March 8, 2021 • 48 mins
Host Olivia Landis kicks off a team reporter series on the New YorkHER podcast with a host of reporters from clubs around the NFL. Rams team reporter Sarina Morales, Giants team reporter Madelyn Burke, Colts team reporter Laura Overton and Bills team reporter Maddy Glab join Landis to discuss a variety of topics about their experiences of being female reporters in the NFL.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome into another episode of The New Yorker Podcast presented
by Visa. I'm your host Olivia Landis. This week we
are going to be starting a new semi series called
the Team Reporter Series. I'd like to welcome in a
few team reporters from around the league. We're gonna be
talking a lot about our experience as women in the league. So,
(00:23):
without further ado, I'd love to welcome in Serena Morales
with the Rams, Madeline Burke with the Giants, Lara Overton
with the Colts, and Maddie Glab with the Bills. Ladies, Ladies,
thank you so much for joining me. This is gonna
be so much fun to be here. Let's go crazy.
I love it. We're just introducing everybody into our group
text message, which could be a good or bad thing
(00:45):
sometimes exactly for us to talk to you. Welcome for
installment one of the group chat. Basically, that's really what
this is. It's like an extended version of our group chat.
So everybody around the world right now who's listening to
the podcast, Uh, we have a group chat, and now
we're kind of letting you in a little bit. On
(01:06):
our conversations. We always talk about so many different things, right, ladies,
we talk about work life everything in between that goes
on inside the job of being a team reporter. So
with with that, let's kind of roll into our first topic, ladies,
let's talk a little bit about that work life balance.
(01:28):
I think, Um, I don't know about you guys, but
I don't know what a normal version of work life
balance is. To everybody else, it seems like it's more
like a you know, forty work week. But for us,
it looks a little bit different, right, I mean during
the season, Um, there's really no telling because our schedule
is all over the place. So I'd love to toss
(01:49):
this out there for a work life balance, what does
that look for each of us individually, especially in the
off season. Because I'm not I know, I'm not the
only person who gets this question. What do you do
in the off season? What is your job like in
the off season? So I'm gonna throw it to you,
Lady Serena. You can start off what is exactly a
(02:10):
work life balance for a team reporter in the National
Football League? And we should preface this right when when
you are asked this question. Also, they gotta do stuff too,
But the problem is they don't have makeup, they don't
have hair, they don't have nails, they don't have fake
eyelashes to pop on their eyeballs. Talk about work life
(02:31):
balanced for a female, there are actually some differences because
it takes a little longer with an expectation that a
woman is supposed to have like j Lo hair every day.
Shout out to Lara who actually has that. The actual
work life balance for any reporter, I'd say you are
(02:52):
constantly reading, like the reading glasses and or your prescription lenses,
contact lenses are in. You are staring at a computer
or a phone because we don't use newspapers anymore. And
you're I mean, you wake up and you're like going
through Twitter, right. You gotta make sure you know what
the heck is going on, because if you comment on anything,
you're like, uh, too soon, didn't know that someone had
(03:15):
something or got bit by a spider. Like there's always
news changing. I kind of keep up on my specific
team as well as big news around the NFL um
and then I try and keep up with like whatever,
you know, baseball, basketball, whatever else is happening, because those
guys are also paying attention to that stuff as well.
So you want to just be in the know, especially
(03:36):
in the off season. I'm doing my job. I'm like, okay,
I have a list. You know, we talk about passion
planners last time on the b This was big in
the in the group chat, right, you're the passion planner.
I still pull up. But mama has like the list
of the roster in the off season practice squad, the
coaches included, I do my like due diligence to try
(03:56):
and hey, what's going on with you? You got any
plans this off season? One thing started? Have you talked
to any coaches? So I just do my offline like
checking in constantly. And then there's always like if you
are a fan of any sport or any team, there's
content and tweets that got put up every single day.
Those are usually associated with your team reporter, your writer,
(04:19):
your website, your social media, like the producers that have
to create content. You're prepping for the draft, the combine
or Pro days now, um so, and you're preparing for
a season because during the season, ain't nobody gets time
to be prepping for a new idea. Of those ideas
come in the off season. So um, I say, this
is a full time staff member Maddie. I know you
(04:40):
jump around a ton. It's probably a little different for you.
But similarly, we're all doing research and constantly keeping up
on what's going on throughout the NFL. Yeah, that's and
to your point, like I I do jump around, and
so that is like a very different uh space, But
it's also very similar as because during the season, like
(05:01):
you mentioned, we are on it and it's like day
and day out, and it's instead of you know, it's
every week, it's just like a rhythm. You know, on
Tuesday's we do this, on Thursdays we do that, on Sundays,
on game days we do this, and it's just kind
of lather rens, repeat and staying on top of all
the latest and and kind of plugged in. And when
the season ends. I don't know about you guys, but
for me, there's almost like this like postpartum or like
(05:21):
just like this, okay, now we've come to like a
sudden stop, and it's like what do I do with
all of like my like mental space and like what
do I think about and all that kind of stuff,
because you know, whether the Super Bowl ends, and you
know your Casey Phillips and the and the Tampa Bay
Box and you guys have just one now it's whatever,
or you don't make the playoffs, so you're watching, but
(05:44):
you're also like not as engaged because you're not covering it,
you're not working at it, and so it's like this
weird thing going from like ninety miles an hour at
all times to just a full stop and kind of adjusting.
But you know, it is good to take time at
least for me to like recharge my battery, to just
come completely unplugged for at least a couple of days
every once in a while, because then it's like you
(06:04):
can look at things with fresh eyes, because I feel like,
for me, if I'm constantly plugged in, I just get
burnt out. Or it's like when you stare at a
menu but don't actually read it, and then the waiter
comes over and you're like, I'm sorry, I have no
idea what I Steven says, I'm just staring blankly. But
you know, and for me to like, I do cover
basketball as well for Sports Illustrated, so I like to
(06:25):
try to keep myself fresh. But also you know, I'm
I'm right now at this time of year, I'm a
little bit more heavily plugged into basketball, but I'm trying
to stay on top of you know, we've got not
a combine this year, all the pro days, like Serena mentioned,
and we've got, you know, a very different way, and
then you know, you've got the new league year coming up,
and we're gonna have free agency soon enough in the
draft and all these things to prepare for, and so
(06:47):
I'm trying to balance and compartmentalize the different sports that
I'm covering. Well, also just like making sure that I
have a fresh perspective that I'm rest because it's you know,
just like any job, you want to take care of
yourself so that you can approach it with the best
you know, energy and and with what we do too,
since we're front facing, we're not just having to just Okay,
here's the information. We also have to be hey, like
(07:10):
I'm going to deliver it in a way that you
want to hear it, you know, And if I'm like
exhausted and burnt out, like hey guys, you know, people
are gonna be like, yeah, it's literally I think it's
a common misconception. I'll say that I think it's a
common misconception by the average person, which is, you know,
it's fair a lot of people. Until you sit down
(07:31):
and explain I actually do X, Y and Z that
you probably didn't know about, They're like, oh, wow, you
do all of that during the during the off season.
It's like, well, an off season isn't really an off season.
You know, you still have to cover the Combine, Senior Bowl, Draft,
free agency, and then before you know it, when you
blink an eye, it's already training camp season. But I'd
(07:52):
love to throw this a Lara and Maddie's way. Now,
we talk a lot about the entire season, and Madeleine,
you touched on it. It could be draining if you
don't kind of take a step back and be like, Okay,
this is why I'm at This is a long season.
Let me take a deep breath and then from there
kind of move on. But how do you and like
I said, I'd like to throw the Clara and Maddie's way,
(08:14):
how do you balance that? Okay, let me get my
job done and take a break, but also let me
get back ready and like Madalene said, be energized and
be ready to deliver this in a way where you
want to receive it. I like brace for impact. Almost
whenever anyone it's like, oh, so, how do you stay busy? Oh,
things must have really slowed down in the off season.
It's almost like when you're watching a baseball game and
(08:36):
you're like hoping the announcer doesn't say that the picture
has a no hitter going into the seventh don't say it.
Don't say it because it was like the first week
of the off season. You know, my neighbors would see me.
I was like, still, I was working from home at
that point, and it seemed like walking my dog and stuff.
You're like, oh, so it must be nice to have
things slowing down the off season. I'm like no, because
then our left tackle retired, our quarterback retired. I'm like snob,
(08:58):
no one else jinks this anymore, Like I can't handle
any more breaking news. Um So it's it's really funny
because it is such a misconception of like the off season.
And I always argue, Madeline, you were saying this, like,
at least with this season, it's predictable. You're on that
routine of doing you know exactly what you're gonna be
doing on your Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and you shift gears
(09:18):
then prepping for like the next game in the next week.
But you have your kind of content schedule, and certainly
things come up where you're doing something differently, like you know,
if if there's an injury situation hopefully not, or if
a guy is you know, in our case, you know,
a f a f C Special Teams Player of the
Week or whatever it happens to be. You have those
things that you adapt for and you adjust for and
and all of that and different things that evolve. But
(09:40):
and the off season almost feels busier in some ways
because you are doing so much brainstorming and all of
these you kind of shift gears in a completely different
fashion and you're doing kind of more creating of the
content in terms of coming up with the ideas rather
than just executing it. And I always feel like with
this whole work life balance conversation, I don't know, maybe
(10:02):
it's more of even a myth than it is a philosophy,
but um, it's at sometimes your balance is going to
like take it day by day. It's some days maybe
you get close to that, you know, fifty fifty. It's like,
you know, Coach Roy would always talk about you and
when he was asked this past season about the ratio
between where do you want to see the past the
run game, He's like, it's gonna be different based on
(10:24):
our opponent, based on our personnel, based on all of these,
based on the game plan, different things. We're not always
gonna be a fifty fifty run past balance or a
sixty forty. It's gonna look a whole lot different weeks week.
And I feel that way about work life balance. Some days, man,
you hit it really good and you feel like you
have things, um, you know, kind of an equilibrium. But
then other days, you know, maybe work does take more
(10:45):
um of a heavy toll and it's an eight work twenty,
you know, life. And then there are other days when
you can't be apologetic if it's, hey, I'm taking a
ninety percent life day and a ten percent work day.
So for me, I feel like that that is showing
yourself of a little bit of grace and knowing that
some days are going to be more work centric, and
then on the days that are more life centric, you're
(11:07):
you allow yourself that. But I think it's just kind
of approaching trying, you know, kind of approaching each day
as its own, as its own game day in some respects,
you know, like you have your quarters, you break it down.
Maybe at lunchtime, that's your halftime, you reset and kind
of evaluate where you are that day. But there's like
a tweet that, um, I'm sure you guys have probably
seen it. It's blown up over the past couple of days.
(11:29):
But Lindsay Gibbs, Um, she's in sports as well, so
she totally gets this life. And she tweeted yesterday or
not yes March first, so just a couple of days ago,
stop glamorizing the grind and start glamorized getting seven plus
hours of sleep at night, having healthy relationships, feeling safe
at work, taking sick days, being paid a living wage,
working hard when you're at work, boundaries and self caring
(11:51):
your way to success. And she has like a whole thread.
But I thought that she's at Lynn's Sports if you
want to follow her. But I thought that that was
really timely as we were for hearing to have, you know,
this this conversation about exactly what that looks like and
just knowing that it's gonna look a little bit different
from everybody and just because maybe you're not, you know,
(12:11):
hitting it seven and you're answering every email as it
comes into your inbox and applying to every tweet as
soon as it's set. Doesn't mean that you're not um,
you're not working hard, and that you're not serious about
your job. Those boundaries and those parameters and taking each
day as it's um, you know, as its own, you know,
challenge for yourself is really important. Yeah, let's be honest.
(12:34):
I think as we're all listening to all of us
explain what being in the off season is like, there
really is no off season. There are so many events
that happen in the off season that make the off
season like a regular season. And Larry, you're talking about
how you hit the off season, and then all this
breaking news happened, so it's like almost don't even say
the word off season, Like, don't say it because once
(12:56):
you say, the news is gonna break and there goes
your your week of chillness or whatever. But the offseason, yes,
we we get some more time to like relax, breathe out,
and and Maddie was saying it too. You hit the
full stop and it's like postpartum, Like, I mean, the
Bills made it to the a f C championship game.
(13:16):
We lost the Chiefs, But after that game, I was
so sad that the season was over. For a couple
of weeks, I wanted to keep playing. I wanted I
wanted next year to happen already. And that's how I
still kind of feel. I mean, being in the season
and having a schedule like we do, knowing what we're
doing every day. I love it. Um I cannot wait
(13:38):
till we hit week one. I'm already ready. I think
it also plays into the part that the Bills had
such great season this past year that I'm so excited
for next season already. But it is nice to to refuel,
to take a second to learn from last season, to
take some vacations. And I know that coronavirus and and
(13:58):
this whole season that we've had during a pandemic who
has kind of thrown everybody's schedule out of whack. But
we all get a little bit of time to to reset,
to get away, whether that's a staycation, who knows what
the world is gonna look like here in the next
couple of months. Hopefully we can all get out of
town and enjoy some time on a beach or at
a in a mountain wherever, and not worry about the
(14:20):
pandemic um. But the off season for me is also
a time to learn some more. So I et the
offseason try and learn something new about the game of football.
I did not play football growing up. I played other sports.
I played softball for most of my life, but didn't
play football, And so for me, a lot of my
(14:41):
job in the off season is trying to learn more
of the xs and ohs and tack on another thing
to what I know, to my arsenal, to how I
can talk about the game, rewatching games and things like that,
and like everybody has always already talked about, it's also
about creating and and be and coming up with new
ideas because once you hit the season, you have no
(15:04):
time to think about anything else other than what's on
your plate for that day, and really preparing for the
game on Sunday, on Thursday, on Monday, or like we
saw this past year, you could have a game on
Tuesday or Wednesday as well. Who knows, but the worst
life balance I think, I mean, I'm terrible at it.
(15:24):
I think people in our industry can sometimes not be
the best at it because we are such more colics
and it's really hard to hit pause because the industry
that we're in, it says go go, go, go go,
and that's what we do for six months out of
the year, Monday through Sunday, and so it's hard to
pull the covers off of that and be like, is
this healthy to do this? It's a question, those serious questions.
(15:50):
I mean it's hard, Like help, whoever's listening helped me,
because I just like, it's also you guys will understand this,
Like it's also like, oh back when we got to
hang out and do social things, right, when we went
out to dinner and and had big gatherings and stuff
like that. When even when you're off work, like people
want to ask you about your job, right, I mean,
it's a cool job, Like it is like such, I mean,
(16:12):
it is a blessing. It is such a privilege to
have one of these very few opportunities that there are
in sports to be an NFL team reporter. Not even
every NFL team has one. So it is something where
you know your family at holidays, they want to talk
to you about the team or want to talk about
what you're doing. Your friends want to ask and so
it makes it additionally hard to even when you're in
(16:34):
social situations completely removed from your job itself, that these
conversations are going to come up because we got into
it because we're passionate about sports. We love being able
to have these conversations, and we love that there are
people out there who are so passionate about what we do.
Like what an opportunity that that is. So it makes
it harder as well, because you do have an expectation
(16:56):
of even when you're away from your job, people people
who really love you, um, and are excited for your job,
but they want to talk about it as well. So
that's something you know. It's it's difficult as well as
to have that off switch when it is such a
natural talking point just among conversation with people who you're around.
(17:17):
But what are what are they? What are some of
those things? Um? Sorry, so you want to go go ahead?
You have something family members that care about us to
ask the questions all all the time. It's like it's like,
I appreciate you asking, but it's the same question every time.
But I got a fair sign in the off season
(17:38):
that says, do not ask me about football from months
to this month. From now until July, do not, especially
especially when the new league year doesn't begin until March
sevent so you can't talk about certain things that may
or may not have happened, that might be pending or
oh I wonder what happened. But what are they for
(17:59):
you guys? What are some of those um things that
you are able to kind of take pleasure in the
off season them Maybe you're not able to do that
during this season. Because for me personally, when I think
about him, like, all right, work life balance in the
off season, even though it is still crazy, you definitely
have a little bit more wiggle room and a lot
more flexible time to do the things that you love
(18:20):
to do. So for me, I enjoy having the weekends back.
I don't know about you guys, but it's nice during
the off season to be able to plan a quick
trip or sleep in if I want, or on a Sunday.
I love Sundays to just chill. So those are the
things for me that I enjoy during the off season
that I feel like those are a plus. Those are
the things with the work life balance that kind of
(18:41):
evens out in the off season. I also feel like
we all check back in with our friends too. It's like, hey, sorry,
I was gone for six months, but I'm back. Guys, Howard,
sorry I ignored your text for a month and a
half and then got back to you. Will you still
be friends with me? But yeah, I mean it's checking
back in with the people that you care about. Out
of course, you're in constant communication with your family if
(19:03):
you're close to your family. Um, but checking back in
with those friends. For me, it's it's takes the time
off and traveling and leaving Buffalo, New York. I love Buffalo.
People give Buffalo such a bad rep because it's cold.
I mean it was snowing here today. It's March four,
so it's snowed for a couple of hours to so
I understand that. But I love getting out and traveling
(19:25):
seeing people. As soon as the season ended, I went
out to Colorado for ten days and went snowboarding. My
brother lives out there. I would be lying if I
if I snow to snow I I I love it.
It's it's my release. I love snowboarding. I have to
get out there once a year to go to Colorado,
(19:46):
Olivia soul get it. Yeah, Um, But I would be
lying if I said that I had like fifty Airbnb
tabs right now, because I definitely do. I have like
a document of like, Okay, what are some dates that
I can get away and do some things. What is
(20:06):
the world gonna look like in a couple of months. Again,
we don't know, but I find joy in getting to plan,
you know, long weekends of vacation. Here they're getting away,
getting to a beach, getting somewhere warm, to just unplug
and reset. That's that's what it is for me, and
getting to spend time with friends and family and loved ones.
I'm sure it's similar for for you ladies too. Yeah. Absolutely,
(20:30):
I mean I don't know, Lara Serena. Is it different
for you guys? Because I have to agree with um
Umanny on the vacation part for sure, because I usually
take my vacation time in this summer um and I'm
usually on a beach. I'm usually on a beach. Man
I can't like or I'll go back home to Colorado,
but somewhere outside of where I'm always at for work.
(20:51):
That's like always the Big Bowl. I was able to
take a trip. We just went down to Florida, like
Long go Key area five days. At the end of
Inanuary and it was perfect. And the funny thing for
me is um like life craziness. So I had a
pandemic wedding. I got married July right before the season,
so of course, like everyone was like, oh, where are
(21:13):
you going on your honeymoon? I was like, I think
we're gonna wait until like maybe things feel a little
bit safer to travel, Like like if I'm not traveling
for road games this year, I'm definitely not like just
hopping on a plane to attempt to like go on
a vacation somewhere and risk like coming back and not
being able to be in the building to do my
job to cover game days, right or at least we
were in training camp um at that point in time
(21:35):
and at least be around for those types of things.
But I was able to get a trip, which was
which was awesome, first time that we've had that time
since we got married at the end of July. But
the other thing for me is I in the past
year have really tried to have dedicated time in the
course of every single day, no matter how hectic it is,
(21:57):
for like movement and meditation. So one of the things
that I started November one, twenty nineteen. We were on
the road in Pittsburgh getting ready to play the Steelers,
and I decided that I was going to start this
streak of running at least one mile every day, and
I thank you. I decided I was initially going to
(22:19):
do I was like, Okay, if I go from November
one to the end of the year, that's kind of
a good thing. Because that was twenty nine. Team was
my first season in the league, so I mean, it's
like drinking out of a fire hose, like your first year, right,
So this was something where it was no matter where
I am, no matter if we were on the road,
so that it could at least like lace up, get
on like a treadmill, or get out and run or whatever.
So one mile a day. So I decided to do
(22:41):
it up until the end of the year, made it
to the end of the year and decided it was was
gonna go for a hundred days, and then a hundred
days turned into two hundred days. Then two hundred was like,
all right, might as well, see I can do this
for your year. So I'm at day four hundred and
ninety now, and then I also yes, so that's kind
of my little sliver of balance in every single day
where I if I have nothing else, I have those
(23:03):
roughly ten minutes or fifty you know, whatever it is
that day that I've gotten out. I like, for me,
one of the most cathartic things in my life is
to sweat and breathe heavy, so like I need that,
like exertion, Like I need to just like go out
and be able to do that. And then I've also
subscribed two different meditations, so I am not as consistent
(23:23):
with those as I need to be. I need to
be as diligent with my meditation practice as I have
with UM the Runs. But I was um all at
last April did like these ten minute meditations at some
point every day, and those were incredibly helpful, especially with
as stressful as the last year has been, that time
of year where things seem to be spiraling out of control.
(23:45):
Those were incredibly helpful for me to focus internally and
be really mindful about how I've spent a many time,
because it is so easy to like mindlessly waste your time.
So for me, I feel like that if I can
be if I can be more committed and more diligent
with how I'm spending my time and it's like, Okay,
(24:05):
this project says it's gonna take let's I think it's
gonna take three hours. But if I really lock in
and I don't you know, fumble over and check social media,
well I'm doing it. Oh hey, now it's spent ninety
minutes instead getting something done and allocated to that. Hey,
then I don't have to grind for like a twelve
hour um type of day. I can accomplish this in
a you know, in a more concise manner because I've
(24:27):
been focused on exactly the task at hand, because I
have been able to settle in, you know, and have
not all those floughts swarming around my brain. The meditation
kind of helps me, you know, delineate those things and
have those pockets of time where I can feel more
focused and more centered. And for those of you who
do not know, Lara was a great, a badass track
(24:48):
athlete in college. So just a little reference there in
the glory days, so long ago, so cool though, Like
I literally can't imagine I'm not gonna lie I'm not
a runner, lie God was always an athlete growing up
and stuff, but running was just like not my thing.
Like I like to lift weights and stuff and like
do work outs like that, but I commend you, like
would you say you're on? Yeah, And what I told you.
(25:13):
I have a lot of people who have reached out
about starting and I've told them, like, it doesn't have
to be a run. It's just whatever time or whatever
activity it is. Like you know some people who do
it's a walk, or it's just stretching um, or it's
you know, maybe core work or whatever. So it's just
like that, whether it's ten minutes, five minutes, fifteen, whatever
works best for you. So it can be like any
(25:34):
of those things. For me, it's running, but it can
be you know, whatever serves you and it's most fulfilling
to you. That makes sense. What about you, Serena, what
are some of your like off season or I guess
even I mean Lara was talking about in season two
some of those things that you're able to indulge in
when you're not working. Yeah, I mean for me, you
(25:54):
guys can't mentioned it. There is a part where everything stops.
Then you're like, yo, what am I doing all my time?
Like all of a sudden, I have like ten arms,
I'm capable of doing so much more arms becoming octopus
so I think, you know, there are parts of our
job that I so. I come from a very um,
(26:16):
not traditional background when it comes to sports media, Like
I used to work at National Geographic, I used to
work at True TV before uh taking a job with ESPN.
So for me, but but I was always honing. I
was always because they're like, how did you just get
to ESPN? I was like, well, I was always practicing
on camera skills, being a reporter, asking questions, kind of
(26:36):
fine tuning that. And so my mother school teacher in
the Bronx, New York, was teaching UM way back when
I was a kid. My my babysitter was my mom's
English classes. She taught English as a second language, and
she would bring in improv instructors to teach her students,
even if they didn't speak English. She would teach them
(26:57):
how to pick up social cues and the act of listening.
If you hear a word, you might be able to
respond better. And those are all things that we need
as reporters. And so for me, a lot of times, UM,
like I've taken Groundlings classes, which is a popular improv
school out in Los Angeles. I've done UM. I go
to a lot of second City shows when I'm in
(27:19):
Chicago or um, I do the improv in New York City. So,
like I take improv classes, I'm watching a lot of
different media that I wouldn't get to watch during the season,
late night television, HDTV, UH, national geographic like things that
I'm like, Yeah, I'm listening to classical music. I'm trying
to ask people for new new music. So it's constantly
(27:42):
like what can I do to change my brain so
that I'm not in this constant um space of football, football, football,
because that's gonna set me up then too, when I
am thinking about football, some prep over here, that might
have been my time to meditate. It might have been
my time to take myself out of football of it.
And Yo, how do you think of that idea? How
(28:02):
do you think of that question? Oh? Well, you know,
I was doing this random improv class. I was watching
Jimmy Kimmel one night, really funny joke, and I was
kind of prepared for it. So I think when we
take the time off, it's like smart prep. It's like
I will rest, I will do these things so my
mind is fresh. Like you know, I do those like words,
scramble games and sometimes you just put the sucker down
(28:24):
and I'm like, I couldn't think of the words up.
I could have thought about that if I just put
my phone down for a second. But you do improv classes, yeah,
improv dream job is to be on SNL one day,
and I'm always wanted to try um improv classes, like
I've always in college, I took acting like legit before
(28:47):
I became I went to school for sports broadcasts and
became a reporter with the Jets. Legit, my dream job
was to be an actress. Like loved like drama classes, theater,
everything in college. Street just killing the game right now, Natalie,
thank you for UM. We lost you just for a
quick second, but you're back in the time you were gone.
(29:13):
We exactly like one more question, so anything, because we
all talk so much. Good because I literally just spent
like eight minutes on the phone with Spectrum. Because work
from home life is very challenging. When decides I don't
feel like working today, Well what do you what do
you love to do? So what we were talking about
(29:33):
just now, we're talking about some of the things we
feel like we get to indulge in or some of
the things we get to enjoy more outside of work.
Like they talked about vacation time. Um, we talked about
Lara's spoke on running and exercise, vacation all that stuff.
What is it for you? What do you enjoy doing
during the off season that maybe you couldn't do during
(29:55):
this season. I love a good vacation anywhere with like
warm weather, a beach. It's just like the ocean is
just like my serenity now. And I'm from l A originally,
and so it's just like very much like okay, at
piece in the salt water. But yeah, I mean toil
I's point to I love exercising running. I mean no, no,
let me take that back. I do not like running,
but I like I like what happens after I run,
(30:17):
where I feel like refresh and I feel like fit.
But yeah, like the entire process of running is just
a struggle. Um. But also like I love swimming to
my building has a lap pool, and I was a
lifeguard for years, so that's one of those things like yes, yes,
lifeguard life, lifeguard life. And also just like watching good
movies or reading good books and all that kind of
(30:39):
stuff and just kind of immersing in something else because
you know, I think a lot of things too. It's
like with us, we work in sports, and I think
people think like that's all of our lives, and well,
I mean, I'll speak for myself. I love sports. I
love football, I love basketball like I love being a
part of it. But I also have other interests, you know,
like my I'm really into movies. I grew up around.
(30:59):
My dad's a filmmaker, and I just I'm really into
like old films or already films or whatever. I like,
you know, reading a good book or just kind of
just things that that are or aren't you know, going
to a museum or painting or what have you, and
just like kind of finding ways to create that creativity
that isn't uh you know, and like Serena said to it,
it'll jog like a thing. You're like, Oh, here's something
(31:21):
creative that I'm doing that is completely unrelated to my job,
but it might give me an idea of how I
can relate it to my job and come back and say, oh,
you know what, we could do this and this could
actually be fun content. So I thought about that, and
to your point, like when you guys think about football
only there's an epos somewhere I apologize, but um, when
you think about football only, but then you look at
(31:43):
these new savants, all these young head coaches, like the
Sean mcveigh's, like that guy changed the way running an
eleven personnel, you know on offense, Like he's thinking about
different things, and so we gotta do this thing like
this dude is becoming the most successful man and in football.
Well then you know, for all those listening that are
(32:03):
like I just want to watch sports all day, and
I'm give that point because that's what the majority be
found like, but you know, I think it's really healthy
to take that time off you're gonna actually be you
know they always tell high school students, right, Yo, don't
just play one sport. Get those mom, It's that's your
freaking brain. Quarterbacks who play baseball and learn you know,
(32:25):
the throwing, growing emotions, or or football players who take
dance in ballet and stuff like that for the footwork,
and it's just like it's a similar skill but using
a different approach to it. Yeah, totally. Um, alright, we're
gonna jump to something else because I'd love to talk
about this a little bit. Um Untold stories of team
reporters in the NFL. I'm sure we can. We're all
(32:49):
laughing here because I'm sure we can think of a
billion different stories. But I'm going to start off with
actually a pretty funny story. Um. It was like my
first year, my first season as a reporter in the NFL.
And you guys know that first year is so just Lara,
wasn't you who said it literally feels like you're drinking
from a fire hose. That's like perfect way, perfect way
(33:14):
to put it. But um, first year, you know, fresh
out of college, super excited to be in the NFL. This.
I was walking on the field and um, I ran
into these two gentlemen, some older cats, and they were like, hey,
do you mind taking a picture for us. I was like, yeah, sure,
no problem. So I like, in mind you you guys
(33:34):
know game day attire, you still have to dress professional,
like blazer or dress, whether to jump suit, whatever it is,
you're still dressing professional, right. So I'm sitting there trying
to take a picture of these guys on the field
and then I hand them back the phone and they
look at me and they're like, you're a cheerleader, right,
And I was like, excuse me, Yeah, you're a cheerleader, right,
(33:57):
I was like, no, like, no disrespect to the cheerleaders,
but I'm I'm actually a team reporter. And they literally
like looked at me, chuckled and walked away, And that
was like my first kind of smack reality hit, like
oh wow, like like like people literally don't always respect
(34:18):
like the female job in this in the league. So
that is my little untold story in the NFL, which
I laugh about to this day. I think it's funny now,
but just a small part of some of the things
that we deal with. And now you're kicking ass like
and hosting this incredible podcast in addition to everything else.
So I like wonder, I wonder what those guys are
thinking now when they like obviously see who you are.
(34:39):
They people are like, oh wait, I definitely made some
assumptions and you know generic um preconcert or preconceived notions
you know about all this. I mean, I know, I
know sometimes we get funny stories like that or just
some of the crazy things that I think we have
to deal with that I don't think people people always
realize some of the things that we have to deal with.
(35:00):
So I'm gonna throw it out there. Does anybody have
an untold story or something funny or worth mentioning that
would like to talk about on the pod. I've got
a crazy story of being on the road. And this
was when I was in college, So this was before
I was a team reporter. Um I was at Miszoo.
Shout out Miszoo. I know, I know, we've got a
(35:21):
q scrat on here, Serena words. I know, right, there's
always the top three Zo, Syracuse, Northwestern and are the
grads go at each other? Because you know, there's so
many great journals and schools out there, and um, I
know everybody, all of the team reporters, everybody went to
(35:41):
an awesome school and got such a great education. Um,
so there's so many to choose from and pick from.
I always get a lot of questions about, you know,
if I want to do this, where do I go
to school? You have a bunch of options, and the
options keep growing every year. But story time. So it
was my senior year in college. I to say we
were covering the SEC championship game, which was in the
(36:04):
Dome in Atlanta, So before Mercedes Benz Stadium was even
a thing where the Falcons used to play, MISSOO was
playing against Auburn in the SEC championship game. We are
staying kind of near the stadium in in an area
that wasn't It wasn't one of the nice areas. It
was a little bit more rundown, but hey, you know,
(36:26):
we couldn't afford to stay at a super nice hotel.
We were just there on the local TV's budget. Um,
which you're not staying in any super nice places anyway,
if you're on a local TV budget, by the way. Um.
And so, I was working for ko m U, our
local affiliate station, as a sports reporter there, and we
(36:46):
have the game, we get our butts kicked by Auburn.
I am so upset because it's my senior year. I
am done covering the zoo. Um Trey Mason Nick Marshall
ran all over mssoo's defense. It wasn't even a close game,
So I'm upset that this part of my life is over.
We get back to the hotel after after finishing our
(37:09):
show after the game, so it is later than late,
probably around one in the morning, I want to say
two in the morning. We get back because we had
like an eleven o'clock show, try and get into our
hotel room our key card would not work to get
into our hotel room. I am in a blazer, high
(37:30):
heels dress pants paid in my face twenty times by
the end of that day because we had so many
hits before the game and after the game. You know,
I just want to put on sweatpants. I just want
to be comfortable. I just want to go to sleep
because we are driving back to Missouri at the buck
crack of dawn. Kay, get into our room. Go downstairs,
(37:51):
ask like the concierge, Hey, our our key cards aren't working.
Do you know what's going on? Could you get us
a new card? And she's like, well, I don't know
what's going on, but let me let me make a
few phone calls. So we figure out that the key
cards aren't working because the battery in the door has died.
(38:11):
That difficulties, so it wasn't working, and it was an
area that was, like I said, wasn't the best area
and wasn't the best hotel room. And so she was like, yeah,
our guy who fixes that stuff isn't gonna be back
at the hotel for a couple of days. So we
can get you another room, but we can't get you
(38:33):
into your room I'm like, are you kidding me? You
know you're stuff. You're telling me I can't get into
my hotel room where I am in like six hours
to drive back to Maury for another two days. So
I say, can we break the door? Yeah? And she's
like I'm saying she was like yeah, no, ya, no, yes.
(38:57):
I'm like, do you have a crowbar? And so we
get a row bar and we start knocking the door
to shreds, like legit, like a legit crow bar. We
had people coming into the hallway being like what is
this noise? And this just like the shining, Like really,
Maddie's going to bust through the door. So people helped
(39:19):
us break the door and we were able to get
into our room and get our stuff, which by that
time it was like four in the morning, got maybe
an hour of sleep, and then got on the road
to get to get back home to Missouri. So these
there things that happened on the road that you know,
you may not think whatever happened. You're breaking down a
hotel room door, and I was like, I'm not paying
(39:41):
for this, incidental like a student to like, I don't
have money to pay for this. Also, what were they
expecing you to wait like four days just you know,
in the hallway and the clothes on your back, like
with everything that you seriously though, like cool way in
the hallway, Like I'll sleep on the ground, use my
(40:04):
heel as a pillow, like no big deal of some
thing too. I think a lot of people don't realize
about our industry is like how many like late night
travel situations not all like this glamorous like oh, we've
got our makeup done and we're on TV and we're
talking what you see on Instagram and then it's like okay,
now at six am, I gotta get on a flight
or I gotta get here or whatever. I have a
(40:26):
story actually kind of like similar to that on the
pre NFL days. Before covering the NFL, I was covering
the Clippers for five years. And when I was there, uh,
we were playing. We're on a road trip and it
was the first night of a back to back. We're
playing in Denver and then flying out to playing Phoenix
the next night. And Denver. I don't know if you
(40:48):
guys have ever been to a basketball game in Denver
the Pep Center, but the court is like a little
bit raised off the ground, and then on the corners
there these little gaps or they're these little kind of
things that go down, but on one corner there's like
a gap between the ramp and the court, and so
full disclosure, like I'm wearing a new skirt, and like
I'll be honest, I felt like I looked cute. So
(41:09):
I was like walking around, you know, doing my pregame stuff,
and then the lights come down the national anthem and
all that kind of stuff, and they start doing intros.
So I'm walking off the court to finish up my
pregame before I go up to the seat to cover
the actual game. And as I'm walking off the court,
I don't see the gap between the court and the
(41:29):
and my heel gets stuck and I full on like
chalk outline like hit the ground, like just boom. And
by the time I like really like, I like hit
the ground. And then as that's happening, the lights are
coming up, and I'm just like, Okay, it's fine, it's fine,
it's fine. And like you know that feeling when you
fall so hard that like your knee has its own pulse,
and so I was like my kneelsing, my elbows are pulsing.
(41:52):
I do not feel like I was like everything hurts.
I just slowly stand up, dust myself up, start walking
out the tunnel, and all of a sudden, I hear miss.
I turned around. The security guy is running after me,
taking his coat off. Apparently when I hit the ground,
I split my skirt open and was face down, bare
(42:12):
ass in front of se people. He gives me his coat.
I put it around myself. I run back into our
locker room and I asked Pete, are then equipment manage
from like Pete telling me of sweatpants. He's like, we're
on the back to back. We're flying out to Phoenix
in like the second the game is over, so literally
(42:33):
all of the equipment that is not being used in
the game is already on the plane. So I'm running
around trying to find something to cover my bottom so
I can work this before the game even starts. I
find a scarf. I had a scarf, so I wrapped
the scarf around myself and then put my like broken
skirt over it so it looked like a sensor bar almost,
(42:53):
And I worked the rest of the game with like
bloody knees and this like ass thing, and I was whatever,
and I remember the locker room afterwards, like Chris Paul
was like, I mean, usually you're you're good at putting
outfits together, but what is this you're going with. So
we get up after the game. I finished it, I
do my interviews whatever. We get on the plane and
one of the equipment guys has a pair of sweatpants
(43:15):
on the plane that he gives me. My knees are
still throbbing, my elbows are throbbing. We fly from Denver
to Phoenix. We get to the hotel there and like
we're getting our hotel key cards and whatever, and I'm
just exhausted. At this point. I'm like, what a day.
I get in the elevator and I'm in the elevator
with two other players from our team and they start snickering,
and I'm like, what are you snickering at? And finally
(43:36):
one of the guys looks at me and he goes,
I wasn't gonna say anything, but that shot was funny.
Talking about insults and injury exactly. But long story long,
it's like, Okay, I can't take yourself too seriously in
this industry. Also be very mindful of wearing heels and
(43:58):
where you're walking long nights. So wow, I'm so sorry
to hear that. Honestly, the we could laugh about it
now because I'm sure we all have a tripping story
where we've spilled ourselves or ripped paints or something like
I empathized, empathized with that. Has anyone ever gotten I'm curious,
(44:20):
since we're on the topic, has anyone ever gotten drilled
by the football in either a game or practice. I
guess I got a concussion last year by getting hit
in the head. They had to put on the little cart.
It was after the game. And the worst part is
it's like, so I've had a lot of this was
my tent actual like hospitalized concussion and I'm not even
(44:42):
a football player. But the worst part is we were
setting what I want to be a lot of playing
the NFL. If you wanted to know, one of my
calls me Billy Bob from what movies that because of?
But yeah, and we were setting up to do our
post game and it was I was standing in front
of the camera and people were out and somebody kicked
a football and it hit me in the head. And
(45:03):
the worst part is Mike Beckton, our camera guy, wasn't
even rolling. So I don't even have the video of
like that. But yeah, I end up having like it
was so embarrassing being like on the little gurney and
I'm just like, hey, guys, sorry, I took you on
the gurney. They took you off on the gurneyfore saying
oh my god. So I can't even imagine high Chris.
(45:25):
So nobody else has been hit by a football. I
was in college. I was hit on nationally television. I
got trucked by a player back in my local TV
DACE because I was shooting highlights high school football. Like
and I am, I'm just first job out of college,
super Green, shooting high school football highlights, and I mean
this was probably my first season doing it. And yeah,
(45:47):
and so the thing is too is I'm the new kid.
So the thing I'm worried about is like protect the camera.
I wasn't worried about like tearing an a c LS.
Like you know, this running back runs off, you know,
off the sideline and gets trucked as he's going out
of bounds and so I'm like, oh, where did he?
Where did he go? Like I'm trying to follow, and
then I'm like like like straight back. I mean, luckily
(46:11):
I'm short, I'm low to the ground, I didn't have
far to fall, but like my whole thing was like, no,
the camera, save the camera, Yeah, the lens. Yeah, so
that was absolutely But I too can totally empathize metal
and like I am the clumsiest. So yeah, tripping, falling, spilling,
(46:31):
like all of that to the point where, like I
think almost every game, I have like some sort of
like back back up apparel if I if it happens
where I, you know, dropped something on myself, because now
I've just learned that you know, tied pens and and
you know, the shout wipe is just only gonna get
you so far. Were you still an entire cup of
coffee on yourself, that shout wipe is gonna be doing
(46:53):
work or when you spill it. Literally any type of food,
even though we don't have time to eat usually on
on game days, so you like anytime you're like stuffing
your face and it's like five minutes. I don't know
if this happens to you guys, but literally this happens
to me all the time because I'm so clumsy. I'm
just five minutes before I go on air never fails.
(47:13):
I always am eating something smacked out in the middle,
and I'm like, I'm always that person too, who is
I'm super forgetful sometimes too, like bring extra outfits, you
know how, like we should always bring extra outfits or
an extra pair of shoes. Yes, so, I can't even
tell you more times than one I've spilt on myself
(47:35):
and then legit had to like use my hair to
cover it up or like now in post game, and
then to get all the comments she was standing really weird,
like why was she looking like that a game? They
say never read the comments section, but it's like a
moth to the flame, you can't look aay, it's so true.
We're like, oh, keep going, why don't you love? All right, ladies, Well,
(48:03):
we're gonna wrap this up. Um, thank you guys so much.
This so to everyone who was listening, We're just gonna
reiterate it one more time. This is one episode of
our Team Reporter series. We're gonna get more Team reporters
on from around the league to talk about our experiences
being a female in this industry and just overall laughing
enjoying one another, which we already do. Like we said
(48:23):
in our little group chat. But welcome to a little
preview of our group chat. Ladies. Thank you so so
much for joining me today. Um I hope your stories
gave everybody a little laugh and a little bit more
insight on what we do as team reporters. But until
we all talk again, ladies, thank you so much for
joining me for this episode of The New Yorker Podcast,
presented by Visa
Welcome into another episode of The New Yorker Podcast presented
by Visa. I'm your host Olivia Landis. This week we
are going to be starting a new semi series called
the Team Reporter Series. I'd like to welcome in a
few team reporters from around the league. We're gonna be
talking a lot about our experience as women in the league. So,
(00:23):
without further ado, I'd love to welcome in Serena Morales
with the Rams, Madeline Burke with the Giants, Lara Overton
with the Colts, and Maddie Glab with the Bills. Ladies, Ladies,
thank you so much for joining me. This is gonna
be so much fun to be here. Let's go crazy.
I love it. We're just introducing everybody into our group
text message, which could be a good or bad thing
(00:45):
sometimes exactly for us to talk to you. Welcome for
installment one of the group chat. Basically, that's really what
this is. It's like an extended version of our group chat.
So everybody around the world right now who's listening to
the podcast, Uh, we have a group chat, and now
we're kind of letting you in a little bit. On
(01:06):
our conversations. We always talk about so many different things, right, ladies,
we talk about work life everything in between that goes
on inside the job of being a team reporter. So
with with that, let's kind of roll into our first topic, ladies,
let's talk a little bit about that work life balance.
(01:28):
I think, Um, I don't know about you guys, but
I don't know what a normal version of work life
balance is. To everybody else, it seems like it's more
like a you know, forty work week. But for us,
it looks a little bit different, right, I mean during
the season, Um, there's really no telling because our schedule
is all over the place. So I'd love to toss
(01:49):
this out there for a work life balance, what does
that look for each of us individually, especially in the
off season. Because I'm not I know, I'm not the
only person who gets this question. What do you do
in the off season? What is your job like in
the off season? So I'm gonna throw it to you,
Lady Serena. You can start off what is exactly a
(02:10):
work life balance for a team reporter in the National
Football League? And we should preface this right when when
you are asked this question. Also, they gotta do stuff too,
But the problem is they don't have makeup, they don't
have hair, they don't have nails, they don't have fake
eyelashes to pop on their eyeballs. Talk about work life
(02:31):
balanced for a female, there are actually some differences because
it takes a little longer with an expectation that a
woman is supposed to have like j Lo hair every day.
Shout out to Lara who actually has that. The actual
work life balance for any reporter, I'd say you are
(02:52):
constantly reading, like the reading glasses and or your prescription lenses,
contact lenses are in. You are staring at a computer
or a phone because we don't use newspapers anymore. And
you're I mean, you wake up and you're like going
through Twitter, right. You gotta make sure you know what
the heck is going on, because if you comment on anything,
you're like, uh, too soon, didn't know that someone had
(03:15):
something or got bit by a spider. Like there's always
news changing. I kind of keep up on my specific
team as well as big news around the NFL um
and then I try and keep up with like whatever,
you know, baseball, basketball, whatever else is happening, because those
guys are also paying attention to that stuff as well.
So you want to just be in the know, especially
(03:36):
in the off season. I'm doing my job. I'm like, okay,
I have a list. You know, we talk about passion
planners last time on the b This was big in
the in the group chat, right, you're the passion planner.
I still pull up. But mama has like the list
of the roster in the off season practice squad, the
coaches included, I do my like due diligence to try
(03:56):
and hey, what's going on with you? You got any
plans this off season? One thing started? Have you talked
to any coaches? So I just do my offline like
checking in constantly. And then there's always like if you
are a fan of any sport or any team, there's
content and tweets that got put up every single day.
Those are usually associated with your team reporter, your writer,
(04:19):
your website, your social media, like the producers that have
to create content. You're prepping for the draft, the combine
or Pro days now, um so, and you're preparing for
a season because during the season, ain't nobody gets time
to be prepping for a new idea. Of those ideas
come in the off season. So um, I say, this
is a full time staff member Maddie. I know you
(04:40):
jump around a ton. It's probably a little different for you.
But similarly, we're all doing research and constantly keeping up
on what's going on throughout the NFL. Yeah, that's and
to your point, like I I do jump around, and
so that is like a very different uh space, But
it's also very similar as because during the season, like
(05:01):
you mentioned, we are on it and it's like day
and day out, and it's instead of you know, it's
every week, it's just like a rhythm. You know, on
Tuesday's we do this, on Thursdays we do that, on Sundays,
on game days we do this, and it's just kind
of lather rens, repeat and staying on top of all
the latest and and kind of plugged in. And when
the season ends. I don't know about you guys, but
for me, there's almost like this like postpartum or like
(05:21):
just like this, okay, now we've come to like a
sudden stop, and it's like what do I do with
all of like my like mental space and like what
do I think about and all that kind of stuff,
because you know, whether the Super Bowl ends, and you
know your Casey Phillips and the and the Tampa Bay
Box and you guys have just one now it's whatever,
or you don't make the playoffs, so you're watching, but
(05:44):
you're also like not as engaged because you're not covering it,
you're not working at it, and so it's like this
weird thing going from like ninety miles an hour at
all times to just a full stop and kind of adjusting.
But you know, it is good to take time at
least for me to like recharge my battery, to just
come completely unplugged for at least a couple of days
every once in a while, because then it's like you
(06:04):
can look at things with fresh eyes, because I feel like,
for me, if I'm constantly plugged in, I just get
burnt out. Or it's like when you stare at a
menu but don't actually read it, and then the waiter
comes over and you're like, I'm sorry, I have no
idea what I Steven says, I'm just staring blankly. But
you know, and for me to like, I do cover
basketball as well for Sports Illustrated, so I like to
(06:25):
try to keep myself fresh. But also you know, I'm
I'm right now at this time of year, I'm a
little bit more heavily plugged into basketball, but I'm trying
to stay on top of you know, we've got not
a combine this year, all the pro days, like Serena mentioned,
and we've got, you know, a very different way, and
then you know, you've got the new league year coming up,
and we're gonna have free agency soon enough in the
draft and all these things to prepare for, and so
(06:47):
I'm trying to balance and compartmentalize the different sports that
I'm covering. Well, also just like making sure that I
have a fresh perspective that I'm rest because it's you know,
just like any job, you want to take care of
yourself so that you can approach it with the best
you know, energy and and with what we do too,
since we're front facing, we're not just having to just Okay,
here's the information. We also have to be hey, like
(07:10):
I'm going to deliver it in a way that you
want to hear it, you know, And if I'm like
exhausted and burnt out, like hey guys, you know, people
are gonna be like, yeah, it's literally I think it's
a common misconception. I'll say that I think it's a
common misconception by the average person, which is, you know,
it's fair a lot of people. Until you sit down
(07:31):
and explain I actually do X, Y and Z that
you probably didn't know about, They're like, oh, wow, you
do all of that during the during the off season.
It's like, well, an off season isn't really an off season.
You know, you still have to cover the Combine, Senior Bowl, Draft,
free agency, and then before you know it, when you
blink an eye, it's already training camp season. But I'd
(07:52):
love to throw this a Lara and Maddie's way. Now,
we talk a lot about the entire season, and Madeleine,
you touched on it. It could be draining if you
don't kind of take a step back and be like, Okay,
this is why I'm at This is a long season.
Let me take a deep breath and then from there
kind of move on. But how do you and like
I said, I'd like to throw the Clara and Maddie's way,
(08:14):
how do you balance that? Okay, let me get my
job done and take a break, but also let me
get back ready and like Madalene said, be energized and
be ready to deliver this in a way where you
want to receive it. I like brace for impact. Almost
whenever anyone it's like, oh, so, how do you stay busy? Oh,
things must have really slowed down in the off season.
It's almost like when you're watching a baseball game and
(08:36):
you're like hoping the announcer doesn't say that the picture
has a no hitter going into the seventh don't say it.
Don't say it because it was like the first week
of the off season. You know, my neighbors would see me.
I was like, still, I was working from home at
that point, and it seemed like walking my dog and stuff.
You're like, oh, so it must be nice to have
things slowing down the off season. I'm like no, because
then our left tackle retired, our quarterback retired. I'm like snob,
(08:58):
no one else jinks this anymore, Like I can't handle
any more breaking news. Um So it's it's really funny
because it is such a misconception of like the off season.
And I always argue, Madeline, you were saying this, like,
at least with this season, it's predictable. You're on that
routine of doing you know exactly what you're gonna be
doing on your Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and you shift gears
(09:18):
then prepping for like the next game in the next week.
But you have your kind of content schedule, and certainly
things come up where you're doing something differently, like you know,
if if there's an injury situation hopefully not, or if
a guy is you know, in our case, you know,
a f a f C Special Teams Player of the
Week or whatever it happens to be. You have those
things that you adapt for and you adjust for and
and all of that and different things that evolve. But
(09:40):
and the off season almost feels busier in some ways
because you are doing so much brainstorming and all of
these you kind of shift gears in a completely different
fashion and you're doing kind of more creating of the
content in terms of coming up with the ideas rather
than just executing it. And I always feel like with
this whole work life balance conversation, I don't know, maybe
(10:02):
it's more of even a myth than it is a philosophy,
but um, it's at sometimes your balance is going to
like take it day by day. It's some days maybe
you get close to that, you know, fifty fifty. It's like,
you know, Coach Roy would always talk about you and
when he was asked this past season about the ratio
between where do you want to see the past the
run game, He's like, it's gonna be different based on
(10:24):
our opponent, based on our personnel, based on all of these,
based on the game plan, different things. We're not always
gonna be a fifty fifty run past balance or a
sixty forty. It's gonna look a whole lot different weeks week.
And I feel that way about work life balance. Some days, man,
you hit it really good and you feel like you
have things, um, you know, kind of an equilibrium. But
then other days, you know, maybe work does take more
(10:45):
um of a heavy toll and it's an eight work twenty,
you know, life. And then there are other days when
you can't be apologetic if it's, hey, I'm taking a
ninety percent life day and a ten percent work day.
So for me, I feel like that that is showing
yourself of a little bit of grace and knowing that
some days are going to be more work centric, and
then on the days that are more life centric, you're
(11:07):
you allow yourself that. But I think it's just kind
of approaching trying, you know, kind of approaching each day
as its own, as its own game day in some respects,
you know, like you have your quarters, you break it down.
Maybe at lunchtime, that's your halftime, you reset and kind
of evaluate where you are that day. But there's like
a tweet that, um, I'm sure you guys have probably
seen it. It's blown up over the past couple of days.
(11:29):
But Lindsay Gibbs, Um, she's in sports as well, so
she totally gets this life. And she tweeted yesterday or
not yes March first, so just a couple of days ago,
stop glamorizing the grind and start glamorized getting seven plus
hours of sleep at night, having healthy relationships, feeling safe
at work, taking sick days, being paid a living wage,
working hard when you're at work, boundaries and self caring
(11:51):
your way to success. And she has like a whole thread.
But I thought that she's at Lynn's Sports if you
want to follow her. But I thought that that was
really timely as we were for hearing to have, you know,
this this conversation about exactly what that looks like and
just knowing that it's gonna look a little bit different
from everybody and just because maybe you're not, you know,
(12:11):
hitting it seven and you're answering every email as it
comes into your inbox and applying to every tweet as
soon as it's set. Doesn't mean that you're not um,
you're not working hard, and that you're not serious about
your job. Those boundaries and those parameters and taking each
day as it's um, you know, as its own, you know,
challenge for yourself is really important. Yeah, let's be honest.
(12:34):
I think as we're all listening to all of us
explain what being in the off season is like, there
really is no off season. There are so many events
that happen in the off season that make the off
season like a regular season. And Larry, you're talking about
how you hit the off season, and then all this
breaking news happened, so it's like almost don't even say
the word off season, Like, don't say it because once
(12:56):
you say, the news is gonna break and there goes
your your week of chillness or whatever. But the offseason, yes,
we we get some more time to like relax, breathe out,
and and Maddie was saying it too. You hit the
full stop and it's like postpartum, Like, I mean, the
Bills made it to the a f C championship game.
(13:16):
We lost the Chiefs, But after that game, I was
so sad that the season was over. For a couple
of weeks, I wanted to keep playing. I wanted I
wanted next year to happen already. And that's how I
still kind of feel. I mean, being in the season
and having a schedule like we do, knowing what we're
doing every day. I love it. Um I cannot wait
(13:38):
till we hit week one. I'm already ready. I think
it also plays into the part that the Bills had
such great season this past year that I'm so excited
for next season already. But it is nice to to refuel,
to take a second to learn from last season, to
take some vacations. And I know that coronavirus and and
(13:58):
this whole season that we've had during a pandemic who
has kind of thrown everybody's schedule out of whack. But
we all get a little bit of time to to reset,
to get away, whether that's a staycation, who knows what
the world is gonna look like here in the next
couple of months. Hopefully we can all get out of
town and enjoy some time on a beach or at
a in a mountain wherever, and not worry about the
(14:20):
pandemic um. But the off season for me is also
a time to learn some more. So I et the
offseason try and learn something new about the game of football.
I did not play football growing up. I played other sports.
I played softball for most of my life, but didn't
play football, And so for me, a lot of my
(14:41):
job in the off season is trying to learn more
of the xs and ohs and tack on another thing
to what I know, to my arsenal, to how I
can talk about the game, rewatching games and things like that,
and like everybody has always already talked about, it's also
about creating and and be and coming up with new
ideas because once you hit the season, you have no
(15:04):
time to think about anything else other than what's on
your plate for that day, and really preparing for the
game on Sunday, on Thursday, on Monday, or like we
saw this past year, you could have a game on
Tuesday or Wednesday as well. Who knows, but the worst
life balance I think, I mean, I'm terrible at it.
(15:24):
I think people in our industry can sometimes not be
the best at it because we are such more colics
and it's really hard to hit pause because the industry
that we're in, it says go go, go, go go,
and that's what we do for six months out of
the year, Monday through Sunday, and so it's hard to
pull the covers off of that and be like, is
this healthy to do this? It's a question, those serious questions.
(15:50):
I mean it's hard, Like help, whoever's listening helped me,
because I just like, it's also you guys will understand this,
Like it's also like, oh back when we got to
hang out and do social things, right, when we went
out to dinner and and had big gatherings and stuff
like that. When even when you're off work, like people
want to ask you about your job, right, I mean,
it's a cool job, Like it is like such, I mean,
(16:12):
it is a blessing. It is such a privilege to
have one of these very few opportunities that there are
in sports to be an NFL team reporter. Not even
every NFL team has one. So it is something where
you know your family at holidays, they want to talk
to you about the team or want to talk about
what you're doing. Your friends want to ask and so
it makes it additionally hard to even when you're in
(16:34):
social situations completely removed from your job itself, that these
conversations are going to come up because we got into
it because we're passionate about sports. We love being able
to have these conversations, and we love that there are
people out there who are so passionate about what we do.
Like what an opportunity that that is. So it makes
it harder as well, because you do have an expectation
(16:56):
of even when you're away from your job, people people
who really love you, um, and are excited for your job,
but they want to talk about it as well. So
that's something you know. It's it's difficult as well as
to have that off switch when it is such a
natural talking point just among conversation with people who you're around.
(17:17):
But what are what are they? What are some of
those things? Um? Sorry, so you want to go go ahead?
You have something family members that care about us to
ask the questions all all the time. It's like it's like,
I appreciate you asking, but it's the same question every time.
But I got a fair sign in the off season
(17:38):
that says, do not ask me about football from months
to this month. From now until July, do not, especially
especially when the new league year doesn't begin until March
sevent so you can't talk about certain things that may
or may not have happened, that might be pending or
oh I wonder what happened. But what are they for
(17:59):
you guys? What are some of those um things that
you are able to kind of take pleasure in the
off season them Maybe you're not able to do that
during this season. Because for me personally, when I think
about him, like, all right, work life balance in the
off season, even though it is still crazy, you definitely
have a little bit more wiggle room and a lot
more flexible time to do the things that you love
(18:20):
to do. So for me, I enjoy having the weekends back.
I don't know about you guys, but it's nice during
the off season to be able to plan a quick
trip or sleep in if I want, or on a Sunday.
I love Sundays to just chill. So those are the
things for me that I enjoy during the off season
that I feel like those are a plus. Those are
the things with the work life balance that kind of
(18:41):
evens out in the off season. I also feel like
we all check back in with our friends too. It's like, hey, sorry,
I was gone for six months, but I'm back. Guys, Howard,
sorry I ignored your text for a month and a
half and then got back to you. Will you still
be friends with me? But yeah, I mean it's checking
back in with the people that you care about. Out
of course, you're in constant communication with your family if
(19:03):
you're close to your family. Um, but checking back in
with those friends. For me, it's it's takes the time
off and traveling and leaving Buffalo, New York. I love Buffalo.
People give Buffalo such a bad rep because it's cold.
I mean it was snowing here today. It's March four,
so it's snowed for a couple of hours to so
I understand that. But I love getting out and traveling
(19:25):
seeing people. As soon as the season ended, I went
out to Colorado for ten days and went snowboarding. My
brother lives out there. I would be lying if I
if I snow to snow I I I love it.
It's it's my release. I love snowboarding. I have to
get out there once a year to go to Colorado,
(19:46):
Olivia soul get it. Yeah, Um, But I would be
lying if I said that I had like fifty Airbnb
tabs right now, because I definitely do. I have like
a document of like, Okay, what are some dates that
I can get away and do some things. What is
(20:06):
the world gonna look like in a couple of months. Again,
we don't know, but I find joy in getting to plan,
you know, long weekends of vacation. Here they're getting away,
getting to a beach, getting somewhere warm, to just unplug
and reset. That's that's what it is for me, and
getting to spend time with friends and family and loved ones.
I'm sure it's similar for for you ladies too. Yeah. Absolutely,
(20:30):
I mean I don't know, Lara Serena. Is it different
for you guys? Because I have to agree with um
Umanny on the vacation part for sure, because I usually
take my vacation time in this summer um and I'm
usually on a beach. I'm usually on a beach. Man
I can't like or I'll go back home to Colorado,
but somewhere outside of where I'm always at for work.
(20:51):
That's like always the Big Bowl. I was able to
take a trip. We just went down to Florida, like
Long go Key area five days. At the end of
Inanuary and it was perfect. And the funny thing for
me is um like life craziness. So I had a
pandemic wedding. I got married July right before the season,
so of course, like everyone was like, oh, where are
(21:13):
you going on your honeymoon? I was like, I think
we're gonna wait until like maybe things feel a little
bit safer to travel, Like like if I'm not traveling
for road games this year, I'm definitely not like just
hopping on a plane to attempt to like go on
a vacation somewhere and risk like coming back and not
being able to be in the building to do my
job to cover game days, right or at least we
were in training camp um at that point in time
(21:35):
and at least be around for those types of things.
But I was able to get a trip, which was
which was awesome, first time that we've had that time
since we got married at the end of July. But
the other thing for me is I in the past
year have really tried to have dedicated time in the
course of every single day, no matter how hectic it is,
(21:57):
for like movement and meditation. So one of the things
that I started November one, twenty nineteen. We were on
the road in Pittsburgh getting ready to play the Steelers,
and I decided that I was going to start this
streak of running at least one mile every day, and
I thank you. I decided I was initially going to
(22:19):
do I was like, Okay, if I go from November
one to the end of the year, that's kind of
a good thing. Because that was twenty nine. Team was
my first season in the league, so I mean, it's
like drinking out of a fire hose, like your first year, right,
So this was something where it was no matter where
I am, no matter if we were on the road,
so that it could at least like lace up, get
on like a treadmill, or get out and run or whatever.
So one mile a day. So I decided to do
(22:41):
it up until the end of the year, made it
to the end of the year and decided it was was
gonna go for a hundred days, and then a hundred
days turned into two hundred days. Then two hundred was like,
all right, might as well, see I can do this
for your year. So I'm at day four hundred and
ninety now, and then I also yes, so that's kind
of my little sliver of balance in every single day
where I if I have nothing else, I have those
(23:03):
roughly ten minutes or fifty you know, whatever it is
that day that I've gotten out. I like, for me,
one of the most cathartic things in my life is
to sweat and breathe heavy, so like I need that,
like exertion, Like I need to just like go out
and be able to do that. And then I've also
subscribed two different meditations, so I am not as consistent
(23:23):
with those as I need to be. I need to
be as diligent with my meditation practice as I have
with UM the Runs. But I was um all at
last April did like these ten minute meditations at some
point every day, and those were incredibly helpful, especially with
as stressful as the last year has been, that time
of year where things seem to be spiraling out of control.
(23:45):
Those were incredibly helpful for me to focus internally and
be really mindful about how I've spent a many time,
because it is so easy to like mindlessly waste your time.
So for me, I feel like that if I can
be if I can be more committed and more diligent
with how I'm spending my time and it's like, Okay,
(24:05):
this project says it's gonna take let's I think it's
gonna take three hours. But if I really lock in
and I don't you know, fumble over and check social media,
well I'm doing it. Oh hey, now it's spent ninety
minutes instead getting something done and allocated to that. Hey,
then I don't have to grind for like a twelve
hour um type of day. I can accomplish this in
a you know, in a more concise manner because I've
(24:27):
been focused on exactly the task at hand, because I
have been able to settle in, you know, and have
not all those floughts swarming around my brain. The meditation
kind of helps me, you know, delineate those things and
have those pockets of time where I can feel more
focused and more centered. And for those of you who
do not know, Lara was a great, a badass track
(24:48):
athlete in college. So just a little reference there in
the glory days, so long ago, so cool though, Like
I literally can't imagine I'm not gonna lie I'm not
a runner, lie God was always an athlete growing up
and stuff, but running was just like not my thing.
Like I like to lift weights and stuff and like
do work outs like that, but I commend you, like
would you say you're on? Yeah, And what I told you.
(25:13):
I have a lot of people who have reached out
about starting and I've told them, like, it doesn't have
to be a run. It's just whatever time or whatever
activity it is. Like you know some people who do
it's a walk, or it's just stretching um, or it's
you know, maybe core work or whatever. So it's just
like that, whether it's ten minutes, five minutes, fifteen, whatever
works best for you. So it can be like any
(25:34):
of those things. For me, it's running, but it can
be you know, whatever serves you and it's most fulfilling
to you. That makes sense. What about you, Serena, what
are some of your like off season or I guess
even I mean Lara was talking about in season two
some of those things that you're able to indulge in
when you're not working. Yeah, I mean for me, you
(25:54):
guys can't mentioned it. There is a part where everything stops.
Then you're like, yo, what am I doing all my time?
Like all of a sudden, I have like ten arms,
I'm capable of doing so much more arms becoming octopus
so I think, you know, there are parts of our
job that I so. I come from a very um,
(26:16):
not traditional background when it comes to sports media, Like
I used to work at National Geographic, I used to
work at True TV before uh taking a job with ESPN.
So for me, but but I was always honing. I
was always because they're like, how did you just get
to ESPN? I was like, well, I was always practicing
on camera skills, being a reporter, asking questions, kind of
(26:36):
fine tuning that. And so my mother school teacher in
the Bronx, New York, was teaching UM way back when
I was a kid. My my babysitter was my mom's
English classes. She taught English as a second language, and
she would bring in improv instructors to teach her students,
even if they didn't speak English. She would teach them
(26:57):
how to pick up social cues and the act of listening.
If you hear a word, you might be able to
respond better. And those are all things that we need
as reporters. And so for me, a lot of times, UM,
like I've taken Groundlings classes, which is a popular improv
school out in Los Angeles. I've done UM. I go
to a lot of second City shows when I'm in
(27:19):
Chicago or um, I do the improv in New York City. So,
like I take improv classes, I'm watching a lot of
different media that I wouldn't get to watch during the season,
late night television, HDTV, UH, national geographic like things that
I'm like, Yeah, I'm listening to classical music. I'm trying
to ask people for new new music. So it's constantly
(27:42):
like what can I do to change my brain so
that I'm not in this constant um space of football, football, football,
because that's gonna set me up then too, when I
am thinking about football, some prep over here, that might
have been my time to meditate. It might have been
my time to take myself out of football of it.
And Yo, how do you think of that idea? How
(28:02):
do you think of that question? Oh? Well, you know,
I was doing this random improv class. I was watching
Jimmy Kimmel one night, really funny joke, and I was
kind of prepared for it. So I think when we
take the time off, it's like smart prep. It's like
I will rest, I will do these things so my
mind is fresh. Like you know, I do those like words,
scramble games and sometimes you just put the sucker down
(28:24):
and I'm like, I couldn't think of the words up.
I could have thought about that if I just put
my phone down for a second. But you do improv classes, yeah,
improv dream job is to be on SNL one day,
and I'm always wanted to try um improv classes, like
I've always in college, I took acting like legit before
(28:47):
I became I went to school for sports broadcasts and
became a reporter with the Jets. Legit, my dream job
was to be an actress. Like loved like drama classes, theater,
everything in college. Street just killing the game right now, Natalie,
thank you for UM. We lost you just for a
quick second, but you're back in the time you were gone.
(29:13):
We exactly like one more question, so anything, because we
all talk so much. Good because I literally just spent
like eight minutes on the phone with Spectrum. Because work
from home life is very challenging. When decides I don't
feel like working today, Well what do you what do
you love to do? So what we were talking about
(29:33):
just now, we're talking about some of the things we
feel like we get to indulge in or some of
the things we get to enjoy more outside of work.
Like they talked about vacation time. Um, we talked about
Lara's spoke on running and exercise, vacation all that stuff.
What is it for you? What do you enjoy doing
during the off season that maybe you couldn't do during
(29:55):
this season. I love a good vacation anywhere with like
warm weather, a beach. It's just like the ocean is
just like my serenity now. And I'm from l A originally,
and so it's just like very much like okay, at
piece in the salt water. But yeah, I mean toil
I's point to I love exercising running. I mean no, no,
let me take that back. I do not like running,
but I like I like what happens after I run,
(30:17):
where I feel like refresh and I feel like fit.
But yeah, like the entire process of running is just
a struggle. Um. But also like I love swimming to
my building has a lap pool, and I was a
lifeguard for years, so that's one of those things like yes, yes,
lifeguard life, lifeguard life. And also just like watching good
movies or reading good books and all that kind of
(30:39):
stuff and just kind of immersing in something else because
you know, I think a lot of things too. It's
like with us, we work in sports, and I think
people think like that's all of our lives, and well,
I mean, I'll speak for myself. I love sports. I
love football, I love basketball like I love being a
part of it. But I also have other interests, you know,
like my I'm really into movies. I grew up around.
(30:59):
My dad's a filmmaker, and I just I'm really into
like old films or already films or whatever. I like,
you know, reading a good book or just kind of
just things that that are or aren't you know, going
to a museum or painting or what have you, and
just like kind of finding ways to create that creativity
that isn't uh you know, and like Serena said to it,
it'll jog like a thing. You're like, Oh, here's something
(31:21):
creative that I'm doing that is completely unrelated to my job,
but it might give me an idea of how I
can relate it to my job and come back and say, oh,
you know what, we could do this and this could
actually be fun content. So I thought about that, and
to your point, like when you guys think about football
only there's an epos somewhere I apologize, but um, when
you think about football only, but then you look at
(31:43):
these new savants, all these young head coaches, like the
Sean mcveigh's, like that guy changed the way running an
eleven personnel, you know on offense, Like he's thinking about
different things, and so we gotta do this thing like
this dude is becoming the most successful man and in football.
Well then you know, for all those listening that are
(32:03):
like I just want to watch sports all day, and
I'm give that point because that's what the majority be
found like, but you know, I think it's really healthy
to take that time off you're gonna actually be you
know they always tell high school students, right, Yo, don't
just play one sport. Get those mom, It's that's your
freaking brain. Quarterbacks who play baseball and learn you know,
(32:25):
the throwing, growing emotions, or or football players who take
dance in ballet and stuff like that for the footwork,
and it's just like it's a similar skill but using
a different approach to it. Yeah, totally. Um, alright, we're
gonna jump to something else because I'd love to talk
about this a little bit. Um Untold stories of team
reporters in the NFL. I'm sure we can. We're all
(32:49):
laughing here because I'm sure we can think of a
billion different stories. But I'm going to start off with
actually a pretty funny story. Um. It was like my
first year, my first season as a reporter in the NFL.
And you guys know that first year is so just Lara,
wasn't you who said it literally feels like you're drinking
from a fire hose. That's like perfect way, perfect way
(33:14):
to put it. But um, first year, you know, fresh
out of college, super excited to be in the NFL. This.
I was walking on the field and um, I ran
into these two gentlemen, some older cats, and they were like, hey,
do you mind taking a picture for us. I was like, yeah, sure,
no problem. So I like, in mind you you guys
(33:34):
know game day attire, you still have to dress professional,
like blazer or dress, whether to jump suit, whatever it is,
you're still dressing professional, right. So I'm sitting there trying
to take a picture of these guys on the field
and then I hand them back the phone and they
look at me and they're like, you're a cheerleader, right,
And I was like, excuse me, Yeah, you're a cheerleader, right,
(33:57):
I was like, no, like, no disrespect to the cheerleaders,
but I'm I'm actually a team reporter. And they literally
like looked at me, chuckled and walked away, And that
was like my first kind of smack reality hit, like
oh wow, like like like people literally don't always respect
(34:18):
like the female job in this in the league. So
that is my little untold story in the NFL, which
I laugh about to this day. I think it's funny now,
but just a small part of some of the things
that we deal with. And now you're kicking ass like
and hosting this incredible podcast in addition to everything else.
So I like wonder, I wonder what those guys are
thinking now when they like obviously see who you are.
(34:39):
They people are like, oh wait, I definitely made some
assumptions and you know generic um preconcert or preconceived notions
you know about all this. I mean, I know, I
know sometimes we get funny stories like that or just
some of the crazy things that I think we have
to deal with that I don't think people people always
realize some of the things that we have to deal with.
(35:00):
So I'm gonna throw it out there. Does anybody have
an untold story or something funny or worth mentioning that
would like to talk about on the pod. I've got
a crazy story of being on the road. And this
was when I was in college, So this was before
I was a team reporter. Um I was at Miszoo.
Shout out Miszoo. I know, I know, we've got a
(35:21):
q scrat on here, Serena words. I know, right, there's
always the top three Zo, Syracuse, Northwestern and are the
grads go at each other? Because you know, there's so
many great journals and schools out there, and um, I
know everybody, all of the team reporters, everybody went to
(35:41):
an awesome school and got such a great education. Um,
so there's so many to choose from and pick from.
I always get a lot of questions about, you know,
if I want to do this, where do I go
to school? You have a bunch of options, and the
options keep growing every year. But story time. So it
was my senior year in college. I to say we
were covering the SEC championship game, which was in the
(36:04):
Dome in Atlanta, So before Mercedes Benz Stadium was even
a thing where the Falcons used to play, MISSOO was
playing against Auburn in the SEC championship game. We are
staying kind of near the stadium in in an area
that wasn't It wasn't one of the nice areas. It
was a little bit more rundown, but hey, you know,
(36:26):
we couldn't afford to stay at a super nice hotel.
We were just there on the local TV's budget. Um,
which you're not staying in any super nice places anyway,
if you're on a local TV budget, by the way. Um.
And so, I was working for ko m U, our
local affiliate station, as a sports reporter there, and we
(36:46):
have the game, we get our butts kicked by Auburn.
I am so upset because it's my senior year. I
am done covering the zoo. Um Trey Mason Nick Marshall
ran all over mssoo's defense. It wasn't even a close game,
So I'm upset that this part of my life is over.
We get back to the hotel after after finishing our
(37:09):
show after the game, so it is later than late,
probably around one in the morning, I want to say
two in the morning. We get back because we had
like an eleven o'clock show, try and get into our
hotel room our key card would not work to get
into our hotel room. I am in a blazer, high
(37:30):
heels dress pants paid in my face twenty times by
the end of that day because we had so many
hits before the game and after the game. You know,
I just want to put on sweatpants. I just want
to be comfortable. I just want to go to sleep
because we are driving back to Missouri at the buck
crack of dawn. Kay, get into our room. Go downstairs,
(37:51):
ask like the concierge, Hey, our our key cards aren't working.
Do you know what's going on? Could you get us
a new card? And she's like, well, I don't know
what's going on, but let me let me make a
few phone calls. So we figure out that the key
cards aren't working because the battery in the door has died.
(38:11):
That difficulties, so it wasn't working, and it was an
area that was, like I said, wasn't the best area
and wasn't the best hotel room. And so she was like, yeah,
our guy who fixes that stuff isn't gonna be back
at the hotel for a couple of days. So we
can get you another room, but we can't get you
(38:33):
into your room I'm like, are you kidding me? You
know you're stuff. You're telling me I can't get into
my hotel room where I am in like six hours
to drive back to Maury for another two days. So
I say, can we break the door? Yeah? And she's
like I'm saying she was like yeah, no, ya, no, yes.
(38:57):
I'm like, do you have a crowbar? And so we
get a row bar and we start knocking the door
to shreds, like legit, like a legit crow bar. We
had people coming into the hallway being like what is
this noise? And this just like the shining, Like really,
Maddie's going to bust through the door. So people helped
(39:19):
us break the door and we were able to get
into our room and get our stuff, which by that
time it was like four in the morning, got maybe
an hour of sleep, and then got on the road
to get to get back home to Missouri. So these
there things that happened on the road that you know,
you may not think whatever happened. You're breaking down a
hotel room door, and I was like, I'm not paying
(39:41):
for this, incidental like a student to like, I don't
have money to pay for this. Also, what were they
expecing you to wait like four days just you know,
in the hallway and the clothes on your back, like
with everything that you seriously though, like cool way in
the hallway, Like I'll sleep on the ground, use my
(40:04):
heel as a pillow, like no big deal of some
thing too. I think a lot of people don't realize
about our industry is like how many like late night
travel situations not all like this glamorous like oh, we've
got our makeup done and we're on TV and we're
talking what you see on Instagram and then it's like okay,
now at six am, I gotta get on a flight
or I gotta get here or whatever. I have a
(40:26):
story actually kind of like similar to that on the
pre NFL days. Before covering the NFL, I was covering
the Clippers for five years. And when I was there, uh,
we were playing. We're on a road trip and it
was the first night of a back to back. We're
playing in Denver and then flying out to playing Phoenix
the next night. And Denver. I don't know if you
(40:48):
guys have ever been to a basketball game in Denver
the Pep Center, but the court is like a little
bit raised off the ground, and then on the corners
there these little gaps or they're these little kind of
things that go down, but on one corner there's like
a gap between the ramp and the court, and so
full disclosure, like I'm wearing a new skirt, and like
I'll be honest, I felt like I looked cute. So
(41:09):
I was like walking around, you know, doing my pregame stuff,
and then the lights come down the national anthem and
all that kind of stuff, and they start doing intros.
So I'm walking off the court to finish up my
pregame before I go up to the seat to cover
the actual game. And as I'm walking off the court,
I don't see the gap between the court and the
(41:29):
and my heel gets stuck and I full on like
chalk outline like hit the ground, like just boom. And
by the time I like really like, I like hit
the ground. And then as that's happening, the lights are
coming up, and I'm just like, Okay, it's fine, it's fine,
it's fine. And like you know that feeling when you
fall so hard that like your knee has its own pulse,
and so I was like my kneelsing, my elbows are pulsing.
(41:52):
I do not feel like I was like everything hurts.
I just slowly stand up, dust myself up, start walking
out the tunnel, and all of a sudden, I hear miss.
I turned around. The security guy is running after me,
taking his coat off. Apparently when I hit the ground,
I split my skirt open and was face down, bare
(42:12):
ass in front of se people. He gives me his coat.
I put it around myself. I run back into our
locker room and I asked Pete, are then equipment manage
from like Pete telling me of sweatpants. He's like, we're
on the back to back. We're flying out to Phoenix
in like the second the game is over, so literally
(42:33):
all of the equipment that is not being used in
the game is already on the plane. So I'm running
around trying to find something to cover my bottom so
I can work this before the game even starts. I
find a scarf. I had a scarf, so I wrapped
the scarf around myself and then put my like broken
skirt over it so it looked like a sensor bar almost,
(42:53):
And I worked the rest of the game with like
bloody knees and this like ass thing, and I was whatever,
and I remember the locker room afterwards, like Chris Paul
was like, I mean, usually you're you're good at putting
outfits together, but what is this you're going with. So
we get up after the game. I finished it, I
do my interviews whatever. We get on the plane and
one of the equipment guys has a pair of sweatpants
(43:15):
on the plane that he gives me. My knees are
still throbbing, my elbows are throbbing. We fly from Denver
to Phoenix. We get to the hotel there and like
we're getting our hotel key cards and whatever, and I'm
just exhausted. At this point. I'm like, what a day.
I get in the elevator and I'm in the elevator
with two other players from our team and they start snickering,
and I'm like, what are you snickering at? And finally
(43:36):
one of the guys looks at me and he goes,
I wasn't gonna say anything, but that shot was funny.
Talking about insults and injury exactly. But long story long,
it's like, Okay, I can't take yourself too seriously in
this industry. Also be very mindful of wearing heels and
(43:58):
where you're walking long nights. So wow, I'm so sorry
to hear that. Honestly, the we could laugh about it
now because I'm sure we all have a tripping story
where we've spilled ourselves or ripped paints or something like
I empathized, empathized with that. Has anyone ever gotten I'm curious,
(44:20):
since we're on the topic, has anyone ever gotten drilled
by the football in either a game or practice. I
guess I got a concussion last year by getting hit
in the head. They had to put on the little cart.
It was after the game. And the worst part is
it's like, so I've had a lot of this was
my tent actual like hospitalized concussion and I'm not even
(44:42):
a football player. But the worst part is we were
setting what I want to be a lot of playing
the NFL. If you wanted to know, one of my
calls me Billy Bob from what movies that because of?
But yeah, and we were setting up to do our
post game and it was I was standing in front
of the camera and people were out and somebody kicked
a football and it hit me in the head. And
(45:03):
the worst part is Mike Beckton, our camera guy, wasn't
even rolling. So I don't even have the video of
like that. But yeah, I end up having like it
was so embarrassing being like on the little gurney and
I'm just like, hey, guys, sorry, I took you on
the gurney. They took you off on the gurneyfore saying
oh my god. So I can't even imagine high Chris.
(45:25):
So nobody else has been hit by a football. I
was in college. I was hit on nationally television. I
got trucked by a player back in my local TV
DACE because I was shooting highlights high school football. Like
and I am, I'm just first job out of college,
super Green, shooting high school football highlights, and I mean
this was probably my first season doing it. And yeah,
(45:47):
and so the thing is too is I'm the new kid.
So the thing I'm worried about is like protect the camera.
I wasn't worried about like tearing an a c LS.
Like you know, this running back runs off, you know,
off the sideline and gets trucked as he's going out
of bounds and so I'm like, oh, where did he?
Where did he go? Like I'm trying to follow, and
then I'm like like like straight back. I mean, luckily
(46:11):
I'm short, I'm low to the ground, I didn't have
far to fall, but like my whole thing was like, no,
the camera, save the camera, Yeah, the lens. Yeah, so
that was absolutely But I too can totally empathize metal
and like I am the clumsiest. So yeah, tripping, falling, spilling,
(46:31):
like all of that to the point where, like I
think almost every game, I have like some sort of
like back back up apparel if I if it happens
where I, you know, dropped something on myself, because now
I've just learned that you know, tied pens and and
you know, the shout wipe is just only gonna get
you so far. Were you still an entire cup of
coffee on yourself, that shout wipe is gonna be doing
(46:53):
work or when you spill it. Literally any type of food,
even though we don't have time to eat usually on
on game days, so you like anytime you're like stuffing
your face and it's like five minutes. I don't know
if this happens to you guys, but literally this happens
to me all the time because I'm so clumsy. I'm
just five minutes before I go on air never fails.
(47:13):
I always am eating something smacked out in the middle,
and I'm like, I'm always that person too, who is
I'm super forgetful sometimes too, like bring extra outfits, you
know how, like we should always bring extra outfits or
an extra pair of shoes. Yes, so, I can't even
tell you more times than one I've spilt on myself
(47:35):
and then legit had to like use my hair to
cover it up or like now in post game, and
then to get all the comments she was standing really weird,
like why was she looking like that a game? They
say never read the comments section, but it's like a
moth to the flame, you can't look aay, it's so true.
We're like, oh, keep going, why don't you love? All right, ladies, Well,
(48:03):
we're gonna wrap this up. Um, thank you guys so much.
This so to everyone who was listening, We're just gonna
reiterate it one more time. This is one episode of
our Team Reporter series. We're gonna get more Team reporters
on from around the league to talk about our experiences
being a female in this industry and just overall laughing
enjoying one another, which we already do. Like we said
(48:23):
in our little group chat. But welcome to a little
preview of our group chat. Ladies. Thank you so so
much for joining me today. Um I hope your stories
gave everybody a little laugh and a little bit more
insight on what we do as team reporters. But until
we all talk again, ladies, thank you so much for
joining me for this episode of The New Yorker Podcast,
presented by Visa
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