Dannie answers fan questions | Off the Record with Dannie Rogers Episode 13

This week Dannie is solo on the pod! She answers fan questions sent in on Twitter for behind-the-scenes on broadcasting and reporting for the Detroit Lions.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another solo pod of Off the Record with
Danny Rodgers. I can't stress to you enough how many
people did not ask for this. However, I had a
great time doing it, and you guys sent in so
many great questions where I'm two when I asked for
them via Twitter Instagram. So we're gonna We're gonna run
it back. We're gonna do this again. These are mainly
off the field kind of questions, more so broadcasting, just

(00:23):
football related, but more so off the field, so which
we love. So let's get into it. One of my
favorite humans who is with this this organization, who is
just amazing at her job is Ashley Strouss. She's ahead
of all of creative kickspot former Eastern Michigan softball player,
she sent in some really good questions that I'm really
excited to get too. So first up, first one, Ashley

(00:45):
asked us, what is something fans may not know about
your job that would surprise that. I don't know what
surprised you, Vinnie when you first got here. Viney's running
the I'm like, Bennie, come in here so I can
bounce things off you, and I'm like already like stuck gosh,

(01:05):
this is interesting. I don't know. I think I feel
like you guys. I work in the same building as
the coaches and players every day, Like see coach Campbell
walking down the hallway. It's totally normal. I don't know,
probably it yeah sure, yeah, do you all right? Do

(01:26):
you brush shoulders with you know the people in this fielding? Yeah? Sure.
During the season a lot less because they are all
locked in. UM. But yeah, totally a thing here. Everyone's yeah,
very open. What is the most rewarding thing that you've
done experienced in your career? Um? Oh gosh, I'm gonna
throw it back to Michigan football. I don't know why
this came at first, but it is like a core memory.
I was an intern there and I was able to

(01:48):
help a family friend get pregame passes to essentially join
us at the recruiting tailgate where a lot of families
and friends and players families will come to. And he
had just had a really young kid about twelve thirteen,
had had I think his second open heart surgery. So
the fact that he was there and I got to

(02:10):
spearhead that and make sure he was able to come.
The biggest Michigan fans ever, was really cool and I
really wanted to start doing something like that every game
for Michigan football, but as an intern, I mean, not
a whole lot of poll something though I'd love to
revisit in the future though, I think that would be awesome. Also,
like when the parents kind of reach out and say, hey,
thanks for covering my kid. This is back to when
I was in like the local newsdays. That was really cool.

(02:34):
And then another core memory that just happened when when
players come and ask you to help tell their story.
I think that's one of the biggest compliments ever. I
think it's awesome. So another one, if you could could
go back in time to speak with your younger self,
what advice would you give her? Gosh, that's difficult. I

(03:00):
do like the path that I took here. Every single
person's path is different, so it's really hard for me
to go back and wish something else. There are. Of course,
I've had a few hiccups. Every young sports broadcaster does,
just kind of like the process, the etiquette of going
about things. I will say though, that I feel like
from the womb I've had, which is a great etiquette

(03:21):
of how to navigate this business. So that was never
really like in question, gosh, these are great freaking questions.
I would just say, enjoy the ride. Try to be
where your feet are, because everyone's always talking about the
next thing, and if it's not you talking about it,
it's people commenting, oh, we won't have you here along,
or it's agents trying to like get you to certain

(03:42):
spots and like, you're not my agent. So everyone just
trying to be where your feet are. I think that's
a big piece of advice or literally anyone in any career,
if you could interview anyone living or dead, who would
it be and why listen? Okay, I think it started
around eight years old. This makes sense because then I
was starting a basketball travel basketball here in Michigan. Shout

(04:04):
out to Lakery Lightning were we were good. I'm not
gonna lie, but that's when I started watching basketball. And
that was around the time of the Oh four Pistons
the champions. You know who. My favorite player on that
team was Ben Wallace. Every single human being in the
city of Detroit, media wise, has interviewed Ben Wallace and

(04:24):
I have not yet. So this is me putting it
on the record, not off the record, that I would
like to interview Ben Wallas done there. It is okay,
best stadium on the road so far. I don't know why,
but Lions fans hate when I give any kind of
love two away stadiums. I will tell you right now.
My favorite stadium is Ford Field. It is like every
single game day is like waking up and it's Christmas morning.

(04:47):
I get to go to Ford Field and do our games.
So I will preface that with that. Secondly, and I've
been thinking about this in my mind. Hands down, Minnesota
esthetics are great. That lighting for the selfies phenomenal so
far is pretty cool. But it was so new when
we went. They kind of were like working on some

(05:07):
kinks of like, you know, it's a massive stadium and
they just opened it. So did did really enjoy so
fi Um gosh, that's kind of it. I mean, Lambo
is Lambo. This year. I'm actually like last year it
was raining. It was oh my gosh, Monday night football.
Last year. Last year it was raining. So I'm going
to try to go out and actually like do my

(05:28):
pregame hit and then kind of go like see what
the district is all about and actually like experienced Lambau.
So I think that's the next thing up. Um Okay,
that's yeah. Actually asked great questions. I have some more
from you guys on a couple of different platforms. Okay,
let's go to this right here. Okay, these are some

(05:55):
more really great questions. I got what is my favorite
pregame meal? Most of the time, I don't need a
time before pregame. I just don't have time. I have
to get my bet up. I leave with the radio
crew and the Fox two crew, so we get up
very early and we leave earlier than usually everyone else.
So if I can get an actual latte, and I'm

(06:16):
not talking about a coffee in the hotel room, like,
I'm happy because I know there's gonna be a muffin
somewhere unless it's one NFL stadium that I won't name
names doesn't limited options. But if you can get me
a croissant and a latte with oat milk, I'm as
happy as a clan. I will last through the entire
first quarter without getting hungry. Yeah, gosh, shout out to Dallas.

(06:42):
You guys are probably surprised I did not say that
first halftime spread phenomenal. But just give me a croissan
and latte I'll keep it real simple. How did you
get the job for the Lions? This is a great question.
No one asked me this the first round. No one,
not a single person asked me this, And that's a
great question because I feel like if people are able
to tell you exactly like how things came up, it helps.

(07:04):
I don't know, it just kind of paved the path
for other people to be like, oh, let me put
myself in a position to eventually also go down that
path and be prepared for opportunities that come up. So
one Where was I. I was in Tucson, Arizona. I
love Arizona, but it is way too hot at seven
am in the morning. Ninety one degrees slaps you in
the face as soon as you walk out your door.

(07:26):
I was born thirty minutes south of Detroit. We're not
doing that. So I was working for the University of
Arizona football team. I will say I would say there's
probably seven or eight of us that came from Michigan
football from the fifteen to twenty fifteen to twenty seventeen era.
So it literally felt like I was just picking up
moving across country because I was I was in Michigan,

(07:49):
I was literally nannying that fall and then I get
a call December of twenty twenty to go do this job.
Who Coach Fish called me the head coach over there,
and I entered for him at Michigan Football. So I
was at the University of Arizona. I was being their
team reporter. Not a whole lot of college football programs
have team reporters. So ladies, if you recognize that, or

(08:10):
males whoever, if you see that you're a football team
or at like department doesn't have a team reporter. It's
becoming a thing. It's one hundred percent something that you
can pitch. And I've helped a few ladies pitched that
to their D one school so far, some big schools.
So we can get it done. Just let me know.
So I was there their team reporter. I saw the
job had been posted. I think one person from the

(08:34):
Lions had reached out. It's Neil. Neil's our producer. I'd
never met Neil, but social media you meet everyone, so
that's how he reached out. Sent that to me. But
it was really a lot of media. I think Neil
sent it. I think he did. It was actually a
lot of local media that had sent me the job
host seeing there, like why don't you do this? I'm like,
I don't know. I just got here at Arizona. I

(08:55):
was only there for five months. I love this this
staff like it's I was like, I don't. I just
don't know if I want to leave. I just got here,
Like then I have to pick up and move all
the way back home. But ultimately home was what decided.
So I think I waited till the very last day
to submit my application. I got a phone call very
shortly after that. A couple of days later, a couple

(09:18):
of days after that, I had an interview Boom, we're here. Insane,
just absolutely insane. Most embarrassing moments since working with the Lions.
I'll own up to this one. This was year one
of so last year, last training camp twenty twenty one.
I had never covered the NFL in this capacity. I

(09:38):
had covered one NFL game before this. Mind you a
lot of college football, which is the best stepping stone
towards the NFL, but the NFL's ran very differently from
college football. You have depth charts in the NFL, and
the first time the depth chart came out, I don't
even know was it training camp, was it preseason? I
sort of took that depth chart literally it wasn't. Um,

(10:01):
so that's all I'll say it for that. What's the
most steps you've done in one event? This is a
great question, Like I can get easily like ten thousand
steps if I'm actually working a football game, um, like
when I was sidelining for high school football gosh, or
anytime I'm sidelining an event like basketball, I get a

(10:22):
lot of steps and like ten thousand steps easy. My
most recent one was probably the draft because I had
to walk my booty all the way from Caesar's Palace
to the draft stage. It was like ninety nine degrees.
It was horrible, and I had a bunch of like
camera gear and then I had to like carry it
myself like been getting on planes. It was crazy. I

(10:43):
was like, oh my gosh, we're going back to our
mmj's in Toledo. But it's fine. I don't even know
how many steps I had. It was probably over ten
thousand though. It was ridiculous, but it was so core
memory for that too, that was amazing. Um. I don't
have any nerdy fun facts. I don't. I just don't
what advice This is from my girl, Caterina. What advice

(11:05):
would you give for a female wanting to work in sports?
And she said thank you, which is so kind. This
answer is going to change, I think as my life
just evolves and I come across different situations and how
recently I've come across those different situations. So my advice
to any female is, do not make it difficult for
the next female behind you to assume this position. You

(11:29):
can take it that as you want it. There's a
million different ways to make a job not hard, and
sometimes you accidentally make a job harder and you didn't
mean to. But don't purposely or just carelessly make something
harder for the next woman coming up. I mean, if
you want to give them a little piece of advice,
give it to them. Don't like ridicule or be critical
of them. Just know that you're probably in their shoes

(11:53):
once before probably would have loved the advice that you're
about to get. So that's kind of my biggest thing. Yeah,
that's it. This answers one hundred percent going to change,
but that's it. Just don't make it harder and be nice.
Just be nice. It's not hard. Okay, what's been your

(12:13):
most memorable interaction while working with the Lions. Hmm, so
this is tough. There's a couple game one last year,
my first year, me and Lomas Brown, Everyone's favorite, is
doing our postgame show in ford Field on the field
after the game. You know who walks up behind us,

(12:36):
My dad's idol, the greatest running back of all time,
Barry Sanders. Because Lomas is just like waving to someone
to come over. I'm like, who's coming, you know, and
I'm like, oh my god, he's waving Barry Sanders over
here at normal. So you know what I say when
Barry Sanders gets up to me, I say, Hi, mister Sanders,
nice to meet you. I've never lived that down since
parents are very proud means. I'm like, you know, I

(12:59):
have more etiquette, I'm manners, I'm nice. But I'll never
love that down. I'll never forget that moment. I'm like,
this is my childhood walking over here. My dad doesn't
go very many days without talking about Barry Sanders. So
the next thing is to get my dad to meet
Barry Sanders. Putting that into the existence right now, what
is your favorite postgame meal in Detroit? This is an

(13:21):
amazing question. It changes after every game day. There's a
pizza spot. There is a pizza spot. It is by
It might be by the DA it's off of wood
Word and I don't it might be by the Gucci store.
Actually it's all in that vicinity. But it's a really
good pizza spot. What else? Shout out to my guy

(13:47):
Matt over at Prime Proper. If I could go there
after every game, I would, but your girl would not
be financially wise for me to do that. But yeah,
that's that's a favorite pregame meal. Great question. M that's
from my girl Autumn. I think I had one more question,
and I think it might have been a good question. Uh,

(14:09):
what's the strangest thing you've had you've seen happen on
the sidelined during a game that I feel comfortable talking about.
Thank you Daniel for this question. It's not even lions. Actually,
there one there is. I'm not going to talk about that. Um,
there's one that dates back to Gosh, who was I covering?
I think I was covering Michigan versus Notre Dame. I

(14:30):
want to say this is twenty eighteen. Don't don't check
that it could be Um, I was on the sidelines
doing my little MMJ, which means I'm shooting highlights for
the game, and then I do a rap package, which
means I do a stand up and a lead out
on camera and send back to the station via my computer.
So I'm standing there shooting the game. Um, it's a

(14:52):
night game. Crowd is absolutely bonkers. I'd never been to
nere Dame before the stadium. My best friend went to
the Saint Mary, so I'd been in Southbend, but not
the stadium. All of a sudden, like first off, I
was being screamed at the entire game. Every day. I
think I was by the student section, so every time
I came or they're like hey. The next thing I know,

(15:15):
there's a dude standing next to me on the sidelines
who jumped off out of the stands and wanted to
stand next to me, and it scared the bejeezers out
of me. I'm like, what's gonna happen next? He's gonna
run in the field, and like I They've literally been
making remarks to me this whole game. I'm like, I
don't I don't really feel safe for this dude who's
been yelling at me the whole game. Now standing next
to me. So shout out to a very awesome human

(15:38):
at Michigan Athletics who I was able to work with there.
He literally became a wall. He's a large man too,
by the way, very tall. He stood between me and
the student section. I'm pretty sure it was a student section,
and literally shot. He was so tall he was able
to shoot the game over my head and my shoulders
so I could continue shooting the game. And I was

(15:58):
in front of him, so that he is blocking me
from the people who were behind me. Crazy crazy? Who
does that? Who are what motivates you every day to
keep going? Oh gosh, I'm a very internally motivated person.
I will say my mom and dad they would let
me hear about it. If Oh my gosh, this is
Vinnie's question. Did you just send this in? He sent

(16:20):
this question in while we're filling This is a great question, Vincenzo.
Vincenzo is our intern He's very talented. We're working on
his reel and everything right now. Plug. Well, yeah, I'm
very internally motivated. It doesn't take me a lot to
get going. I put a lot of pressure on myself.
None of this sounds healthy as a human meeting to do,
but I'm very internally motivated. Parents would let me know

(16:42):
if I was not being motivated enough. They both have
their own businesses, so I had really good role models
to look after of, oh, this is how you get
stuff done. And then I really motivated sisters as well,
so that helps. Everyone in the fam is just highly motivated.
So no one stops talking either. It's it's the Italian
in us. Vincenzo knows. Just I'm over here talking with

(17:05):
my hands on holes, like every single thing is like
a hand a hand, Josh, thank you. That's a real
Italian there. You know you're only fifty percent right, Oh
my gosh, she's one hundred percent Italian. How have you
not jumped across this table yet and just been like,
oh my gosh. Okay. That wraps up this edition of
Off the Record with Danny Rodgers. This is so much
fun to do. So next, I don't know if you
if you're if you're watching this video, write your questions

(17:25):
in the comments. Make sure they're nice, and I will
try to mention them on the next one. But see
you later.