June 4, 2025 • 32 mins
She’s a Dallas sweetheart with NFL sideline swagger—and she’s just getting started.
Jane Slater has built a career at the NFL Network that most sports journalists only dream of, thanks to her unmatched grit, hustle, and heart. But there’s so much more to Jane than breaking stories and game-day glam.
In this episode, Jane opens up like never before—about finding true love, dialing in on her health, and learning to thrive both on and off the field. She’s raw, real, and refreshingly unfiltered.
If you already love Jane, get ready to love her even more. And if you don’t know her yet… you’re about to meet your new favorite powerhouse.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, y'all. It's Sarah Subiata Bennett, and I am
(00:02):
pumped for today's episode ofLet's Talk Local. Joining me is
none other than the fabulousJane Slater, a true Dallas gem
and a total rock star in theworld of sports broadcasting.
Jane's been holding it down atthe NFL Network for the last
decade, Breaking stories,breaking barriers, and today
she's here to dish on all thingsDallas and what life's like
constantly on the move. Trustme, this conversation is just as
(00:24):
fun as it is inspiring.
Jane's one of my favorite humanson the planet and after this
episode, she might be one ofyours too. So hit those like and
subscribe buttons and let's diveinto this awesome convo with the
one and only Jane Slater. Jane,thank you for making it in. I
(00:53):
absolutely love you. You're mygirl and you are a boss.
We have some freaking I havesome boss friends, don't I
Shannon? Like how incredible arethey? And as I was sitting here
kind of driving in and I waspraying, was just like, how
grateful am I to be at thispoint in my life, have such
(01:13):
wonderful women in my corner? Ijust wish I could see you more,
but we're both traveling likecrazy.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
It gave me chills, right, as you said that, Sarah,
because I've said that to somany friends lately. I mean, not
to get too personal, but I knowthat you and I have dealt with
loss with our parents. And Ithink you and I value
relationships a lot. We do. Whenyou start
Speaker 1 (01:33):
seeing Almost to a fault sometimes. About getting
emotional.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I know. When you start seeing things through that
lens, you are so appreciative.People show up in different
ways. So I don't judge them howthey show up. But again, chills.
At my age, I have so many womenthat are in my corner, but that
I respect and I push. Even whenI met you, there was sort of
this you you can kind of I seeparts of myself in you and I
(01:59):
think you saw that vice Ofcourse, yes. And it was just so
authentic in the sense that Idon't feel like I have to call
you every day to be bestfriends. That when we see each
other, it's like we're pickingup, we're always cheering each
other on. And when I saw youdoing this, it was so exciting
to me because I think the onething that I gravitated to you
over was just how intelligentand curious you've always been.
(02:19):
And I just love finding womenthat carry themselves that way
and that feel empowered enoughjust to have a voice, have an
opinion. You. You know? And soand don't force those opinions
on people. It's more of like, ifyou want to talk, I'm interested
about these things.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
And so I think that's, I love that you're
kicking that off with thisbecause it's the off season. I
don't love doing podcasts orbeing interviewed.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Oh my god, I know. I know.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
When it's you She loves me. Exactly. But when it's
you, I enjoy having authenticconversations with you, whether
it's recorded or if it's offlineand we're out at the ranch.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I'm so excited that I get to spend time with you this
weekend. I know it's gonna be abig bash, but just to be able to
meet this part of you, thisother half of you these days.
Can you tell us a little bitabout him? Yes. Are you willing
to?
I am.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Okay. You know, it's so funny when they say that when
you meet the right person, it'lljust fit. You don't have to
force it. And I think, in my jobI put a lot out there on my
Instagram. And I authenticallysometimes forget that strangers
follow me, as weird as thatYeah, no, I get it.
(03:32):
And so I post my lifeorganically. I don't feel like
it's curated. I don't feel likethere's ever an intent behind
it, or I haven't beenmasterplaning what I want the
aesthetic of my life to looklike. But you also open yourself
up to scrutiny. And so, youknow, I'm 44 years old.
And I think the easy narrativeis, well, why isn't she married
(03:55):
or have kids? She must be crazy.Or she must be just obsessed
with her job. And the truth is,I was married once. And when
that didn't work out, and I gaveup a lot of things that were
important to me for thatmarriage, I really focused on my
job for a while, and I'm proudof that.
But then you find yourselfalmost getting too used to being
(04:15):
independent that I think thatcan sometimes stand in the way
of an authentic conversationwith people or letting them help
you or being in your feminine.And when I met Oh, yes. When I
met my person, we were justwalking out of a concert. And we
locked eyes, and he pursued methe way that you should pursue a
(04:37):
Oh, I didn't know that. Multipledates, and it was kind of this
slow burn.
And there's just an authenticityto him. We're in the same age
class. And I think he's the guyI've ever dated that always
makes me feel like he's got it.Like a true man. And a man in
the sense of he's not out theretrying to be this machismo.
(05:00):
He just makes me feel like forthe time in my life, I've got
someone that can help me.Because I feel like I can take
care of everything. You almostkind of being the oldest
daughter, pursuing a job likethis, you of you figure it out.
And when you've allowed somebodyyou got married once and it
didn't work out you letsomebody. And when they didn't
(05:21):
feel helpful, you're like, well,I tried that and I got burned.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And so I tried not to harden over the years, right?
And then I kept striking out. Itwasn't like I wasn't trying, but
then I felt like I was kind offorcing it too as I got older.
Well, maybe you're not going toget everything. And I think
those things are not meant towork.
And it's weird. I don't think Iwould have met this guy if I
hadn't been with my last becausethey shared a mutual group of
(05:46):
friends. I just I believe in thebutterfly effect. I believe in
Kismet. And yeah, he this is theperson I've ever been with where
I just for us, it's not a matterof if, it's a matter of when.
And when I say that, some of myfriends are like, oh, are you
Okay? Then he will come in andaffirm it right there on the
spot. He's very good ataffirming. He's very good at
(06:07):
leading. And it's the time Ifelt truly in my femininity.
And I wish I could explain thatto men, that there
Speaker 1 (06:15):
is I understand that.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
And it's like when you find that, there's a level
of peace. And I don't think aman should define you. But it's
certainly when you feel like youhave like a true partner, an
equal emotionally,intellectually, I just feel like
life is just getting started.That's exciting at 44.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Is. It is, it is. And I'm sitting here getting a
little emotional because I'mthinking about the role models
that you had in your mom andyour dad. Yeah. It was
beautiful.
And I am just so grateful thatyou have found that partner for
yourself. Because I can tellyou, I mean my dad before he
passed clearly, whenever Montycame into my life he said, oh my
(07:03):
God, finally a man that you willnot walk all over.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Well and I think you and I, we don't want to be that,
right?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Of course not.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
And I think that was horrible
Speaker 1 (07:14):
doing And that was
Speaker 2 (07:14):
kind of the hardest thing for me to articulate or
try to explain to people. Idon't want to be in this
masculine It's exhausting.Right? I don't want to always be
tough. For sure.
I would prefer to be soft. Yep.And I think it was a side that
only a few people saw. And Ihated that because I
authentically felt that wayabout myself, but I wasn't
(07:36):
projecting that. Yeah.
And it's funny you bring up thatbecause my mom was she was a
silent type A.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
That's what you said.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah. But my parents met. And they from meeting to
marriage, eleven weeks. And Ithink my brother and sister and
I always thought that it wasalmost hard to replicate that.
Yeah.
But I truly feel like I foundthat. That's
Speaker 1 (07:57):
what's so Jane, I love it.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
It's a very confident, healthy, mature we
give each other our space. Andwe're so supportive. And it's
probably the person I've everbeen with that if I and I
wouldn't do this. But if Iwanted to look through his
phone, or I wanted to walk intoa room but not completely walk
(08:20):
in to see how they speak of me,he would never speak ill of me
in a room. I love that.
And I feel like I was competingwith a lot of people I dated
before. And that's exhausting.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
It is. It is exhausting. And I know that
feeling. Monty absolutely lovesme. And it's the best feeling,
right?
To know that they have your backat all times. Yesterday I went
to lunch with Kelly Surna, youknow her.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
And
Speaker 1 (08:50):
she was like, you have to work out with me. And I
thought, oh my God, I wassupposed to do this with Jane
forever ago. Do you do one ofthose passes?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Is that what you said that you were doing? So, mean,
we can get into another chapterof our lives at 44. And then
after losing my mom and Istarted noticing weight gain
that wasn't normal for me. And alot of people look at me and
say, oh, well, she's size four.You're tiny.
But for me, I was caring for mybody a lot heavier than My face
(09:23):
felt inflamed. I wasn't eatingwell. I was getting the night
sweats. I was getting thedepression that was really But
when you're dealing with thissituation with your mom, your
job, you don't know if it'sdepression, if it's you're just
not eating right. Well, it'sperimenopause.
And I went and got my AMHlevels, so if you're not
(09:44):
familiar with that, it's youregg reserves. And I think my mom
had a hysterectomy when she was29. Oh. So I could never ask
her, well, did you startmenopause?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Got it.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And when I talked to my aunts about it, they'd be
like, oh, you're silly. Wedidn't start until we were in
our 50s. And even though mymenses were very regular, I knew
something was up. And sureenough, my AMH levels were so
low. And I'll never forgetgetting the paperwork that said
(10:17):
hormones with big exclamationpoints.
I have the best OBGYN. And itwas bio identical hormones. And
once I got on estrogen, I all ofa sudden felt 28 again. I was
doing a bunch of HIT classes andputting strain on my body. When
you go into those hot classes, Ilove Ritual one.
I love doing the hot That's
Speaker 1 (10:39):
one of me to go.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
It's great. Is it? But I was doing it four or five
times a week. And I think whenyou're doing it really hot and
you're not using the best,you're not lifting as heavy,
you're also not I mean, you'reso dehydrated. I mean, would go
through a huge thing of water.
I went back to and people arekind of rolling their eyes these
days, but it's true. Protein,protein, protein. As you get in
(11:01):
your 40s, I started liftingheavy and just weight training.
And then using the rucksacks,you know, the weighted Oh, I I
have never been in better shape.Have energy has not existed
since my 20s.
I'm eating well. I'm happy. Ifeel like the brain fog, the
depression, all the stuff thatcomes with perimenopause has
disappeared for me. And so I'vejust been encouraging women,
(11:25):
look, I'm not a doctor. But forme at this age, nobody is
talking enough about I thinkthere's some celebrities that
have come out here lately, likeNaomi Watts, Halle Berry.
But I think as a woman, when youstart talking about menopause,
you just start feeling old. Ithink I have to raise my hand
(11:45):
and say I didn't I talk about alot of things. I didn't feel
quite comfortable yet talkingabout that. But it's worked so
well for me that I justencourage women, go and find
someone that will do the bloodwork.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Kind of moving over, if you're even able to talk
about it, the most difficultparts of your job because I
thought about that a lotactually. When I was kind of in
these really dark spaces myself,I mean you know after my father
passed I went to traumatreatment for forty days. Mean
like But dark shadows in my pastbut dark shadows in my past just
(12:20):
really surface. And I get thatI've had a more challenging life
than a lot of people, which isfine. It's just how and I
thought to myself, how is itthat people like Jane or right
and then I think about all thesepeople who are on TV all the
time, what do they do when theycan't show up?
(12:42):
When they can't do that? Is thatthe most challenging aspect of
your job or is it the schedule,right?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Got really, really lucky that I had really
compassionate bosses. Good. Imean, this is now my tenth year
with the NFL Network. Probablyone of the Tenth year, which is
crazy. I mean, most of time inour jobs, Shannon will know
this.
You get one to two years jobsecurity.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And it's such a volatile business these And I
just had really incrediblebosses. And I tried not to take
advantage of it, but theyallowed me to show up and I
think you know this about me.I'm pretty much an open book.
Yep, same here. And so I wouldjust tell them, here's what I'm
dealing And I think it'simportant because I think you
(13:29):
and I show up in ways to otherswhere they think there's no
struggle.
Or I got really, really pissedoff a couple of years ago when
it was during COVID and I putout this tweet about a free
internship. And the fact thatWalter Cronkite, AOC, The View,
weaponized it and turned it intosomething it wasn't. And then
(13:50):
they went and found an articleabout me praising my grandfather
for his emotional and financialhelp in college. He was the
president of Wolf BrandChildren. Oh, Wolf, yeah.
And the the assumption was thatthe the headline in The UK Daily
Mail, and it was right rightabove Megxit. My boss joked, oh,
look. You're bigger than Megxit.Was that chili baroness or chili
(14:14):
heiress thinks people shouldwork for free. That was the
headline.
And I was livid because I'mfriends with so many people in,
the media industry. Someonecould have gotten my phone
number, messaged me, and I had alot of people sliding into my
DMs and life explaining me. AndI was like, wait a minute. This
was for a performance centerduring COVID who couldn't do
(14:35):
interviews for, you know, kidsgoing or these future draft
prospects. And normally, you'reable to highlight their lives,
their training, who they are asmen, and they weren't getting
that access.
And I had mentioned to them,well, why don't you just hire an
intern to help set up theseinterviews? And for them, they
(14:55):
could set up their own reel andmaybe it turns into a real job.
And they said, we don't have thefunding for it. And where would
you even find them? I go, well,let me just put out this tweet.
I'll say that it's not free.Don't have the budget. But I
would have loved thisopportunity. And people turned
it into something. And I foundmyself having to fend.
My parents weren't perfect. Mydad struggled with alcoholism.
(15:18):
And you don't want put yourparents' business out there.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Childhood was not easy. Yeah. And we didn't grow
up the way people see me and Butit's easier. Yeah. And so I
found myself getting verydefensive about And I think that
was a challenge for me.
And I had to sort of have atalking to from the network
saying that I couldn't go afterpeople. But when you're coming
(15:44):
from my family, you'remisrepresenting who I am or the
fact that my grandfather had nocollege education, grew up with
two deaf parents, spent most ofhis time in the Maryland School
for the Deaf, and made somethingof himself. But you're also
suggesting that I have thiscache of cash. Do you think I
would put up with billionairesfor a living? Or some of the
millionaire athletes in the waythat they can sometimes treat
(16:06):
people If that if I came fromthat same background, absolutely
not.
And so it was that that wasfrustrating for me back then.
Just I think some people, youknow, they it comes with the
territory, But they see you andthey make assumptions about you.
Mhmm. And that's fine. I enjoyhaving spirited dialogues with
(16:27):
people that I'm very differentthan Same.
What you might assume. But, youknow, I find not a ton of people
give you the space to explainthat. People are so lazy about
journalism these days, and Ithink that's what really
frustrates me sometimes. And Iwill say that I think that
experience, though, going backto the gratitude, made me even
more vigilant in how I reportedon others. And I go out of my
(16:50):
way to get a three sixtyperspective.
Yeah. Every single side of thestory. And, you know, I think
sometimes as annoying as it isto find yourself and it's I will
tell you, when you find yourselfbecoming the story, it's the one
thing they teach journalists.You report the story, you don't
become the story. It gave me alevel of anxiety and I think I'm
(17:11):
really deeply appreciative ofthat when people allow me
opportunity to share theirstory.
I'm so sensitive about it nowbecause I don't want to
misrepresent them or theirjourney.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
You know Jane, there is something about you that is
so down to earth. And I'm notjust saying it because you're my
friend, but it's just you'reapproachable, people feel safe
with you, you're kind. Andbecause you do kind of put it
all out there, there's atrustworthiness that comes along
with you, which I love. Andsometimes I think to myself, I
(17:47):
bet these guys are just thrilledand always wanting to talk to
her and all these things. ButI'm sure, and I know, some of
them can be absolute jerks.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Well, and I also think the other things that I
I'm still relatively younglooking. You are. I've done
events where I'm interviewing aplayer and a wife will be in the
audience. And you feelattention. And even when I dated
guys, they assumed that I'm onthe road dating all of these
(18:19):
players.
And so you're always having toalso prove yourself, hey, this
is a job. And I'm not interestedin dating. I might hang out with
an attractive group of girls andthere might be this assumption
that I'm in it for this or that.And that can be a challenge
(18:40):
sometimes You know me. I'm moreof a girl's girl.
Yeah. You know, I've I can verymuch be a, you know, a guy's
girl, but I'm looking out forthe women and their husbands and
their boyfriends. Are, girl. Youknow? Oh, you are.
I you know, that's that's alwaysthat that's always tricky too.
You know? It's I tell myself I'mnot, you know, I'm not sitting
(19:04):
here investigating Watergateevery day. That's right. There
is a level of entertainmentvalue in what I do, and
sometimes that's also a strugglethat I have because I got in
this and started out eight yearsin hard news reporting.
I consider myself still verymuch a journalist. Yeah. And our
business has sort of continuedto go the way of entertainment
and less journalism. And so Istruggle with that sometimes. I
(19:25):
think when you go back to thevulnerability, I've always found
I don't want to share thingswith people who are keeping
parts of themselves closed.
You want me to open up.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
But yet, you're not willing to share anything. I
think when you look atVulnerability. And it's funny
when you look back at some ofthe journalists that I looked up
to. Barbara Walters, I'll neverforget what she came out with
her salacious book. She had awhole another life,
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
But I found Barbara Walters so much more
interesting. And I think you area more interested person when
you've had an interesting lifebecause you know there's layers
to people. And for me, thereason why I love being
journalists is I love peelingthe onion and understanding
people. My favorite people arethe ones that are you know,
(20:09):
misaligned in society. Peoplehave got it like, a very strong
narrative about them.
And those are the people I wannainterview because I wanna know
why it got to that point. Yeah.And so I've always found myself,
you know, particularly widereceivers in the league. They
have the biggest personalities.Really?
Yes. We like Oh, that'sinteresting. We crush them for
their passion on the field ortheir personalities. And you
(20:29):
don't get to know them. And onceyou get to know them, you have a
deeper appreciation for them.
And so I've truly I don't lovegoing out and just getting
stories. I love getting to knowwhat makes people tick,
particularly people who haveovercome great adversity to
become successful. And I findselfishly, I'm always looking
(20:51):
for what's the secret. Yeah. Youknow, I find like I learn
something about myself orsomething I can work on through
interviews.
And that's how I approach a lotof my interviews. I really love
connecting with people. You,
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I bet, can guess what player might come in and shake
things up to rock the core andthe foundation of a team pretty
quickly. Because a lot of peopledon't have that gift.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I think it's an energetic thing. It is. I think
energetically I can sensewhether a person has good or bad
motives, or if they'remisunderstood, or they're very
understood. Or maybe they don'tknow how to articulate their
passion or their drive or theirneeds. And so sometimes I'm
(21:45):
wrong.
100 I think we're all guilty ofbias. But I think energetically,
I have a good sense of who mypeople are. I was at Longhorn
Network at ESPN and I had a bosswho literally had somebody come
in, a consultant, because shedidn't think I knew sports. And
it pissed me off. I was like, Ihad a five day a week, four hour
(22:06):
sports talk show.
But instead of using that to bemad, I came back so ready the
next season to prove And then Ididn't get re upped. They
eliminated the position. If ithadn't been for that, wouldn't
have landed NFL Network. Andauthentically, I love covering
the NFL. I love NFL football.
More than college, all of that.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, I do too.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
So I found exactly where I was supposed to be. But
if I had been constantly toldyes or stayed in the college
stratosphere, I wouldn't havegotten to this place. And so I
always tell people, fail. Failoften. Rejection is good.
Because I always find that youend up exactly where you're
supposed to be. You're right.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
So I'm thinking, Okay, people still love the
Cowboys, right? Always will.Yeah. It is really America's
team. And do you think there areany possible people who looking
at who the Cowboys are lookingat this point or perhaps having
option to drop certain people tofree up some capital, that may
(23:08):
actually position the Cowboys tohave a good season?
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I actually think and people it's so funny. You know,
I was critical of the Cowboysthe last couple seasons, so much
so that you know, I heard itfrom Steven at Combine. Uh-huh.
But my argument was, you can'tfind good people at training
camp or during the season,
Speaker 1 (23:30):
and
Speaker 2 (23:32):
you're not giving your team the best chance to
build, gel the culture if you'redoing this so late.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
And this year, they went out and I think they did a
really good job of finding somereally they called it
selectively aggressive somereally smart pieces for each
position that they were missing.And then they were able, because
they did it early, to draft withintention. The Cowboys are a
different team in the sense thatof all the 32 teams I cover,
(24:00):
there's not a lot of turnover inthe front office. The way they
do things is very different.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Oh, Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And I think a lot of outsiders that come in don't
quite get that. Or they getfrustrated that there's all
these leaks, whatever. Well,reporters and people have been
here for forever. Yeah. And Ithink gets that, but I think
Shoddy also appreciates like,when you ask him questions, when
you and I sit in an interview,don't you find yourself buying
in or listening to what peoplehave to say when they're giving
(24:27):
you complete answers?
They're thoughtful answers. Theywant to talk to you. That's how
he is with us in the media.That's how he is with the team.
Now, I continue to couch this bysaying, I have no clue how
that's going to translatethroughout the season.
Because I think we prematurelysay, oh, the Eagles are going to
repeat, or Washington's the teamto watch. I think we should
watch out for the Giants, quitefrankly. I think Jackson Dart's
got a little something to himwith Cam Scatabow, the running
(24:50):
back up there. But I keepsaying, as much as I've talked
about energy and culture feelingdifferent, this because I feel
like he really authenticallywants it to be. I asked him in
the introductory pressconference, when this is all
said and done, what do you wantto be known for?
And he said, for having the bestculture in all of sports. And I
(25:11):
was such an interesting answerto me. It wasn't Okay. It wasn't
obviously that comes with all ofOf course. But if you look at
these teams who they'll go backand they'll be like, that was
the greatest season.
Or we had if you look at theEagles, they had a bunch of
adversity in the beginning.Yeah. They were they had a
really young defense. They werestruggling. Vic Fangio was kind
(25:31):
of an older coach who'd come in,and they turned the season
around.
If you ask any of those guys, itwas culture. And so everyone
kind of rolls their eyes whenyou say culture because it's one
of those intangible things.Can't Can't buy it. You can't
explain it. It's organic.
And I think there's somethingspecial happening around there.
I think a lot of those guys feellike they've got something
approved too. I think Dak feelslike he's got something
(25:51):
approved.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
As you know, to be in this career, in this industry
for as long as you've been, andto be a woman, it's almost
unheard of.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I will say that there sometimes is a gut check. As
women, we are such peoplepleasers.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
And
Speaker 2 (26:05):
so if we go up to someone and we want to ask a
question, and I've had one guygo, I'm not effing talking to
you, It kinda it makes you kindof Of course. Like, oh. What did
I you find yourself going, well,what did I do?
Speaker 1 (26:17):
That's that.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
And you as you get older, you find yourself going,
that's not a Mm-mm.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Me problem.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
That's a you problem. That's right. And then I found
it was universal. He was doingit to all the other players. So
it wasn't personal.
But as a woman, I hate thatthat's our instinct of, well,
what
Speaker 1 (26:29):
did I do? The less than.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
And so I think if you can I think in order to stay in
this business, I think as awoman Mhmm? You don't have to
masculine up, but you sort of dohave to check-in with yourself
every day and do a little gutcheck. And just say, you know, I
deserve to be here.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
And Lord knows you do. I'm like, I'm going to just
hit some questions real fast,like fast. We love it. And then
I want you to just give yourbest impromptu answer.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Okay. All right. Best NFL mascot.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
He gets killed, but I'm going to have to go with
Tutti for the Commanders. Okay,yes. Yes. Is so obnoxious to so
many people because he's likethis commander that's a pig. And
he's awkward, and he's funny.
But people just bust up on him,and I find him so entertaining.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
So I'm going Tutty.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Okay. I love that. Okay. Most epic game you've ever
covered?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Oh, that's easy. That was Saints, Rams. There was a no
call. I'm in New Orleans. It'sthe postseason.
So the refs don't make thiscall. Rams advance. It was a one
season. Sean Payton was about togo back. Probably his best team.
And when I say we're allowed onthe field five minutes
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Mhmm.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Before the game ends, the Superdome in New Orleans is
a special place to watch
Speaker 1 (27:44):
a game.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
It is so loud. The people are decked out in Mardi
Gras outfits for every game. Imean, women wearing the most
obnoxious gold sequins, andeveryone is just hammered. I
mean, it's just for them, it'stheir college and NFL team
rolled up in one, and it's meantso much to them since Katrina.
And to watch that no call andjust the energy sucked out of
the the building, That
Speaker 1 (28:07):
was tough. Best NFL wife girlfriend you've met?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
I really enjoy Lauren Rush, Cooper Rush's Okay. She's
really, really great. She lookscool. And Ida Cobb, she is
Randall Cobb's wife. Okay.
She is a chemical patentattorney. Stunningly gorgeous,
so smart. They have the mostbeautiful kids, beautiful
family. So absolutely love them.And then Taylor Lewand's wife,
Taylen.
(28:30):
When I met her at Pro Bowl, shewas fishing in the pond behind
the hotel. And they have a farm.And she is this stunning beauty
from Vancouver. And they arejust the most down to earth,
awesome So yeah, I love some ofthose Okay.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
How about the best fan base in the NFL? I know the
Cowboys claim it, but who reallystacks up?
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I'll have to go with the Eagles. Okay. People are
gonna hate when I say that. AreI brought my dad to his Super
Bowl, and I covered the Eaglesthis year. And my dad had to be
in a hotel with the Eagles fans.
And that was they are I wouldsay they're the wildest. Uh-huh.
But I took my dad to a 49ersCowboys postseason game Uh-huh.
While my mom was sick. Mhmm.
(29:11):
And I only had one seat for him,and it was in the end zone. And
the 49er fans treated him likeone of their own. They were
buying him beers. They walkedinto his car to make sure he was
okay. And my dad was, like, neartears in the car.
He was like, Jade, I don't evencare if the Cowboys lost. That
was my Super Bowl. And so shoutout to the 49er fans the way
they treated my dad. Really goodThat's amazing. And the Buffalo
(29:32):
Bills fan base is alwaysamazing.
After a loss or if a teamadvances, they're always
donating money to a charity ofthat team's choice or one of the
players' choices. That is anincredible fan base in Buffalo.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Wow. Chili debate beans or no beans?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
I like chili so many different ways.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
So I like beans and no beans. I don't have a strong
take on that Okay, good.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Favorite patio in Dallas?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Dosie Mesas over there at the Knox Henderson
area. It's a cute little house.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
How is it?
Speaker 2 (30:02):
It's got so much charm. And I just went to an
incredible patio in Bishop Art.It's called the By Zelda. And it
was a former Dallas mayor'shouse. And it's incredible
Turkish food, so it's got allthe tapas, whatever, and it has
an incredible view of DowntownDallas.
So really, really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Oh my god, I'm so glad
Speaker 2 (30:19):
that's And then you'll always catch me at Monkey
Bar.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Best girls night out spot?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
We're a Bistro thirty one group as girls.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Oh yeah,
Speaker 2 (30:25):
yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1 (30:26):
It's always fun. Okay, best underrated place to
watch a game in Dallas? I enjoyChelsea's Corner.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Oh, yes. Backyard is awesome. I love it.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
We love Chelsea's Corner. Yeah. Okay, timer tip.
If someone's visiting Dallas forthe time, what do they
absolutely have to do?
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I mean, sounds cliche, but I think any time I
take someone to Highland ParkVillage Yeah. It's just so
obnoxious. And you know, you'rejust you're seeing all these
people dressed up to the nineson a you know, it's anytime I go
to other cities, I don't seethis in LA. Uh-huh. I don't see
it.
It might be it's people youknow, it's it's incredible. They
(31:02):
see the cars. Yes. So I wouldtake them there. I know that
sounds obnoxious, but I wouldtake them there.
And then I find it fascinating.I'm such a history buff. I love
politics too. I mean, I thinkgoing down to Dealey Plaza is
fascinating.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yes, ma'am. I knew you were going to say that.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yes. Think it's you know what's sad is I didn't even
know where the ex was, which isso morbid to begin with. But I
lived right down the street fromit. And during COVID, I would
Speaker 1 (31:26):
go out
Speaker 2 (31:26):
and walk every day. And that was the time I saw
exactly where it was. And peoplewere always shocked. Growing up
in Dallas, you never saw whereKennedy was shot? No.
So I think that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
It is. And last but not least, what is the best date
spot
Speaker 2 (31:40):
in all DFW? Let's do that. It's so funny because
we're not the biggest we reallylike Paradiso Okay, yeah. And
Bishop Arts. I think that'sreally great.
But for us, it's music. We lovegoing to concerts. So for us,
it's very much a good concertand dive bar.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I love it. Oh my god, Jane. I'm so glad that you were
able to come in.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yes, thank
Speaker 1 (32:03):
you for having me.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
You're the best. The You're
Speaker 1 (32:05):
an angel. Appreciate it. Oh my god, you too. Alright,
we're done. Thank you my love.
Love you.
Hey, y'all. It's Sarah Subiata Bennett, and I am
(00:02):
pumped for today's episode ofLet's Talk Local. Joining me is
none other than the fabulousJane Slater, a true Dallas gem
and a total rock star in theworld of sports broadcasting.
Jane's been holding it down atthe NFL Network for the last
decade, Breaking stories,breaking barriers, and today
she's here to dish on all thingsDallas and what life's like
constantly on the move. Trustme, this conversation is just as
(00:24):
fun as it is inspiring.
Jane's one of my favorite humanson the planet and after this
episode, she might be one ofyours too. So hit those like and
subscribe buttons and let's diveinto this awesome convo with the
one and only Jane Slater. Jane,thank you for making it in. I
(00:53):
absolutely love you. You're mygirl and you are a boss.
We have some freaking I havesome boss friends, don't I
Shannon? Like how incredible arethey? And as I was sitting here
kind of driving in and I waspraying, was just like, how
grateful am I to be at thispoint in my life, have such
(01:13):
wonderful women in my corner? Ijust wish I could see you more,
but we're both traveling likecrazy.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
It gave me chills, right, as you said that, Sarah,
because I've said that to somany friends lately. I mean, not
to get too personal, but I knowthat you and I have dealt with
loss with our parents. And Ithink you and I value
relationships a lot. We do. Whenyou start
Speaker 1 (01:33):
seeing Almost to a fault sometimes. About getting
emotional.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I know. When you start seeing things through that
lens, you are so appreciative.People show up in different
ways. So I don't judge them howthey show up. But again, chills.
At my age, I have so many womenthat are in my corner, but that
I respect and I push. Even whenI met you, there was sort of
this you you can kind of I seeparts of myself in you and I
(01:59):
think you saw that vice Ofcourse, yes. And it was just so
authentic in the sense that Idon't feel like I have to call
you every day to be bestfriends. That when we see each
other, it's like we're pickingup, we're always cheering each
other on. And when I saw youdoing this, it was so exciting
to me because I think the onething that I gravitated to you
over was just how intelligentand curious you've always been.
(02:19):
And I just love finding womenthat carry themselves that way
and that feel empowered enoughjust to have a voice, have an
opinion. You. You know? And soand don't force those opinions
on people. It's more of like, ifyou want to talk, I'm interested
about these things.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
And so I think that's, I love that you're
kicking that off with thisbecause it's the off season. I
don't love doing podcasts orbeing interviewed.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Oh my god, I know. I know.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
When it's you She loves me. Exactly. But when it's
you, I enjoy having authenticconversations with you, whether
it's recorded or if it's offlineand we're out at the ranch.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I'm so excited that I get to spend time with you this
weekend. I know it's gonna be abig bash, but just to be able to
meet this part of you, thisother half of you these days.
Can you tell us a little bitabout him? Yes. Are you willing
to?
I am.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Okay. You know, it's so funny when they say that when
you meet the right person, it'lljust fit. You don't have to
force it. And I think, in my jobI put a lot out there on my
Instagram. And I authenticallysometimes forget that strangers
follow me, as weird as thatYeah, no, I get it.
(03:32):
And so I post my lifeorganically. I don't feel like
it's curated. I don't feel likethere's ever an intent behind
it, or I haven't beenmasterplaning what I want the
aesthetic of my life to looklike. But you also open yourself
up to scrutiny. And so, youknow, I'm 44 years old.
And I think the easy narrativeis, well, why isn't she married
(03:55):
or have kids? She must be crazy.Or she must be just obsessed
with her job. And the truth is,I was married once. And when
that didn't work out, and I gaveup a lot of things that were
important to me for thatmarriage, I really focused on my
job for a while, and I'm proudof that.
But then you find yourselfalmost getting too used to being
(04:15):
independent that I think thatcan sometimes stand in the way
of an authentic conversationwith people or letting them help
you or being in your feminine.And when I met Oh, yes. When I
met my person, we were justwalking out of a concert. And we
locked eyes, and he pursued methe way that you should pursue a
(04:37):
Oh, I didn't know that. Multipledates, and it was kind of this
slow burn.
And there's just an authenticityto him. We're in the same age
class. And I think he's the guyI've ever dated that always
makes me feel like he's got it.Like a true man. And a man in
the sense of he's not out theretrying to be this machismo.
(05:00):
He just makes me feel like forthe time in my life, I've got
someone that can help me.Because I feel like I can take
care of everything. You almostkind of being the oldest
daughter, pursuing a job likethis, you of you figure it out.
And when you've allowed somebodyyou got married once and it
didn't work out you letsomebody. And when they didn't
(05:21):
feel helpful, you're like, well,I tried that and I got burned.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And so I tried not to harden over the years, right?
And then I kept striking out. Itwasn't like I wasn't trying, but
then I felt like I was kind offorcing it too as I got older.
Well, maybe you're not going toget everything. And I think
those things are not meant towork.
And it's weird. I don't think Iwould have met this guy if I
hadn't been with my last becausethey shared a mutual group of
(05:46):
friends. I just I believe in thebutterfly effect. I believe in
Kismet. And yeah, he this is theperson I've ever been with where
I just for us, it's not a matterof if, it's a matter of when.
And when I say that, some of myfriends are like, oh, are you
Okay? Then he will come in andaffirm it right there on the
spot. He's very good ataffirming. He's very good at
(06:07):
leading. And it's the time Ifelt truly in my femininity.
And I wish I could explain thatto men, that there
Speaker 1 (06:15):
is I understand that.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
And it's like when you find that, there's a level
of peace. And I don't think aman should define you. But it's
certainly when you feel like youhave like a true partner, an
equal emotionally,intellectually, I just feel like
life is just getting started.That's exciting at 44.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Is. It is, it is. And I'm sitting here getting a
little emotional because I'mthinking about the role models
that you had in your mom andyour dad. Yeah. It was
beautiful.
And I am just so grateful thatyou have found that partner for
yourself. Because I can tellyou, I mean my dad before he
passed clearly, whenever Montycame into my life he said, oh my
(07:03):
God, finally a man that you willnot walk all over.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Well and I think you and I, we don't want to be that,
right?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Of course not.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
And I think that was horrible
Speaker 1 (07:14):
doing And that was
Speaker 2 (07:14):
kind of the hardest thing for me to articulate or
try to explain to people. Idon't want to be in this
masculine It's exhausting.Right? I don't want to always be
tough. For sure.
I would prefer to be soft. Yep.And I think it was a side that
only a few people saw. And Ihated that because I
authentically felt that wayabout myself, but I wasn't
(07:36):
projecting that. Yeah.
And it's funny you bring up thatbecause my mom was she was a
silent type A.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
That's what you said.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah. But my parents met. And they from meeting to
marriage, eleven weeks. And Ithink my brother and sister and
I always thought that it wasalmost hard to replicate that.
Yeah.
But I truly feel like I foundthat. That's
Speaker 1 (07:57):
what's so Jane, I love it.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
It's a very confident, healthy, mature we
give each other our space. Andwe're so supportive. And it's
probably the person I've everbeen with that if I and I
wouldn't do this. But if Iwanted to look through his
phone, or I wanted to walk intoa room but not completely walk
(08:20):
in to see how they speak of me,he would never speak ill of me
in a room. I love that.
And I feel like I was competingwith a lot of people I dated
before. And that's exhausting.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
It is. It is exhausting. And I know that
feeling. Monty absolutely lovesme. And it's the best feeling,
right?
To know that they have your backat all times. Yesterday I went
to lunch with Kelly Surna, youknow her.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
And
Speaker 1 (08:50):
she was like, you have to work out with me. And I
thought, oh my God, I wassupposed to do this with Jane
forever ago. Do you do one ofthose passes?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Is that what you said that you were doing? So, mean,
we can get into another chapterof our lives at 44. And then
after losing my mom and Istarted noticing weight gain
that wasn't normal for me. And alot of people look at me and
say, oh, well, she's size four.You're tiny.
But for me, I was caring for mybody a lot heavier than My face
(09:23):
felt inflamed. I wasn't eatingwell. I was getting the night
sweats. I was getting thedepression that was really But
when you're dealing with thissituation with your mom, your
job, you don't know if it'sdepression, if it's you're just
not eating right. Well, it'sperimenopause.
And I went and got my AMHlevels, so if you're not
(09:44):
familiar with that, it's youregg reserves. And I think my mom
had a hysterectomy when she was29. Oh. So I could never ask
her, well, did you startmenopause?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Got it.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And when I talked to my aunts about it, they'd be
like, oh, you're silly. Wedidn't start until we were in
our 50s. And even though mymenses were very regular, I knew
something was up. And sureenough, my AMH levels were so
low. And I'll never forgetgetting the paperwork that said
(10:17):
hormones with big exclamationpoints.
I have the best OBGYN. And itwas bio identical hormones. And
once I got on estrogen, I all ofa sudden felt 28 again. I was
doing a bunch of HIT classes andputting strain on my body. When
you go into those hot classes, Ilove Ritual one.
I love doing the hot That's
Speaker 1 (10:39):
one of me to go.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
It's great. Is it? But I was doing it four or five
times a week. And I think whenyou're doing it really hot and
you're not using the best,you're not lifting as heavy,
you're also not I mean, you'reso dehydrated. I mean, would go
through a huge thing of water.
I went back to and people arekind of rolling their eyes these
days, but it's true. Protein,protein, protein. As you get in
(11:01):
your 40s, I started liftingheavy and just weight training.
And then using the rucksacks,you know, the weighted Oh, I I
have never been in better shape.Have energy has not existed
since my 20s.
I'm eating well. I'm happy. Ifeel like the brain fog, the
depression, all the stuff thatcomes with perimenopause has
disappeared for me. And so I'vejust been encouraging women,
(11:25):
look, I'm not a doctor. But forme at this age, nobody is
talking enough about I thinkthere's some celebrities that
have come out here lately, likeNaomi Watts, Halle Berry.
But I think as a woman, when youstart talking about menopause,
you just start feeling old. Ithink I have to raise my hand
(11:45):
and say I didn't I talk about alot of things. I didn't feel
quite comfortable yet talkingabout that. But it's worked so
well for me that I justencourage women, go and find
someone that will do the bloodwork.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Kind of moving over, if you're even able to talk
about it, the most difficultparts of your job because I
thought about that a lotactually. When I was kind of in
these really dark spaces myself,I mean you know after my father
passed I went to traumatreatment for forty days. Mean
like But dark shadows in my pastbut dark shadows in my past just
(12:20):
really surface. And I get thatI've had a more challenging life
than a lot of people, which isfine. It's just how and I
thought to myself, how is itthat people like Jane or right
and then I think about all thesepeople who are on TV all the
time, what do they do when theycan't show up?
(12:42):
When they can't do that? Is thatthe most challenging aspect of
your job or is it the schedule,right?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Got really, really lucky that I had really
compassionate bosses. Good. Imean, this is now my tenth year
with the NFL Network. Probablyone of the Tenth year, which is
crazy. I mean, most of time inour jobs, Shannon will know
this.
You get one to two years jobsecurity.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And it's such a volatile business these And I
just had really incrediblebosses. And I tried not to take
advantage of it, but theyallowed me to show up and I
think you know this about me.I'm pretty much an open book.
Yep, same here. And so I wouldjust tell them, here's what I'm
dealing And I think it'simportant because I think you
(13:29):
and I show up in ways to otherswhere they think there's no
struggle.
Or I got really, really pissedoff a couple of years ago when
it was during COVID and I putout this tweet about a free
internship. And the fact thatWalter Cronkite, AOC, The View,
weaponized it and turned it intosomething it wasn't. And then
(13:50):
they went and found an articleabout me praising my grandfather
for his emotional and financialhelp in college. He was the
president of Wolf BrandChildren. Oh, Wolf, yeah.
And the the assumption was thatthe the headline in The UK Daily
Mail, and it was right rightabove Megxit. My boss joked, oh,
look. You're bigger than Megxit.Was that chili baroness or chili
(14:14):
heiress thinks people shouldwork for free. That was the
headline.
And I was livid because I'mfriends with so many people in,
the media industry. Someonecould have gotten my phone
number, messaged me, and I had alot of people sliding into my
DMs and life explaining me. AndI was like, wait a minute. This
was for a performance centerduring COVID who couldn't do
(14:35):
interviews for, you know, kidsgoing or these future draft
prospects. And normally, you'reable to highlight their lives,
their training, who they are asmen, and they weren't getting
that access.
And I had mentioned to them,well, why don't you just hire an
intern to help set up theseinterviews? And for them, they
(14:55):
could set up their own reel andmaybe it turns into a real job.
And they said, we don't have thefunding for it. And where would
you even find them? I go, well,let me just put out this tweet.
I'll say that it's not free.Don't have the budget. But I
would have loved thisopportunity. And people turned
it into something. And I foundmyself having to fend.
My parents weren't perfect. Mydad struggled with alcoholism.
(15:18):
And you don't want put yourparents' business out there.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Childhood was not easy. Yeah. And we didn't grow
up the way people see me and Butit's easier. Yeah. And so I
found myself getting verydefensive about And I think that
was a challenge for me.
And I had to sort of have atalking to from the network
saying that I couldn't go afterpeople. But when you're coming
(15:44):
from my family, you'remisrepresenting who I am or the
fact that my grandfather had nocollege education, grew up with
two deaf parents, spent most ofhis time in the Maryland School
for the Deaf, and made somethingof himself. But you're also
suggesting that I have thiscache of cash. Do you think I
would put up with billionairesfor a living? Or some of the
millionaire athletes in the waythat they can sometimes treat
(16:06):
people If that if I came fromthat same background, absolutely
not.
And so it was that that wasfrustrating for me back then.
Just I think some people, youknow, they it comes with the
territory, But they see you andthey make assumptions about you.
Mhmm. And that's fine. I enjoyhaving spirited dialogues with
(16:27):
people that I'm very differentthan Same.
What you might assume. But, youknow, I find not a ton of people
give you the space to explainthat. People are so lazy about
journalism these days, and Ithink that's what really
frustrates me sometimes. And Iwill say that I think that
experience, though, going backto the gratitude, made me even
more vigilant in how I reportedon others. And I go out of my
(16:50):
way to get a three sixtyperspective.
Yeah. Every single side of thestory. And, you know, I think
sometimes as annoying as it isto find yourself and it's I will
tell you, when you find yourselfbecoming the story, it's the one
thing they teach journalists.You report the story, you don't
become the story. It gave me alevel of anxiety and I think I'm
(17:11):
really deeply appreciative ofthat when people allow me
opportunity to share theirstory.
I'm so sensitive about it nowbecause I don't want to
misrepresent them or theirjourney.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
You know Jane, there is something about you that is
so down to earth. And I'm notjust saying it because you're my
friend, but it's just you'reapproachable, people feel safe
with you, you're kind. Andbecause you do kind of put it
all out there, there's atrustworthiness that comes along
with you, which I love. Andsometimes I think to myself, I
(17:47):
bet these guys are just thrilledand always wanting to talk to
her and all these things. ButI'm sure, and I know, some of
them can be absolute jerks.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Well, and I also think the other things that I
I'm still relatively younglooking. You are. I've done
events where I'm interviewing aplayer and a wife will be in the
audience. And you feelattention. And even when I dated
guys, they assumed that I'm onthe road dating all of these
(18:19):
players.
And so you're always having toalso prove yourself, hey, this
is a job. And I'm not interestedin dating. I might hang out with
an attractive group of girls andthere might be this assumption
that I'm in it for this or that.And that can be a challenge
(18:40):
sometimes You know me. I'm moreof a girl's girl.
Yeah. You know, I've I can verymuch be a, you know, a guy's
girl, but I'm looking out forthe women and their husbands and
their boyfriends. Are, girl. Youknow? Oh, you are.
I you know, that's that's alwaysthat that's always tricky too.
You know? It's I tell myself I'mnot, you know, I'm not sitting
(19:04):
here investigating Watergateevery day. That's right. There
is a level of entertainmentvalue in what I do, and
sometimes that's also a strugglethat I have because I got in
this and started out eight yearsin hard news reporting.
I consider myself still verymuch a journalist. Yeah. And our
business has sort of continuedto go the way of entertainment
and less journalism. And so Istruggle with that sometimes. I
(19:25):
think when you go back to thevulnerability, I've always found
I don't want to share thingswith people who are keeping
parts of themselves closed.
You want me to open up.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
But yet, you're not willing to share anything. I
think when you look atVulnerability. And it's funny
when you look back at some ofthe journalists that I looked up
to. Barbara Walters, I'll neverforget what she came out with
her salacious book. She had awhole another life,
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
But I found Barbara Walters so much more
interesting. And I think you area more interested person when
you've had an interesting lifebecause you know there's layers
to people. And for me, thereason why I love being
journalists is I love peelingthe onion and understanding
people. My favorite people arethe ones that are you know,
(20:09):
misaligned in society. Peoplehave got it like, a very strong
narrative about them.
And those are the people I wannainterview because I wanna know
why it got to that point. Yeah.And so I've always found myself,
you know, particularly widereceivers in the league. They
have the biggest personalities.Really?
Yes. We like Oh, that'sinteresting. We crush them for
their passion on the field ortheir personalities. And you
(20:29):
don't get to know them. And onceyou get to know them, you have a
deeper appreciation for them.
And so I've truly I don't lovegoing out and just getting
stories. I love getting to knowwhat makes people tick,
particularly people who haveovercome great adversity to
become successful. And I findselfishly, I'm always looking
(20:51):
for what's the secret. Yeah. Youknow, I find like I learn
something about myself orsomething I can work on through
interviews.
And that's how I approach a lotof my interviews. I really love
connecting with people. You,
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I bet, can guess what player might come in and shake
things up to rock the core andthe foundation of a team pretty
quickly. Because a lot of peopledon't have that gift.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I think it's an energetic thing. It is. I think
energetically I can sensewhether a person has good or bad
motives, or if they'remisunderstood, or they're very
understood. Or maybe they don'tknow how to articulate their
passion or their drive or theirneeds. And so sometimes I'm
(21:45):
wrong.
100 I think we're all guilty ofbias. But I think energetically,
I have a good sense of who mypeople are. I was at Longhorn
Network at ESPN and I had a bosswho literally had somebody come
in, a consultant, because shedidn't think I knew sports. And
it pissed me off. I was like, Ihad a five day a week, four hour
(22:06):
sports talk show.
But instead of using that to bemad, I came back so ready the
next season to prove And then Ididn't get re upped. They
eliminated the position. If ithadn't been for that, wouldn't
have landed NFL Network. Andauthentically, I love covering
the NFL. I love NFL football.
More than college, all of that.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, I do too.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
So I found exactly where I was supposed to be. But
if I had been constantly toldyes or stayed in the college
stratosphere, I wouldn't havegotten to this place. And so I
always tell people, fail. Failoften. Rejection is good.
Because I always find that youend up exactly where you're
supposed to be. You're right.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
So I'm thinking, Okay, people still love the
Cowboys, right? Always will.Yeah. It is really America's
team. And do you think there areany possible people who looking
at who the Cowboys are lookingat this point or perhaps having
option to drop certain people tofree up some capital, that may
(23:08):
actually position the Cowboys tohave a good season?
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I actually think and people it's so funny. You know,
I was critical of the Cowboysthe last couple seasons, so much
so that you know, I heard itfrom Steven at Combine. Uh-huh.
But my argument was, you can'tfind good people at training
camp or during the season,
Speaker 1 (23:30):
and
Speaker 2 (23:32):
you're not giving your team the best chance to
build, gel the culture if you'redoing this so late.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
And this year, they went out and I think they did a
really good job of finding somereally they called it
selectively aggressive somereally smart pieces for each
position that they were missing.And then they were able, because
they did it early, to draft withintention. The Cowboys are a
different team in the sense thatof all the 32 teams I cover,
(24:00):
there's not a lot of turnover inthe front office. The way they
do things is very different.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Oh, Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And I think a lot of outsiders that come in don't
quite get that. Or they getfrustrated that there's all
these leaks, whatever. Well,reporters and people have been
here for forever. Yeah. And Ithink gets that, but I think
Shoddy also appreciates like,when you ask him questions, when
you and I sit in an interview,don't you find yourself buying
in or listening to what peoplehave to say when they're giving
(24:27):
you complete answers?
They're thoughtful answers. Theywant to talk to you. That's how
he is with us in the media.That's how he is with the team.
Now, I continue to couch this bysaying, I have no clue how
that's going to translatethroughout the season.
Because I think we prematurelysay, oh, the Eagles are going to
repeat, or Washington's the teamto watch. I think we should
watch out for the Giants, quitefrankly. I think Jackson Dart's
got a little something to himwith Cam Scatabow, the running
(24:50):
back up there. But I keepsaying, as much as I've talked
about energy and culture feelingdifferent, this because I feel
like he really authenticallywants it to be. I asked him in
the introductory pressconference, when this is all
said and done, what do you wantto be known for?
And he said, for having the bestculture in all of sports. And I
(25:11):
was such an interesting answerto me. It wasn't Okay. It wasn't
obviously that comes with all ofOf course. But if you look at
these teams who they'll go backand they'll be like, that was
the greatest season.
Or we had if you look at theEagles, they had a bunch of
adversity in the beginning.Yeah. They were they had a
really young defense. They werestruggling. Vic Fangio was kind
(25:31):
of an older coach who'd come in,and they turned the season
around.
If you ask any of those guys, itwas culture. And so everyone
kind of rolls their eyes whenyou say culture because it's one
of those intangible things.Can't Can't buy it. You can't
explain it. It's organic.
And I think there's somethingspecial happening around there.
I think a lot of those guys feellike they've got something
approved too. I think Dak feelslike he's got something
(25:51):
approved.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
As you know, to be in this career, in this industry
for as long as you've been, andto be a woman, it's almost
unheard of.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I will say that there sometimes is a gut check. As
women, we are such peoplepleasers.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
And
Speaker 2 (26:05):
so if we go up to someone and we want to ask a
question, and I've had one guygo, I'm not effing talking to
you, It kinda it makes you kindof Of course. Like, oh. What did
I you find yourself going, well,what did I do?
Speaker 1 (26:17):
That's that.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
And you as you get older, you find yourself going,
that's not a Mm-mm.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Me problem.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
That's a you problem. That's right. And then I found
it was universal. He was doingit to all the other players. So
it wasn't personal.
But as a woman, I hate thatthat's our instinct of, well,
what
Speaker 1 (26:29):
did I do? The less than.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
And so I think if you can I think in order to stay in
this business, I think as awoman Mhmm? You don't have to
masculine up, but you sort of dohave to check-in with yourself
every day and do a little gutcheck. And just say, you know, I
deserve to be here.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
And Lord knows you do. I'm like, I'm going to just
hit some questions real fast,like fast. We love it. And then
I want you to just give yourbest impromptu answer.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Okay. All right. Best NFL mascot.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
He gets killed, but I'm going to have to go with
Tutti for the Commanders. Okay,yes. Yes. Is so obnoxious to so
many people because he's likethis commander that's a pig. And
he's awkward, and he's funny.
But people just bust up on him,and I find him so entertaining.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
So I'm going Tutty.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Okay. I love that. Okay. Most epic game you've ever
covered?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Oh, that's easy. That was Saints, Rams. There was a no
call. I'm in New Orleans. It'sthe postseason.
So the refs don't make thiscall. Rams advance. It was a one
season. Sean Payton was about togo back. Probably his best team.
And when I say we're allowed onthe field five minutes
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Mhmm.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Before the game ends, the Superdome in New Orleans is
a special place to watch
Speaker 1 (27:44):
a game.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
It is so loud. The people are decked out in Mardi
Gras outfits for every game. Imean, women wearing the most
obnoxious gold sequins, andeveryone is just hammered. I
mean, it's just for them, it'stheir college and NFL team
rolled up in one, and it's meantso much to them since Katrina.
And to watch that no call andjust the energy sucked out of
the the building, That
Speaker 1 (28:07):
was tough. Best NFL wife girlfriend you've met?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
I really enjoy Lauren Rush, Cooper Rush's Okay. She's
really, really great. She lookscool. And Ida Cobb, she is
Randall Cobb's wife. Okay.
She is a chemical patentattorney. Stunningly gorgeous,
so smart. They have the mostbeautiful kids, beautiful
family. So absolutely love them.And then Taylor Lewand's wife,
Taylen.
(28:30):
When I met her at Pro Bowl, shewas fishing in the pond behind
the hotel. And they have a farm.And she is this stunning beauty
from Vancouver. And they arejust the most down to earth,
awesome So yeah, I love some ofthose Okay.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
How about the best fan base in the NFL? I know the
Cowboys claim it, but who reallystacks up?
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I'll have to go with the Eagles. Okay. People are
gonna hate when I say that. AreI brought my dad to his Super
Bowl, and I covered the Eaglesthis year. And my dad had to be
in a hotel with the Eagles fans.
And that was they are I wouldsay they're the wildest. Uh-huh.
But I took my dad to a 49ersCowboys postseason game Uh-huh.
While my mom was sick. Mhmm.
(29:11):
And I only had one seat for him,and it was in the end zone. And
the 49er fans treated him likeone of their own. They were
buying him beers. They walkedinto his car to make sure he was
okay. And my dad was, like, neartears in the car.
He was like, Jade, I don't evencare if the Cowboys lost. That
was my Super Bowl. And so shoutout to the 49er fans the way
they treated my dad. Really goodThat's amazing. And the Buffalo
(29:32):
Bills fan base is alwaysamazing.
After a loss or if a teamadvances, they're always
donating money to a charity ofthat team's choice or one of the
players' choices. That is anincredible fan base in Buffalo.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Wow. Chili debate beans or no beans?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
I like chili so many different ways.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
So I like beans and no beans. I don't have a strong
take on that Okay, good.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Favorite patio in Dallas?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Dosie Mesas over there at the Knox Henderson
area. It's a cute little house.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
How is it?
Speaker 2 (30:02):
It's got so much charm. And I just went to an
incredible patio in Bishop Art.It's called the By Zelda. And it
was a former Dallas mayor'shouse. And it's incredible
Turkish food, so it's got allthe tapas, whatever, and it has
an incredible view of DowntownDallas.
So really, really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Oh my god, I'm so glad
Speaker 2 (30:19):
that's And then you'll always catch me at Monkey
Bar.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Best girls night out spot?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
We're a Bistro thirty one group as girls.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Oh yeah,
Speaker 2 (30:25):
yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1 (30:26):
It's always fun. Okay, best underrated place to
watch a game in Dallas? I enjoyChelsea's Corner.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Oh, yes. Backyard is awesome. I love it.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
We love Chelsea's Corner. Yeah. Okay, timer tip.
If someone's visiting Dallas forthe time, what do they
absolutely have to do?
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I mean, sounds cliche, but I think any time I
take someone to Highland ParkVillage Yeah. It's just so
obnoxious. And you know, you'rejust you're seeing all these
people dressed up to the nineson a you know, it's anytime I go
to other cities, I don't seethis in LA. Uh-huh. I don't see
it.
It might be it's people youknow, it's it's incredible. They
(31:02):
see the cars. Yes. So I wouldtake them there. I know that
sounds obnoxious, but I wouldtake them there.
And then I find it fascinating.I'm such a history buff. I love
politics too. I mean, I thinkgoing down to Dealey Plaza is
fascinating.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yes, ma'am. I knew you were going to say that.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yes. Think it's you know what's sad is I didn't even
know where the ex was, which isso morbid to begin with. But I
lived right down the street fromit. And during COVID, I would
Speaker 1 (31:26):
go out
Speaker 2 (31:26):
and walk every day. And that was the time I saw
exactly where it was. And peoplewere always shocked. Growing up
in Dallas, you never saw whereKennedy was shot? No.
So I think that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
It is. And last but not least, what is the best date
spot
Speaker 2 (31:40):
in all DFW? Let's do that. It's so funny because
we're not the biggest we reallylike Paradiso Okay, yeah. And
Bishop Arts. I think that'sreally great.
But for us, it's music. We lovegoing to concerts. So for us,
it's very much a good concertand dive bar.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I love it. Oh my god, Jane. I'm so glad that you were
able to come in.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yes, thank
Speaker 1 (32:03):
you for having me.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
You're the best. The You're
Speaker 1 (32:05):
an angel. Appreciate it. Oh my god, you too. Alright,
we're done. Thank you my love.
Love you.
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