March 14, 2024 • 50 mins
Jenny Cavnar is a trailblazer making history as the first female primary play-by-play announcer for an MLB team!
Jenny joins Sophia to talk about working in a male-dominated environment, breaking barriers, the women who paved the path for her and handling sexist trolls.
Jenny also discusses her path to her dream job, the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are rooting for you and pushing you outside your comfort zone, and how she juggles her career as a mom.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress. Hello friends,
Today we are joined by a trailblazer. Jenny Kavnar is
(00:21):
an American sports broadcaster who is the television play by
play announcer of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. Guys,
She's the first female primary play by play announcer in
MLB history. She is an absolute legend. She grew up
in a baseball family, and she just is so incredibly inspiring.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
She is joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
From her home in Colorado, where she is managing to
juggle her MLB career, a family, young children, and a great, big,
beautiful life. Let's get to it, Jenny, I'm so excited
(01:09):
that you're here today. I as you know, I think
you know. We're both such lovers of sport, and seeing
the way that women are really changing the game, not
just in women's sports, but in the sports industry in
general right now is so inspiring. And so to have you,
as a literal trailblazer in the space join us during
(01:31):
Women's History Month feels very cool. Thank you for taking
the time.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh gosh, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
It's like, I don't know, I'm so excited about women
in sports right now and what is happening. And I
think like two words sums it up for me, and
it's Caitlyn Clark.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Right. If you're not on the Caitlyn Lark train, like you.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Just better jump on because she has just taken everything
to a whole new level. And it's so cool to
see the history that she's made and what she's done.
And then you know, being part of this conversation of
women and advancement in sports, it's like I pinched me
because this is all happening and it's so exciting.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well, and your love of sport takes you all the
way back to childhood, right.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, yeah, from day one.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I mean I was definitely born into a family, the
big sports family. My dad was a long time high
school baseball coach, so my earliest memories of sports were
really at the field when he was coaching, and as
a cheerleader and kind of realizing quickly that, like you know,
a win or a loss can dictate a mood, and
(02:38):
my dad was always so good about not really bringing
that home, but you know, you learn to ride that
roller coaster of being a fan and the emotions that
go along with sports, and then you know, as I
got older, clearly wanted to participate. I'm not much of
a just sit and watch kind of gal, so grabbed
a love was often out on the field, you know,
(03:00):
whether it was his summer camps or even like you know,
working the table where the parents come in and taking
money or going to the snackshack and working, like just
being involved.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It was.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
It was definitely our family business was high school baseball,
and we were all kind of all in. And then
I think as soon as I picked up a glove
and I picked up a basketball and all those things,
like I just remember that innate need to be competitive,
and then nate drive to like want to be on
the court, and you want to be on a field,
want to be doing something sports related.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So yeah, I think from the very beginning, it's always
been there. That's really cool.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
When you were little, Like if you think about, you know,
little Jenny at eight or nine, were you really focused
on sports at that time or was that something that
evolved as you got older.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Yeah, I think I was really focused on sports, Like
I was just a really I was late to the
party and everything like maturing, you know, growing into being
a girly girl like I was definitely always the.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Tomboy, hung out with the boys in the block.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
We had a lot of boys in our neighborhood, had
an older brother, I had mostly boy cousins.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
It was around my dad's teams.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Like it was a seame of It didn't feel different
to be the only girl, because that's just kind of
how I grow up, right, And so I do remember,
you know, there were I guess other things that were
exciting to me, but it always centered around sports. The memories,
whether it was again just us being at the baseball
(04:37):
field with my dad, or going to my brother's games,
or you know, going to my own games. And thinking
back to I have no idea how my working mom
did it.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
And carted us to all these events.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Now that I'm a mom and our kids are starting
to get involved in activities, but it's it's really cool
to think that sports has just always kind of been
around and evolved that way. And then I think too,
like we live in such a different culture now where
you can watch content all the time, right, Like kids
are getting fed highlights anytime they pick up their phone,
(05:11):
or you know, you can see them just any hour
of the day and I think for us it was
more appointment television, where like the big game was coming up,
and it was the build up and the excitement, and.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You'd physically get the newspaper.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
In the morning and you'd read about the game the
night before, you'd read about the game coming up that day,
and it was this slower process of the anticipation of
the activity and the sport and what was to come
with it. And so I do remember that a lot
from being a kid again. Now it's like we're just
we're just watching highlights all the time, which is awesome,
(05:46):
but it's just very different.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
It's it's really interesting that you can look up anything
at any moment. You don't have to necessarily tune in
unless you're trying to avoid spoilers in real time.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Right right, which is so hard to do nowadays.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
My husband guys all the time and I'm like, what, Like,
you're on your phone all the time?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
How are you to avoid the score of the game
that's happened three hours ago.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
It's when you were a kid, did you know that
you wanted to work in sports because of the way
that you grew up in your family, or did that
dawn on you later.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, I mean, my earliest memory of picking a career
was I wanted to be a marine biologist and work
with dolphins like that. And I also remember writing this
paper where I wanted to be a gymnast in the
Olympics and I was going to have three kids and
be a gymnast in the Olympics. And you know, in
(06:42):
my eight year old of mind, that sounded like a reality.
But then those were my.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
First two early career choices.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
But yes, shortly after that, once I realized that you
could work in sports, I think that it always was like,
that's what I'm going to do. And I think the
beginning of those again goes back to just being at
the field with my dad. We had a wonderful prep
reporter in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Her name is Marsiha Neville.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
And if Marsha was at your high school game, you
guys were the best in the state. Like she you know,
she presence meant that your team was amazing. So, you know,
my dad was fortunate to have some good teams and
she would be there and she would run right on
the field after the game to interview him, and I
was like, she's getting.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Out there faster than I am, Like, I'm supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Out there first as the daughter of the coach, So
I was like, that's a cool job, and I think
that kind of that seed was planted. And then seeing
Melissa Stark on TV on Monday Night Football in the
late nineties was really when like the aha moment for me,
that reppresentation moment of there's someone that looks like me
(07:54):
and is TB and at the big event like that
would be a dream job, and the kind of using
that as a springboard to eventually creating a career that Luckily.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I think I was pretty naive in that moment.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I didn't know how competitive the industry was, and my
dad didn't either, and you know, just spoke those words
of truth into me and said you can do this,
And that's all it took for me to have a
really big dream.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That's so cool and what a neat thing too that
you can really see the way that that phrase, if
you can see it, you can be it really was
so true for you. You saw these women in these
roles and saw yourself in them.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, And I think that's what has become so special
about where my career path took me is because it's
allowed me to look back and realized, like why I
had such a focus and a narrow focus really at
the time. If you ask any of my college friends,
they will all tell you when I what I want
to do for a living, it was I want to
(09:02):
be a football sideline reporter.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
And it was just so specific.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
To again that representation that I saw Melissa Stark and
I think Linda Cohane was on TV doing Sports Center
at the time, you know, anchoring at a desk, and
there were a few women, but the majority I think
of women that you saw in sport with on a
sideline of a football field specifically.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
And then it just kind of grew.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
It grew into other sports, it grew into other aspects,
it grew into hosting jobs, and then eventually we started hearing,
you know, more female voices calling games or being the
analyst of games, and that's really taken off in the
last you know, five to ten years, and so just
to be a part of that conversation and now to
know that if you could ask if I was in
(09:46):
college now and you asked me what I wanted to do,
I hope I would have a broader stroke than just
this narrow focus, because there are so many jobs that
you can see women doing in sports, and it's not
just on camera, and it's not just on radio. There's writers,
there's producers, there's directors, like it is all around. And
(10:07):
when I think about baseball specifically, like we now have
a female and uniform for the San Francisco Giants, Slissa
n Akin as a coach there, and that presentation is
so powerful and she like braids her hair and it's
just this cool, like oh my gosh, and going to
a Giants game and being at Oracle Park, I see
(10:29):
little girls in the stands all the time, either like
also have a braid or have signs for Lissa. Like
girls are getting incorporated into the game. Where now MLB
the show came out today and they have an entire
arena that you can play as a female in Major
League Baseball. And it's just like, I think the idea
(10:50):
of representation matters is no longer an idea. It's like,
we have to make this happen and work, and the
visual has to be there because you're right, seeing is
believing and Billy Jean King did it so long ago
for all of us, and I don't get out of that,
and she's still on a platform of encouraging women to
continue in their successes in sports, and it's really special.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
It really is.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I feel so lucky I sit on the advisory board
of the First Women's Bank with Billy Jean, and getting
to work alongside one of my literal lifelong heroes in
this equity space in finance for women has been the
coolest thing in my recent years. And we got to
(11:38):
do some advocacy around the fiftieth anniversary of her foundation,
and I'm just I'm so in awe to your point
of how all these things that I grew up caring
about and wanting to work on. Isn't it weird when
we sit at these points like you and I are
now as adults, And you go.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Like, if ten year old me I had any idea
that this was my life, she wouldn't believe it. No,
there's not a way. They're so cool. But I think too,
like like you just kind of brought it up.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
It's it's your passion and your purpose, like those things
you can't remove from from inside of you. And so
I think having people around you that feed into them,
like allow it to grow and have allowed it to
like become you know, where we are today and being
able to sit at a table with Billy jan King
and know that you were impacted and influenced by what
(12:35):
she did so long ago, and now you get a
work alongside of her to continue the conversation of equity
is like, it's it's really powerful stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
It's so so cool. Do you ever you know now
from this position that you're in, you're also a mom,
do you talk to your dad about you know, what
it was like for him to watch you grow up
and grow in to the woman that you are?
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Like?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Is it sort of a surreal thing to be able
to look at your kids and also look at how
you were raised and see all of these familial connections.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Oh gosh, it really is.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
And it's com full circle because I think for me,
my parents have always preached you can do whatever you
want and you know we're going to support you. And
that wasn't just like a teenager to live out a
dream and get into college or to go do a career.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
That was like a lifelong.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Commitment that they made because they honestly are a huge
part of caretaking for our children now and out That
like without that support of my mom, especially saying like
I'm in retirement, this is what I want to be
doing for you and for your family, Like, we wouldn't
be able to do these careers. I wouldn't be able
(13:51):
to take these opportunities because I'm away from my kids
sometimes in baseball and in the in the chaos of
that world.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And you know.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
My husband's a fire fighter and his schedule is so
different and unique. And so my parents have been this
extension of our family and my husband's parents, you know,
my in laws, they don't live in Colorado where we reside,
but they have all made a priority to like put
their lives on hold at moments where we just need
them so that we can keep going in our careers.
(14:22):
And that, to me is that familial connection.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Of like, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
That like trust and belief in you to be whatever
you want to be, but also be like we're going
to help you do that.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
It's it's cool. And so yeah, we've we've had those.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Conversations and had those taks, but like I look back
now more so on our growing up and I don't
know how it felt so seamless, Like I don't know
how my parents both held jobs and you know, still
like figured out and found the time to invest in
our athletic endeavors and get us to all these games,
(15:00):
and you know, like the sacrifices that they make as parents.
They're very special people for sure, and I'm so grateful
for them.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
That's so cool. And now a word from our sponsors
who make this show possible. I also think it's so
nice when you can talk about how it really works,
(15:29):
because there is this notion that and I do believe
it's true, we can have it all, but you can't
really have it all at the same time. It requires
juggling and planning and scheduling. And I think the way
it works is when you're in community or in the
(15:49):
community of your family. It does really take a village.
And I think it's so important that we kind of
let each other in on that reality. People don't look
around and go, why can't I do all of this
by myself? Why can't I spend all of these plates.
It's like, you can't. You need it, You need a crew.
(16:10):
And how lucky you guys are that your family can
be that crew for you.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Oh gosh, you're so right.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
And I think it's we've been sold this message for
so long, especially as women, to your point of like
you can do it all. You can be a superwoman,
super mom, Like yeah, but it's exhausting and it's hard
and it's hard work, and it's not it's not linear,
Like it's not like, Okay, you have this career and
here's that box, and like you have your family and
(16:36):
here's that box for us in our world, like those
are constantly intersecting, and the scheduling part is honestly sometimes
the most draining part of my day and my week,
because you know, it's the responsibility of like does a
small human have an adult with them at all times?
And always who I'm asking for favors for and you
(16:59):
know we're hiring how as well.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And you know, I want to.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Make sure our kids grow up in activities and have
you know, friends and fun. But now I'm asking these
people that are taking care of them to not only
take care of them, but get them to and from
places and make sure they're happy and healthy. And you know,
I think as a mom, we are constantly like your
heart is checking in on everyone, and you want everyone
to be in the best place.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
But that means like you.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Know, are you in the best place and you're taking
care of yourself and it's like, yeah, you're just constantly
going through and thinking of things. Your brain like never
shuts off. Our calendar is open all the time. You know,
best best laid plans, always made a backup plan.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
And then there's a poor dog.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I did someone take the dog and a walk today
and play with them, right, So it's it's so wonderful
and it's so beautiful and it feeds so much of
my soul that I can have this career and have
this family.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
But it is constant work and it's.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Hard work, and I think more than anything, we all learned.
And I definitely point back to the pandemic of like
this idea where when we had to stop and we
had to get back into things and we had to
be away from people, like human beings were made for community,
and it just like circles right back to your point
(18:18):
of I'm so grateful that we get to raise our
kids in a big community and that our families are
involved and helpful, and we have wonderful friends involved, and
our baseball community is involved. I mean they you know,
welcome our kids to doing things when we're at work,
and being around the game, and that's how I grew up.
I grew up with baseball, and my husband grew up
with baseball. So it's a big part of our family.
(18:40):
And I love that the intersection happens between career and family.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, that's really special and it's not lost on me
that as you talk about the you know, logistics for
both you and your husband, your kids, your families, you're
not only doing this as you know, one half of
a working partnership, of a marriage with two careers in it,
but you're doing this in your individual career where you've
(19:09):
moved up the ranks as a woman in sports in
a world, particularly in baseball that has really been primarily
dominated by men. Yeah, and so it's you're not just
juggling a big life, but you're breaking these boundaries while
you're doing it.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Has How has that felt?
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I imagine there have been times where it's been amazing
and times where it's been hard, and you know, it's
it's probably been every end of the spectrum.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
That's it, the rollercoaster of emotion in doing it.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I'm really grateful for the women in our industry, specifically,
I have a producer, I had a producer with the Rockies.
That's a female and a very dear friend of mine,
and she was breaking you know, per barriers on the
production side, and probably one of the only female producers
of the Big four sports, you know, really in television
(20:09):
that is a female, and she has three kids, and
she was kind of the first representation to me that like, oh,
you can't have a family and figure this out.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
And she was very encouraging in that.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
And I watched how hard it was, and I watched
how they made it work, and I took, you know, notes,
and I.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Was like, Okay, if she can do it, I can
do it.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
And she was really a huge factor for me because
when I had kids, I you know, was trying to
plan out when I was coming back, and I remember
her saying, well, maybe we shouldn't say in it. Maybe
you're gonna have a baby, and four weeks later you're
ready to come back to work, and maybe you're gonna
have a baby and you're not going to be ready
(20:51):
for twelve weeks, and like we're going to be here
and we're gonna support you, and we're going to figure
that out. But like, you don't want to put a
limitation on yourself one way or the other.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
I don't think a man would have told me that
that was my boss.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I think he would have looked at a schedule, and
I think he would have said, by law, like your
date coming back is this day, and that's when the
team is, you know, in Oakland or in San Diego,
and you know you're going to be there and then
you're just going to move on. When I had my
first baby, I remember asking our company about like breastfeeding
and if I can send like use that milk store
(21:25):
company and send the milk.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Back, and like would they pay for that?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
And like, no, you.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Don't pay for that.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
That's crazy, And I was like, oh, okay, well, I
you know, this is like a pretty big company.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
We were owned by a pretty big parent company, and.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I'm sure they have some sort of policy for working
moms that have to travel, like could you just look
into it a little bit further so you know, of course,
it takes forever for them to look into it. And
I'll never forget. I had just called my first Major
League game in twenty eighteen. I was six months postpartum.
I was panicking about like what am I going to do?
Because I'm on air for three plus hours, is like
(22:00):
what happens if like I have to, you know, go
pump and I can't.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
We're doing this game.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
You were trying to figure that out while I'm also
doing something new with my job. And then we go
on a road trip and I remember thinking, I was like,
I guess I'm just done.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Like I guess I'm just gonna have to like dry up.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
And we'll move on and it's okay, And I'm like
mourning this whole situation, and I'm thinking all of these
things when I'm in the shower and I get out
and I have a voicemail from my boss and he
was like, hey, good news, I figured out how we
can make things work for you.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
And it's just, like anything, this is not the time.
It's six months too late to figure it out, right.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
So I guess like the idea of just being in
this world as a woman where you're not getting a
lot of understanding, especially as you like grow into a different,
you know, role as a mom, And now I'm growing
to different roles in my career. And everyone that's had
this position in Major League Baseball as a primary play
(23:04):
by play has been a man and a lot of
those men, I would say probably eighty five percent of
them have a wife at home that's taking care of
all the home stuff and all the children's stuff, which
is a full time job.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
And I have so much respect for those women because.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
I know the challenges of that partner is away for
six months and they're very focused on their career. And
oftentimes I find myself so divided because I have to
be so focused on my career to make sure that
I'm just as good, if not trying to be better,
because I'm a woman in the seat and I have
all the home stuff to deal, to deal with and
(23:41):
to do, and you know, that's that's the path we've chosen,
and it's a privilege, it really is. But it's chaotic
and it's really hard sometimes. And I feel so supported
on saying all this. I feel so supported by my
partner and by my husband, you know, doing his poll too,
and having to make a lot of sacrifices because of
this career I've chosen. But it's just different when you're
(24:05):
the woman and when you're the mom, and the way
like you think and process things and want to plan
for your family, like that just doesn't go away because
you're off doing other big career things.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yeah, but I think it's so important that we're upfront
about those things. Yes, and we can give each other
advice and mentorship about it because it shouldn't have to
be a binary for us, right, you know that it's
got to be one or the other. But it does
require that other people. It requires that other people make
(24:38):
allowances for us that we've been raised to make for them.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Absolutely. Yes, that's such a powerful point.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
And I think like the more upfront we are about
all of that, Like, I will show you these bags
in my head right like it's there, Like there's not
a lot of sleep happening right now, and that's okay.
And I'm so comfortable in this idea that this is
our season and this is where we're at. And I
keep going back to that when I'm overwhelmed or anxious
(25:06):
or letting the fear set in of how are we
going to do all of this? Like I just have
to center back to the experience that we've had to
this point and the people that we have in our lives,
and like, it's all going to be okay. But it's
so important that it's there's a visual for it, because again,
we're inundated with content, right, and I find myself in
(25:29):
the same pattern, just like when we were growing up
it was the magazine's Remember they talked about body image
on magazines.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
That you're seeing.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Well, now that again takeaway like that comes out every
week or every month, like now it's every second. Like
if you pull up Instagram, you're just inundated with something
that is not really realistic. Like I'm seeing these women
with these beautiful homes and there are kids look like
they're just all in order, and their kids sleep at.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Night, Like my kids don't sleep at night. How this
is happening.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
But we're inundated with this world of like perfection because
content is in really short clips that's just packaged nicely
for you, and we need to have the bigger picture.
Sometimes we need to understand that it's not it's that
there's a lot going on with it being a working mom,
(26:21):
being you know, someone who's describing their career, and it
just we need to help each other.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
We need to have that be upfront beforeward.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Well, I think that's one of the things that the
internet's so amazing, right, because it gives us these opportunities
for community and connection. And I think it can be
really toxic because we forget that we're looking at content,
not not at reality right right, So we we forget
that people have schedules and calendars of deliverables that might
(26:55):
be planned a year in advance, and that that might
be their life even anymore, but it has to be
for a job or a contract. And it's hard to
remember that what we're seeing is very often produced or
just such a small fraction of someone's life. And I
(27:18):
think everyone I know is really kind of on the
seesaw of how they feel about it, like it's a
real push pull right now. And I think it's what
makes the ability to do things like this exciting for
me personally. It's it's why I think, you know, our
listeners listen because they get to actually hear what you
(27:40):
have to say, what you know, what my questions are
for you, and vice versa, Like we can we can
be together in community, not just in like a ten
second clip, and then it seems like that's life.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Exactly exactly, just package up nicely, make it sound cute,
look yeah things, Yeah, it's it's and I think you know,
as I were raising kids and going back to that
mom thing I've watched a lot of my friends who
have older kids. I really struggle with how early do
you let them look at social media? How you let
(28:13):
them into this world because you know, back to original point,
like that provides community for them, and that's so important.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
In growing up.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
But are their minds even well equipped to like be
able to understand what's real and what's not real?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Are our minds as yeah, forty year olds even there? No?
I mean, yeah, what about for us?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
We all struggle, Like I think, I keep coming back
to this word, and I was so lucky to go
through this process. On the Today Show and Hoda brought
up like imposter syndrome, right, and I'm like, I can't
believe you've been said that right now in this five
minute interview we're having because it's a phrase I just
keep coming back to, Like I feel like I'm having
it in my career and then I feel like in
(28:57):
your day to day life, it's like it's just this
constant battle of like what is real, what's not real?
Who's real? How do we act real? And Yeah, it's
it's a strange world out.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
There, for sure. Yeah, but a good one to your point.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
And now, a word from our sponsors. Now that people
do look up so many things, as you were mentioning earlier,
what a wild, incredible moment in history. You know, people
can go to look up the MLB and see you
(29:38):
our first ever female primary play by play announcer. Like
do you ever go, oh my god, that's me, Like
I'm the first one. I did it.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
It's crazy because I think I just think there's been
like women that have been doing it. It's just another
step of like adding that primary word in right, so
you look back like Susan Waldman has been doing Yankees
games in the radio booth for decades and the future
about the Yankees like a very storied fran and she's
(30:11):
been a huge part of that. I've been a big
voice of that team for so long. And after I
called my first game in twenty eighteen, I remember Melanie
Newman reaching out to me and she was calling games
at the minor league level, and she eventually got a
job with Apple TV and with the Baltimore Orioles calling games,
(30:31):
and it's you know, it's so great to see that
women are doing it and being represented, and it's just
one more door opening that out of the thirty teams.
When you look at primary voices on television, it's going
to be twenty nine men and one female, and.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I that's a huge honor for sure.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
But I also like the best part about it is
that the first always comes with the idea that it's
not going to be the last.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Right he has told us that, And so I can't.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Wait to, like, just see how it changes over the
next decade, because I feel really lucky to have been
a part of a conversation of a lot of change
in the game and in the sports TV game for
the last you know, six seven years, And so I'm like,
what is the next six seven years going to bring
with newation and new voices?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
And it's so exciting. It is.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
It's exciting, and I imagine it's also not always easy,
you know, to be the first one in a room
can sometimes be really hard. And I guess I'm curious
with everything that's working and the way that you and
your family and your coworkers and your whole village is
(31:49):
really figuring out how to make this happen. How have
you also managed to persevere? How have you managed to
figure out how to deal with what comes when the
backlash comes, The sexism, the judgment.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
How do you navigate that? Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
It's like if this job would have come for me
ten years ago, fifteen years ago, there's no way, Like
I was not comfortable enough in my own skin to
handle what other people were saying about me. Especially, I
think I grew up like a people pleaser and that well,
that's yeah, right, I ra'd your going, so, you know,
(32:31):
battling that those comments can can say they don't matter,
but as they add up, like, oh no, do I
need to change?
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Am I doing something wrong? How do I fix this problem?
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Best piece of advice I've gotten in the last couple
of months.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
I just admire her so much.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Kate Scott is the voice of the Philadelphia seventy six Ors.
She's one of two female primary voices in the NBA.
Lisa Byington and her became the first female voices last year,
and I, you know, told her I was going to
be getting this job before it became public because she's
from the Bay Area and she knows a lot of
the same people I'm going to be working with, knows
(33:12):
the market, and then again, you know, she's just done
the first thing. So I was like, I just need
you to like, help me, what's come in my way?
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Set me up?
Speaker 3 (33:24):
She just said to me, listen, there will be so
many comments. There will be good ones, there will be
bad ones, and everything in between. And what you have
to understand is the people writing those comments are dealing
with their own insecurities. They're dealing with the own personal stuff,
(33:47):
and you're the one in the way of that, and
that's where this is coming from. And just to put
a face to that and be like, yes, you are
so right about that, Like that is that's a hard concept,
I think to understand now. But can you imagine, like
if we could get kids to understand that concept of
like what they're reading on the internet and that it's
(34:08):
not necessarily about you or at you, but people are
just dealing with whatever it is biases their own drunk
in their life, and like you're the one they heard
and they didn't like, and they're going to just let
it loose on you, you know.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
So I really have not read a lot of comments.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I learned a long time ago to just not engage
in that realm of social media. And I think too,
as you grow, no matter your career, you have to
find people that you trust and that doesn't just mean
people that are going to blow smoke up your wazoo all.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
The time and tell you how great you are.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
It's people that are going to tell you when you're
not doing a good job, when you're not showing up,
when you can be better, people that are going to
push you to be better.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
And I would not be in this.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Position of this place if I didn't have those people
in my career life and in my personal home life.
My husband's a huge person like that for me. But
the producer that I was mentioning, Alison v. Hill, she
she's one of those people that, like in my career
she started this. She's the one that's like, why aren't
you doing We're going to have you do play by play.
(35:16):
We're gonna we're going to do this and we're going
to be here and we're going to figure it out.
And Yeah, it's people that like I would have never
been like. And that's the next career goal that was
scary to me, that was weird, that wasn't in my wheelhouse.
But other people seeing something in you, making you get
out of your comfort zone, making you push doing things
(35:37):
that are uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
That's when we grow, right, and when you're in.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
An entertainment industry, whether it's you know, what I do
in sports broadcasting, what you do as an actress, like
getting out of your comfort zone is like the number
one thing that we have to do and a lot
of people don't have to do that in public and
on this big stage. But that's just the job in
the arena we've chosen. And so so I think again,
I have to rely on my experiences and I have
(36:05):
to know when I start this season, I game one
for me is not going to be the same as
Game one sixty two.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
It's there's growth that is going to happen.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
There's growth because I'm now doing play by play every
day and not just backing up and filling in every
once in a while. So I have to give myself
grace in that and know like my employers, the people
who chose me for this job, they also are going
to be doing that because they see the long term
and not just today and what's going to happen out
of the gate. And I also like it is such
(36:38):
a team thing for me. You talk about the loneliness
maybe of being the first in a room, but I've
never looked at it as like me being this female.
It's I'm doing a job with an analyst, and I'm
doing a job with a particular the whole team of people. Like,
to me, sports broadcasting is the ultimate team sport because
when you walk you might be a voice of something,
(36:59):
but there are countless amount of people that put in
time to the day to researching, to all the video elements,
to putting graphics together, storylines, and then as the game
is unfolding, like making sure that everyone is on the
same page and getting it together and getting the message across.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
And so to me, the men in my life who've.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Also supported me and the analysts that I've worked with, like,
that's the team that's they're taking a huge risk in
this too, because they're stepping into that arena with me.
And I remember looking back in twenty eighteen when we
call the game, not just the backlash that I got,
but the backlash and the comments that my counterpard that
(37:40):
my mail analysts got, some of the phone calls from
their friends that they got, and then them telling me
about them, And part of me was like, Okay, you.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Don't have to tell me everything, And part of me was.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Like, this is interesting, opens up this conversation of you know,
it's new, it's changed. There's a different voice that is
calling a game. There is a female voice and not
a male voice. And it's a hard change for a
lot of people who've grown up in sports, growing up
watching sports.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
When you've only.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Heard you know, one one tone and a male tone,
and now you're a female tone, it can be jarring.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
That's understandable.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
But I think when we get over all of that
and it becomes more commonplace, and we're seeing it in
the NBA for sure, right ye a game the other
night and there was a female play by play and
a female analyst calling an NBA game, and it is
like nothing now to your ears.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
I don't think it's jarring. I don't think it's weird.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
I think the NBA fan has had female voices in
the game for the last couple years and they've adjusted
and now they're starting to realize, do you know this
game or do.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Not know this game?
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Do you are coming with like great entertainment value and
stories and passion and get me excited about basketball or
do you not?
Speaker 2 (38:52):
That's the judgment and that's how it should be. Be Like,
I hate your.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Voice and you're a woman and I don't like this,
or you know, there is an and calling the game,
and that's better. It should be like, am I enjoying
my experience of like learning something understanding the game Differently?
Speaker 2 (39:10):
If those are your takeaways.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
And you can walk away saying like, oh I learned
something new or oh that was cool, then that's way
better than just judging something by a male or female perspective.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Yeah, totally agree. And I think look, at the end
of the day, sports are for everyone, everyone, everyone, and
the shifts that we're seeing, I mean for me as
you know, such a lifelong sports fan and like now
the part owner of a soccer team, like the work
(39:41):
everyone in my life has been doing. You know, the
last ten years have been so major. The last five
years have been transformational, seeing the national team players sue
US Soccer and you know, fight for pay equity, seeing
you know, the attention that women's sports have garnered just
this year, that cat and the New York Liberty, Like
(40:03):
everybody's paying attention, and it's really exciting to see the
metrics in terms of you know, the value add in
terms of the ticket sales, like seeing you know, women's
collegiate basketball tickets go for more than the Golden State
Warriors tickets.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
I'm like, I don't hate it, like so cool and
it's cool.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Yeah, it's just like it's about time that all of
these incredible performance athletes are being recognized for their skill
and really getting to show people who they are, who
they've always been.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
It's it's so thrilling, it is.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
I mean, Jason Sidekis could wear anything he wants at
any given time, and how we've seen him photographed in
a WNBA sweatshirt.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Yeah, totally, he loves that's where he's at.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
He's totally and you know, I've seen it a lot
and calling women's basketball the last several years.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Camera Brinko plays for Stanford.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Her parents went to college with Steph Curry's parents, and
Steph Curry is often at Stanford women's basketball games. And
that's not loss like these crazy you know, big time
pop stars, rappers, actors, other male athletes walking in to
(41:24):
an arena where women are playing sports like that, which
is powerful totally.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
When I was living in Chicago and you know, going
to Red Stars games and Sky games all the time,
Like you know, I went to a basketball game one
night and fifty cent walked in and we were like,
what are you doing here?
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Also, this is so cool and you know that's.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
I don't know, ten years ago, and it's really it
is a very thrilling time to see the way at
least what it looks like. Listen, I'm asthmatic. I'm a
sports fan. I'm not a sports player. It's never really
been my thing, but like I as a fan who
has been paying attention for most of my life, it
(42:09):
feels like people are finally casting a wider net and
making room for more of us, and that that just
feels so exciting. And I'm I guess I'm really bolstered
because you're the actual expert on this in the room,
and it's nice to know that you feel the same,
that there's progress being made, you know, for women in
(42:32):
traditionally male arenas of sport, but also in female sports coverage.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Yes, yeah, no, I do. I feel I feel the growth.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
I see the growth of experiencing the growth, right, and
you're doing it on a level of being an owner,
and so I will go there like that is such
an important space where the equality measures can continue to
grow because without women in positions of power to make
some of these decisions. This doesn't grow right, It just
(43:02):
doesn't mean I can point directly to the producer that
was a female that started the conversation. And yes, males
got on board and there were allies and they were like, yes, yes,
let's go, but it was a woman that made that
decision first and foremost. I was just hired at NBC
Sports California by a woman who is a you know,
wonderful visionary. And the decision makers have to change the game.
(43:28):
We can work and we can try, and we can pursue,
but like up top, got to change the game there.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
I think the numbers show it.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
Like if you just want to go back to being fans,
it doesn't matter if we're talking about you know, the
primary four sports, the Big four in just men's sports,
but adding women's sports onto that.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
When you look at the.
Speaker 3 (43:48):
People sitting in the stands, the people spending money, which
is always what it's going to come back to, because
this is a business, after all, there are fifty percent
or close to fifty percent, not more than fifty percent
represented as female fans.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
And this has been an NFL for so long. We
have seen these numbers.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
They've been out there and like there weren't really clothing
companies even within the last ten years before Aaron Andrews
started something that we're even promoting clothing for these sports
teams to female fans, even though the numbers suggested that
that marketplace was there.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
And so if that marketplace is there, and we're seeing.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Them in the stands, and we're seeing women talking online
about sports and watching sports, then why isn't the representation
of women on the other side. And so that is
I think we've been just as I mentioned, I think
it's been flying off the shelves and growing at a
great rate over the last ten years. And I think
there's always room for improvement and always more growth to come.
(44:49):
But it's it's just about it's just about continuing the
conversation and continuing the visual and you know, making that change.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Yeah, it's so exciting and it's so cool to know
that we're going to get to continue the conversation with
you and that you're just going to continue like charging
into these spaces and bringing more of us along with you,
I mean across the whole landscape. It feels like such
an inspiring and optimistic work in progress.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
Yeah, that's it, right. I think it's always a work
in progress.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
I mean, I'll go back to yeah with Billy Jean King,
like when she set out for the Battle of Sexes,
Like what was her ultimate goal? Was there an end
goal to it or was it a movement? And was
it something that was going to be continuous? And exactly
that was it? Like she had she had a passion
and purpose for her life and that moment in time
(45:46):
was just like a it was a marker, it was
a beginning. It was a push a little bit, and
we're just that's it, Like we're just going to keep
inching things open and.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
You know soon it's it's going to be just the floodgates.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Really exciting what for you? Because it's i mean, it's
a big topic we're talking about. It's industries, it's gender equity,
it's it's big. But when you when you distill down
that idea and think about it just for you as
an individual, what what feels like your work in progress
from this moment in your life and career?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Gosh, that is Oh I've thought about that a lot.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
It's the really challenging right, Like I think, I think
it's always so good to look back because especially when
you're in moments of like uncertainty and scary. And that's
the moment I found myself in last year is our
regional sports network that owned the Rockies was giving up
the rights. So we were all working last year not
(46:49):
really knowing the future of our jobs, not really knowing
go being in a space of like, like doing what
I'm supposed to be doing. What happens if the you know,
run gets out from under me and this job and
like that's it and there's no more opportunities and it's dry,
and like, what real world job am I going to get?
How do you put like talks about sports on a resume?
(47:12):
I think it's more than that, but you know it's
you're just saying your wheels are.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Spinning, Like do I need to reinvent myself? What's happened?
Speaker 3 (47:19):
So I went through this whole exercise like throughout the
course of the season, But I think what's always polled
me is this And I mentioned the word a couple
of times, But it's passion, right, Like when you have
such a passion to do something, it lights your fire,
like you always get drawn back to it, no matter
if you're taking lefts or rights, like somehow you have
to circle back to like finding that direction and finding
(47:43):
the light that's guiding you. And so for me having
this be such a passion, I think I can look
back on my experience and my growth of like day
one when I started doing play by play and it
was so foreign to me to learning different bits and
pieces about how to prepare, but better how to prepare
more efficiently, how to put it together. And as they
(48:05):
go into this season, I think that's my growth opportunity
is like I would.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
Lie to you if I sat here and was like,
I am so ready for this.
Speaker 3 (48:15):
We're going to dominate it, Like I am ready, but
I also have room to grow, and I have to
live in that, and I have to live in like
there's a voice of fear that lives in the back
of your mind and I have to live with like
quieting that down with just confidence of experience and knowing
that like every day is going to be different. I'm
(48:35):
going to learn something new every day. I'm going to
grow from it every day and I'm not I'm not
gonna be perfect, and that's okay, and that's that's okay.
That's the space we need to live in and as
long as we're growing and getting better and producing and connecting,
Like that's that goes back to why I love to
do this and the passion of why I love to
do this. And my friend Kate Scott that I was
(48:58):
talking about earlier, she that like left me with that
little piece of advice is She's like, all you have
to do in this job is do the work and
be yourself. And whenever always comes go back to that,
do the work, be yourself. And I've told myself that
probably one hundred times a day the last you know,
four weeks, and as we entered this new season, and
(49:21):
really an athlete, like if you think about it in
any sport, that's probably their you know, true center as well,
like do the work, work hard, be yourself.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
In the game.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
And the second a story that you mentally get just
bogged down and you can't perform right, you can't do
your job as an athlete. So I think that's like
such a great lesson for us as humans too.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
I love that do the work, be yourself.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
Yeah, it's a good one. Do the work.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Thank you, Thank you so much, Jenny. You're so inspiring.
I really I'm so glad we got to hang today.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
I know me too, right back after thanks, so it's great.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
Yeah, thank you and congratulations and we'll be rooting for
you over here.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Thank you so much
Hi, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress. Hello friends,
Today we are joined by a trailblazer. Jenny Kavnar is
(00:21):
an American sports broadcaster who is the television play by
play announcer of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. Guys,
She's the first female primary play by play announcer in
MLB history. She is an absolute legend. She grew up
in a baseball family, and she just is so incredibly inspiring.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
She is joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
From her home in Colorado, where she is managing to
juggle her MLB career, a family, young children, and a great, big,
beautiful life. Let's get to it, Jenny, I'm so excited
(01:09):
that you're here today. I as you know, I think
you know. We're both such lovers of sport, and seeing
the way that women are really changing the game, not
just in women's sports, but in the sports industry in
general right now is so inspiring. And so to have you,
as a literal trailblazer in the space join us during
(01:31):
Women's History Month feels very cool. Thank you for taking
the time.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh gosh, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
It's like, I don't know, I'm so excited about women
in sports right now and what is happening. And I
think like two words sums it up for me, and
it's Caitlyn Clark.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Right. If you're not on the Caitlyn Lark train, like you.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Just better jump on because she has just taken everything
to a whole new level. And it's so cool to
see the history that she's made and what she's done.
And then you know, being part of this conversation of
women and advancement in sports, it's like I pinched me
because this is all happening and it's so exciting.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well, and your love of sport takes you all the
way back to childhood, right.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, yeah, from day one.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I mean I was definitely born into a family, the
big sports family. My dad was a long time high
school baseball coach, so my earliest memories of sports were
really at the field when he was coaching, and as
a cheerleader and kind of realizing quickly that, like you know,
a win or a loss can dictate a mood, and
(02:38):
my dad was always so good about not really bringing
that home, but you know, you learn to ride that
roller coaster of being a fan and the emotions that
go along with sports, and then you know, as I
got older, clearly wanted to participate. I'm not much of
a just sit and watch kind of gal, so grabbed
a love was often out on the field, you know,
(03:00):
whether it was his summer camps or even like you know,
working the table where the parents come in and taking
money or going to the snackshack and working, like just
being involved.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It was.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
It was definitely our family business was high school baseball,
and we were all kind of all in. And then
I think as soon as I picked up a glove
and I picked up a basketball and all those things,
like I just remember that innate need to be competitive,
and then nate drive to like want to be on
the court, and you want to be on a field,
want to be doing something sports related.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So yeah, I think from the very beginning, it's always
been there. That's really cool.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
When you were little, Like if you think about, you know,
little Jenny at eight or nine, were you really focused
on sports at that time or was that something that
evolved as you got older.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Yeah, I think I was really focused on sports, Like
I was just a really I was late to the
party and everything like maturing, you know, growing into being
a girly girl like I was definitely always the.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Tomboy, hung out with the boys in the block.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
We had a lot of boys in our neighborhood, had
an older brother, I had mostly boy cousins.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
It was around my dad's teams.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Like it was a seame of It didn't feel different
to be the only girl, because that's just kind of
how I grow up, right, And so I do remember,
you know, there were I guess other things that were
exciting to me, but it always centered around sports. The memories,
whether it was again just us being at the baseball
(04:37):
field with my dad, or going to my brother's games,
or you know, going to my own games. And thinking
back to I have no idea how my working mom
did it.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
And carted us to all these events.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Now that I'm a mom and our kids are starting
to get involved in activities, but it's it's really cool
to think that sports has just always kind of been
around and evolved that way. And then I think too,
like we live in such a different culture now where
you can watch content all the time, right, Like kids
are getting fed highlights anytime they pick up their phone,
(05:11):
or you know, you can see them just any hour
of the day and I think for us it was
more appointment television, where like the big game was coming up,
and it was the build up and the excitement, and.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You'd physically get the newspaper.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
In the morning and you'd read about the game the
night before, you'd read about the game coming up that day,
and it was this slower process of the anticipation of
the activity and the sport and what was to come
with it. And so I do remember that a lot
from being a kid again. Now it's like we're just
we're just watching highlights all the time, which is awesome,
(05:46):
but it's just very different.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
It's it's really interesting that you can look up anything
at any moment. You don't have to necessarily tune in
unless you're trying to avoid spoilers in real time.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Right right, which is so hard to do nowadays.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
My husband guys all the time and I'm like, what, Like,
you're on your phone all the time?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
How are you to avoid the score of the game
that's happened three hours ago.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
It's when you were a kid, did you know that
you wanted to work in sports because of the way
that you grew up in your family, or did that
dawn on you later.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, I mean, my earliest memory of picking a career
was I wanted to be a marine biologist and work
with dolphins like that. And I also remember writing this
paper where I wanted to be a gymnast in the
Olympics and I was going to have three kids and
be a gymnast in the Olympics. And you know, in
(06:42):
my eight year old of mind, that sounded like a reality.
But then those were my.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
First two early career choices.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
But yes, shortly after that, once I realized that you
could work in sports, I think that it always was like,
that's what I'm going to do. And I think the
beginning of those again goes back to just being at
the field with my dad. We had a wonderful prep
reporter in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Her name is Marsiha Neville.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
And if Marsha was at your high school game, you
guys were the best in the state. Like she you know,
she presence meant that your team was amazing. So, you know,
my dad was fortunate to have some good teams and
she would be there and she would run right on
the field after the game to interview him, and I
was like, she's getting.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Out there faster than I am, Like, I'm supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Out there first as the daughter of the coach, So
I was like, that's a cool job, and I think
that kind of that seed was planted. And then seeing
Melissa Stark on TV on Monday Night Football in the
late nineties was really when like the aha moment for me,
that reppresentation moment of there's someone that looks like me
(07:54):
and is TB and at the big event like that
would be a dream job, and the kind of using
that as a springboard to eventually creating a career that Luckily.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I think I was pretty naive in that moment.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I didn't know how competitive the industry was, and my
dad didn't either, and you know, just spoke those words
of truth into me and said you can do this,
And that's all it took for me to have a
really big dream.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That's so cool and what a neat thing too that
you can really see the way that that phrase, if
you can see it, you can be it really was
so true for you. You saw these women in these
roles and saw yourself in them.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, And I think that's what has become so special
about where my career path took me is because it's
allowed me to look back and realized, like why I
had such a focus and a narrow focus really at
the time. If you ask any of my college friends,
they will all tell you when I what I want
to do for a living, it was I want to
(09:02):
be a football sideline reporter.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
And it was just so specific.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
To again that representation that I saw Melissa Stark and
I think Linda Cohane was on TV doing Sports Center
at the time, you know, anchoring at a desk, and
there were a few women, but the majority I think
of women that you saw in sport with on a
sideline of a football field specifically.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
And then it just kind of grew.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
It grew into other sports, it grew into other aspects,
it grew into hosting jobs, and then eventually we started hearing,
you know, more female voices calling games or being the
analyst of games, and that's really taken off in the
last you know, five to ten years, and so just
to be a part of that conversation and now to
know that if you could ask if I was in
(09:46):
college now and you asked me what I wanted to do,
I hope I would have a broader stroke than just
this narrow focus, because there are so many jobs that
you can see women doing in sports, and it's not
just on camera, and it's not just on radio. There's writers,
there's producers, there's directors, like it is all around. And
(10:07):
when I think about baseball specifically, like we now have
a female and uniform for the San Francisco Giants, Slissa
n Akin as a coach there, and that presentation is
so powerful and she like braids her hair and it's
just this cool, like oh my gosh, and going to
a Giants game and being at Oracle Park, I see
(10:29):
little girls in the stands all the time, either like
also have a braid or have signs for Lissa. Like
girls are getting incorporated into the game. Where now MLB
the show came out today and they have an entire
arena that you can play as a female in Major
League Baseball. And it's just like, I think the idea
(10:50):
of representation matters is no longer an idea. It's like,
we have to make this happen and work, and the
visual has to be there because you're right, seeing is
believing and Billy Jean King did it so long ago
for all of us, and I don't get out of that,
and she's still on a platform of encouraging women to
continue in their successes in sports, and it's really special.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
It really is.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I feel so lucky I sit on the advisory board
of the First Women's Bank with Billy Jean, and getting
to work alongside one of my literal lifelong heroes in
this equity space in finance for women has been the
coolest thing in my recent years. And we got to
(11:38):
do some advocacy around the fiftieth anniversary of her foundation,
and I'm just I'm so in awe to your point
of how all these things that I grew up caring
about and wanting to work on. Isn't it weird when
we sit at these points like you and I are
now as adults, And you go.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Like, if ten year old me I had any idea
that this was my life, she wouldn't believe it. No,
there's not a way. They're so cool. But I think too,
like like you just kind of brought it up.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
It's it's your passion and your purpose, like those things
you can't remove from from inside of you. And so
I think having people around you that feed into them,
like allow it to grow and have allowed it to
like become you know, where we are today and being
able to sit at a table with Billy jan King
and know that you were impacted and influenced by what
(12:35):
she did so long ago, and now you get a
work alongside of her to continue the conversation of equity
is like, it's it's really powerful stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
It's so so cool. Do you ever you know now
from this position that you're in, you're also a mom,
do you talk to your dad about you know, what
it was like for him to watch you grow up
and grow in to the woman that you are?
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Like?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Is it sort of a surreal thing to be able
to look at your kids and also look at how
you were raised and see all of these familial connections.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Oh gosh, it really is.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
And it's com full circle because I think for me,
my parents have always preached you can do whatever you
want and you know we're going to support you. And
that wasn't just like a teenager to live out a
dream and get into college or to go do a career.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
That was like a lifelong.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Commitment that they made because they honestly are a huge
part of caretaking for our children now and out That
like without that support of my mom, especially saying like
I'm in retirement, this is what I want to be
doing for you and for your family, Like, we wouldn't
be able to do these careers. I wouldn't be able
(13:51):
to take these opportunities because I'm away from my kids
sometimes in baseball and in the in the chaos of
that world.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And you know.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
My husband's a fire fighter and his schedule is so
different and unique. And so my parents have been this
extension of our family and my husband's parents, you know,
my in laws, they don't live in Colorado where we reside,
but they have all made a priority to like put
their lives on hold at moments where we just need
them so that we can keep going in our careers.
(14:22):
And that, to me is that familial connection.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Of like, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
That like trust and belief in you to be whatever
you want to be, but also be like we're going
to help you do that.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
It's it's cool. And so yeah, we've we've had those.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Conversations and had those taks, but like I look back
now more so on our growing up and I don't
know how it felt so seamless, Like I don't know
how my parents both held jobs and you know, still
like figured out and found the time to invest in
our athletic endeavors and get us to all these games,
(15:00):
and you know, like the sacrifices that they make as parents.
They're very special people for sure, and I'm so grateful
for them.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
That's so cool. And now a word from our sponsors
who make this show possible. I also think it's so
nice when you can talk about how it really works,
(15:29):
because there is this notion that and I do believe
it's true, we can have it all, but you can't
really have it all at the same time. It requires
juggling and planning and scheduling. And I think the way
it works is when you're in community or in the
(15:49):
community of your family. It does really take a village.
And I think it's so important that we kind of
let each other in on that reality. People don't look
around and go, why can't I do all of this
by myself? Why can't I spend all of these plates.
It's like, you can't. You need it, You need a crew.
(16:10):
And how lucky you guys are that your family can
be that crew for you.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Oh gosh, you're so right.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
And I think it's we've been sold this message for
so long, especially as women, to your point of like
you can do it all. You can be a superwoman,
super mom, Like yeah, but it's exhausting and it's hard
and it's hard work, and it's not it's not linear,
Like it's not like, Okay, you have this career and
here's that box, and like you have your family and
(16:36):
here's that box for us in our world, like those
are constantly intersecting, and the scheduling part is honestly sometimes
the most draining part of my day and my week,
because you know, it's the responsibility of like does a
small human have an adult with them at all times?
And always who I'm asking for favors for and you
(16:59):
know we're hiring how as well.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And you know, I want to.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Make sure our kids grow up in activities and have
you know, friends and fun. But now I'm asking these
people that are taking care of them to not only
take care of them, but get them to and from
places and make sure they're happy and healthy. And you know,
I think as a mom, we are constantly like your
heart is checking in on everyone, and you want everyone
to be in the best place.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
But that means like you.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Know, are you in the best place and you're taking
care of yourself and it's like, yeah, you're just constantly
going through and thinking of things. Your brain like never
shuts off. Our calendar is open all the time. You know,
best best laid plans, always made a backup plan.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
And then there's a poor dog.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I did someone take the dog and a walk today
and play with them, right, So it's it's so wonderful
and it's so beautiful and it feeds so much of
my soul that I can have this career and have
this family.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
But it is constant work and it's.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Hard work, and I think more than anything, we all learned.
And I definitely point back to the pandemic of like
this idea where when we had to stop and we
had to get back into things and we had to
be away from people, like human beings were made for community,
and it just like circles right back to your point
(18:18):
of I'm so grateful that we get to raise our
kids in a big community and that our families are
involved and helpful, and we have wonderful friends involved, and
our baseball community is involved. I mean they you know,
welcome our kids to doing things when we're at work,
and being around the game, and that's how I grew up.
I grew up with baseball, and my husband grew up
with baseball. So it's a big part of our family.
(18:40):
And I love that the intersection happens between career and family.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, that's really special and it's not lost on me
that as you talk about the you know, logistics for
both you and your husband, your kids, your families, you're
not only doing this as you know, one half of
a working partnership, of a marriage with two careers in it,
but you're doing this in your individual career where you've
(19:09):
moved up the ranks as a woman in sports in
a world, particularly in baseball that has really been primarily
dominated by men. Yeah, and so it's you're not just
juggling a big life, but you're breaking these boundaries while
you're doing it.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Has How has that felt?
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I imagine there have been times where it's been amazing
and times where it's been hard, and you know, it's
it's probably been every end of the spectrum.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
That's it, the rollercoaster of emotion in doing it.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I'm really grateful for the women in our industry, specifically,
I have a producer, I had a producer with the Rockies.
That's a female and a very dear friend of mine,
and she was breaking you know, per barriers on the
production side, and probably one of the only female producers
of the Big four sports, you know, really in television
(20:09):
that is a female, and she has three kids, and
she was kind of the first representation to me that like, oh,
you can't have a family and figure this out.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
And she was very encouraging in that.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
And I watched how hard it was, and I watched
how they made it work, and I took, you know, notes,
and I.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Was like, Okay, if she can do it, I can
do it.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
And she was really a huge factor for me because
when I had kids, I you know, was trying to
plan out when I was coming back, and I remember
her saying, well, maybe we shouldn't say in it. Maybe
you're gonna have a baby, and four weeks later you're
ready to come back to work, and maybe you're gonna
have a baby and you're not going to be ready
(20:51):
for twelve weeks, and like we're going to be here
and we're gonna support you, and we're going to figure
that out. But like, you don't want to put a
limitation on yourself one way or the other.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
I don't think a man would have told me that
that was my boss.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I think he would have looked at a schedule, and
I think he would have said, by law, like your
date coming back is this day, and that's when the
team is, you know, in Oakland or in San Diego,
and you know you're going to be there and then
you're just going to move on. When I had my
first baby, I remember asking our company about like breastfeeding
and if I can send like use that milk store
(21:25):
company and send the milk.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Back, and like would they pay for that?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
And like, no, you.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Don't pay for that.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
That's crazy, And I was like, oh, okay, well, I
you know, this is like a pretty big company.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
We were owned by a pretty big parent company, and.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I'm sure they have some sort of policy for working
moms that have to travel, like could you just look
into it a little bit further so you know, of course,
it takes forever for them to look into it. And
I'll never forget. I had just called my first Major
League game in twenty eighteen. I was six months postpartum.
I was panicking about like what am I going to do?
Because I'm on air for three plus hours, is like
(22:00):
what happens if like I have to, you know, go
pump and I can't.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
We're doing this game.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
You were trying to figure that out while I'm also
doing something new with my job. And then we go
on a road trip and I remember thinking, I was like,
I guess I'm just done.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Like I guess I'm just gonna have to like dry up.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
And we'll move on and it's okay, And I'm like
mourning this whole situation, and I'm thinking all of these
things when I'm in the shower and I get out
and I have a voicemail from my boss and he
was like, hey, good news, I figured out how we
can make things work for you.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
And it's just, like anything, this is not the time.
It's six months too late to figure it out, right.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
So I guess like the idea of just being in
this world as a woman where you're not getting a
lot of understanding, especially as you like grow into a different,
you know, role as a mom, And now I'm growing
to different roles in my career. And everyone that's had
this position in Major League Baseball as a primary play
(23:04):
by play has been a man and a lot of
those men, I would say probably eighty five percent of
them have a wife at home that's taking care of
all the home stuff and all the children's stuff, which
is a full time job.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
And I have so much respect for those women because.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
I know the challenges of that partner is away for
six months and they're very focused on their career. And
oftentimes I find myself so divided because I have to
be so focused on my career to make sure that
I'm just as good, if not trying to be better,
because I'm a woman in the seat and I have
all the home stuff to deal, to deal with and
(23:41):
to do, and you know, that's that's the path we've chosen,
and it's a privilege, it really is. But it's chaotic
and it's really hard sometimes. And I feel so supported
on saying all this. I feel so supported by my
partner and by my husband, you know, doing his poll too,
and having to make a lot of sacrifices because of
this career I've chosen. But it's just different when you're
(24:05):
the woman and when you're the mom, and the way
like you think and process things and want to plan
for your family, like that just doesn't go away because
you're off doing other big career things.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yeah, but I think it's so important that we're upfront
about those things. Yes, and we can give each other
advice and mentorship about it because it shouldn't have to
be a binary for us, right, you know that it's
got to be one or the other. But it does
require that other people. It requires that other people make
(24:38):
allowances for us that we've been raised to make for them.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Absolutely. Yes, that's such a powerful point.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
And I think like the more upfront we are about
all of that, Like, I will show you these bags
in my head right like it's there, Like there's not
a lot of sleep happening right now, and that's okay.
And I'm so comfortable in this idea that this is
our season and this is where we're at. And I
keep going back to that when I'm overwhelmed or anxious
(25:06):
or letting the fear set in of how are we
going to do all of this? Like I just have
to center back to the experience that we've had to
this point and the people that we have in our lives,
and like, it's all going to be okay. But it's
so important that it's there's a visual for it, because again,
we're inundated with content, right, and I find myself in
(25:29):
the same pattern, just like when we were growing up
it was the magazine's Remember they talked about body image
on magazines.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
That you're seeing.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Well, now that again takeaway like that comes out every
week or every month, like now it's every second. Like
if you pull up Instagram, you're just inundated with something
that is not really realistic. Like I'm seeing these women
with these beautiful homes and there are kids look like
they're just all in order, and their kids sleep at.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Night, Like my kids don't sleep at night. How this
is happening.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
But we're inundated with this world of like perfection because
content is in really short clips that's just packaged nicely
for you, and we need to have the bigger picture.
Sometimes we need to understand that it's not it's that
there's a lot going on with it being a working mom,
(26:21):
being you know, someone who's describing their career, and it
just we need to help each other.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
We need to have that be upfront beforeward.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Well, I think that's one of the things that the
internet's so amazing, right, because it gives us these opportunities
for community and connection. And I think it can be
really toxic because we forget that we're looking at content,
not not at reality right right, So we we forget
that people have schedules and calendars of deliverables that might
(26:55):
be planned a year in advance, and that that might
be their life even anymore, but it has to be
for a job or a contract. And it's hard to
remember that what we're seeing is very often produced or
just such a small fraction of someone's life. And I
(27:18):
think everyone I know is really kind of on the
seesaw of how they feel about it, like it's a
real push pull right now. And I think it's what
makes the ability to do things like this exciting for
me personally. It's it's why I think, you know, our
listeners listen because they get to actually hear what you
(27:40):
have to say, what you know, what my questions are
for you, and vice versa, Like we can we can
be together in community, not just in like a ten
second clip, and then it seems like that's life.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Exactly exactly, just package up nicely, make it sound cute,
look yeah things, Yeah, it's it's and I think you know,
as I were raising kids and going back to that
mom thing I've watched a lot of my friends who
have older kids. I really struggle with how early do
you let them look at social media? How you let
(28:13):
them into this world because you know, back to original point,
like that provides community for them, and that's so important.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
In growing up.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
But are their minds even well equipped to like be
able to understand what's real and what's not real?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Are our minds as yeah, forty year olds even there? No?
I mean, yeah, what about for us?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
We all struggle, Like I think, I keep coming back
to this word, and I was so lucky to go
through this process. On the Today Show and Hoda brought
up like imposter syndrome, right, and I'm like, I can't
believe you've been said that right now in this five
minute interview we're having because it's a phrase I just
keep coming back to, Like I feel like I'm having
it in my career and then I feel like in
(28:57):
your day to day life, it's like it's just this
constant battle of like what is real, what's not real?
Who's real? How do we act real? And Yeah, it's
it's a strange world out.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
There, for sure. Yeah, but a good one to your point.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
And now, a word from our sponsors. Now that people
do look up so many things, as you were mentioning earlier,
what a wild, incredible moment in history. You know, people
can go to look up the MLB and see you
(29:38):
our first ever female primary play by play announcer. Like
do you ever go, oh my god, that's me, Like
I'm the first one. I did it.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
It's crazy because I think I just think there's been
like women that have been doing it. It's just another
step of like adding that primary word in right, so
you look back like Susan Waldman has been doing Yankees
games in the radio booth for decades and the future
about the Yankees like a very storied fran and she's
(30:11):
been a huge part of that. I've been a big
voice of that team for so long. And after I
called my first game in twenty eighteen, I remember Melanie
Newman reaching out to me and she was calling games
at the minor league level, and she eventually got a
job with Apple TV and with the Baltimore Orioles calling games,
(30:31):
and it's you know, it's so great to see that
women are doing it and being represented, and it's just
one more door opening that out of the thirty teams.
When you look at primary voices on television, it's going
to be twenty nine men and one female, and.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I that's a huge honor for sure.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
But I also like the best part about it is
that the first always comes with the idea that it's
not going to be the last.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Right he has told us that, And so I can't.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Wait to, like, just see how it changes over the
next decade, because I feel really lucky to have been
a part of a conversation of a lot of change
in the game and in the sports TV game for
the last you know, six seven years, And so I'm like,
what is the next six seven years going to bring
with newation and new voices?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
And it's so exciting. It is.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
It's exciting, and I imagine it's also not always easy,
you know, to be the first one in a room
can sometimes be really hard. And I guess I'm curious
with everything that's working and the way that you and
your family and your coworkers and your whole village is
(31:49):
really figuring out how to make this happen. How have
you also managed to persevere? How have you managed to
figure out how to deal with what comes when the
backlash comes, The sexism, the judgment.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
How do you navigate that? Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
It's like if this job would have come for me
ten years ago, fifteen years ago, there's no way, Like
I was not comfortable enough in my own skin to
handle what other people were saying about me. Especially, I
think I grew up like a people pleaser and that well,
that's yeah, right, I ra'd your going, so, you know,
(32:31):
battling that those comments can can say they don't matter,
but as they add up, like, oh no, do I
need to change?
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Am I doing something wrong? How do I fix this problem?
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Best piece of advice I've gotten in the last couple
of months.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
I just admire her so much.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Kate Scott is the voice of the Philadelphia seventy six Ors.
She's one of two female primary voices in the NBA.
Lisa Byington and her became the first female voices last year,
and I, you know, told her I was going to
be getting this job before it became public because she's
from the Bay Area and she knows a lot of
the same people I'm going to be working with, knows
(33:12):
the market, and then again, you know, she's just done
the first thing. So I was like, I just need
you to like, help me, what's come in my way?
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Set me up?
Speaker 3 (33:24):
She just said to me, listen, there will be so
many comments. There will be good ones, there will be
bad ones, and everything in between. And what you have
to understand is the people writing those comments are dealing
with their own insecurities. They're dealing with the own personal stuff,
(33:47):
and you're the one in the way of that, and
that's where this is coming from. And just to put
a face to that and be like, yes, you are
so right about that, Like that is that's a hard concept,
I think to understand now. But can you imagine, like
if we could get kids to understand that concept of
like what they're reading on the internet and that it's
(34:08):
not necessarily about you or at you, but people are
just dealing with whatever it is biases their own drunk
in their life, and like you're the one they heard
and they didn't like, and they're going to just let
it loose on you, you know.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
So I really have not read a lot of comments.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I learned a long time ago to just not engage
in that realm of social media. And I think too,
as you grow, no matter your career, you have to
find people that you trust and that doesn't just mean
people that are going to blow smoke up your wazoo all.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
The time and tell you how great you are.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
It's people that are going to tell you when you're
not doing a good job, when you're not showing up,
when you can be better, people that are going to
push you to be better.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
And I would not be in this.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Position of this place if I didn't have those people
in my career life and in my personal home life.
My husband's a huge person like that for me. But
the producer that I was mentioning, Alison v. Hill, she
she's one of those people that, like in my career
she started this. She's the one that's like, why aren't
you doing We're going to have you do play by play.
(35:16):
We're gonna we're going to do this and we're going
to be here and we're going to figure it out.
And Yeah, it's people that like I would have never
been like. And that's the next career goal that was
scary to me, that was weird, that wasn't in my wheelhouse.
But other people seeing something in you, making you get
out of your comfort zone, making you push doing things
(35:37):
that are uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
That's when we grow, right, and when you're in.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
An entertainment industry, whether it's you know, what I do
in sports broadcasting, what you do as an actress, like
getting out of your comfort zone is like the number
one thing that we have to do and a lot
of people don't have to do that in public and
on this big stage. But that's just the job in
the arena we've chosen. And so so I think again,
I have to rely on my experiences and I have
(36:05):
to know when I start this season, I game one
for me is not going to be the same as
Game one sixty two.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
It's there's growth that is going to happen.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
There's growth because I'm now doing play by play every
day and not just backing up and filling in every
once in a while. So I have to give myself
grace in that and know like my employers, the people
who chose me for this job, they also are going
to be doing that because they see the long term
and not just today and what's going to happen out
of the gate. And I also like it is such
(36:38):
a team thing for me. You talk about the loneliness
maybe of being the first in a room, but I've
never looked at it as like me being this female.
It's I'm doing a job with an analyst, and I'm
doing a job with a particular the whole team of people. Like,
to me, sports broadcasting is the ultimate team sport because
when you walk you might be a voice of something,
(36:59):
but there are countless amount of people that put in
time to the day to researching, to all the video elements,
to putting graphics together, storylines, and then as the game
is unfolding, like making sure that everyone is on the
same page and getting it together and getting the message across.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
And so to me, the men in my life who've.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Also supported me and the analysts that I've worked with, like,
that's the team that's they're taking a huge risk in
this too, because they're stepping into that arena with me.
And I remember looking back in twenty eighteen when we
call the game, not just the backlash that I got,
but the backlash and the comments that my counterpard that
(37:40):
my mail analysts got, some of the phone calls from
their friends that they got, and then them telling me
about them, And part of me was like, Okay, you.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Don't have to tell me everything, And part of me was.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Like, this is interesting, opens up this conversation of you know,
it's new, it's changed. There's a different voice that is
calling a game. There is a female voice and not
a male voice. And it's a hard change for a
lot of people who've grown up in sports, growing up
watching sports.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
When you've only.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Heard you know, one one tone and a male tone,
and now you're a female tone, it can be jarring.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
That's understandable.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
But I think when we get over all of that
and it becomes more commonplace, and we're seeing it in
the NBA for sure, right ye a game the other
night and there was a female play by play and
a female analyst calling an NBA game, and it is
like nothing now to your ears.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
I don't think it's jarring. I don't think it's weird.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
I think the NBA fan has had female voices in
the game for the last couple years and they've adjusted
and now they're starting to realize, do you know this
game or do.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Not know this game?
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Do you are coming with like great entertainment value and
stories and passion and get me excited about basketball or
do you not?
Speaker 2 (38:52):
That's the judgment and that's how it should be. Be Like,
I hate your.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Voice and you're a woman and I don't like this,
or you know, there is an and calling the game,
and that's better. It should be like, am I enjoying
my experience of like learning something understanding the game Differently?
Speaker 2 (39:10):
If those are your takeaways.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
And you can walk away saying like, oh I learned
something new or oh that was cool, then that's way
better than just judging something by a male or female perspective.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Yeah, totally agree. And I think look, at the end
of the day, sports are for everyone, everyone, everyone, and
the shifts that we're seeing, I mean for me as
you know, such a lifelong sports fan and like now
the part owner of a soccer team, like the work
(39:41):
everyone in my life has been doing. You know, the
last ten years have been so major. The last five
years have been transformational, seeing the national team players sue
US Soccer and you know, fight for pay equity, seeing
you know, the attention that women's sports have garnered just
this year, that cat and the New York Liberty, Like
(40:03):
everybody's paying attention, and it's really exciting to see the
metrics in terms of you know, the value add in
terms of the ticket sales, like seeing you know, women's
collegiate basketball tickets go for more than the Golden State
Warriors tickets.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
I'm like, I don't hate it, like so cool and
it's cool.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Yeah, it's just like it's about time that all of
these incredible performance athletes are being recognized for their skill
and really getting to show people who they are, who
they've always been.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
It's it's so thrilling, it is.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
I mean, Jason Sidekis could wear anything he wants at
any given time, and how we've seen him photographed in
a WNBA sweatshirt.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Yeah, totally, he loves that's where he's at.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
He's totally and you know, I've seen it a lot
and calling women's basketball the last several years.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Camera Brinko plays for Stanford.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Her parents went to college with Steph Curry's parents, and
Steph Curry is often at Stanford women's basketball games. And
that's not loss like these crazy you know, big time
pop stars, rappers, actors, other male athletes walking in to
(41:24):
an arena where women are playing sports like that, which
is powerful totally.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
When I was living in Chicago and you know, going
to Red Stars games and Sky games all the time,
Like you know, I went to a basketball game one
night and fifty cent walked in and we were like,
what are you doing here?
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Also, this is so cool and you know that's.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
I don't know, ten years ago, and it's really it
is a very thrilling time to see the way at
least what it looks like. Listen, I'm asthmatic. I'm a
sports fan. I'm not a sports player. It's never really
been my thing, but like I as a fan who
has been paying attention for most of my life, it
(42:09):
feels like people are finally casting a wider net and
making room for more of us, and that that just
feels so exciting. And I'm I guess I'm really bolstered
because you're the actual expert on this in the room,
and it's nice to know that you feel the same,
that there's progress being made, you know, for women in
(42:32):
traditionally male arenas of sport, but also in female sports coverage.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Yes, yeah, no, I do. I feel I feel the growth.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
I see the growth of experiencing the growth, right, and
you're doing it on a level of being an owner,
and so I will go there like that is such
an important space where the equality measures can continue to
grow because without women in positions of power to make
some of these decisions. This doesn't grow right, It just
(43:02):
doesn't mean I can point directly to the producer that
was a female that started the conversation. And yes, males
got on board and there were allies and they were like, yes, yes,
let's go, but it was a woman that made that
decision first and foremost. I was just hired at NBC
Sports California by a woman who is a you know,
wonderful visionary. And the decision makers have to change the game.
(43:28):
We can work and we can try, and we can pursue,
but like up top, got to change the game there.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
I think the numbers show it.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
Like if you just want to go back to being fans,
it doesn't matter if we're talking about you know, the
primary four sports, the Big four in just men's sports,
but adding women's sports onto that.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
When you look at the.
Speaker 3 (43:48):
People sitting in the stands, the people spending money, which
is always what it's going to come back to, because
this is a business, after all, there are fifty percent
or close to fifty percent, not more than fifty percent
represented as female fans.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
And this has been an NFL for so long. We
have seen these numbers.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
They've been out there and like there weren't really clothing
companies even within the last ten years before Aaron Andrews
started something that we're even promoting clothing for these sports
teams to female fans, even though the numbers suggested that
that marketplace was there.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
And so if that marketplace is there, and we're seeing.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Them in the stands, and we're seeing women talking online
about sports and watching sports, then why isn't the representation
of women on the other side. And so that is
I think we've been just as I mentioned, I think
it's been flying off the shelves and growing at a
great rate over the last ten years. And I think
there's always room for improvement and always more growth to come.
(44:49):
But it's it's just about it's just about continuing the
conversation and continuing the visual and you know, making that change.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Yeah, it's so exciting and it's so cool to know
that we're going to get to continue the conversation with
you and that you're just going to continue like charging
into these spaces and bringing more of us along with you,
I mean across the whole landscape. It feels like such
an inspiring and optimistic work in progress.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
Yeah, that's it, right. I think it's always a work
in progress.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
I mean, I'll go back to yeah with Billy Jean King,
like when she set out for the Battle of Sexes,
Like what was her ultimate goal? Was there an end
goal to it or was it a movement? And was
it something that was going to be continuous? And exactly
that was it? Like she had she had a passion
and purpose for her life and that moment in time
(45:46):
was just like a it was a marker, it was
a beginning. It was a push a little bit, and
we're just that's it, Like we're just going to keep
inching things open and.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
You know soon it's it's going to be just the floodgates.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Really exciting what for you? Because it's i mean, it's
a big topic we're talking about. It's industries, it's gender equity,
it's it's big. But when you when you distill down
that idea and think about it just for you as
an individual, what what feels like your work in progress
from this moment in your life and career?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Gosh, that is Oh I've thought about that a lot.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
It's the really challenging right, Like I think, I think
it's always so good to look back because especially when
you're in moments of like uncertainty and scary. And that's
the moment I found myself in last year is our
regional sports network that owned the Rockies was giving up
the rights. So we were all working last year not
(46:49):
really knowing the future of our jobs, not really knowing
go being in a space of like, like doing what
I'm supposed to be doing. What happens if the you know,
run gets out from under me and this job and
like that's it and there's no more opportunities and it's dry,
and like, what real world job am I going to get?
How do you put like talks about sports on a resume?
(47:12):
I think it's more than that, but you know it's
you're just saying your wheels are.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Spinning, Like do I need to reinvent myself? What's happened?
Speaker 3 (47:19):
So I went through this whole exercise like throughout the
course of the season, But I think what's always polled
me is this And I mentioned the word a couple
of times, But it's passion, right, Like when you have
such a passion to do something, it lights your fire,
like you always get drawn back to it, no matter
if you're taking lefts or rights, like somehow you have
to circle back to like finding that direction and finding
(47:43):
the light that's guiding you. And so for me having
this be such a passion, I think I can look
back on my experience and my growth of like day
one when I started doing play by play and it
was so foreign to me to learning different bits and
pieces about how to prepare, but better how to prepare
more efficiently, how to put it together. And as they
(48:05):
go into this season, I think that's my growth opportunity
is like I would.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
Lie to you if I sat here and was like,
I am so ready for this.
Speaker 3 (48:15):
We're going to dominate it, Like I am ready, but
I also have room to grow, and I have to
live in that, and I have to live in like
there's a voice of fear that lives in the back
of your mind and I have to live with like
quieting that down with just confidence of experience and knowing
that like every day is going to be different. I'm
(48:35):
going to learn something new every day. I'm going to
grow from it every day and I'm not I'm not
gonna be perfect, and that's okay, and that's that's okay.
That's the space we need to live in and as
long as we're growing and getting better and producing and connecting,
Like that's that goes back to why I love to
do this and the passion of why I love to
do this. And my friend Kate Scott that I was
(48:58):
talking about earlier, she that like left me with that
little piece of advice is She's like, all you have
to do in this job is do the work and
be yourself. And whenever always comes go back to that,
do the work, be yourself. And I've told myself that
probably one hundred times a day the last you know,
four weeks, and as we entered this new season, and
(49:21):
really an athlete, like if you think about it in
any sport, that's probably their you know, true center as well,
like do the work, work hard, be yourself.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
In the game.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
And the second a story that you mentally get just
bogged down and you can't perform right, you can't do
your job as an athlete. So I think that's like
such a great lesson for us as humans too.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
I love that do the work, be yourself.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
Yeah, it's a good one. Do the work.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Thank you, Thank you so much, Jenny. You're so inspiring.
I really I'm so glad we got to hang today.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
I know me too, right back after thanks, so it's great.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
Yeah, thank you and congratulations and we'll be rooting for
you over here.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Thank you so much
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