's
for me. It's it's a good measuring stick of sometimes,

(11:32):
especially in the football world and sports we're talking about
how many how many Tarzan's have walked through the door
and not played like Tarzan, right, So it gives me
an opportunity. I love the home she looks like she
could play, or he looks like he can, or she
looked like she can't. And then you got the one
that has all the gear, like all the fresh gear,

(11:52):
can't play a lick. I had the like ankle brasis
for what I had, the wrist guards, I had all
my fingers, like I really wanted to show up in
the gym and like people are probably like, oh my god,
this bro's gonna destroy us, and then I just like

(12:15):
stay on the bench. I also notice in young sports
and obviously and I'm speaking from a female's a female
volleyball because my daughter is a female, and that's all
I watched was female volleyball. Right. One thing I noticed
by young girls, you can see the moment of shift

(12:35):
quickly in a women's volleyball game. You can see it
go back and forth, the momentum leaves so quickly, and
the emotions of mistakes happening, and you can see how
how a team can rally or not rally, or or
emotionally they're spent. So I spent so many Saturdays and Sundays,

(12:56):
you know, we played Big South. That was every year
in Atlanta. Uh, even if it was Easter Sunday were
they were playing, and just watch watching it. You know,
I really learned a lot about people, right. And then
you also, you know when you say an adults, you
watch people you're watching, You're watching people that volleyball game.

(13:17):
You get a real good, good sense of people right
who they are, who they are. I also think it's
interesting that you bring it up. It's kind of made
me feel like when I was playing. But when I
was playing for my college, we would always travel with
the men's team, and the men's team was like just
so on a totally different level than us. They were
like winning things and they always just kept it together.
And because we I just feel like, you know, females

(13:40):
are inherently more emotional. If something started to shift, like
that momentum change that you were talking about, we would
just completely break down. We would start fighting with each
other like we were just we wanted to be so
good and we had that skill like in practice, and
then when we went out on the field, you know,
when we were actually playing games, it would just complete
we fall apart because we were so emotional about it. Mhm.

(14:04):
I appreciate you a mittnute. We'll talk about that later.
Where are you from in a place you call your hometown.
I am from this very very small town, like two
and a half hours outside of Toronto. I grew up
on forty six acres of land. I had many little
I had a little four wheeler. I had a dirt bike.

(14:26):
What's the name of what's the name of the town
or no Ontario? It's Toronto without the teas or now okay,
So that's where I grew up. I think also that's
where I get a lot of my like creativity from.
It is because there was literally nothing to do. There
was no one around. We didn't have next door neighbors acres.

(14:51):
Your neighbor is forty five acres. There was so we
we had to you know, I had to create like
my own world. So how and how was that growing
up with all of your brothers gone? So it's just
you and mom, dad, grandma. Yeah, it was me and

(15:14):
my mom and my dad, and I was just My
dad was a very like outdoorsy guy, and so I
had a really special relationship with him. We would like build.
I like I bought my house, um like two years
ago now, at the beginning of the pandemic. I built
a deck on my own deck. I built a sauna outside,

(15:35):
Like I have all of these like back of my
brain skills. Not a lot of people last I'm watching
when I'm watching that work, I did not go she
looks like she built a deck or two. Cool. I
think when we bought this house, we were kind of like,
you know, we could pay somebody to do all of
these things, but it was the beginning of the pandemic

(15:59):
and we were to do at home and there was
nothing else to do. And so I faced one of
my brothers, No, probably not, but we were like screw
it FaceTime one of my brothers, and I was just like, hey,
give me like the overall scope on how to do
this and I'll go and do it. And he was
like just do this, this and this, and I was
like sweet. And I was at lows that afternoon buying wood.

(16:19):
So acres, do you have animals? We always had dogs,
but no, it wasn't like a farm. We had a
big pond so we could go fishing, and we had
creeks like streams running all throughout our properties, so we
would fish a lot um, but no, none of our
own like like cows or anything kind of dogs. My

(16:40):
dad used to hunt, which is like but um, so
he had hunting dogs, so he had um like bloodhounds
and stuff. I have two little ships now that are
not hunting dogs, and they got toms with it. What
do you do? One's name lou sure for Lucifer. That

(17:02):
gives you an idea of what these countries those dogs.
The other one's name Lucifer was the other one Bentley.
What what what breed are there? Once a Chihuahua psychotic
and then the other is a terrier. But they're both rescued,

(17:24):
so they just come with a whole slew of issues,
you know, and you just kind of kind of work
through them. You trying to say a thing. Yeah, I
think so. Yeah, that's why. That's why exactly what you
call them, what you call them say, I love them.
Rescue dogs. You gotta be careful of One of them

(17:44):
used to bite me for about a year, but then
we got past up. We all got to work the
different but it was it was a chihuahua. Like his
mouth is like the size of my thumb. We did
the Lucifer name kick in before after ye six months
into the bit or No, she's not the bier, she's

(18:06):
not the fighter, she's just she was just like a
little terror when we got her, and she wouldn't listen
to us, So Lou became her name pretty quickly. I
love cut to It and I love it even more
when you download us and subscribe, and you can follow

(18:27):
us on social media to Smithie where where at That's at?
Cut to It on Instagram, what about Twitter at cut
to It Facebook, cut to It featuring Steve Smith sing
your what about online And you can follow us at
cut to It podcast dot com where you can buy
merch and you can subscribe to us wherever you listen

(18:47):
to podcasts. I got all my answers questions. Yeah, I
got all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for.
A brother, cut to a podcast dot com tell us
your journey. I mean, I'm reading all the information. I
don't want to skip over and and say which. I've
got a really weird, really weird way of how I
came into this. Basically when I was in high school.

(19:10):
My whole life, I've always wanted to be an actress.
And my dad died when I was sixteen, and that
through It's okay, it's been a long time, it's through
my whole life out of whack, and everything kind of
got put on the back burner and I just started
to be, I guess like scared of life. And so

(19:31):
then all of a sudden, I couldn't to get into
theater school. You have to audition, and I was just like,
I just can't do that right now. So I ended
up going to school for broadcast journalism because I was like,
what's the next best thing, what's the what's the way
that I can still be in front of a camera
and kind of like slowly work my way into that.
So I went to school in Toronto for broadcast journalism. Um,
And about two years in I went to Seneca College,

(19:53):
just like a really just small, small school. Two years in,
I was like, um, my favorite class in school is
improv And I was like, I'm clearly still doing the
wrong thing. So I dropped out of school and before
I got to apply to go back to I was
going to go back to school for theater. Finally got
the courage to do it. Um. I was working at

(20:15):
a bar at the time. I was so poor that
I was having to steal toilet paper from the sushi
restaurant that was down the street from my apartment. Like
I was just so broke, And so I was applying
for all of these jobs and on my Facebook was
a job that said the Toronto FC Dream Job Contest.

(20:37):
Toronto C was our major league soccer team in Toronto.
And I was like, I don't know anything about soccer.
I don't I'm not interested in covering sports. But I
have two years of broadcast journalism experience under my belt.
I know how to be on TV. Cannot stop you
before that, though, because I want to you know, what
was your what what was your mental state to the

(20:58):
point of like I'll volunteer something. I I remember there
were times I just still food right because we're struggling, right.
I had me and my wife when we had our
son in college, I had to literally I got up. Um,
you haven't heard this story, but I actually got up,

(21:19):
unscrewed the license plate off to our car, drove in
like at five thirty in the morning, six o'clock in
the morning, drove to the grocery store, told my wife
make a list of all things we needed, which was
diapers and all that stuff, loaded up the shopping cart
and left through it in trunk and drove off. And

(21:41):
I struggled. I didn't struggle to do it. I struggled
after because I knew at some point I probably would
have to do it again. And that's why I'm asking
not to make fun, but just more to hear where
you are. Because where you are today you don't have

(22:01):
to think about toilet paper. But there's people listening that
can identify with, that can identify with so much more.
And so you, you out of your story, may not
even realize that you can give somebody some hope. That
So that's why that's why I'm asking not to make
fun or make light of it, but really shine a
light on where you started and how you got through it,
especially if we're talking about all the people of mental

(22:23):
health these days right now, they don't identify. The pandemic
has shown us that we that what we think who
we are, we're actually not right. Some people and then
some people you exactly who you are. There are people
in the pandemic. The relationships have strengthened, things have been
weeded out and started to uproot and clarity throughout relationships,

(22:47):
and there's other some other relationships. People have been Domestic
violence numbers are up, suicide numbers were all of that stuff.
So again, I'm not trying to make fun of you.
I'm more of trying to sit down with you and
go through that process because if you really think about it,
where you are today. I watch you on TV. You're great.
You do a hell of a job. But I would

(23:08):
have never said I thought this girl that struggle so much.
She dropped out of school, she also had to steal
toilet paper, she lost her dad, she's built a deck,
she's done a sana. Wow, that's impressive. Yeah, I mean
I think that it's when I was younger, my parents

(23:32):
were We weren't you know, I wasn't. We weren't like
rich by any means, but we were definitely comfortable and
my dad was had his own company, and my mom
was a school secretary. And then when my dad died, Um,
we were all of a sudden on the other end

(23:54):
of the spectrum. So the same as like me feeling
like I was a part of a big family and
also an only child old. I was once comfortable and
felt like I was always going to be taken care of,
and then that got totally taken away from me, and
then all of a sudden, I was having exactly exactly
So still in the back of my mind, I feel
so blessed that I'm able to own my own home

(24:16):
and I have things. But because I went through that
trauma as a child basically of sixteen, I have that
fear of everything being taken away at any point in time.
I still have that at three. Yeah. I think it's
just like, if you have that trauma in your life,
you'll always kind of have it, not by yourself, keep
going by yourself. Um. So I think that there was

(24:40):
a point in time where after my dad died, he
died when like a couple of months before I graduated
high school. UM, and so then I when I moved
into the city that summer and my first semester, I
totally failed every single class. I got pulled from my
volleyball team. I wasn't able to place worts anymore. I

(25:00):
was so depressed. I didn't know what to do. And
my aunt was like having to pay my rent. My
mom was like spending the little money that she had
to like send me. I wasn't able to work because
I was in an athlete and you know, in school.
And it got to this point where I had to
like show my mom my grades when I went home

(25:20):
for like whatever the fall or Christmas, and she was
so upset. And see seeing her be that upset, I
was just like, I do not need to add to
the ship that my mom is going through. When I
came back, I just like I just like I shook

(25:41):
myself and I was like, you can't do this to her,
and you can't do this to my dad. Like I
I sat down with my dad right before he died,
and I was like, I'm gonna take care of mom
in this family, Like I fucking got this. And I
told him that, like he heard me say those words,

(26:02):
and so I just like snapped it, just like that's
the best way that I can put it. All of
a sudden, you're talking to two brothers. We know what
snap is now. Yeah, even I know where you're going
with losing the parents, and I just went through that.
Not to make this at all about me or to
interrupt your story, but also it's very relatable to where

(26:24):
when my father passed away last year, I had that
same thing. And and not to again up end, but
when you witness someone passed away and when they asked
you a question of what they ever did, it snapped
in me to to look within myself and say, I
don't ever want my kids to have to I want
to have to ask my kids at my end of

(26:45):
life what did I do and what my impact was?
And I've been and I literally snapped after that, So
I know, like, and it's a perfect word because that
is literally the feeling that you have when you lose
a parent, whether you are close with them or whether
you're not close with them. When you lose parents and
when you have such raw emotions that are either tapped
consciously or subconsciously, it will come out and you and

(27:08):
you will snap. So that's the perfect you know adjective
for that. You too. You too, I think are in
the place two year at that age where you're things
are still recoverable. And I think when things are still recoverable,
when you lose your parents, it hits you different. You know, Um,

(27:28):
you know what you guys are going through, what you
went through, g and then what you went through. I
went through it in the middle of my season when
I lost my grandpa. Right, you know, the uh to
lose someone that's a father figure, that that that pours
into that gives you at times, right, you know, Ge

(27:48):
you talking about you know, And we've had this conversation
that Gee when he lost his proberty was like, man,
I don't want to And I kept talking him off
the ledge of saying, right, you're striving for something that
you've already he surpassed. He's already surpassed that. Uh Tyson
and me and his two kids always will know that
they will get an unqualified compliment from their dad, right

(28:13):
and me, I never got an unqualified compliment from my dad.
My dad is still living. And I used that word
unqualified as because especially for me, in a way, I
was I grew up. I'm not sure about you two.
I mean, I know about G, but I'm playing dumb
completely for the context. I don't know me growing up

(28:42):
what uh? I don't know exactly, but I do know today, unqualified,
unqualified compliment, what that would have done to me and
how it impacted me, because even today I still I
have to diligently accept compliments mhm right. And hearing you snap,

(29:04):
knowing G, hearing him snap, watching him snap. I know
G went through what he went through with his dad
and his watching his dad passed away, sitting on his bed,
what driving up to see his dad every single day,
And and you're talking to your dad right. There is
the part that I struggle with is you both got

(29:25):
an opportunity and most people don't get which is you
get to see. Unfortunately I got on the airplane a
couple of days later and I had to say my
goodbye to my grandpa at the bottom of the hospital
in the corner's office with a lifeless body. You guys

(29:47):
got to kiss whole cry and you you beat it.
You guys snapped and you beat it. Rachel, You're you're all.
You're awesome. And to see and to know now after
this to watch you on the show, it gives even
more texture. Mm hmm, Well, how awesome you thanks guys,

(30:13):
thank you. Yeah, it's been it's it's been a ride.
But I do feel like ever since, and I don't
know if you guys experienced the same moment, like post snapping,
you just you put your head down, and that's exactly
what I did. And I just like, I went to
school every single day. I got my grades way up.

(30:35):
I got to the point that I was so strong
in what I was feeling and thinking. I was like,
I'm not in school for the right thing. I didn't
drop out because I was, you know, not wanting to
go to school. I was like, I am not serving
myself in the right way. Like that. That's how much
like of a full turn that I had when I

(30:57):
was in school, and so I I dropped out. I
applied for this for this contest um because I was
so desperate to work at this point. Because at this point,
I was just like I want to I want to
send money to my mom, I want to help her.
I wanna help my brothers, like everyone who was going
through their own thing. Also, all my brothers are artists,

(31:18):
it's not you know, you're you're supporting yourself, and it's
it's tough, it's a struggle. Um. And so I applied
for this contest, I know, knowing nothing about soccer. You
had to like send in a send in a video
of yourself. Why should you be hired? And I wrote
this comedy sketch and made my whole I went back
to school and had such a great relationship with my professors.

(31:41):
They shot it for me, and I had my old
classmates be in it with me. And I beat out
over five hundred people for this job. I even had
when I went in for my final interview, I had
the captain's name written down on my hand and ink like.
I was like, fake it till you make it. I
I won, and I still remember my mom was there

(32:03):
when my name was called, and I was just like,
I'm I'm gonna make forty. I'm gonna make forty. It
was a whole yearly salary, like what you want a
career basically forty grand I was like, I can take
care of myself. I can buy myself groceries. I can
maybe even send money on to my mom. I can
you know, pay my rent on time? My whole life

(32:23):
change in a second. Just hearing my name get called
my life change. And since that moment, I've like, Okay,
I'm gonna do sports now, and I'm gonna do sports
until I keep on climbing and climbing and climbing. And
about a year later, I got an email from the
head office because this was when YouTube was first starting,
so Torontovious basically gave me the keys to their YouTube

(32:45):
and was like, here's your new job. And so I
started making weird videos. And then the head office called
about a year later and they were like, would you
ever consider moving to New York City and being the
host of the entire league. We've been watching what you're doing.
You're so fun, you're so different, Like, we think that
would be perfect here. So then I moved to New
York City. And then within six months of taking that
job and doing the same thing YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, I

(33:07):
had a call from Fox and ESPN. I had a
job offer in both places, and I got to choose
where I went. It's not a bad problem in half
do all that? How are you able to keep reinventing
yourself because there's always something new, There's always a new trend.
There's always a new way to consume content. There's always
you know, maybe something was shot at one way or

(33:29):
something was um you know, sit nuances or whatever. So
how are you able to continually reinvent yourself or stay
not even with trends, but even it starts to anticipate
what's coming out. I think I got really lucky because
YouTube was so new and that was my thing. No competition,
and so it was it was everyone was having to adapt,
and that is how that's literally how I started. And

(33:52):
I also think something that it's so cheesy. Everyone always
asked me, like how did you break into this business?
Like how are you continuously like growing, doing more and
more and more. And I just think that I've never
put myself in any kind of mold, like I've just
like always been like I'm I don't know how to
be anything. I know how stupid it sounds, but I

(34:13):
don't know how to be anything else but who I am.
And I don't care enough to I don't care enough
about what people think to turn into something else. So
I think that because I'm into acting, because I'm into comedy,
I think that's always been a difference as well, because
you know a little while ago. Sports and you know,
comedy has always been on the peripherals, and I think

(34:35):
it's been working its way in. But I think that
that's also what set me apart as well, is that
I've just always been doing something a little bit different
than what everyone else has done. So I've been really
lucky in that way. How are you balancing going from
still in toilet paper to now you have a career,

(34:56):
you're in New York. You gotta a sho mm hmm.
First I had to learn how to handle money, which
is I'm sure as a football player you know about
as well. Like not that I was making millions of dollars,
but I had such I had such a lack of

(35:17):
how to handle finances because I didn't have any finances
to handle for the longest time. And I think that
happens to a lot of people, and they you know
that always else financial literacy. You gotta gotta to get literate, right,
But that's also I teach in school. They don't teach

(35:39):
us how to pay taxes, Like the longest time, I
didn't pay taxes and I didn't know for some reason.
They teach us protaggy and theorem and stuff. Why do
I know that? But I didn't know how to balance
a Check's a great book, balance checkbook, but I don't
know what the hell are you talking about. It's a

(36:00):
great point. Um, So I think that that was kind
of like the first hurdle, And um, I just I
think that one time I had my my boss at
Toronto FC. Once I had moved on and was working
for Major League Soccer, I came back to Toronto because
they were hosting the like the championship MLS Cup and that,
which was a really cool moment for me because I

(36:22):
got to come back and people were like, Wow, look
at what you've done. And my boss pulled me aside
and he was like, you keep climbing until you cannot
climb anymore. And I still think about that to this
day now that I'm like, you know, I'm going on
auditions all the time, and I have three scripted television

(36:43):
shows in development right now, and like, I just keep
on climbing until someone says no, And even if they
say no, I'm going to ignore it and I'm just
going to keep on going and finding different ways to
get in. And I just think that it's just that
that I still have that you're right. Snapping is the
perfect word, because I still have that mentality. I'm still

(37:06):
in this mode, and it's not I love it. I
love the work that I do, and I love hosting,
and I love being a part of NFL Network. It
has been such a nice change of pace. But it's just,
you know, you've just got to want it more than
anybody else in the room. So as you're approaching you've
got all these different projects and development, how do you
creatively approach these? Like what inspires you? What do you what? What?

(37:29):
What do you pull from? So when you have a
new opportunity, when you're sitting down, like what draws your
inspiration for your creativity? I have a lightbulb tattooed on
my wrist here because I had this idea and I
just kept on thinking like this, this is really dumb,
this is stupid, Like it just kind of popped into
my head one day and it was um. It ended

(37:50):
up being the show that I sold the TBS last year.
I thought of this idea seven years ago, and I
wrote it every which way, and I pitched pitched it
and pitched it and pitched it and no one would
buy it. And then finally somebody believed in me. All
it takes is one person. And so I got this
tattoo of an idea to remind myself that my ideas.
Not all of them are good, but some of them
are and I should roll with it. So sometimes, like um,

(38:13):
things just like pop into my head. I get inspired
by music or reading something or watching a movie. And
I read this book a little while ago called Big
Magic and the Whole. She writes about the meaning of ideas,
and she talks about picture and idea as you know,

(38:33):
a fairy, let's call it. And this fairy comes into
your body. And if you don't give this creature your
time and energy and effort, it's gonna leave your body
and it's going to go to somebody else. And that's why,
you know, she talks about if you see a commercial
for an invention, you're like, oh, I had that idea
a while ago, but you didn't do anything about it,
so it left your body and it went to somebody else.

(38:55):
So I give my time and energy to every idea
that I have, and maybe a lot of ideas. Yeah,
I have a lot of things. I write it down,
I have journals filled with stuff. I give it time
to see if it fits with me, and if it doesn't,
I let it go. And if it does, I write

(39:15):
it out and I pitch it and I try to
make something of it. If it's something that stays in
my brain and I can't stop thinking about it, that's
what tells me that it's with me. Does that sound
really hokey pokey I or No, No, it doesn't, it doesn't.
It's just it leads me. Two. Assume you're not a
very good sleeper. You're not the first. What's you're like

(39:40):
the third person that said that to me this month?
I actually am I'm okay, Rane turns off. It's off, Devin,
I am till ten, I'm going. And I think that
I think that because my like I mentioned, I have
O C D. So when my head hits the pillow,
I'm so exhausted from thinking about things all day that

(40:01):
I'm just done. Good good, down to do it good.
Hey Gerard, why did you get that T shirt? You
mean this thing? Oh? Yes, I got it from cut
to a podcast dot com where we have exclusive merchandise.
Shout out to our guys at seven oh four shot.
But yeah, you can go on buy you a T
shirt subscribed to us whereever you listen to podcasts. What

(40:25):
do you think is the good thing about being a
female in sports? I think we're having a bit of
a moment right now. I think that all of these
doors and windows are starting to open, and I think
that women have been so hungry to have a seat

(40:47):
at the table for so long, they're just take grabbing
it and taking it. Like. It makes me think of
somebody like Cynthia Freeland who works at NFL Network, who
is like, just has such a beautiful mind and she
thinks in numbers and stats and a complete opposite way
of the way that I think. And she's gotten this

(41:09):
opportunity to be such a voice on the network and
she has taken it, even though it means her working
seven days a week, seven even in the off season.
She has just absolutely taken it. So I think that
as times are changing, we're getting these opportunities, and I
think that that's really really cool. I think it's so

(41:29):
awesome that, um, we're getting these seats at the table.
So I think that that's the most exciting thing is
that things are changing. Do you think it You believe
that being a female you have to work harder and
and and know your stuff versus a guy. So let
me let me clarify. I think it's different for me
because I didn't I've only been covering football for four years.

(41:50):
Like like I said, I didn't even know about soccer,
so I have constantly been put into these roles where
I'm like just treading water. So I think that what
I was on that show, that was the very first
time in my life that I had ever talked about football,
and I had to talk about it in a way
that made it I feel like I belonged, that I

(42:12):
have this seat, that I was supposed to be hosting
that show. So I think that the reason why I
said that was because I felt as one of three
other you know, I was only There's Jenny Taft hosting Undisputed,
There's Joy Taylor that was the co host of The Herd,
and then there was me, And so those two women

(42:32):
are really smart and know what they're talking about. I
felt like I needed in order to meet for me
to deserve that show and that podium, I had to
know what I was talking about because there was only
so few of us. And I feel like, you know,
because of the Cynthia freelance. That's going to open up
the door for so many other Cynthia freelance. And if

(42:52):
I do well at this table, that's going to open
up the door for all of these other women to
come in that maybe don't know a ton about sports,
but are unique and creative and funny and and really
smart and all of those things. So I think that
for me, I just I couldn't be wrong about anything.
I couldn't get anything wrong because I didn't want. Like
I said, these opportunities are being open to us. We

(43:14):
have to make the most of it because there's a
whole lineup of ladies behind me who are wanting to
seat next. And if I don't do a great job,
well that maybe get a guy in here that we
know that can do this job, you know what I mean.
It's that kind of feeling. But they think they know.
You know, I've been doing it for five years and
I've worked with people that I've realized that have come

(43:35):
and go that they don't know football. Yeah, my guys
who have played who don't. I've played with wide receivers
who I've discovered in the middle of the game there
in their fourth year. They can't recoverage this. I do
think that you realize as soon as you get into

(43:55):
TV there's a lot of bullshitting that happens, and I
think did that was something that kind of made me realize, like, Okay,
I know how to bullshit, but you can't bullshit other
people became bullshit and have the margin for error to
bullshit and still be able to But that's another thing.
It's like social media then comes into play as well,
because there are so many like trolls online that I

(44:16):
want to say like that's oh my god, she doesn't
know what she's talking about. And that was my worst
nightmare I was. I was just told I'm a slot receiver. Yeah,
they probably do the exact same thing to you. Steve
doesn't know I'm he's a slot. He doesn't know anything. Really,
I didn't know I was a slot receiver. That's news

(44:37):
to me. I've been wanting to be in a slot
for Wow, you were a female or you were an
individual who who got a job to some degree that
you didn't know as much as you knew and not
no slide or anything bad. You were unqualified, right, you
didn't You didn't have the qualifications as far as the

(44:58):
knowledge of the game that you knew what you didn't
have the qualifications of the knowledge of the games. But
I am. They knew that I would work harder and
that was up for that job, and that is why
I got the job because of who you are like
who now? Who you are like and Rachel Blnetta, but
who you are and the person the worker, who what
you exude, how you doing, how you come into office,

(45:21):
how you lead office, what you're doing outside of office.
You showed that female or guy, you're either gonna make
it or you're not. Either gonna adapt and figure out
the sport. Like I knew football, I didn't know TV
football mm hmm. And that's been adjustment for me. I

(45:43):
think that I'm pretty knowledgeable about football now. I know
how to talk about it, I know how to talk
about it in an interesting way. But it's because I
had three years of a show to work on it.
That was one of three roles filled by a female
at FS one. All the other roles are filled by men,
which means there are more roles to fill, which means

(46:04):
more men are getting those opportunities. I'm only where I
am now because I had those three years on that show.
If there were more shows, if there were more roles
to fill, I could have started doing that six years ago,
seven years ago, eight years ago. So I feel like
now that there are more, we're inevitably going to see
more women because there are just opening up these jobs

(46:26):
to women, Whereas like before, even I mean, look at
any broadcasts on any network, it's the majority of it
is guys because guys have always gotten this opportunity. They've
gotten the opportunity to learn, Like you know, the rich
Eyses of the world have been doing this job for
twenty plus years. Women haven't always gotten that opportunity. If
we did, then there would be a lot more female

(46:48):
rich Eyss around. So I feel like, you know, fast
forward ten years from now, there are going to be
way more women because there are just inherently more positions.
But right now we have to still fight for those.
So I do think think it is you know, it's
just been more difficult for women to crack into this.
All the different networks only have so many shows, right,
bottom line, and how they feel them is it really

(47:11):
depends on the lens of the people that are hiring
and what they see and how they want to see it.
But It also makes sense to hire X players because
you guys have been in the next I haven't stuff
foot on a football team are on the field. I
don't know what that's like. You you share a completely different,
you know, side of the game, which is fascinated, which
makes excellent TV if you know how to do it.

(47:32):
So it makes sense. Where do you see things trending
in the next five years, ten years? Of course it
changes so rapidly, but now repositioning that, where do you
see yourself in the next ten years? Gosh, I I
don't know. Hopefully happy, stupid, but as you know, settled

(47:55):
and and just happy. Like I think that I at
some point the snapping needs to like cool off a
bit so that I can have a life. But right now,
like I love being creative. I love being working for
a company that lets me be who I am and
be creative. And like, you know, ten years ago, if

(48:15):
you were to ask me that question, I I wouldn't
necessarily say where I am now, and ten years before
that I would have never said sports ever, and that
sports has given me every single thing in my life.
So I think that I just want to be happy
with what I'm doing, and I want to keep on.
I want to have ownership over things. I really want

(48:36):
to start my own production company. Um. I want to
keep on, you know, lifting up other women that don't
necessarily see themselves in sports like I didn't once upon
a time, and now I love it and just keep on,
you know, opening the door for people to make stuff
and be themselves. What what? What do you love about

(48:58):
the grind of television? Oh? Man? I used to hate
live TV so much. It used to scare me because
I was always fraid of saying the wrong thing. And
now I just love it. Anything can happen. It's just
such an adrenaline. The energy is so fun um and
I still I just I still love writing things. I

(49:18):
love writing sketches. I love seeing the my favorite thing
to hear. And somebody like like Mooch always asked me this.
Whenever I see Mooch, she goes, what is wrong with you?
And I'm like, do you want the list? I'll give
you a lift. But that tells me that I'm doing
something so different that people have not seen that, you know.

(49:39):
Ian Rappaport's like, you're a weird huh. I love that.
Nothing makes me happier. That is like such a check
of a box for me, because that just tells me
I am doing something that people aren't used to seeing,
and I need to lean into that. So I'm just
gonna keep on trying to do new things and asking
or say you're weird as you not looked in the mirror.

(50:03):
How much do you get it? In a loving way?
I just I just love you've talked about improv. How
much you loved improv? Do you get to improv? Why
are you doing some of the live stuff? Do you
have restrictions on you? What do you enjoy? I'm something
like just went viral at the draft and it was
me handing this guy a five dollar bail. I literally

(50:23):
asked somebody for a five on the way to our
spot to shoot that, like I'm always When I was
doing the before the pandemic, I was in an improv
class for eight hours a week. I was going on
Tuesdays and Thursdays for four hours each night. Thursday at football,
I was having to put my you know, my phone,
there's a football would be on my phone and I'd
be an improv class like watching the scene and also

(50:44):
watching football. Like I was just constantly trying to work
on that part of my brain. And that's what I
tell everybody that's like starting off in this business. I'm like,
I don't care if you think you're funny, or if
you're an actor or what being able to I mean, Steve,
you know, just like anything can happen, breaking news can happen,
you need to be thinking on your feet at all times. Um,

(51:07):
even if it's a tape hit and you have a
script in your head, somebody could fly by behind you,
and if you try to ignore it, that's terrible. If
you work with it, that makes you know viral moments.
And so improv is such a huge part of my
life and it's kind of sucked because of the pandemic.
I haven't been able to do a lot of it.
But also I have stage fright, so just putting me

(51:28):
up on a stage in front of people acting like
a complete idiot, UM really puts me out of my
comfort zone. And it makes things like doing live television
at the Draft not scary at all. Backstage, Joe does improv?
Did you know it? I would love that for you.

(51:54):
I'm sorry, Rachel. Do you can always get into it?
Do you do you think? Uh? Sports broadcasters have superpowers? Um,
some of them for sure. What's your superpower there? What's mine?

(52:14):
My superpower? Right here? Now, right here, We're right here.
No um. I think making uh one of the things
that I'm mostly prideful about. I started a podcast a
couple of years ago called Hall of Shame, and we

(52:35):
talked about the biggest scandals that ever happened in the
sports world, and we talked about it in a wet
We did not have the sports audience. We had a
mostly female audience that didn't give a shit about sports,
and we talked about sports in a way just the
way you said it. It was just like we were
talking about sports. Nobody really cared you and the kids
and keep cooking. No, no, Yeah, we spoke about it

(52:59):
in a way that people got it. People. I think
that a lot of people don't like sports because they
don't understand it and it makes them feel um left out,
like a lot of bullying stuff kind of comes up.
I think when I first think about it, and the
way that we were able to talk about sports is
such a delicious thing to have been your life, Like,

(53:20):
there is nothing better than I'm a huge Raptors fan.
I got to watch them win a couple of years ago,
I was crying. That's one of my greatest memories I've
ever had in my life. There's nothing better than that.
It's it's like, it's it's humans being amazing and to
be able to have a podcast it was about sports
that was not for sports fans, and I have all

(53:41):
of these women and all of these people that did
not care about sports being like, I'm gonna watch football
now because you have made it really fun. I think
because I didn't start out being a football fan, and
I didn't necessarily start up being a sports fan, I
think I'm able to talk to people in a way
because I get most sides. I get why you don't
like sports, but also I've experienced it now and I

(54:01):
want you to experience it. So I think that that,
I guess that would be my superpower, is like pulling
people in to love this thing that maybe they don't
even know exists, and there's just so much energy and
it's a pretty magical thing to be a part of.
How would you if you have the opportunity, What do
you think your papa say about you right now? Why

(54:23):
are you gonna do this to me? You know why?
Because I see I see how cool you are. And
I think, um, I think you snapped for a reason
and to be able to look into your dad's eyes
and last kind of moments before sending his little girl
in the world without him. It's always that question we
always ask. I asked myself, well, my grandpa think of me, right?

(54:46):
And when I played in my years, my grandpa always
told me I was young boy, you want to play
this game. You know I go by Steve, but you know, Steve,
you want to play this game, you gotta play it
bigger and better than everybody else. M hmm, okay. I
think that he would be really proud of me for
keeping my word, for for literally manifesting my entire life

(55:10):
thirteen years ago or however long ago was. Um, And
I'm proud of myself for for doing all of those things. Recently,
I made a really big life decision, and my brother
wrote me a song to help me make this decision
because it was life life changing, and I decided not

(55:33):
to do this thing. And I didn't do this thing
because it didn't sit with my vision for my life
and what I had promised my dad in that moment.
It didn't sit with any of those things. It was
a great opportunity, but I had passed, um, and part
of the lyrics in it was like it was something

(55:58):
along the lines of like he's standing with all of
us and happy too. You guys didn't really just gonna
cry on this podcast, not once but twice. Um. But
he was talking about how he's my dad's with all
three of my brothers and really proud, and he would

(56:18):
be and he should be. Thank you kicking ass and
taking names. Thank you, guys, you are a unique person.
You are well worth it, you are competent, and most
of all, your lovable. I'm Steve Smith Singer, I'm Gerard

(56:39):
Little John and this is cut to It. Cut to
It with Steve Smith Singior That Is Me is a
production of Cut to It LLC, Balto Creative Media, The
Black Effect and I Heart Radio. For more podcast from
my Heart Radio, visit the Heart Radio, Apple Apple Podcast,

(57:02):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows from Cut
to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, Singer, co host Gerard
Little John, talent in booking manager Joe Fusci, Social media
team Wesley Robinson and John Show from Balto Creative Media.
Cut to It is produced by Brian Baltaschevic and Meredith Carter,

(57:25):
with production assistance by Alex Lebrec, Production coordinator Taylor Robinson.
Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton.
You ain't heard about it, then, we're about to let
you know. It's all