September 29, 2023 • 19 mins
Host Caroline Hendershot is joined by NBC Sideline Reporter Melissa Stark on the New YorkHER podcasted presented by Nike. They discuss Starks' journey becoming a reporter and why she decided to go from news to sports. 2:22: What sparked her decision to move from news to sports 6:45: Her transition to NBC after working in a small market 9:40: Her advice on how to succeed in the sports world 12:10: Why she left Monday Night Football 17:05: Hendy's Hot Seat (rapid fire questions)
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to another episode of New York Kerr. I'm your host,
Caroline Hendershot. We're presented by Nike Live in the Audi
Performance Studio. Today we have NBC sideline reporter Melissa Stark
joining the show.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Thank you so much for jumping on, Melissa.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Oh my gosh, thanks so much for having me. I
love this.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Okay, So the NBC crew has the Jets Chief Game,
which is this upcoming weekend, so we're very excited to
have you guys. It's going to be a exciting show.
I hear there's a lot of special guests in attendance,
perhaps Taylor Swift, so obviously we'll be on the lookout
for her. But I want to talk about you and
your career because from a young age, was this always
(00:42):
something that you knew you wanted to do?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I did. I have always loved finding out about people
and getting stories. I'm very inquisitive and I've never been
afraid to be in front of the camera. And I
like to talk, and so I think so. And I've
always loved sports, so I think initially I thought I
wanted to get into news because in college I was
(01:09):
like an international relations major and with a minor in Spanish,
and I thought I wanted to do some foreign affairs
work or something like that in politics, but sports. Every
time I did that, and I worked for the Today Show,
I did something in news. Every time I got to sports,
it just life lit up for me. It was just
so much more engaging and fun, and especially as a mother.
And I'm sure we'll get to that, but it just
(01:31):
works because you can covering breaking news does not work
as a mother. You have to have things very scheduled.
And it's great actually to cover football because it's just
it's a season. Actually, now the NFL is expanding football
and a lot of it's really become year round.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Yeah, but that's the long and the short of it.
I did what they called an externship in high school
one day a week. Our school allowed us in high
school on Wednesdays to go do some kind of job,
and I did it at the local NBC station. I
grew up in Baltimore, and so that's where I saw
what an assignment desk is like, and what it's like
to go out on a story and how hard you
have to push short story and how you don't take
(02:08):
no for an answer when you make phone calls and
all of that, and all of that's you know, really
served me well throughout my entire career.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Was there a moment where you kind of the switch
just flipped where you were like, it's sports so much
more than news for me?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah. I think when I was doing the Today Show
and I would fill in for Ann Curry and I'd
news read at the desk, or I'd be on MSNBC
and I'd be reading a news story. I'd be reading
a news story and all of a sudden, the sports
story would come on and I would just light up,
you know, and I could smile and I could show
a little bit of personality. And then before reality television,
I really feel like sports. I have four kids and
(02:46):
they always say to me when they were younger, Mom,
do we know the outcome of this game? And you
know they understand that, you know that they thought sort
of everything was scripted. You know, it's the ultimate reality
TV that you just don't know and you don't have
the answer. And I mean, for me, the human interest
stories and the stories about these players and the backgrounds
about these players and what they've been through, especially now
(03:08):
having kids, like my oldest is in college now and
he's an athlete and just knowing everything that they I
mean to get to this ultimate level of the NFL,
and they have crazy good stories these and so I
love showcasing that as well. And then also sort of,
I also I host a show on NFL Network called
NFL three sixty and it's really it's almost documentary form,
(03:29):
you know, seven to ten to fifteen minute stories on
stories that are bigger than football, but they have to
do with football, and you just realize that these players,
the impact that they can have on their communities and
what they do to give back is just incredible. So
I love it. And I've covered all sports, but the
NFL is by far my favorite.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yes, I mean, of course football is. Can you actually
did an NFL three sixty on Solomon Thomas, who's one
of our guys on the Jets and he's just an
outstanding human being? But yes, you're so right, because what
makes him him is so much so his story off
the field, and so it makes you root for him
even more and.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
He's just such a great guy.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
So it really that's just it. And especially if we're
trying to expand our audiences and like this Sunday Night
with Taylor Swift coming, We are definitely spanning our audience.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Oh yeah, what the.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Ratings are going to be? I know, the ratings for
that Fox game where they discovered her, you know, an
hour before the game up in the Kelsey uh box there.
Uh this the ratings skyrocket it. But but again, if
you give people, I mean the diehard football fan, they're
going to watch the game regardless. But if you give
somebody a reason to root for somebody, I love that too.
I mean, in any other sport that I don't really
(04:39):
care about, you know, as much it makes me want
to watch.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I know.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
It's so funny because I feel like for so much
of my life, the Taylor Swift part of my life
and then the football part of my life we're very separate.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Now, now the crossover, I'm like, how am I handling?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
It's overwhelming, isn't it. I Mean, I really this morning
with a bunch of my friends that know really nothing
about football, but they know that Kelsey's jersey sales went
up four hundred percent, you know, I mean, it's very funny.
And then the whole trend that's going on with you know,
yes who on the map, that whole.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Thing Oh my god, those those have made me laugh
so hard.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah, but I don't know if I've ever had more
of a fun week of prep because we're you know,
I'll probably have you know, sideline report about the tailor effect,
and then you know, who knows what the postgame interview
will be like, and like the cutaways during the game.
And I just said to Mike Tarico, who's our play
by play, I said, you know, you should come on
the air with Welcome to New York. You know, yes,
we have to have It's so funny how people slide
(05:36):
all of our little lines into everything.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah, I think like especially, I think especially too, Like
before the rumor was confirmed, you know, people were sliding
in lyrics here and there, and now it's just like, okay,
how many.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Lyrics you will get in? Yes, it's okay.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So for you, your first job was with ESPN, correct.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
So my first job? No, So, my first job was
at Home Team Sports, which is a regional cable network
in the DC area. And I went to UVA and
I was from Baltimore, so it was perfect. I lived
in DC and with a bunch of college friends, and
it was I got to do everything from choose my story,
so was I was covering the Ravens that just come
to town. But I was covering the Orioles at the time,
(06:15):
which was I grew up watching the team. They were
called the Bullets at the time, the NBA team, And
so I got to go out write everything. I would
go in the edit room, I literally would do everything
for the stories and then be the reporter. And so
that was great experience. So I was there for one
year and then I went to ESPN and my first
job there was Scholastic Sports America. So it was stories
(06:36):
on all the high school athletes, like the best high
school athletes coming out.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
How did you how did you make that transition of
like that local market to then the worldwide leader of sports.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It's such a good question, and at the time there
were so few women in sports, I think, and if
you knew sports, and if you knew television and you
were just an avid reporter, I think I think my
biggest advice if anybody's watching that wants to become what
you just have to to you know, in my phone
I have contacts of you know, I can call Joe
Namath this week, or I can call you know, Patrick
Mahons's mother or you know, you just and I'm not.
(07:09):
I'm not. It's not bragging at all, basically saying that's
part of the job, right, Yeah, develop these contacts and
did not be afraid to pick up the phone and
call people and develop these relationships because you need them
for all the stories. So the way I made that
switch was I went up there and they had me
read prompter. I'd never read prompter. I just was it
(07:30):
was that's a skill in and of itself, and I
think it went down or I don't know what happened.
I didn't even know how to move the shot sheets
and I went, yeah, that went terribly and they said, well, no,
let's find another one because they were launching ESPN News,
so they were looking for anchors just to do sports
twenty four to seven and anchor it and so they said,
let's find another format for you. And that was where
Scholastic Sports America came in. So I think I think
(07:50):
the fact that I knew sports and that I was
comfortable with television not necessarily the teleprompter was was my inn.
And there weren't many, really, there weren't many women in sports.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Right, So you were kind of the first the first
of many women that would later follow you. What was
that like almost I'm sure you weren't fully aware of
the impact in the moment, but like kind of being
a trailblazer.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, you know what, when you're living it and when
you're in it, you don't really think of that. You
just think, Okay, I'm doing what I love, I'm doing
what I'm passionate about. And this is a job for me.
I mean, I think it's great that it opened if
it opened up the doors, or if certain young girls
looked to me, and they did. And that's one of
my favorite parts of the job is friends of friends
or people from my college or my high school or
(08:35):
whatever it might be, wanting to talk and wanting to
know now now it's changed so much, and to date myself.
But like that was twenty five years ago. You know,
we didn't have iPhones, we didn't have I had to
drag a friend and do fake stand ups in front
of because I wanted to do news as well, in
front of the White House and all these things, because
we didn't have this ability that now I think there's
(08:56):
much more ability for people who want to break in,
but again, it's some more saturated with.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
More women, right exactly. So it's kind of a double
edged sword exactly. But for you, then you you moved
on to ABC, right, yes.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
So then I got the yes so that I was
at the SPN for a couple of years and covered
all the sports there and that was so much fun.
And then and then I got the job Monday night football.
So that was when I was working with Al Michaels
and then John Matten came in in our second year.
The first year was Dennis Miller's comedian and Eric Dickerson
and Dan Fouts and but then the next year was
(09:29):
John Matten and that's when I got to work with
John and that was awesome. And so I was really young.
I mean I was twenty six and doing Monday night football.
I mean it's funny because I would go back and
talk to the broadcast, talk to broadcasting classes at school
or whatever it might be, and I would say I
wish I knew then what I know now, And someone
(09:50):
raised their hand and said, what would you tell yourself?
And I said that I belong. You know, it was
such a good question because you're twenty six, you know,
you either have I'm a confident person, but you really
had to. I mean, it was a man's world. I mean,
it's still a man right, right, It's just you know,
you've got it's football. But but and then, and then
(10:12):
I got the Sunday night football job, and I'm able
to go back now, you know, at a much different level.
I'm not a twenties I'm married with four kids, you know,
I've got teenagers on my own, and the whole thing
and and life. You know, you learn so much. And
now now being back on Sunday Night football and being
able to do this with all knowledge that I have
is truly, it's just awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I think that's such an important point that you bring up,
because yes, you can be confident in what you do,
and you can believe in yourself, but still like do
like putting yourself out on air and almost putting yourself
out so forwardly in a vulnerable way, it makes you
like hyper sensitive to possible critiques, not even real critiques,
(10:54):
Like you could just be like making up scenarios in
your head. I feel like I do that a lot
of the time. I'm just like, oh, that wasn't perfect,
so it was horrible.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I know, you have to stop doing that, I know,
And and and and people write about you, and people
are right, especially with social media now, like you through
all that stuff because you know it's toxic. And it's
just as long as I mean, my whole thing is
as long as I know that I was as prepared
as I could have been. And there's almost not enough
preparation that you can do for the job, because any
story can come up and anything can play out on
(11:22):
the field, or any any you know, backup or special
teams player can make a play that you might not
have you know, the full background on. But as long
as you you know you can't it's outside noise, right
it's it's I mean, we can take it back to
the Jets right now, it's I mean, you can't. It's
toxic to listen.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
To outside noise totally.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And as long as you believe in yourself and you
know like what you have, which is I.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Think you're there for a reason. And that's again going
back to what I said, that you belong like you
you earned it or however or you earned the I
mean a lot of times I always tell people create
your own opportunities. You know. Part of it's being in
the right place at the right time. Part of it's
being prepared to be in that place. You know you
never know. But as long as you make a ton
of connections and try to find your path, hopefully you
(12:08):
know things can work out.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yes, So when you made that decision to step away
from Monday Night football, how hard was that for you?
I'm sure it was obviously like a gut instinct to
step away because you wanted to be there for your kids,
and you were pregnant with your first when you stepped away, right, So.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I was pranked so exactly. And I was pregnant when
I covered the Super Bowl when the Bucks won, and
nobody knew on the crew, and I was having morning
sickness in this whole thing, and John Madden wanted me
to d he had a party the night before, and
he goes, I need you to, you know, make sure
it's really fun. So I got off on the stage
and I sang and I did, and I think everybody
thought I'd had a couple of glasses of wine, but
I had not, so I put myself out there. But
(12:45):
so I was pregnant, and then I it wasn't hard
because I had no idea how it was going to
feel when I had this small child, and I wasn't
going to get one to get on. I knew I
wasn't going to just get up and leave. And I'm
very close to my family and and and we just
have such a unit, a family like growing up that
I just knew that as the mother, I wanted to
(13:08):
be there. And so it was actually a perfect time.
I said, Okay, I'm going to step away from that
and I'll cover news, and the to day show offered
me the job, and I covered Olympics and I did
NBC News. But then that was too difficult, Just like
I was saying earlier, breaking news, as a mother, you
can't because you have to prepare. I mean, I literally
my kids are a little older now, but it used
to be, you know, I'd make all the meals for
(13:29):
the week. You know, you're lining up carpools, you're lining
up all this stuff. You can't just leave in a
moment's notice.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I can't even really take care of myself half the time.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
So that seems really yeah, exactly hard.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yeah, yeah, so I mean, but it's been you know it.
So I stepped away and I went to NBC News
and I left. I was okay, I had to be
okay with it. It was okay, can I leave this
lifestyle of a stay at home mom? And you know,
I got really involved in the school. I'm always gonna
be involved and playing sports and at the kids' sporting
events and all of that stuff. And I was okay.
(14:01):
And but then the opportunity presented itself to come back
and I did a little How am I going to
juggle this all? You know, because as a mom, like
how do you have it all? How do you balance
it all? And now a little more and more here there.
I just you know, kept diving back in and diving
back in. But the nice thing about football, I have summers,
you know, yes, summers.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Off And hasn't gotten any easier for you juggling all
of those things. Yeah, you're kind of like really into
it now.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
I mean I don't think you have that now. My
kids are older and I can talk to them, so
you don't have the guilt of leaving. They think it's
really cool what I do. They're all coming to the
game on Sunday night. The whole family gets to come. Yeah,
So I'm so excited. That's the first time the entire
family's going to get to come because it happens to
me my son's fall break from college. So I'm so excited,
and my daughter sits in there. My daughter loves what
I do, one of my daughters, and she sits in
(14:48):
the truck right next to the director and the producer,
and so she's fascinated with the behind the scenes and
how the show gets on the air. Amazing. So yeah,
so it's definitely gotten easier, definitely because you get a
routine too.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Right, and you start to find your groove again and
then everything kind of balances itself out. What would you
say has been your favorite part of being back on
the sidelines.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I think, well, first of all, I was saying, I
host this show on NFL Network called NFL three sixty,
and that's a tape show. And granted it's exactly you've
seen the stories. They're so meaningful and they're really what
life is all about. But it's a tape show. You're
in a studio. It's sort of you know, it doesn't
(15:30):
have that feel of actually, there's nothing like there's a
long winded way of telling you, there's nothing like being
at the game, and there's nothing like the adrenaline, the
adrenaline of being part of the action and when the
game comes down to you know, the final two minutes
or if it goes over time and you're doing that
and you're running across the field to do that postgame interview.
(15:51):
There's nothing like it. And I feel like football is
bigger and it's bigger and better than ever, and it's everywhere,
and you know, especially when we have a game like
I'm so this game, you know, just for all the
different storylines is they're all fun, you know, storylines.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
One hundred percent. And I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
It's really hard to put into words what that feeling
is like when you're watching like a game winning play
unfold in front of you and you're like, oh my god,
let me scratch out all of the questions that or
like notes I had written down's yeah, and let's just go.
And it's like the most invigorating, adrenaline, rush filled feeling.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
It's the lists.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, I mean, you can't recreate that that adrenaline, you
know they talk about you know, I'm sure there's different
professions whether or not where you get it right, where
you get that adrenaline, and some people like it, some
people can handle you know that those highs and lows
and all of that stuff. I mean, the then I
cover a game. You know, you're standing out in the
rain and you're covering the Giants Cowboys and it's folded
(16:51):
nothing and yes, oh my.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Gosh, and you're like, I can't feel my toes, I'm frozen.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
So that's that's what the other side of the flips like. Yeah,
but there always is a flip side. Okay, Well, before
you go, I'm going to put you on the Hendy's
Hot Seat. It's a new segment we have. My last
name is Hendershot so we're playing on that and it's
gonna be three questions as fast as you can think.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Of the answer.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, Okay, hardest interview you've ever done.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Hardest m hm, oh my gosh. All right, I mean
that's you're talking about twenty five years of work, you know.
I think I think when you sit down, probably when
I was younger, right, and I would say, like with
a Warren sat who now you know I ended up
working with, and but he was he just came across
as the biggest. He was. He was big, he was
mean on the fence, the whole thing. And you sit
(17:43):
down and ask him a question. You just sit there.
You go, I'm like, okay, I'll move the question number two,
and you know it's intimidating, but you have to power
through so that one just comes. I'm sure there's tons.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
More, but no, but those are scary because you're like,
I want to be likable and you're not given me much,
and it's yeah, examinating it is really okay, what is
the city with the best food? So the city you
most look forward to traveling to.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Oh, oh my gosh, there's so many San Francisco, Vegas.
Just said, we were just in Vegas. Amazing food in Vegas.
You can get anything. I love going to DC just
because it's sort of my roots and I have friends
there and I have really fun you know, just a time.
I don't know, I mean, both of answers. Size. You
always end up going to a steakhouse anyway on Friday night,
(18:28):
so it's like who has the best day?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Exactly exactly, Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Last question, toughest part of your job that people may
not realize the toughest.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Part of your Okay, I mean I think we were
just talking about it. Maybe just the elements, right, dealing
with the elements on the I mean, I always wear
sneakers because you're running. Sometimes you're running after the coach
at halftime, or you're running here or running there, and uh,
you know, standing out there for five hours sometimes in
the bitter cold, and you can't even feel your mouth,
you know, to try and speak, or your fingers or
whatever it may be. That's what I mean. That sounds
(18:58):
kind of wimpy, but let's go with it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
No, Like, there's so many times last year where I'm
like on the sideline trying to write notes down on
my notepad and I feel like, take my gloves off, and.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I'm like, my fingers are so cold.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, yeah, I know. I now now have gloves that
the fingers are out, and then I just hold the handwarmers.
So that's that's that's my way to do it. To
write down, and then I'm holding the stop org it's raining,
you're holding an umbrella, and then you've got your notepad
and where it's like your phone and the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
There's there's two not enough hands to juggle everything that's
always going on. Amazing. Okay, well, thank you so much
for jumping on. We really appreciate it. Look forward to
the Sunday night game and we'll see you all Sunday,
all of the exciting stuff that comes with it. But
thank you so much, Melissa. We appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
It was great to talk to you. Thanks for having
me
Welcome to another episode of New York Kerr. I'm your host,
Caroline Hendershot. We're presented by Nike Live in the Audi
Performance Studio. Today we have NBC sideline reporter Melissa Stark
joining the show.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Thank you so much for jumping on, Melissa.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Oh my gosh, thanks so much for having me. I
love this.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Okay, So the NBC crew has the Jets Chief Game,
which is this upcoming weekend, so we're very excited to
have you guys. It's going to be a exciting show.
I hear there's a lot of special guests in attendance,
perhaps Taylor Swift, so obviously we'll be on the lookout
for her. But I want to talk about you and
your career because from a young age, was this always
(00:42):
something that you knew you wanted to do?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I did. I have always loved finding out about people
and getting stories. I'm very inquisitive and I've never been
afraid to be in front of the camera. And I
like to talk, and so I think so. And I've
always loved sports, so I think initially I thought I
wanted to get into news because in college I was
(01:09):
like an international relations major and with a minor in Spanish,
and I thought I wanted to do some foreign affairs
work or something like that in politics, but sports. Every
time I did that, and I worked for the Today Show,
I did something in news. Every time I got to sports,
it just life lit up for me. It was just
so much more engaging and fun, and especially as a mother.
And I'm sure we'll get to that, but it just
(01:31):
works because you can covering breaking news does not work
as a mother. You have to have things very scheduled.
And it's great actually to cover football because it's just
it's a season. Actually, now the NFL is expanding football
and a lot of it's really become year round.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Yeah, but that's the long and the short of it.
I did what they called an externship in high school
one day a week. Our school allowed us in high
school on Wednesdays to go do some kind of job,
and I did it at the local NBC station. I
grew up in Baltimore, and so that's where I saw
what an assignment desk is like, and what it's like
to go out on a story and how hard you
have to push short story and how you don't take
(02:08):
no for an answer when you make phone calls and
all of that, and all of that's you know, really
served me well throughout my entire career.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Was there a moment where you kind of the switch
just flipped where you were like, it's sports so much
more than news for me?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah. I think when I was doing the Today Show
and I would fill in for Ann Curry and I'd
news read at the desk, or I'd be on MSNBC
and I'd be reading a news story. I'd be reading
a news story and all of a sudden, the sports
story would come on and I would just light up,
you know, and I could smile and I could show
a little bit of personality. And then before reality television,
I really feel like sports. I have four kids and
(02:46):
they always say to me when they were younger, Mom,
do we know the outcome of this game? And you
know they understand that, you know that they thought sort
of everything was scripted. You know, it's the ultimate reality
TV that you just don't know and you don't have
the answer. And I mean, for me, the human interest
stories and the stories about these players and the backgrounds
about these players and what they've been through, especially now
(03:08):
having kids, like my oldest is in college now and
he's an athlete and just knowing everything that they I
mean to get to this ultimate level of the NFL,
and they have crazy good stories these and so I
love showcasing that as well. And then also sort of,
I also I host a show on NFL Network called
NFL three sixty and it's really it's almost documentary form,
(03:29):
you know, seven to ten to fifteen minute stories on
stories that are bigger than football, but they have to
do with football, and you just realize that these players,
the impact that they can have on their communities and
what they do to give back is just incredible. So
I love it. And I've covered all sports, but the
NFL is by far my favorite.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yes, I mean, of course football is. Can you actually
did an NFL three sixty on Solomon Thomas, who's one
of our guys on the Jets and he's just an
outstanding human being? But yes, you're so right, because what
makes him him is so much so his story off
the field, and so it makes you root for him
even more and.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
He's just such a great guy.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
So it really that's just it. And especially if we're
trying to expand our audiences and like this Sunday Night
with Taylor Swift coming, We are definitely spanning our audience.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Oh yeah, what the.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Ratings are going to be? I know, the ratings for
that Fox game where they discovered her, you know, an
hour before the game up in the Kelsey uh box there.
Uh this the ratings skyrocket it. But but again, if
you give people, I mean the diehard football fan, they're
going to watch the game regardless. But if you give
somebody a reason to root for somebody, I love that too.
I mean, in any other sport that I don't really
(04:39):
care about, you know, as much it makes me want
to watch.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I know.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
It's so funny because I feel like for so much
of my life, the Taylor Swift part of my life
and then the football part of my life we're very separate.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Now, now the crossover, I'm like, how am I handling?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
It's overwhelming, isn't it. I Mean, I really this morning
with a bunch of my friends that know really nothing
about football, but they know that Kelsey's jersey sales went
up four hundred percent, you know, I mean, it's very funny.
And then the whole trend that's going on with you know,
yes who on the map, that whole.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Thing Oh my god, those those have made me laugh
so hard.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah, but I don't know if I've ever had more
of a fun week of prep because we're you know,
I'll probably have you know, sideline report about the tailor effect,
and then you know, who knows what the postgame interview
will be like, and like the cutaways during the game.
And I just said to Mike Tarico, who's our play
by play, I said, you know, you should come on
the air with Welcome to New York. You know, yes,
we have to have It's so funny how people slide
(05:36):
all of our little lines into everything.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah, I think like especially, I think especially too, Like
before the rumor was confirmed, you know, people were sliding
in lyrics here and there, and now it's just like, okay,
how many.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Lyrics you will get in? Yes, it's okay.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So for you, your first job was with ESPN, correct.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
So my first job? No, So, my first job was
at Home Team Sports, which is a regional cable network
in the DC area. And I went to UVA and
I was from Baltimore, so it was perfect. I lived
in DC and with a bunch of college friends, and
it was I got to do everything from choose my story,
so was I was covering the Ravens that just come
to town. But I was covering the Orioles at the time,
(06:15):
which was I grew up watching the team. They were
called the Bullets at the time, the NBA team, And
so I got to go out write everything. I would
go in the edit room, I literally would do everything
for the stories and then be the reporter. And so
that was great experience. So I was there for one
year and then I went to ESPN and my first
job there was Scholastic Sports America. So it was stories
(06:36):
on all the high school athletes, like the best high
school athletes coming out.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
How did you how did you make that transition of
like that local market to then the worldwide leader of sports.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It's such a good question, and at the time there
were so few women in sports, I think, and if
you knew sports, and if you knew television and you
were just an avid reporter, I think I think my
biggest advice if anybody's watching that wants to become what
you just have to to you know, in my phone
I have contacts of you know, I can call Joe
Namath this week, or I can call you know, Patrick
Mahons's mother or you know, you just and I'm not.
(07:09):
I'm not. It's not bragging at all, basically saying that's
part of the job, right, Yeah, develop these contacts and
did not be afraid to pick up the phone and
call people and develop these relationships because you need them
for all the stories. So the way I made that
switch was I went up there and they had me
read prompter. I'd never read prompter. I just was it
(07:30):
was that's a skill in and of itself, and I
think it went down or I don't know what happened.
I didn't even know how to move the shot sheets
and I went, yeah, that went terribly and they said, well, no,
let's find another one because they were launching ESPN News,
so they were looking for anchors just to do sports
twenty four to seven and anchor it and so they said,
let's find another format for you. And that was where
Scholastic Sports America came in. So I think I think
(07:50):
the fact that I knew sports and that I was
comfortable with television not necessarily the teleprompter was was my inn.
And there weren't many, really, there weren't many women in sports.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Right, So you were kind of the first the first
of many women that would later follow you. What was
that like almost I'm sure you weren't fully aware of
the impact in the moment, but like kind of being
a trailblazer.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, you know what, when you're living it and when
you're in it, you don't really think of that. You
just think, Okay, I'm doing what I love, I'm doing
what I'm passionate about. And this is a job for me.
I mean, I think it's great that it opened if
it opened up the doors, or if certain young girls
looked to me, and they did. And that's one of
my favorite parts of the job is friends of friends
or people from my college or my high school or
(08:35):
whatever it might be, wanting to talk and wanting to
know now now it's changed so much, and to date myself.
But like that was twenty five years ago. You know,
we didn't have iPhones, we didn't have I had to
drag a friend and do fake stand ups in front
of because I wanted to do news as well, in
front of the White House and all these things, because
we didn't have this ability that now I think there's
(08:56):
much more ability for people who want to break in,
but again, it's some more saturated with.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
More women, right exactly. So it's kind of a double
edged sword exactly. But for you, then you you moved
on to ABC, right, yes.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
So then I got the yes so that I was
at the SPN for a couple of years and covered
all the sports there and that was so much fun.
And then and then I got the job Monday night football.
So that was when I was working with Al Michaels
and then John Matten came in in our second year.
The first year was Dennis Miller's comedian and Eric Dickerson
and Dan Fouts and but then the next year was
(09:29):
John Matten and that's when I got to work with
John and that was awesome. And so I was really young.
I mean I was twenty six and doing Monday night football.
I mean it's funny because I would go back and
talk to the broadcast, talk to broadcasting classes at school
or whatever it might be, and I would say I
wish I knew then what I know now, And someone
(09:50):
raised their hand and said, what would you tell yourself?
And I said that I belong. You know, it was
such a good question because you're twenty six, you know,
you either have I'm a confident person, but you really
had to. I mean, it was a man's world. I mean,
it's still a man right, right, It's just you know,
you've got it's football. But but and then, and then
(10:12):
I got the Sunday night football job, and I'm able
to go back now, you know, at a much different level.
I'm not a twenties I'm married with four kids, you know,
I've got teenagers on my own, and the whole thing
and and life. You know, you learn so much. And
now now being back on Sunday Night football and being
able to do this with all knowledge that I have
is truly, it's just awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I think that's such an important point that you bring up,
because yes, you can be confident in what you do,
and you can believe in yourself, but still like do
like putting yourself out on air and almost putting yourself
out so forwardly in a vulnerable way, it makes you
like hyper sensitive to possible critiques, not even real critiques,
(10:54):
Like you could just be like making up scenarios in
your head. I feel like I do that a lot
of the time. I'm just like, oh, that wasn't perfect,
so it was horrible.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I know, you have to stop doing that, I know,
And and and and people write about you, and people
are right, especially with social media now, like you through
all that stuff because you know it's toxic. And it's
just as long as I mean, my whole thing is
as long as I know that I was as prepared
as I could have been. And there's almost not enough
preparation that you can do for the job, because any
story can come up and anything can play out on
(11:22):
the field, or any any you know, backup or special
teams player can make a play that you might not
have you know, the full background on. But as long
as you you know you can't it's outside noise, right
it's it's I mean, we can take it back to
the Jets right now, it's I mean, you can't. It's
toxic to listen.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
To outside noise totally.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And as long as you believe in yourself and you
know like what you have, which is I.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Think you're there for a reason. And that's again going
back to what I said, that you belong like you
you earned it or however or you earned the I
mean a lot of times I always tell people create
your own opportunities. You know. Part of it's being in
the right place at the right time. Part of it's
being prepared to be in that place. You know you
never know. But as long as you make a ton
of connections and try to find your path, hopefully you
(12:08):
know things can work out.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yes, So when you made that decision to step away
from Monday Night football, how hard was that for you?
I'm sure it was obviously like a gut instinct to
step away because you wanted to be there for your kids,
and you were pregnant with your first when you stepped away, right, So.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I was pranked so exactly. And I was pregnant when
I covered the Super Bowl when the Bucks won, and
nobody knew on the crew, and I was having morning
sickness in this whole thing, and John Madden wanted me
to d he had a party the night before, and
he goes, I need you to, you know, make sure
it's really fun. So I got off on the stage
and I sang and I did, and I think everybody
thought I'd had a couple of glasses of wine, but
I had not, so I put myself out there. But
(12:45):
so I was pregnant, and then I it wasn't hard
because I had no idea how it was going to
feel when I had this small child, and I wasn't
going to get one to get on. I knew I
wasn't going to just get up and leave. And I'm
very close to my family and and and we just
have such a unit, a family like growing up that
I just knew that as the mother, I wanted to
(13:08):
be there. And so it was actually a perfect time.
I said, Okay, I'm going to step away from that
and I'll cover news, and the to day show offered
me the job, and I covered Olympics and I did
NBC News. But then that was too difficult, Just like
I was saying earlier, breaking news, as a mother, you
can't because you have to prepare. I mean, I literally
my kids are a little older now, but it used
to be, you know, I'd make all the meals for
(13:29):
the week. You know, you're lining up carpools, you're lining
up all this stuff. You can't just leave in a
moment's notice.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I can't even really take care of myself half the time.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
So that seems really yeah, exactly hard.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yeah, yeah, so I mean, but it's been you know it.
So I stepped away and I went to NBC News
and I left. I was okay, I had to be
okay with it. It was okay, can I leave this
lifestyle of a stay at home mom? And you know,
I got really involved in the school. I'm always gonna
be involved and playing sports and at the kids' sporting
events and all of that stuff. And I was okay.
(14:01):
And but then the opportunity presented itself to come back
and I did a little How am I going to
juggle this all? You know, because as a mom, like
how do you have it all? How do you balance
it all? And now a little more and more here there.
I just you know, kept diving back in and diving
back in. But the nice thing about football, I have summers,
you know, yes, summers.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Off And hasn't gotten any easier for you juggling all
of those things. Yeah, you're kind of like really into
it now.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
I mean I don't think you have that now. My
kids are older and I can talk to them, so
you don't have the guilt of leaving. They think it's
really cool what I do. They're all coming to the
game on Sunday night. The whole family gets to come. Yeah,
So I'm so excited. That's the first time the entire
family's going to get to come because it happens to
me my son's fall break from college. So I'm so excited,
and my daughter sits in there. My daughter loves what
I do, one of my daughters, and she sits in
(14:48):
the truck right next to the director and the producer,
and so she's fascinated with the behind the scenes and
how the show gets on the air. Amazing. So yeah,
so it's definitely gotten easier, definitely because you get a
routine too.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Right, and you start to find your groove again and
then everything kind of balances itself out. What would you
say has been your favorite part of being back on
the sidelines.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I think, well, first of all, I was saying, I
host this show on NFL Network called NFL three sixty,
and that's a tape show. And granted it's exactly you've
seen the stories. They're so meaningful and they're really what
life is all about. But it's a tape show. You're
in a studio. It's sort of you know, it doesn't
(15:30):
have that feel of actually, there's nothing like there's a
long winded way of telling you, there's nothing like being
at the game, and there's nothing like the adrenaline, the
adrenaline of being part of the action and when the
game comes down to you know, the final two minutes
or if it goes over time and you're doing that
and you're running across the field to do that postgame interview.
(15:51):
There's nothing like it. And I feel like football is
bigger and it's bigger and better than ever, and it's everywhere,
and you know, especially when we have a game like
I'm so this game, you know, just for all the
different storylines is they're all fun, you know, storylines.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
One hundred percent. And I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
It's really hard to put into words what that feeling
is like when you're watching like a game winning play
unfold in front of you and you're like, oh my god,
let me scratch out all of the questions that or
like notes I had written down's yeah, and let's just go.
And it's like the most invigorating, adrenaline, rush filled feeling.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
It's the lists.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, I mean, you can't recreate that that adrenaline, you
know they talk about you know, I'm sure there's different
professions whether or not where you get it right, where
you get that adrenaline, and some people like it, some
people can handle you know that those highs and lows
and all of that stuff. I mean, the then I
cover a game. You know, you're standing out in the
rain and you're covering the Giants Cowboys and it's folded
(16:51):
nothing and yes, oh my.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Gosh, and you're like, I can't feel my toes, I'm frozen.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
So that's that's what the other side of the flips like. Yeah,
but there always is a flip side. Okay, Well, before
you go, I'm going to put you on the Hendy's
Hot Seat. It's a new segment we have. My last
name is Hendershot so we're playing on that and it's
gonna be three questions as fast as you can think.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Of the answer.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, Okay, hardest interview you've ever done.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Hardest m hm, oh my gosh. All right, I mean
that's you're talking about twenty five years of work, you know.
I think I think when you sit down, probably when
I was younger, right, and I would say, like with
a Warren sat who now you know I ended up
working with, and but he was he just came across
as the biggest. He was. He was big, he was
mean on the fence, the whole thing. And you sit
(17:43):
down and ask him a question. You just sit there.
You go, I'm like, okay, I'll move the question number two,
and you know it's intimidating, but you have to power
through so that one just comes. I'm sure there's tons.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
More, but no, but those are scary because you're like,
I want to be likable and you're not given me much,
and it's yeah, examinating it is really okay, what is
the city with the best food? So the city you
most look forward to traveling to.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Oh, oh my gosh, there's so many San Francisco, Vegas.
Just said, we were just in Vegas. Amazing food in Vegas.
You can get anything. I love going to DC just
because it's sort of my roots and I have friends
there and I have really fun you know, just a time.
I don't know, I mean, both of answers. Size. You
always end up going to a steakhouse anyway on Friday night,
(18:28):
so it's like who has the best day?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Exactly exactly, Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Last question, toughest part of your job that people may
not realize the toughest.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Part of your Okay, I mean I think we were
just talking about it. Maybe just the elements, right, dealing
with the elements on the I mean, I always wear
sneakers because you're running. Sometimes you're running after the coach
at halftime, or you're running here or running there, and uh,
you know, standing out there for five hours sometimes in
the bitter cold, and you can't even feel your mouth,
you know, to try and speak, or your fingers or
whatever it may be. That's what I mean. That sounds
(18:58):
kind of wimpy, but let's go with it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
No, Like, there's so many times last year where I'm
like on the sideline trying to write notes down on
my notepad and I feel like, take my gloves off, and.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I'm like, my fingers are so cold.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, yeah, I know. I now now have gloves that
the fingers are out, and then I just hold the handwarmers.
So that's that's that's my way to do it. To
write down, and then I'm holding the stop org it's raining,
you're holding an umbrella, and then you've got your notepad
and where it's like your phone and the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
There's there's two not enough hands to juggle everything that's
always going on. Amazing. Okay, well, thank you so much
for jumping on. We really appreciate it. Look forward to
the Sunday night game and we'll see you all Sunday,
all of the exciting stuff that comes with it. But
thank you so much, Melissa. We appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
It was great to talk to you. Thanks for having
me
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