1 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,320 You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home 2 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:22,360 Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Cast, 3 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:27,200 GAIL and Clavio joining you. It is the 16th of April Tuesday. 4 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:32,159 We are on the the short side of April now as we head into among 5 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:36,480 the busiest times on the sports calendar, NFL Draft coming up, 6 00:00:36,480 --> 00:00:39,480 we got the NBA playoffs about to start, NHL playoffs about to 7 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:41,240 start, Kentucky. Derby's around the corner, any 8 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:44,120 500's around the corner, all kinds of things happening. 9 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:48,960 And we are going to chat about one of those big things with 10 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:54,200 today's guest Courtney Cronin of ESPN and an Indiana Hoosier 11 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,000 joining us here on the show. Not the first time that 12 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,120 Courtney's been on Crimson Cast, but it's been too long. 13 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:01,160 It's good to see you how you doing. 14 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:05,040 I You know what, my first, my first appearance on Crimson 15 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,480 Cast, now that I'm, like, racking my brain on this, was 16 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:12,880 the night that Bill Lynch was fired that Sunday night in 2010. 17 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,160 That's right. I remember that was my first 18 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:18,760 time I ever went on, and I don't even know where that episode is 19 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:20,720 today, if that's even if it even exists. 20 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:24,400 It was it was lost to the Egyptian hackers which which? 21 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:26,200 People. But we've told this story many 22 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:27,720 times. But for those who haven't heard 23 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:33,680 it, back in the old days when you had to run a podcast through 24 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,200 a WordPress account, you you had to install this like special 25 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:39,520 software that it's called Pod Press and that was how you 26 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,480 publish things. Unfortunately, WordPress back 27 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:45,760 then, unless you updated it every day, which if you know me, 28 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:49,600 you know I'm not hitting the update button every day, was 29 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,720 susceptible to security flaws. And so on two different 30 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,600 occasions we lost our entire library of podcasts because 31 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,280 these Egyptian hackers would get into your WordPress account and 32 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,960 they'd like throw like Egyptian flags up everywhere and it would 33 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,200 only like Arabic language, remember that. 34 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,600 So there's a few podcasts that have survived from that era and 35 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:15,560 I gotta say, both of us were not as good as we are now at being 36 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:17,040 on air. So I'm kind of glad that nobody 37 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,480 can go back and listen. If you really want to hear 38 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:23,480 Courtney and me, there's always there's stuff lurking on YouTube 39 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,440 and I won't tell you where it is, but there that stuff is out 40 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:28,560 there from a couple of years after that, so. 41 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,600 Yeah, that that we looked very different. 42 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:35,200 I'm I'm putting it nicely. We look very different. 43 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,920 I had bleached blonde hair cuz for some reason I thought that 44 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:41,760 was a good decision when I was a junior in college. 45 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:46,000 We live and we learn and I agree we have come a very long way 46 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,760 since then. But the roots of that in the 47 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,120 Egyptian hackers, God, I can remember that was I used 48 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,200 Sportcom, one of those fights that was affected by that. 49 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,640 Yeah, that was when we made the the ill-fated decision to try to 50 00:02:57,640 --> 00:03:01,800 switch to Drupal as our our our programming setup or CNS setup 51 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:03,280 for a little bit. We're getting way in the 52 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:05,760 programming weeds for the folks out there, exactly what they 53 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,320 were tuning in for. But no, yeah, that was I used 54 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,480 for com, got hit by that. It was a weird time on the 55 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:15,800 Internet in a variety of ways and I'm just glad that that's 56 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,560 largely behind us at this point. So we're going to have Courtney 57 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:21,960 talk about her background. For those of you don't know, 58 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:26,320 Courtney, you know, went to IU, got her, got her start in sports 59 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:28,920 journalism, was at the college level at IU and has gone on to 60 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:31,080 tremendous things career wise. We're going to talk with her 61 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:35,880 about her getting started, what she's doing right now and I've 62 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:39,200 got some, I've got some questions that a couple of our 63 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:41,800 sports media alums wanted me to ask just in general. 64 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,640 So we'll we'll throw those in. So all that coming up in a 65 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:46,280 second. But first just a couple of quick 66 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,480 notes. We are brought to you by home 67 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:51,440 field apparel here on the back home network, your place to go 68 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,320 for the finest in college fashions, the softest fabrics, 69 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:58,320 the coolest designs. We are at a point right now 70 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:00,960 where you know we don't want your home fields. 71 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:03,080 Home field knows it's like college season ends. 72 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,240 It's like well, the the people's interest can wane. 73 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,040 So for the Bloomington crowd, which is always the biggest 74 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,040 selling crowd for home field, at least I like to say that it is. 75 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,880 They are dropping this Thursday an extensive little 500 76 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,560 collection. I think it's like 8 different 77 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:20,800 pieces of apparel. I believe there's a a little 5 78 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,080 bomber jacket involved. There's some ringer Tees if 79 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:26,080 you're an IU person at all. And I'm assuming if you're 80 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,320 watching or listening to this podcast that you are, you need 81 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:30,440 to get yourself over to home field. 82 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,960 They're actually going to have a pop up store in Bloomington. 83 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:39,120 And this is a great opportunity not just to get little five 84 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:45,560 gear, but if you go to the pop up store at Upland on the 19th 85 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:48,800 or the 20th, you get 20% off your order. 86 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:53,440 And that's important folks, because the, you know, home 87 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,280 field, they they like to target your bank account with surgical 88 00:04:56,280 --> 00:04:58,320 precision Every time you think of it's safe. 89 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:00,960 Home field's dropping in with some stuff and you're like, 90 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:03,840 damn, I got to buy that. And so this is a chance to buy a 91 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:05,680 little bit more for the same amount of money. 92 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,040 So head on over to Upland 19th and the 20th, that's the end of 93 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:10,240 this week if you're in Bloomington. 94 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,160 Or just hop on home field apparel.com and get yourself 95 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:17,960 some of that little 500 swag here at home Field apparel, your 96 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:20,200 place to go for the finest in college fashions. 97 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:22,720 Also just a reminder, folks, on Crimson Cast, we are on Sub 98 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,160 Stack now. Join the community. 99 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:27,720 It's free. You get emails delivered right 100 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,720 to your inbox that have what podcast we've done. 101 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,440 You don't have to like, search through Twitter or hope that 102 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:36,640 like you your Facebook account is still working. 103 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:38,880 You can just get into your e-mail, click on the link. 104 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,000 We've got video podcast going up pretty regularly on Spotify 105 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:43,840 right now. We've got regular podcasts on 106 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:46,320 Apple, so go ahead and subscribe. 107 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,440 If you want to kick a little bit of of scratch towards the the 108 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:51,120 podcast help support it financially. 109 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,320 We've got that option as well. We try to throw some extra stuff 110 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,160 in. I'm sorry, I have not recorded 111 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,400 AVIP video in a while. I've been away. 112 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:01,600 I was in Vegas for a few days at the National Association of 113 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,600 Broadcasters Conference so I'm both jet lagged and behind on my 114 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,360 VIP content. I promise I will rectify at 115 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:11,080 least one of those things before I wake up tomorrow morning. 116 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:13,480 Probably not the video, but we'll see Anyway. 117 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,400 So again, crimsoncast.substack.com we'd 118 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:17,800 love to have you as part of the community. 119 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,640 Almost 900 people now subscribing to Crimson Cast on 120 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:25,240 sub stack which is really nice. So anyway, Courtney, let's let's 121 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,080 talk about you. So for those who don't know the 122 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:32,160 Courtney Cronin origin story, where are you from and what 123 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,240 brought you to campus in the first place? 124 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,560 So I'm from Glenview, IL for all of the North Shore people that 125 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:42,560 transcend down to Indiana, every year I had 26 from my high 126 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:44,720 school, Glenbrook S that went to IU. 127 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:50,080 And I always tell the story of how my mom and I were on 128 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:53,680 opposite sides of where we thought I should go to school. 129 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:58,960 So Indiana was the first college I had ever visited back in 2005. 130 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,120 I went during the fall time, like at some point, like in 131 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,120 October, you know, it's just they they set me up to fail, 132 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,280 more or less, because there I was never gonna like another 133 00:07:07,280 --> 00:07:08,800 school. Once I went to Indiana in the 134 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,200 fall, my mom wanted me to go to Depaw. 135 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:13,440 My grandfather was an alumni at Depaw. 136 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:15,080 He started a scholarship foundation. 137 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:17,160 He came from nothing. It was the school holds a lot of 138 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:21,320 meaning to my family. But I had gone on a a visit at 139 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:25,120 DePaul and I knew the school was about 1200. 140 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:28,160 In terms of the overall enrollment, it just felt really 141 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,200 small to me. And when I knew people who had 142 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:34,920 gone to Indiana University before the sell was if you want 143 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,600 to do broadcast, if you want to do journalism, you don't have to 144 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:41,480 wait till your junior year like Syracuse, like Northwestern, 145 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:43,720 like Missouri, like all these other storied programs. 146 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,600 And at the time, what I always tell my students at Indiana 147 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:49,680 whenever I come and do a boot camp is you don't know how 148 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:54,560 spoiled you are because a none of this existed before Doctor 149 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,640 Clavio took over the program. And of course moving the the 150 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,160 journalism school and moving all of the entities involved into 151 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:05,080 the media school in 2014. And then on top of that, like 152 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:09,400 just the ability to have so many different routes to get on air 153 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:11,360 far sooner than your junior year. 154 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,640 But that started long, long, long time ago at Indiana, and 155 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,760 that's what sold me. I wanted to go, I wanted to 156 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:18,440 work. And that's all I did. 157 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:21,920 I didn't have a sorority. I didn't have many outside 158 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:23,640 activities other than student media. 159 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:27,000 That was my that's where I put all my effort into when as a 160 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,400 student, freshman year, all the way till the time I graduated in 161 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,360 May of 2012. And I loved every minute of it 162 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:34,799 there were. There were a lot of ups and 163 00:08:34,799 --> 00:08:36,960 downs with it. And I look back at the work now 164 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:40,039 and I cringe because I'm like, man, the students today must 165 00:08:40,039 --> 00:08:43,240 just be that much better than we were coming out. 166 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:48,560 But it's really cool for me to see how many alumni there are 167 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:53,000 from my my grade, my class, and around that time that have made 168 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,560 it in this industry and made Indiana into a destination 169 00:08:56,560 --> 00:09:01,000 school for anyone wanting to go in any form of sports 170 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,080 journalism. And it's cool all these years 171 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,200 later that I I get giddy and goosebumps when I talk about it, 172 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,240 because it truly does mean that much to me. 173 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,160 It is why I talk. I was the reason I was in Las 174 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:15,120 Vegas at Nibi was doing a panel about engaging sports media 175 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,520 alumni in your program which I'm like, well gosh, I can just. 176 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,000 I just, I just rattle off the names and I'm like, well here's 177 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,920 what we do with all of them. But it is fascinating the the 178 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,360 the amount of talent that was there right when you were there, 179 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:31,160 right when a lot of the kind of the modern program here at IU 180 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:33,600 was getting started and it's it's names that people know. 181 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,000 I mean we've had, we've had, we had Trisha on last month, you 182 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:41,000 know we've had you on before. But it's also people like, I 183 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,800 mean Greg Murray was there when you were there, who of course 184 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:46,280 for those of you who were paying attention, he was IUS baseball 185 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:48,400 and women's basketball broadcaster for quite a while. 186 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:50,480 Scott Agnes, who's still covering things up in 187 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:52,840 Indianapolis, was there at that point. 188 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:56,520 And you know Sam Daywig who's working for Meadowlark Media And 189 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:58,520 there's like this whole list of people Cody Sherrod who's 190 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:00,520 working for the US Men's and Women's National teams And it's 191 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,680 just it's wild to me that all of those people were there at the 192 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:07,160 exact same time. I look back on it and it's you 193 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:09,960 know we have great clusters of students now and we've had great 194 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,080 clusters of alumni before but for that many people without 195 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:15,840 really a program that specifically was like devoted to 196 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:19,360 that that's really special. And and I I've always considered 197 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:22,360 myself lucky that I was there when all of you folks were there 198 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:24,240 because it was it was a two way St. 199 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:26,800 I mean, I needed people that would be willing to work on this 200 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:28,640 stuff. And you, you all did an amazing 201 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:31,680 job. That was a really unique time. 202 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:34,880 Without outside of outside of you there was no other like 203 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:39,200 faculty guidance. We technically at IUSTV had some 204 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,160 sort of faculty advisor. I couldn't tell you who that 205 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:44,680 person was. I really have no clue. 206 00:10:44,680 --> 00:10:47,680 I know that we got something within the funding that they had 207 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:52,440 worked out where we got $0.25 for every student who enrolled 208 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:54,360 and at that time the enrollment was like 40 grand. 209 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:59,320 So that was our budget, but that group that you speak of when and 210 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:02,520 you can add in a couple other names, Logan Robertson, Tony 211 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:06,240 Adrania, Lucas, Lucas Mayer, AJ Shu. 212 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:08,320 I'm not sure this is the problem with naming. 213 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:08,640 Names. I know. 214 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:10,800 I always leave people. Out and I'm like, I'm sorry, 215 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:12,680 well, yeah. So no, but like I, I say all 216 00:11:12,680 --> 00:11:16,080 that to say, like that was my, that was my little network and 217 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:20,560 we all had to stay close in order to make what we wanted out 218 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:23,800 of the program because if we didn't do it, nobody would. 219 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:29,360 And that's like I see what it is now in seeing that there's 220 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:33,040 IUSTV, there's the Hoosier network, there's all of these 221 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:35,920 things that didn't exist or they existed in a different fashion. 222 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:40,160 But like the expansion of it to where there's multiple competing 223 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:43,240 networks just on the broadcast side that that's that's what we 224 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:47,040 wanted from this program. We wanted to have options 225 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:49,920 outside of just like one thing. And that's what I think so many 226 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,240 of us did well. And you know, Trisha and I go 227 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,360 back to our sophomore year when we first met Cody and I the same 228 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:58,320 what thing. And some of my, like closest 229 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:03,040 friends in this industry are people that I met early on in my 230 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:06,720 days at Indiana, like trying to do this for real when we were, 231 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,120 you know, kind of all starting out, everybody going to the call 232 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:11,640 out for IUSTV and it's, it's wild. 233 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,840 However many years ago that was. I'm not counting or anything, 234 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:19,080 but let's go back and look at that and say, wow, we we really 235 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:22,040 made something out of nothing. And to see how far like the 236 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,200 program has come is such a reflection on the amount of 237 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:28,920 effort that people put in to make it as good as it is now, 238 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:31,080 Yeah. It's well it's gratifying 239 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:33,760 because so many of you are out doing like covering things and 240 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,920 are becoming or are already household names in terms of 241 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:41,480 where where people are going to get their information and and 242 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:45,480 news on things and you know, but it doesn't happen overnight and 243 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,600 it's not just the college experience it's it's the route 244 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:51,480 that you take after you get out of college and you had a really 245 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:54,280 interesting one. I mean IIA lot of times I'll 246 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,360 talk with like high school seniors and and they'll you know 247 00:12:57,360 --> 00:12:58,840 like who do you want to be. And they, you know, they always 248 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,040 rattle off kind of the same types of names. 249 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:04,760 And it's always for me like, well, let's talk about what a 250 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:07,240 similar person, like what somebody in our program has has 251 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,800 done to try to get to that point and how it's not really a 252 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:14,240 straight line. And your whole trajectory was 253 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:17,760 really fascinating in that you didn't start out in a journalism 254 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,840 role per SE. So like talk a little bit about 255 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:23,360 like like just kind of peg off like where you went and what you 256 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:24,480 were doing. Sure. 257 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:30,400 So my first, like coming out of college, and I call it it was in 258 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,000 post grad internship, but we were there every single day. 259 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,040 It was a job. My first job was at the NCAA in 260 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:42,800 a post grad capacity and I got to back up to March of 2012 261 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:46,600 because up until that point, second semester, senior year, I 262 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,720 came back to school and I was full steam ahead. 263 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:51,480 I'm going to get a job in local TV. 264 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:54,040 I'm going to go about this however I have to. 265 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:58,400 I'll print off 1,000,000 copies of my resume, package it 266 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:03,280 together with a literal DVD. Remember going to Mr. Copy and 267 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,920 packaging these things? Spending tons of money that I, 268 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:09,160 you know, probably not. I probably These things probably 269 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:11,280 didn't even make it to the desk of the people that I was sending 270 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:12,280 it to. I don't even know where the hell 271 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:14,840 these things are. I think of the number of CDR's I 272 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,200 burned and mail. I'm just like I just. 273 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:19,600 I just. I funded some middle manager at 274 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:23,320 UPS in the. Retirement claim with the amount 275 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:27,400 of reels I was sending out and I heard nothing from anybody. 276 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:31,000 Like I had interned at Fox 59 in Indianapolis and Jeremiah 277 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,480 Johnson, who's now he's now with the Pacers, he's been there I 278 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,320 think, over a decade. Remember there was an opening 279 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:40,520 probably like January or February, so I wasn't ready for 280 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:42,680 it yet. But there was an opening in 2012 281 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:46,800 for a weekend sports anchor in Fort Wayne. 282 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:48,760 And I remember it might have been the station he came from 283 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,800 and he wrote me this like the just the most gracious letter of 284 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,440 recommendation. And I was like, this is awesome. 285 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:58,120 Like I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I will at least hear something. 286 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:00,560 Never heard a word from the people that I sent that thing 287 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:02,360 off to her. If it even got to the desk of 288 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:05,120 whoever hiring manager, news director, whatever. 289 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,000 And so that kind of became my song and dance for a couple of 290 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,280 months. And my friend Casey Richards at 291 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:12,720 the time was a year older than me. 292 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:17,040 He's a product of IU of Indiana University, but he was in, he 293 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:19,120 was in sport communication through Hyper. 294 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:21,240 I know you had a bunch of classes where he was in your 295 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:23,960 classes and he. But he we became very close 296 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:26,160 friends. It's funny, I'm going to a Cubs 297 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:28,080 game with him. My brother and Cody share it on 298 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:29,920 Sunday. It's just like all these years 299 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:32,000 later, just like how close our little group still is. 300 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:36,280 But Casey was at the NCAA in working in digital 301 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:38,480 communications in an internship capacity. 302 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:44,080 I had heard about the internship through him, and as I'm applying 303 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:46,760 for all these TV jobs and not hearing anything, I'm like, 304 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:48,040 well, I better have a safety net. 305 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:53,800 So I applied for the NCAA job and I ended up getting it. 306 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:56,200 It was in digital communications, which again, 307 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:57,880 it's kind of like Journalism Adjacent. 308 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:02,000 And I figured, I'll take this, I'll take this opportunity, I'll 309 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:03,760 move to Indianapolis. Cool city. 310 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,920 I've always wanted to live there anyways and and we'll see where 311 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,400 it goes. And it was the best decision I 312 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:15,480 could have made because it taught me a side of what I ended 313 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:19,200 up doing for my first legitimate journalism job that I wouldn't 314 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:22,640 have had had I not taken that post grad internship experience 315 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:24,440 which was the video production element. 316 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,440 So I was in Indy for 10 months and it was a wild time in 317 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:31,040 college athletics. Like if you think the nil era is 318 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:35,920 like the Wild West in 2000, like everything post 2021 it is. 319 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:39,880 But let's go back to 2012, when they were talking about putting 320 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:46,280 the death penalty on Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky awful 321 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,760 scandal that have surrounded that program and the stuff that 322 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,240 was happening with Nevin Shapiro down at Miami. 323 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:54,920 It was a weird time, a very weird time to be there, And it 324 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,040 was cool for me to get to see the underbelly of college 325 00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:59,520 athletics and how it was handled from the national office and 326 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:04,160 really how it was not handled. But no, I, like, I very much 327 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,079 appreciated my time at the NCAA 'cause it set me up for my 328 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:11,920 opportunity to get into journalism by picking up all my 329 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:15,520 stuff and moving down to Jackson, Ms. to work at the 330 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:17,720 State Paper of record, which was the Clarion Ledger. 331 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:23,319 And they hired me to build their sports video platform, which I 332 00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:26,839 had done all the on camera stuff I had shot, all my stuff I had 333 00:17:26,839 --> 00:17:29,680 edited when I was in college. But I really didn't know about 334 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:33,160 how to structure all of that into more or less a library and 335 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:34,840 a network. And how do you make these things 336 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,840 look good? How do you make, you know, what 337 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:41,800 are the XS and OS of audio, of lighting, of the production 338 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:45,440 element that I just wasn't sure of, 'cause I wasn't doing any of 339 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:46,800 that. It wasn't required of me to do 340 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:50,880 that in college. So I got to learn that at the 341 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:54,240 NCAA and then took those skills with me to my first job. 342 00:17:54,880 --> 00:18:00,600 And from there it was like it was a blank slate, a completely, 343 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:02,920 you know, nothing. This position did not exist 344 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:05,600 before I got down there. So I had a chance at a very 345 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,560 young age to build something and be proud of it at like 22 years 346 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:12,400 old. And everyone asked me like, oh, 347 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,520 so you're you're a writer. Because you know the my, my main 348 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,520 job, which I know we'll get into, my main job at ESPN dot, 349 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,400 at ESPN and for ESPN.com, is covering the Chicago Bears. 350 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,680 That's multifaceted. But writing is a huge part of 351 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:25,960 that. I didn't have writing skills 352 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:28,880 coming out of college. I learned that when I was at the 353 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,360 Clarion Ledger, when I was a, quote UN quote, professional 354 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:34,240 journalist at like 20-3 At this time when I had kind of 355 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:36,640 transitioned roles into more of a writing role when I was 356 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:41,480 covering preps and recruiting. But that's always like I always 357 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:44,440 tell students, you better leave Indiana having taken a couple 358 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:46,200 writing classes through the media school. 359 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:49,680 Otherwise I'll be very upset. And it's it's important to keep 360 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:53,840 in mind, like the whole idea of converged media training didn't 361 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:58,120 exist yet in in 2011, 2012. I mean it. 362 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:00,200 It was. And this was when I went to 363 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:02,480 school. I've talked about this like I 364 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:05,200 got a little writing experience. I worked at the IDs for a couple 365 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,280 of semesters, but you know, I was studying to be a 366 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:09,960 broadcaster. And back then, like, that was a 367 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:11,840 legitimate, like that was a fork in the road. 368 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:13,240 You went One Direction or another. 369 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,960 It's why, like, when ESPN started putting print reporters 370 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:19,280 on television, it was a big deal, 'cause it's like, well, 371 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,200 wait, these people aren't supposed to be there and the 372 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:22,960 broadcasters aren't supposed to be writing. 373 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:26,040 And so the idea that they would all do the same thing, it's just 374 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:29,000 we're so used to it now, but it really didn't exist that much 15 375 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:30,960 years ago. No it didn't. 376 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:36,720 And watching how all of the different schools that are 377 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:39,600 within the journalism realm, whether it was in telecom, 378 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:42,320 whether it was in print journalism, whether it was in 379 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:45,080 hyper with sport communication, watching them all converge under 380 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,840 one roof, that's we we were just late on that. 381 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:50,640 So we had to kind of figure it out on our own. 382 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,920 And fortunately for me, I was able to figure that out as a 383 00:19:55,000 --> 00:20:00,480 young journalist in the field, where I had gotten myself in 384 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:03,400 with my video skills and my broadcast skills and the ability 385 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,920 to do something that nobody else at that paper had had the 386 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:10,200 capability of doing. And then when I was around all 387 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:12,800 these writers and, you know, I'm, I'm tagging along to all 388 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:16,360 these different, you know, these football games, these, you know, 389 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:19,360 recruiting. Recruiting like the signings and 390 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:21,880 announcing, you know, guys announcing where they're going, 391 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:24,040 College football games, college baseball. 392 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,600 That was actually a huge part of what I did initially when 393 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,280 Mississippi State went out to the College World Series, we 394 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:33,640 were churning out like 40 videos from like short, you know, short 395 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:36,880 interview videos all the way out to like full on features within 396 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,000 a three-week stretch. Like I was like, all right, 397 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,040 well, I'm pretty good at this. I enjoy doing it. 398 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:42,480 How about I learn the other side? 399 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:45,400 How about I learn how to write? And so I was fortunate enough to 400 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,120 do that. I was there for three years, so 401 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:53,640 May of 2013 till right after signing day 2016. 402 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:57,360 And at this time I was very much in a predominant writing role. 403 00:20:57,360 --> 00:20:59,640 I was the high school sports and recruiting editor. 404 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:03,200 I managed my own section for the newspaper, which had a newspaper 405 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:06,360 of that size, which still was. We had 500,000 people in the 406 00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:10,020 entire Jackson metro area. I was still like the only full 407 00:21:10,020 --> 00:21:13,280 time high school writer and writing and producing my section 408 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:17,200 and like working with my insane network of freelancers, which, 409 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:19,840 you know, you got to learn how to be able to manage people from 410 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:21,760 a young age. And that gave me that skill. 411 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:27,400 So I went out to California. It's a long story of how I got 412 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:31,840 out there, but like they, the San Jose Mercury News hired me 413 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,000 to do what I had initially done for the Clarion Ledger when I 414 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:37,400 first got there, which was to build their sports video 415 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:39,240 platform. They weren't a Gannett paper the 416 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:42,320 way that the Clarion Ledger was. Gannett really went all in on 417 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:48,480 video about 2015 on, but they they had the same priorities. 418 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,520 But it was doing it in a market that was number six in the 419 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:56,800 country and pro sports versus the colleges and high schools 420 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:00,680 where I had unlimited access, more or less, to covering the 421 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,960 Warriors, covering the Raiders, the 49ers, Major League Baseball 422 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:07,360 and just being in a completely different realm that I wasn't 423 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:10,200 used to. So my first year out there was 424 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:12,320 probably the hardest year I've had in my career. 425 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,600 The transition from a personal and professional standpoint, 426 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,320 living in a place that was 4 hours away from home covering 427 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,600 pro sports. My first crack at covering the 428 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,960 NBA when the team is in the middle of a championship run for 429 00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:26,840 multiple years of me being. Kevin Durant had just arrived at 430 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:29,200 that point, right? He he got there the year. 431 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:34,400 So, like I got there in the midst of 73 and 9:00 so that 432 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,400 season that they finished that regular season in 2016. 433 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:41,640 Longest stretch of the playoffs from Houston in the first round 434 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:45,840 to Portland to who do they play in the Western to Oklahoma City. 435 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:48,640 Got it like you know more about Oklahoma City for my one stretch 436 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:50,400 of like, which felt like four months out there. 437 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,560 But we were there like a week and 1/2 to the Western 438 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,800 Conference finals, 'cause it went seven and then to to 439 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:59,560 Cleveland, which was when they built a the, the joke about, you 440 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,680 know, don't know, 3-1 lead is safe because of the Warriors 441 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,840 that year, they built A31 lead, they ended up losing it, the 442 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:09,000 Cavs came back, they won in seven and then the following 443 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,440 year or a month later, not even was when Kevin Durant joined in 444 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,160 free agency. So I had a chance to cover some 445 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,720 really cool things, which it's always wild when I'm on radio 446 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:20,720 and people will bring up the Warrior stuff 'cause I have to 447 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,520 like really go far back. I'm like, God, I did that like 448 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:27,240 that was a really long time ago, 20/16/17 'cause I was only out 449 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:31,640 in the Bay Area for 17 months before I was going to go with 450 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,480 several of my colleagues from the Mercury News to the 451 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:37,520 Athletic. I was we saw kind of the writing 452 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,760 on the wall with the structure of the newspaper and the 453 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,280 ownership of there was, AI believe, a hedge fund that owned 454 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,400 a bunch of these papers. That that always works out well 455 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:47,560 anytime there's any hedge fund and media are. 456 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:49,680 Put together just a. Tremendous comment. 457 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:52,200 Yeah, they're they're really well run entities and they care 458 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,320 about the people. But we saw the writing on the 459 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:57,400 wall, and we were all going to the athletic. 460 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:01,480 And literally, as I'm finishing up a shoot, I had my contract 461 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:03,440 signed. I paid a lawyer to look over it, 462 00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:08,120 and I was in Sunnyvale, CA, working on a video shoot for 463 00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:11,880 about Prague Merity, who is the #2 in the front office? 464 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:14,280 He's the cap guy for the San Francisco 49ers. 465 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,120 Long story. His family owned a pizza place 466 00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:20,680 and I tragically and ironically, he lost his sister to an eating 467 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:22,640 disorder. So it was kind of this dichotomy 468 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:27,320 of a place that, you know, had so many happy times for him and 469 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:31,760 his family growing up, but then losing a sister to something 470 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,120 that effectively they were doing every day, which was selling 471 00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:37,680 food, selling pizza, selling you know, food to people. 472 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:39,600 So it was a really like heavy shoot. 473 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,320 And I remember like putting a light away, like waiting for it 474 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:43,880 to kind of cool down and closing the folds. 475 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:47,720 I looked out at my phone. I saw, I had an e-mail and this 476 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:49,600 was like on the heels of training camp starting that 477 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:51,960 year. I it was an e-mail from my 478 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:55,600 former deputy editor at ESPN who said don't know what you're 479 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,280 doing right now, no camps right around the corner. 480 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:01,440 But we have an opening for a Minnesota Vikings reporter. 481 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,840 Would love for you to come out and at least like talk about it. 482 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:08,960 So whirlwind week. I get hired at ESPN on my 27th 483 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,920 birthday, which was really cool. It's like wake up in the morning 484 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:14,400 after flying back from the car wash out there, which is what 485 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,040 that's called, which is it truly is like you just go through 486 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:19,520 bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. All these people, you you 487 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,040 consume a lot of information. They consume a lot of you. 488 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:26,720 And I woke up to a call that I was hired and I'm like, oh, my 489 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:29,520 God, the training camp's like just starting. 490 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,440 And by the time I get there, it's gonna be the season. 491 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:35,560 And it was, And it was one of those moments that you just 492 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,960 can't say no to when an opportunity like that came 493 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:40,000 around. So I was in Minnesota for five 494 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:44,040 years, started out like very truly and heavily at a different 495 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,320 era than what we're doing, than what we have right now. 496 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:49,560 Like there were so many more sports centers during the day. 497 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:55,000 The our capabilitiesfor.com. We are writing so much more and 498 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,520 I feel like the quality now is up because we've paired a lot of 499 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:00,960 those things down. But I was on like the season 500 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,400 that I got there, the Vikings went to the NFC Championship 501 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:08,240 kind of miraculously, for lack of a better term, not to play on 502 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,880 the Minneapolis miracle. But you know, second I get 503 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,800 there, I didn't have true professional on air live TV 504 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,960 experience because the stuff I was doing in Mississippi was all 505 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:22,520 live to tape for the most part. We had a couple live streams 506 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,480 here and there, but I got to learn how to do that on the fly, 507 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:29,360 too, and it was awesome. And I spent five seasons doing 508 00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:34,040 that before moving to Chicago. In March of 2022, my colleague 509 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:37,360 Jeff Dickerson, who was a mentor of mine, passed away from cancer 510 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,920 and they asked me to move down here, which is home, of course. 511 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:43,680 So kind of coming full circle with everything. 512 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:48,200 And it's been the best decision I I've ever made from a 513 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,000 professional and a personal standpoint. 514 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,880 And the opportunities I've had since I've been here, like my 515 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:57,320 job title on if you go on LinkedIn, if you go on anything, 516 00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:59,720 it'll say like Chicago Bears reporter for ESPN. 517 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:01,760 But that's only a fraction of what I do. 518 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:05,920 I host, I have a show, my own show on Sunday morning on ESPN 519 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:08,640 Radio. I am constantly filling in on 520 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:10,840 other shows on ESPN Radio nationally. 521 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,840 I have a presence here locally on ESPN 1000 Around the Horn, 522 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,360 which has been on the network now for 22 years. 523 00:27:17,360 --> 00:27:19,560 It's a huge part of my week every week. 524 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:21,040 I've been doing it since I got back. 525 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:25,320 I'm on twice a week and it's been really neat to get to do a 526 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:29,800 lot of different things and get to, you know, flex muscles that 527 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,200 aren't just my NFL world. Even though right now it's April 528 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:37,720 16th, I'm up to here in NFL Draft coverage right now and 529 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,520 Caleb Williams and everything that is about to impact the 530 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:44,080 Bears as early as next Thursday. And they just announced that 531 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:47,320 you're going to be part of the the wrap around coverage for the 532 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:49,920 NFL draft. So when you when that sort of 533 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:52,240 thing gets announced, obviously you know it's happening ahead of 534 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:55,920 time, but like what? What is expected of you for the 535 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:57,200 NFL Draft? Like what? 536 00:27:57,200 --> 00:27:58,320 What are they? What are they saying? 537 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:00,600 Courtney, we have to have you doing XY and Z during this 538 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:02,560 coverage. So I actually was talking with 539 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:05,400 my producer about this today. Like we, you know it's it's an 540 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,440 all hands on deck sort of effort and there's five of us I want to 541 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,960 say that are at teams Like the common thread here is teams are 542 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:16,000 choosing quarterbacks and teams that have you know multiple 543 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,520 draft picks like the Vikings, like the Chicago Bears who are 544 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:23,760 drafting at 1:00 and 9:00. So a lot of it is strategizing. 545 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:25,720 How do we get on TV? What are going? 546 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:28,880 Because there's going to be a lot of a lot of content in the 547 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,920 Sports Center shows have to figure out what are the biggest 548 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,840 storylines, of course, with Caleb Williams coming to the 549 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,480 Bears more than likely, unless like barring something insane 550 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:38,920 in. This top ten video we're going 551 00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:41,040 to. Happen, but you never know. 552 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:46,560 It's really like it's gonna be very heavy about the quarterback 553 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:49,480 next week. So my producer Melinda Adams and 554 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,200 I were having a talk today, just trying to figure out, all right, 555 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,360 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, next week, Wednesday's or 556 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:57,880 Tuesday's the pre draft press conference where we'll talk to 557 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:00,600 Ryan Pouls, the general manager. So it's gathering information 558 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:02,600 from that. Wednesday, it's gonna be from 559 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:07,400 like 12 to six, more or less, just like whatever Sports Center 560 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:11,200 or NFL live shows want you like you'll do a hit from there. 561 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,720 It'll the storylines will probably change. 562 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,120 You're gonna wanna alter everything, like from show to 563 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:17,280 show. So it's not the same 564 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:19,080 information, just at a different time. 565 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,760 And then Thursday's the draft, and you know, that's gonna be a 566 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:25,520 busy day, 'cause we go from, I think, 11:00 AM all the way 567 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:27,120 through the evening. And I typically don't leave 568 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:29,920 there on night one until midnight and you're back at it 569 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:32,760 the next day when they bring in not one but two first round 570 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:34,080 draft picks. And it's gonna be a really 571 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:36,560 exciting time. And it's a it's my first year 572 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:42,120 getting to do the draft coverage for TV in addition to all of the 573 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:45,400 draft coverage I'll be providing over at ESPN.com. 574 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:47,440 And that's a really cool opportunity that I'm very 575 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,520 excited about because typically they send out national reporters 576 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:56,400 who don't have like a who are not team specific, but clearly I 577 00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:58,640 did something right to where they're like you can just handle 578 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:00,360 the Bears. But it's I mean, it's been a 579 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,440 it's been a crazy offseason, but a very rewarding and good for 580 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:07,440 business offseason for me. Just given how in the news my 581 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:11,520 team has been and and how eager this fan base is and like the 582 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,040 people who are consuming the Bears are to see, can this team 583 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:16,040 get it right with the quarterback for once? 584 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:21,560 So this is, we have a lot of Bears fans and Chicago area 585 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:26,480 natives in the podcast audience. And you know this is an 586 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:30,560 interesting role for you to be in because you know you you have 587 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,440 to be a journalist your your objective in the way you cover 588 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,760 the team. But there's also, it feels like 589 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,720 from an outsider's perspective, a requirement, you have to not 590 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:42,680 just understand the team inside and out from a credibility 591 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:46,560 perspective, but you have to understand the culture of 592 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,920 Chicago sports and Bears fans in particular. 593 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:54,880 Yeah, which obviously you you've grown up with and in and around. 594 00:30:54,880 --> 00:31:00,040 So like, how do you, how do you put that into practice? 595 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:02,720 Is it something that you're doing consciously, or do you not 596 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,560 even have to think about it, given that you are so kind of 597 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,000 familiar and ingrained in that culture to begin with? 598 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:12,520 Being from here, 'cause you know, I've been here two years 599 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:16,600 and I feel like I've gained a lot of traction here in two 600 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,160 years. Not just because of the work 601 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:20,720 that you put in. Not just because of, you know, 602 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:23,440 the stories you break. All of those things are super 603 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,920 important, and the quality of your work, first and foremost, 604 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,520 stands for itself. But I'm from here. 605 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:30,960 I know what this is like, 'cause I grew up in it. 606 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:35,160 And a prime example of that is, well, people always ask me, 607 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:38,000 like, oh you, this is so cool. You must have, you know how cool 608 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,600 it is to cover the hometown team and a team you were a fan of. 609 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:45,200 And I will tell them honestly, my first Bears game that I ever 610 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,720 went to as a quote UN quote fan spectator was the NFC 611 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:53,200 Championship in 2010 when it was an interdivision. 612 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:56,720 It was Packers. Bears as the Jay Cutler got hurt 613 00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:59,920 in that game and they lost. It was a chance for them to go 614 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:02,320 back to the Super Bowl and they lost and the Packers ended up 615 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:03,480 winning the Super Bowl that year. 616 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:08,240 We didn't go to games as when I was a kid because they were not 617 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:10,680 a great team. They had won the Super Bowl 5 618 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:13,760 years before I was born. And if you just take a look at 619 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:17,800 the names of the quarterback position from like Jim McMahon 620 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:22,400 onwards, like Cade McMahon was the quarterback that I grew up 621 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,040 with. As somebody who was a conscious 622 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:29,720 like sponge of of, you know, just taking in sports at that 623 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:30,720 time figuring out what do I like? 624 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:32,600 Do I had the Bulls, do I like the the Bears? 625 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:35,680 Do I like the Cubs? Like, you know, bulls at my like 626 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,640 when I was starting to really, like come into being a sports 627 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:40,400 fan, Bulls weren't very good anymore. 628 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:42,360 Like I you know, the Jordan years were when. 629 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:45,720 The Tim Floyd era, right? Yeah, like the Jalen Rose era of 630 00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:46,520 the Bulls. Cool. 631 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:48,880 Like, that's not, you know, there wasn't much to get behind 632 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,920 like the Cubs, obviously. Like, we're my team because I 633 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:55,480 remember 98 really well, like in the home run race that year and 634 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:58,600 everything else. But like the Bears were just not 635 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:00,240 a good football team. So my parents were like, we're a 636 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,240 college football family, we'll go to Northwestern games. 637 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:04,280 Not that that was much better, but like, they were familial 638 00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:06,760 ties there and I just kind of tagged along. 639 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:11,560 But I I can use that experience of knowing, Oh yeah, like this 640 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,360 is how, how tough it was for Bears fans. 641 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:16,480 Even though I wasn't a Bears fan because I wasn't really allowed 642 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:17,680 to. Because like, my parents, like, 643 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:19,520 we're not paying for tickets to go watch this product. 644 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:25,840 And I can understand the ones now who are so, so, like, 645 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:28,840 worried, excited and worried. There's like, this anxiety 646 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,360 about, OK, finally everything's falling into place. 647 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,440 I hope they get it right and you can understand where they're 648 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:37,680 coming from, because there have been years before where it 649 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:39,680 looked like it was going in the right direction. 650 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:44,560 But there was something missing. Like in 2018, for example, the 651 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:49,000 year that they had this otherworldly defense that was in 652 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,360 a way spoiled by the quarterback play and obviously spoiled by a 653 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:55,960 double doink. But like it was, there was 654 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:57,760 always something holding this team back. 655 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:03,760 Now you can see all the pieces are in place from a trade of the 656 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:07,000 number one pick last year to then get the number one pick 657 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,440 this year, which was a lot of luck involved in making that 658 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:11,480 happen. But some strategic play by the 659 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:14,480 team to find Carolina as a trade partner. 660 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:18,320 And then on top of that you've got a team that went on an 661 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:22,000 upward trajectory at the end of last season after a really bad 662 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,960 start. You've got a visionary and Kevin 663 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:28,080 Warren who sees a big picture here for what this team can be, 664 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,880 and moving the team out of Soldier Field, but not that far 665 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,080 away from it and trying to build a stadium in the city. 666 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:39,239 There's a lot of momentum around this team and it's an exciting 667 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,960 time to cover not only the Bears, but I thought about this 668 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,360 last night. Like Caleb Williams is gonna 669 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:48,280 hear his name called to Chicago next Thursday. 670 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,560 Connor Bedard's gonna win Rookie of the year in the NHL, Just got 671 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:55,440 here in May of last year. Angel Reese and Camila Cardozo 672 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:59,480 are gonna come take the sky back to where they were for their 673 00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:03,360 coach, quit and decided to be a bench coach in in Toronto for 674 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:06,400 the Raptors with a better job than have being the GM and the 675 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:09,240 head coach of the Sky. And after winning a championship 676 00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:12,040 and how far that team has fallen, Like it's a really cool 677 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:16,120 time to be in the Chicago sports media landscape because of this 678 00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:19,360 youth movement that is on the cusp of doing some really cool 679 00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:21,240 things. Which that's something too. 680 00:35:21,240 --> 00:35:24,720 Like, I can't remember a time growing up where I had that as a 681 00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:27,240 sports fan, as somebody who wasn't covering teams but was 682 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,640 more consuming them and being able to put all those pieces 683 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,680 together, I think and like being able to kind of have the 684 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:37,720 institutional knowledge of this city really helps versus when I 685 00:35:37,720 --> 00:35:39,920 went into Minnesota, I didn't know anything about the Vikings. 686 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:42,560 I mean, I grew up in the NFC North, but I had to learn. 687 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:44,040 I still have my books right over there. 688 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,160 I bought like 10 books from that time. 689 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:49,320 I got the job from at ESPN to time. 690 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:52,640 I moved out of Oakland like I was like, all right, Brandt 691 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:54,000 Arkington, let's go, let's learn. 692 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,520 Let's learn about this four Super Bowls A-Team went to and 693 00:35:56,520 --> 00:36:00,440 you know, lost all of them. Like, you know, it's it's it's 694 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:03,120 much different when you grew up in it, even if you were just 695 00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:06,640 kind of like through osmosis learning about a team that now I 696 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:09,160 know very well. I think it's easy to 697 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:14,000 underestimate how much knowledge you have to have not using most 698 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:16,840 of it, but never knowing when you're going to need to use the 699 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:19,800 the knowledge that you've got and especially with as much 700 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:21,760 content as you do. I mean because it's not just the 701 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:23,920 television hits, it's not just the stuff that you're writing 702 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:29,120 for the web, those the radio, sports, talk radio in big 703 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,320 markets. And really I think it's just New 704 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:33,640 York and Chicago. I I think LA is a different 705 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:37,920 animal largely, but New York and Chicago that is a savage 706 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:41,000 environment to have to operate in on a day by day basis. 707 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:46,040 So you know, to to be able to not just have the knowledge and 708 00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:50,040 selectively utilize it and put it out there, but also to 709 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:51,920 understand how to deliver things. 710 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:55,680 I mean, we've seen people in the Chicago radio market not fare 711 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:59,520 particularly well because they are kind of sussed out as as 712 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:01,840 either not knowing what they're talking about or coming at 713 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:03,840 things from an angle that doesn't actually make a lot of 714 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:05,760 sense. And that's it's interesting when 715 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:08,760 someone does get it like you, you're going to have an 716 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:10,280 audience. It's like, OK, we want to listen 717 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:13,920 to this person over that person, but that's a hard thing to to 718 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:16,720 get your head wrapped around and like how to do that on a day by 719 00:37:16,720 --> 00:37:18,040 day basis. It is. 720 00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:21,480 And you're right about Chicago and New York being and I'd I'd 721 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:22,640 throw Philly in there. Maybe. 722 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:25,240 Maybe Boston as well, but yeah. Boston Yeah. 723 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:30,200 Like, I mean, there's really a four that are like true savagery 724 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:34,080 style within like the way that content is delivered and the way 725 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:36,680 that content is consumed and the callers make everything. 726 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:39,680 Like, I know we've moved into a completely different era of 727 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:43,400 audio where it's not just sports talk radio and where podcasts 728 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:45,920 rule. A lot of people's like, look at 729 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:47,720 us right now. Like, this is content that 730 00:37:47,720 --> 00:37:50,760 people choose to like versus when you get in the car and you 731 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:53,120 turn on the radio, like you're at the beck and call of what's 732 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:55,280 on right now. Whereas in the podcast world, 733 00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:59,600 which has changed the way that we consume audio things on an 734 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:03,200 audio platform in Chicago, still radio is king here. 735 00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:08,240 I mean between our myself at at at ESPN 1000, which I do a ton 736 00:38:08,240 --> 00:38:10,360 of stuff with them. I'm on the Chicago Bears podcast 737 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:12,840 twice a week. I have multiple hits throughout 738 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:14,520 the week, whether it's on Cap and J. 739 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:16,520 Hood, Carmen and Yurko, Waddle and Sylvia. 740 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:18,440 I'm actually filling in for a cap on Friday. 741 00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:20,760 So it's me and and Jonathan Hood, which is one of my 742 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:23,000 favorite stories that like I grew up listening to him when he 743 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:26,640 was doing overnights on the score, my brother and I would be 744 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:28,920 like a white. Our Cubs game gets over and we'd 745 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:31,920 listen to hoodie for like hours and hours, like in the 746 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:34,760 summertime with like the literally the old boom box that 747 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,480 was in my room. And it's neat now that I get to 748 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,680 like be in the, you know, in the in the copilot seat with him 749 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:44,360 getting to do shows. I just, I adore him and I adore 750 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,800 everybody that works there because the style like to to 751 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:50,600 make it in this market. You better have your chops. 752 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:54,520 Like, you better have opinions, you better have facts to back up 753 00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:57,120 your opinions and you and you have to be bold about it. 754 00:38:57,120 --> 00:38:58,600 Like you don't have to be obnoxious about it. 755 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:01,800 Like some markets I think just like are trying to sell you 756 00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:04,920 something based on how loud they can be. 757 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:10,040 Certain hosts but I really enjoy getting to find my voice on 758 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:13,600 local radio here because people listen and people make that a 759 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:19,040 big part of their day in in choosing that over other mediums 760 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,040 of where they're going to consume their bears. 761 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:24,240 News 'cause there's a ton of Bears podcasts out there, 762 00:39:24,240 --> 00:39:28,800 there's obviously multiple radio stations in the city. 763 00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:32,240 People talk about this team right now all the time, whether 764 00:39:32,240 --> 00:39:36,080 it's on TV, whether it's in radio, podcasts, you know, on 765 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:39,280 social media, like anywhere, print, whatever it is. 766 00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:45,280 But the following that I kind of inherited just being part of the 767 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:49,320 ESPN 1000 brand and the platform has given me a chance to really 768 00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,400 flex my radio muscle, 'cause there's a big difference, as you 769 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:56,360 know, between doing national radio, which is what I do for 770 00:39:56,360 --> 00:40:01,960 ESPNESPN Radio and then ESPN 1000 being a hyperlocal, but 771 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:05,840 like hyperlocal in the national scope, whereas this is. 772 00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:09,640 The conversation on the Bears starts here and goes nationally, 773 00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:13,560 and it's neat to kind of teeter the line of what topics matter 774 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:15,760 to what what audiences 'cause it changes. 775 00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:18,640 Yeah, around the horn. I know a lot of people are 776 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:20,960 interested in this. This is a show that my 777 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:23,360 generation, you know, started watching right when we were 778 00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:25,440 coming out of college. Your generation grew up 779 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:27,240 watching. It's it's still relevant, 780 00:40:27,240 --> 00:40:31,400 obviously, you know, so how does that work on a week by week 781 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,440 basis? You're on twice a week, you've 782 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:37,960 kind of slid right in and you're just a regular on it now, you 783 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:39,080 know. So what's the experience like 784 00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:42,200 being on Around the Horn and and working with the different 785 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:43,800 people and working with Tony Rialli? 786 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:48,640 It is been the greatest honor, like I've had as a professional, 787 00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:52,920 getting to be part of that show. Just how well oiled a machine it 788 00:40:52,920 --> 00:41:00,160 is for that happy hour time slot which is you know 5 to 5:30 is 789 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:03,440 around the horn and then 5:30 to 6:00 going into Sports Center is 790 00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:08,120 PTI. That same time slot has been in 791 00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:12,280 existence since 2000 and one 2002 with with around the horn 792 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:15,320 coming in in O2. That doesn't happen. 793 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,120 If it's not a good product, if it's not a sustainable product, 794 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:21,160 if it's not a product that can evolve with time and seeing how 795 00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:26,600 it's evolved, is is been something I've been really proud 796 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:30,760 to be a part of. Because like when they gave me 797 00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:34,640 the call to like, ask if I'd be interested in coming on as a 798 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:37,200 panelist, like I didn't know it was gonna become a regular 799 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:39,000 thing. And I I had obviously hoped it 800 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:42,720 would. But it's a really unique 801 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:49,520 opportunity for me to get to tap into so many different topics in 802 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:53,280 so many different sports and have opinions about things that 803 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:57,160 I don't get to write about every single day, where, yes, my main 804 00:41:57,160 --> 00:42:00,480 focus every single day, it's going to be the Chicago Bears. 805 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:03,960 But I was on yesterday and we opened up talking about the 806 00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:06,920 Masters and Scotty Scheffler and the dominance that we've seen 807 00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:09,440 from him and Tiger Woods. Like, you know, do we need to 808 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:11,840 adjust our expectations? Do we even like watching him 809 00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:14,560 play anymore when he's clearly struggling out there, even 810 00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:16,320 though he made 24 straight cuts? Like when he's clearly 811 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:19,200 struggling on Saturday and then finishes with his worst score 812 00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:21,000 ever? Is that something we're still 813 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,760 buying into? And then it was the game that 814 00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:25,680 was on tonight, Nuggets. And excuse me, Lakers and 815 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:27,440 Pelicans. Like should the Lakers 816 00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:31,120 strategically try to not be playing the Nuggets in the first 817 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:32,480 round? And then we went on to talk 818 00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:36,240 about the Mark Popire, Kentucky and the Eastern Conference and 819 00:42:36,240 --> 00:42:38,880 how that's shaking out it with the play in tournament coming 820 00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:41,280 up. Like all of these things have 821 00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:44,040 nothing to do with my day-to-day, but it allows me 822 00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:47,040 like on radio, which radio is what really gave me my start. 823 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:51,000 And being a proficient panelist on Around the Horn, you got to 824 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:52,520 know a little bit about everything. 825 00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:57,240 And you don't have to be the end all, be all expert on any 826 00:42:57,240 --> 00:43:01,280 specific topic necessarily. But I've got to watch the games, 827 00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:02,800 I've got to have a passion for it. 828 00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:06,880 I've got to be able to sell what I think about something so 829 00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:10,240 people either hate it or they love it or somewhat how they 830 00:43:10,240 --> 00:43:12,720 fall somewhere they fall in between, which typically in this 831 00:43:12,720 --> 00:43:15,120 society doesn't happen. There's usually like A1 or the 832 00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:20,000 other black or white, but it's it's a lengthy process, but it's 833 00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:25,360 a very rewarding process because of how I feel after I get off 834 00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:29,800 every show where there's, you know, like six or seven 835 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:33,640 different things I got to hit on that I wouldn't be able to if I 836 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:37,800 wasn't on Around the Horn. This reminds me of conversations 837 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:39,720 we would have when you were in college though, where it would 838 00:43:39,720 --> 00:43:42,760 be like 7 or 8 different topics that were only moderately 839 00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:45,120 related to or sometimes not related at all other than being 840 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:47,200 sports. But I think you know, you have 841 00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:50,160 to some to some degree be able to start from that basis. 842 00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:52,440 Like, if you're already thinking about those things, and if you 843 00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:55,000 grow up consuming media in sports and you're really 844 00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:58,680 interested in all of the sports, I don't think it's hard for 845 00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:01,520 people to realize, like, how unusual that tends to be. 846 00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:03,840 Like normally people drill down on the things that they're 847 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,920 specifically interested in, as opposed to having opinions on 848 00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:08,160 all of it. No. 849 00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:11,680 And I when we were talking earlier about podcast, like why 850 00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:13,240 do people go to the podcast route now? 851 00:44:13,240 --> 00:44:16,360 Because they want to hear specialized content that is 852 00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:18,480 specific to what they want to consume. 853 00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:23,320 Same thing with sports. Like I grew up in an era where, 854 00:44:24,240 --> 00:44:27,480 you know, in a market like this too, I think I was very blessed 855 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:33,080 to be able to have a place that had four major sports with with 856 00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:37,120 five teams, White Sox, Cubs, Bulls, Blackhawks and Bears. 857 00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:40,680 Like I didn't just, you know, I I don't, I don't know if it 858 00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:42,760 would have been the same had I grown up in a place like 859 00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:47,080 Bloomington and just had college basketball or I mean I think 860 00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:50,680 about more relevant example of it now is watching that crowd, 861 00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:54,440 that BBN crowd for Mark Pope's press conference, if you wanna 862 00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:56,640 call it that. That's all. 863 00:44:56,680 --> 00:44:57,800 They have. I was going. 864 00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:01,880 It's either a coronation or it's some kind of religious ceremony. 865 00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:02,920 But yes, go on. Yes. 866 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:05,800 But like, you know what I mean? Like that's I don't know if I 867 00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:10,640 would have been as worldly in my sports ability to consume had I 868 00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:12,080 not grown up in a place like this. 869 00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:14,440 I don't know if I would have had the wherewithal to know to look 870 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:16,400 outside of what was right in front of me. 871 00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:19,840 I just had a lot of options when I was here, from like college 872 00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:23,200 sports all the way to the pro sports, and obviously it's a pro 873 00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:26,360 sports market. But it's been, it's been really 874 00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:28,520 unique for me getting to go to different places like in 875 00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:30,840 Jackson, Ms. High school sports are king. 876 00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:34,560 SEC football and SEC baseball are obviously a big deal, but 877 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:36,600 that was something I didn't grow up with. 878 00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:38,920 I didn't understand the importance of high school sports 879 00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:43,040 until I got down there. But I also think that like the 880 00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:46,240 reason I can be proficient on a thing like on a platform, like 881 00:45:46,240 --> 00:45:48,320 around the horns, because I've covered a lot of different 882 00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:50,920 things throughout my career I didn't just specialize in. 883 00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:54,520 I mean obviously now my world, my day-to-day is so heavily 884 00:45:54,520 --> 00:45:58,760 rooted in football, in the NFL. But I covered college sports 885 00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:01,040 when I was in college and I went to a place like another thing 886 00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:03,480 about Indiana, like I got to cover like real college sports. 887 00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:07,360 Not no disrespect to anything like AD 3 school or D2 or NAI 888 00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:09,600 whatever. Like I covered a team that 889 00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:13,880 people talked about through through a really tenuous rebuild 890 00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:17,080 and I covered you know going down to Mississippi. 891 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,080 I covered two SEC schools. Might not have been that the 892 00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:23,440 that the premium SEC schools even though they both were like 893 00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:25,720 one and three for a stretch in 2014. 894 00:46:25,720 --> 00:46:29,720 But you know, I covered programs that people cared about and then 895 00:46:29,720 --> 00:46:33,640 obviously going out to the West Coast, everybody cared about the 896 00:46:33,640 --> 00:46:36,400 Warriors for that stretch and and obviously still do. 897 00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:41,120 And it's neat to get to say that I covered a lot of different 898 00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:42,840 things. And even with baseball, like I 899 00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:45,480 covered the, you know, the year the Giants were in last in the 900 00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:49,520 NLDS before the recent stretch, like I got a chance to cover 901 00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:51,280 that. And that was it's a way that 902 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:53,680 like, makes you, I think, a more well-rounded for obvious 903 00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:55,960 reasons, 'cause you're doing so much like a more well-rounded 904 00:46:55,960 --> 00:47:00,440 sportscaster and ability to tell stories, even if it might not be 905 00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:03,360 your, you know, premier sport that you're like most, that you 906 00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:06,960 know the most about. Yeah, it's, it's interesting on 907 00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:09,600 a number of levels because really it does come down to 908 00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:12,840 you're going to go through a natural expansion after a while 909 00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:15,320 of what you're focusing on and what your interest levels are. 910 00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:17,400 And and I mean, I'll say as someone who grew up not in 911 00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:19,520 Bloomington but like a Bloomington equivalent I grew up 912 00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:21,360 in, in West Lafayette of all places. 913 00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:26,440 I think the people that are really interested in sports, you 914 00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:28,360 start to branch out relatively early. 915 00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:30,960 And even if you don't necessarily have a local rooting 916 00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:34,000 interest, you'll often times there'll be something about the 917 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:36,920 sport that's compelling. I was, I was trying to explain 918 00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:40,280 my NFL fan and it's like I was a Broncos fan for about the 1st 15 919 00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:43,080 years that I consciously watched the NFLI also rooted for the 920 00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:46,440 Colts but the Colts were the games were always blacked out 921 00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:50,280 because they they moved to Indy in 84 and really weren't a team 922 00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:52,680 that people paid attention to until the mid 90s. 923 00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:55,600 So but the Broncos had John Elway and they were always on in 924 00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:58,160 the 4:00 hour. And it's like, you know, that I 925 00:47:58,200 --> 00:48:01,320 was I I found that team compelling in a number of ways. 926 00:48:01,320 --> 00:48:02,960 And then that opens up everything else. 927 00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:06,560 And it's in, you know, sports media coverage is fascinating 928 00:48:06,560 --> 00:48:09,840 because when you're reporting on teams or when you're 929 00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:12,400 commentating or when you're, you know, you're on a show like 930 00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:16,360 Around the Horn, you know, it's easy I think for people to 931 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:18,920 assume that you're either talking down to them or you 932 00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:20,240 don't know what you're talking about. 933 00:48:20,240 --> 00:48:23,760 When in reality it's like, no, I've just, I've learned so much 934 00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:26,880 of these things that it's like, how do I take that knowledge and 935 00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:29,720 apply it in a way that that sounds relevant, like the fact 936 00:48:29,720 --> 00:48:32,880 that national commentators are able to talk relevantly about 937 00:48:32,880 --> 00:48:35,320 sports all across the country. I've always found like a really 938 00:48:35,320 --> 00:48:38,120 unique talent that's hard to do and there's not a whole lot of 939 00:48:38,120 --> 00:48:40,640 places where you can where you have to do it that way. 940 00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:44,680 Otherwise, like a a Miami Dolphins fan, if you if you 941 00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:46,880 don't see really understand the roster of what's going on with 942 00:48:46,880 --> 00:48:48,880 them, you're going to come across very quickly as someone 943 00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:50,360 who does not know what they're talking about. 944 00:48:50,520 --> 00:48:53,640 And there and it's not to say like, you know, there's a lot of 945 00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:58,600 prep work that goes into that. You know the trying to think 946 00:48:58,600 --> 00:48:59,800 like what's a good example of this. 947 00:48:59,800 --> 00:49:03,800 Like hockey is not something that and the Blackhawks are in 948 00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:08,040 this rebuild period right now. So like my fandom of trying to 949 00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:11,040 latch onto I I said this when I came back I was like you know 950 00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:13,720 what I'm back in my hometown like market. 951 00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:15,840 I'm gonna find a team to be a fan of. 952 00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:19,560 And like you know goals are goals are not even trying. 953 00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:21,480 Like, they're, you know, they're the ninth seed. 954 00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:22,760 And I get it. Like, they're gonna be out 955 00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:25,200 tomorrow anyways when they lose in the playing tournament or if 956 00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:27,520 they win a game, then they're going to, you're gonna get 957 00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:28,760 probably get swept in the first round. 958 00:49:28,760 --> 00:49:31,680 Like, that's cool. But like, I didn't have that, 959 00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:33,800 the Blackhawks, kind of like what you were saying with the 960 00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:35,200 Colts. They were blacked out for most 961 00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:37,760 of my childhood because that was just the way that they did 962 00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:39,320 things here as an old way of thinking. 963 00:49:39,320 --> 00:49:42,040 But I didn't really become a Blackhawks fan until after 964 00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:44,720 college and when I was in college, when they won the first 965 00:49:44,720 --> 00:49:47,880 Cup in 2010. But like, now it's like, all 966 00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:50,080 right, team's rebuilding. So what am I gonna latch on to? 967 00:49:50,080 --> 00:49:55,720 What am I going to expand my bandwidth to like be a fan of? 968 00:49:55,720 --> 00:49:59,520 And I and I and I still kind of not hesitant, but I'm still kind 969 00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:01,280 of in that spot where it's like, all right, I'm not really sure 970 00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:03,760 if I'm like a true fan of any certain team. 971 00:50:03,760 --> 00:50:05,520 I mean, like, I love going to Cubs games. 972 00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:08,520 The team's really good, you know, it's gonna be really good 973 00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:12,160 this year. But that allows me then to tap 974 00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:16,360 in like I can parachute in and watch 76ers heat and have a 975 00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:18,720 vested interest in what the outcome's going to be. 976 00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:20,800 Because I know the storylines, 'cause I have it. 977 00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:23,440 I've invested myself in learning the storylines. 978 00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:29,800 And you know when you can, when like as a national voice or 979 00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:32,760 somebody who's like tasked with talking about national topics, 980 00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:35,560 like you have to have that, you have to have the ability to 981 00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:38,840 stretch and it's not something that comes overnight. 982 00:50:39,120 --> 00:50:41,640 And even even sometimes now and around the horn, there'll be 983 00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:44,240 like a topic like on on something that I'm trying to 984 00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:45,640 think, what's a good example of this? 985 00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:50,080 It's something I may not be like all that all that up to speed 986 00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:52,800 on, but you have to, you have to get yourself up to speed out. 987 00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:54,920 Like tennis. Yeah, I mean, tennis is a good 988 00:50:54,920 --> 00:50:57,720 example because, you know, pretty soon we're gonna be 989 00:50:57,720 --> 00:50:59,680 coming up on. Sorry, sorry. 990 00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:04,240 Jeremy Gray, apologies, but yes. But I mean, like, you know, I 991 00:51:04,480 --> 00:51:06,960 like, will I watch what happens at Roland Garros absolutely. 992 00:51:06,960 --> 00:51:07,840 Every year? I do. 993 00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:10,360 And you know, it's really, last year was awesome when Wimbledon 994 00:51:10,360 --> 00:51:13,520 was going on when we were out in New York, 'cause I was doing 995 00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:16,880 first take and get up and we watch the I'll never forget like 996 00:51:16,880 --> 00:51:20,640 watching the Sunday 5 hour match between Carlos Alvarez and and 997 00:51:20,640 --> 00:51:23,200 and Novak Djokovic and watching how that ended. 998 00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:25,920 But like, am I watching every single tennis match like the 999 00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:28,080 Miami Open and everything else leading into that? 1000 00:51:28,080 --> 00:51:31,480 No, I'm not. But when when the time comes to 1001 00:51:31,480 --> 00:51:35,760 be able to talk about the big events, you gotta have a 1002 00:51:35,760 --> 00:51:39,240 knowledge base to go off of. And that's just how I consume 1003 00:51:39,240 --> 00:51:42,400 things every single day. Little bit by little, bit by 1004 00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:44,800 little bit. And then you'd be surprised. 1005 00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:47,600 I mean there's a lot of things floating up in here that I don't 1006 00:51:47,720 --> 00:51:50,680 know where it gets stored. But when you have this recall, 1007 00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:54,480 like pulling out this random ass fact from like, you know, like I 1008 00:51:54,480 --> 00:51:56,920 just gave you like, you know, I could tell you exactly where we 1009 00:51:56,920 --> 00:51:59,960 were in the Financial district the day we watched Carlos 1010 00:51:59,960 --> 00:52:03,600 Alvarez fall to the ground. And you know just what a cool 1011 00:52:03,600 --> 00:52:07,600 match that was like beating, you know, beating the goat, by many 1012 00:52:07,600 --> 00:52:10,640 people's estimation in in Novak Djokovic. 1013 00:52:10,640 --> 00:52:13,400 And then, you know, I can't remember what I ate for dinner. 1014 00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:14,360 Right. I know it's. 1015 00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:16,560 I have. I have the same affliction. 1016 00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:19,600 I wish mine was just limited to sports but it it it extends into 1017 00:52:19,600 --> 00:52:23,000 every area. Well, let's let's let's 1018 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:24,960 transition a little bit here. We had some questions that 1019 00:52:24,960 --> 00:52:29,680 people had had set in. So Jay asks what is this 1020 00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:33,000 insanity about JJ McCarthy being a top six or so pick? 1021 00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:33,960 I. Mean. 1022 00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:37,200 There's a lot of smoke around it right now, but I get it from the 1023 00:52:37,200 --> 00:52:41,720 sense of, you know, scouts are very conflicted on him, at least 1024 00:52:41,720 --> 00:52:44,760 people that I've talked with. And I think that's kind of been 1025 00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:49,200 the common theme about if he was, if he was this, if he was 1026 00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:51,560 worth this high of a draft pick, how come we didn't see him throw 1027 00:52:51,560 --> 00:52:53,120 more in college? How come we didn't see more of 1028 00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:56,360 the offense built around him? And there's a multiple number of 1029 00:52:56,360 --> 00:53:01,320 reasons for that happening. But I I I've heard he can go as 1030 00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:04,320 high as two. He can fall as as low as 12. 1031 00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:07,880 And when you have a gap like that, it's kind of like just be 1032 00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:10,280 careful if you're if you're one of these people who wants to bet 1033 00:53:10,280 --> 00:53:13,880 on where guys are going when the discrepancy is that large. 1034 00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:19,200 And we heard Washington had him, Jaden Daniels and Drake May in 1035 00:53:19,200 --> 00:53:21,120 the building this week. He went out to the Patriots 1036 00:53:21,120 --> 00:53:22,800 recently. Like, I don't. 1037 00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:25,920 I'm always skeptical when I see quarterbacks in the order going 1038 00:53:25,920 --> 00:53:28,960 1234, which would mean that the Cardinals trade out of four and 1039 00:53:28,960 --> 00:53:31,840 somebody like Minnesota maybe comes up and gets JJ McCarthy. 1040 00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:34,520 Last year we heard it was the order was gonna be 1234. 1041 00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:38,600 Very rarely does the order pan out the way that we see it. 1042 00:53:38,600 --> 00:53:40,640 And I think the wild card in all of this is gonna be what the 1043 00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:43,440 Patriots do at three. Do they trade out of that pick? 1044 00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:45,920 Do they take a receiver there and just roll with Jacoby 1045 00:53:45,920 --> 00:53:50,680 Brissette and think that, you know, they can get more of it? 1046 00:53:50,680 --> 00:53:52,800 And maybe even trading out of that pick, getting more draft 1047 00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:54,640 capital to use later? Could they get a quarterback 1048 00:53:54,640 --> 00:53:55,440 later? Like, whatever? 1049 00:53:55,440 --> 00:53:58,920 The draft order is never usually what we expect it to be, which 1050 00:53:58,920 --> 00:54:02,640 is what makes this thing even more wild with JJ McCarthy being 1051 00:54:02,640 --> 00:54:05,240 considered by some, at least in the conversation right now. 1052 00:54:05,240 --> 00:54:11,120 Is the #2 quarterback taken? The quarterback stuff is always 1053 00:54:11,120 --> 00:54:16,400 so fascinating because it's the the draft is so divorced in 1054 00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:21,880 order from the reality, you know the the number, the number of 1055 00:54:21,880 --> 00:54:25,760 times the Patrick Mahomes like pick number gets brought up in 1056 00:54:25,760 --> 00:54:27,960 relation to like Mitch Trubisky for instance. 1057 00:54:28,200 --> 00:54:30,120 And and there's so many instances of that. 1058 00:54:30,120 --> 00:54:32,960 It's such a crapshoot. OK. 1059 00:54:32,960 --> 00:54:35,480 We had, we had a couple of other questions here. 1060 00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:40,600 This was mostly from our our IU Media Group, Matt. 1061 00:54:40,720 --> 00:54:42,560 Matt asked if you liked the Bear. 1062 00:54:42,560 --> 00:54:45,480 Not not the team, but the TV series, if you had a chance to 1063 00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:50,600 watch that yet. So in August of 2022, I started 1064 00:54:50,600 --> 00:54:53,400 it, but I fell asleep on the couch, right? 1065 00:54:53,520 --> 00:54:56,320 Behind. The first episode, there's a lot 1066 00:54:56,360 --> 00:54:58,120 going on. There's like a lot of ASMR, a 1067 00:54:58,120 --> 00:55:00,360 lot of like noise and like chopping of things. 1068 00:55:00,520 --> 00:55:02,640 But I do live right near Mr. Beef. 1069 00:55:02,640 --> 00:55:04,200 Like that is a fun fact about me. 1070 00:55:04,200 --> 00:55:08,280 That's over at the corner of Huron, more or less and Orleans, 1071 00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:11,920 and I'm not far from there. So I pass it literally every 1072 00:55:11,920 --> 00:55:13,480 single day. And they were filming in my 1073 00:55:13,480 --> 00:55:15,080 neighborhood. I don't know what is it? 1074 00:55:15,080 --> 00:55:18,120 Season three. I guess they were filming 1075 00:55:18,120 --> 00:55:20,240 recently. So I don't know if I'd be like, 1076 00:55:20,240 --> 00:55:22,160 if if you'll see me in the background with some shot 1077 00:55:22,160 --> 00:55:26,720 driving down the street, but I will give it another go, 'cause 1078 00:55:27,360 --> 00:55:29,000 I've heard really good things about it. 1079 00:55:29,000 --> 00:55:31,160 It was just in the middle of training camp two years ago that 1080 00:55:31,160 --> 00:55:33,120 I started it and just knocked out in the middle of the second 1081 00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:35,080 episode. And I by the time I woke up like 1082 00:55:35,080 --> 00:55:37,440 two or three episodes of play, I was like, God, I I can't deal 1083 00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:38,640 with this. And then I then I have it turned 1084 00:55:38,640 --> 00:55:40,960 it back on. It's hard for me to to sink my 1085 00:55:40,960 --> 00:55:42,960 teeth into any TV series at this point. 1086 00:55:42,960 --> 00:55:45,720 Because I struggle with it. It's just a it's a time suck. 1087 00:55:45,720 --> 00:55:48,040 And and this actually brings up another question that was 1088 00:55:48,040 --> 00:55:52,160 brought up which is a similar question to to one that that our 1089 00:55:52,160 --> 00:55:54,160 friend answered when she was on the show. 1090 00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:57,720 But like, what kind of work life ballots are you able to 1091 00:55:57,760 --> 00:56:01,600 establish given the amount of things that you do and the 1092 00:56:01,680 --> 00:56:04,440 number of places that you're expected to be in, the amount of 1093 00:56:04,440 --> 00:56:06,040 time that those things take to do? 1094 00:56:07,680 --> 00:56:09,120 It's something that I struggle with. 1095 00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:12,600 And I mean, Trisha did her podcast from the kitchen, so I 1096 00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:15,040 did mine from the kitchen to, you know, in solid area. 1097 00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:16,960 Sorry, I have like awful lighting in here. 1098 00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:20,760 But it's one of many things that Trish and I work, life balance 1099 00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:23,760 and the imbalance. One of the many things that she 1100 00:56:23,760 --> 00:56:27,360 and I have in common. And it's like you go through 1101 00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:31,120 different seasons during the year where the work is at its 1102 00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:34,080 heaviest and when you're able to push back a little bit. 1103 00:56:34,080 --> 00:56:38,480 And right now I'm kind of, I got my calendar right here and I 1104 00:56:38,600 --> 00:56:42,720 have been like this my my April right now, which is kind of just 1105 00:56:42,720 --> 00:56:44,080 like a chicken scratch everywhere. 1106 00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:46,840 But I've been having the panic attack moments when I'm like, Oh 1107 00:56:46,840 --> 00:56:49,000 my God, training camp starts in July 20th. 1108 00:56:49,320 --> 00:56:51,800 That is so much closer than we think it's going to be by the 1109 00:56:51,800 --> 00:56:53,880 time you get through the draft, you get through rookie mini 1110 00:56:53,880 --> 00:56:58,240 camp, you get through mandatory mini camp and then the NFL takes 1111 00:56:58,240 --> 00:57:03,240 a break, more or less from like middle of June till for the 1112 00:57:03,240 --> 00:57:06,000 Bears early July. That doesn't mean I have a 1113 00:57:06,000 --> 00:57:07,600 break. I mean, my last couple years 1114 00:57:07,600 --> 00:57:12,120 have been Bears ending straight out to New York right after the 1115 00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:17,480 NBA Finals for First take for Get Up and I I've been filling 1116 00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:20,200 in summer as a huge radio opportunity for me, 'cause I'll 1117 00:57:20,200 --> 00:57:24,040 do sometimes four to five shows a week, including my own. 1118 00:57:24,040 --> 00:57:27,080 And Around the Horn doesn't go on break until the middle of 1119 00:57:27,080 --> 00:57:29,240 August, which is kind of nice at balance as well with training 1120 00:57:29,240 --> 00:57:32,400 camp. But it's it's difficult when 1121 00:57:32,560 --> 00:57:35,640 it's a it's a privilege, but it's difficult when you have, 1122 00:57:36,280 --> 00:57:38,520 like I don't just have one job at ESPN. 1123 00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:41,400 And I think that's a good thing for someone like me who wants to 1124 00:57:41,400 --> 00:57:44,200 be in a have my hand in a lot of different pots. 1125 00:57:44,200 --> 00:57:49,320 But allocating time to do all of those things that require you to 1126 00:57:49,320 --> 00:57:54,960 use different parts of your overall toolbox, it's sometimes 1127 00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:57,520 it it can be overwhelming to where you're like physically and 1128 00:57:57,520 --> 00:58:00,000 mentally tapped out after certain days. 1129 00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:04,440 Like you know the days that I have to do around the horn and 1130 00:58:04,440 --> 00:58:08,200 write and or add radio or a podcast in there. 1131 00:58:08,440 --> 00:58:11,240 That's three different mediums all in one. 1132 00:58:11,240 --> 00:58:16,000 And you know they all require an immense amount of preparation. 1133 00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:20,800 Like can I riff, can I go, can I, You know can I wing it on 1134 00:58:20,800 --> 00:58:22,560 radio? Yeah, sure. 1135 00:58:22,560 --> 00:58:24,080 But is it gonna sound good? No. 1136 00:58:24,120 --> 00:58:28,120 Like you have to prep. Like even for the podcast that I 1137 00:58:28,120 --> 00:58:31,560 do and my Co host and I have been doing it now for more than 1138 00:58:31,560 --> 00:58:32,960 a year. We know each other's body 1139 00:58:32,960 --> 00:58:35,040 language. We know how to, you know, have a 1140 00:58:35,040 --> 00:58:37,680 conversation. We still do prep for all of 1141 00:58:37,680 --> 00:58:42,240 those things And it's it's difficult when you try to fit 1142 00:58:42,240 --> 00:58:44,360 all of those things into one day. 1143 00:58:44,360 --> 00:58:46,600 And then by the time the day is over, you look up and you're 1144 00:58:46,600 --> 00:58:49,680 like, what did I do today? And then you could like, holy 1145 00:58:49,680 --> 00:58:52,440 crap I did so much. And the prep element like for 1146 00:58:52,440 --> 00:58:55,320 Around the Horn I I remember showing my students my calendar 1147 00:58:55,320 --> 00:58:59,760 the first boot camp I taught at Indiana last April in 2023. 1148 00:59:00,200 --> 00:59:03,040 I I kind of did this exercise for myself as much as I did it 1149 00:59:03,040 --> 00:59:08,760 for them to show when you have. I work for one entity and 1150 00:59:08,760 --> 00:59:12,240 technically it's two because Good Karma Brands owns ESPN 1000 1151 00:59:12,240 --> 00:59:17,040 but I work for Big ESPN and then under that umbrella ESPN 1000 1152 00:59:17,560 --> 00:59:20,760 like to allocate my time between more or less four or five rolls. 1153 00:59:20,760 --> 00:59:23,520 Within all of that and what it looks like on a daily basis, 1154 00:59:23,520 --> 00:59:25,320 like there are a lot of different colors on the calendar 1155 00:59:25,320 --> 00:59:27,600 because it's all different things that are eating up time. 1156 00:59:27,600 --> 00:59:31,600 And the prep element is, is a huge part of it. 1157 00:59:31,600 --> 00:59:34,640 Like for around the horn, my day more or less starts with like 1158 00:59:34,640 --> 00:59:36,400 prepping around 7:30 in the morning. 1159 00:59:36,440 --> 00:59:40,320 I get out of the chair around 2:15, 2/30 by the time we're 1160 00:59:40,320 --> 00:59:42,640 done filming. And that's not straight through, 1161 00:59:42,640 --> 00:59:45,280 like you're not like in front of a computer for like 9 hours or 1162 00:59:45,280 --> 00:59:48,320 however long that is. But it's the prep time for me. 1163 00:59:48,320 --> 00:59:50,760 And that's consuming, that's reading the stat packet that 1164 00:59:50,760 --> 00:59:53,280 they give us, that's, you know, going my place, is that I 1165 00:59:53,280 --> 00:59:55,960 typically go to consume information on whatever it is 1166 00:59:55,960 --> 00:59:59,680 that's having the conference call, that's, you know, calling 1167 00:59:59,680 --> 01:00:01,000 my producer. If I want to sort through 1168 01:00:01,000 --> 01:00:04,160 something else that's going doing hair and makeup, that's 1169 01:00:04,160 --> 01:00:06,560 getting in the chair, that's the actual filming process, and then 1170 01:00:06,560 --> 01:00:09,200 you're done. It's like, whoa, that was more 1171 01:00:09,200 --> 01:00:11,000 than half a day. Sometimes that might be. 1172 01:00:11,480 --> 01:00:13,480 All somebody would do in a day, but then I've got to go write 1173 01:00:13,480 --> 01:00:15,240 something about the bears, or I've got to start working on a 1174 01:00:15,240 --> 01:00:16,680 different story. I've got to make a call for an 1175 01:00:16,680 --> 01:00:19,920 interview. Like, it's very hard when you're 1176 01:00:19,920 --> 01:00:23,800 trying to do it at a high level to have much of A work life 1177 01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:27,600 balance. And the rare times I do have 1178 01:00:28,320 --> 01:00:31,880 time, that's like more downtime. I've I feel like, I can't even 1179 01:00:31,880 --> 01:00:33,800 say, like, time off, 'cause there's always something that's 1180 01:00:33,800 --> 01:00:37,160 gonna fill the void. It's difficult for me to know 1181 01:00:37,160 --> 01:00:39,080 how to act like. Even today. 1182 01:00:39,520 --> 01:00:42,120 I got some edits back on a story my editor sent me. 1183 01:00:42,120 --> 01:00:45,040 I had made all these calls and sent out emails for another 1184 01:00:45,040 --> 01:00:47,200 story I'm working on. I'm like, I've got like two or 1185 01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:50,040 three hours here that I could just go for a walk or like, you 1186 01:00:50,040 --> 01:00:52,520 know, like go go go to the grocery store or like, or even 1187 01:00:52,520 --> 01:00:56,480 like just clean my house. Like, it's hard when you're in 1188 01:00:56,480 --> 01:00:58,600 the grind. And the grind becomes so second 1189 01:00:58,600 --> 01:01:02,480 nature to know what happens when you have a moment of respite. 1190 01:01:02,480 --> 01:01:07,000 And I don't do what with that. And maybe it's because I've kind 1191 01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:09,840 of got the high achiever thing going where I want to achieve, I 1192 01:01:09,840 --> 01:01:12,320 want to win, I want to do things at a very high level, but it can 1193 01:01:12,320 --> 01:01:13,760 be very difficult to turn that off. 1194 01:01:14,640 --> 01:01:18,680 I I wouldn't know anything about that, but it's no. 1195 01:01:19,040 --> 01:01:20,920 Like you made me. You made all of us like. 1196 01:01:21,000 --> 01:01:22,160 My fault. I'm sorry. 1197 01:01:22,160 --> 01:01:24,080 I should have been a better parent No. 1198 01:01:24,080 --> 01:01:27,880 But it's it is it's tough and and it is the IT is the big and 1199 01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:32,120 look it's funny in in sports related jobs I everything you 1200 01:01:32,120 --> 01:01:36,280 just said it's it sounds a lot like how coaching operates where 1201 01:01:36,280 --> 01:01:40,480 it's like you the talented people end up getting asked to 1202 01:01:40,480 --> 01:01:43,920 do more and more and it you know you don't really feel like you 1203 01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:46,480 have a choice especially if you're in your your late 20s 1204 01:01:46,480 --> 01:01:49,640 early 30s that's like when you're blossoming you're going 1205 01:01:49,640 --> 01:01:52,440 to get taxed in like 9 different directions and it's easy for 1206 01:01:52,440 --> 01:01:54,840 people who don't or aren't aren't you know they're out in 1207 01:01:54,840 --> 01:01:57,680 the business or they're like they think you just pop up on 1208 01:01:57,680 --> 01:01:59,600 television and you just talk and that's it. 1209 01:02:00,000 --> 01:02:03,760 It's you know it's hard for people who don't really grasp 1210 01:02:04,160 --> 01:02:06,720 how much time all of that takes to really get your head wrapped 1211 01:02:06,720 --> 01:02:08,040 around it and it's a tough balance. 1212 01:02:08,040 --> 01:02:10,960 I I that's probably the one thing I've done a terrible job 1213 01:02:10,960 --> 01:02:14,280 of teaching is like what are you supposed to do to to get that 1214 01:02:14,280 --> 01:02:17,120 balance in place And honestly I think it's different for 1215 01:02:17,120 --> 01:02:20,400 everybody that's it's kind of like the it's like we were 1216 01:02:20,400 --> 01:02:23,000 talking about earlier with who gets excited about multiple 1217 01:02:23,000 --> 01:02:26,400 sports. I think you're either born going 1218 01:02:26,400 --> 01:02:29,360 into OverDrive whenever these things happen, or you're not and 1219 01:02:29,360 --> 01:02:30,920 there's not really a good in between. 1220 01:02:31,280 --> 01:02:35,360 No, you're right. And it's like you have to love 1221 01:02:35,360 --> 01:02:37,600 the grind, which sounds so cliche. 1222 01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:42,840 But it is like coaching in that sense, where the hours are 1223 01:02:43,320 --> 01:02:46,720 chaotic and they're not normal and you can't really get into a 1224 01:02:47,120 --> 01:02:50,920 a morning routine a lot of days where, you know, I've I've 1225 01:02:50,920 --> 01:02:54,480 gotten into routines where I know where I'm at my best, like 1226 01:02:54,640 --> 01:03:02,200 I'm not a night. If I've got to transcribe, I 1227 01:03:02,200 --> 01:03:04,360 can't be the person like, oh, let me just like mindlessly do 1228 01:03:04,360 --> 01:03:05,920 this while I've got, like, Netflix on. 1229 01:03:06,080 --> 01:03:11,200 I'm a 4:00 AM wake up when the world is sleeping and grind it 1230 01:03:11,200 --> 01:03:14,400 out for a couple of hours and get my writing done with my. 1231 01:03:14,480 --> 01:03:17,400 That's when I'm most focused and where I have a clear head where 1232 01:03:17,400 --> 01:03:19,240 I wish I could be a night owl, 'cause then I can actually, 1233 01:03:19,240 --> 01:03:20,600 like, sleep like a normal person. 1234 01:03:20,600 --> 01:03:22,360 Hopefully after time you're done working. 1235 01:03:22,360 --> 01:03:26,400 But you have to be able to adjust to it too And it's it's 1236 01:03:26,400 --> 01:03:27,920 hard. Like what You know, Trisha for 1237 01:03:27,920 --> 01:03:30,840 example. Like I don't know how she, like 1238 01:03:30,840 --> 01:03:34,080 people always ask me about the NFL like oh like must be nice 1239 01:03:34,080 --> 01:03:36,600 like you know season goes September to January. 1240 01:03:36,600 --> 01:03:40,040 What do you do the rest of the year like not realizing or being 1241 01:03:40,040 --> 01:03:43,600 too ignorant to understand that this is a year round league, but 1242 01:03:43,840 --> 01:03:49,360 my travel for the NFL, like I've got eight or nine Rd. games. 1243 01:03:49,360 --> 01:03:52,680 Like what Trisha does and what other people do who have the NBA 1244 01:03:52,680 --> 01:03:55,720 or Major League Baseball. When you're on like 3 game Rd. 1245 01:03:55,720 --> 01:03:58,800 trips and then you've got like another city you're flying to, 1246 01:03:58,800 --> 01:04:00,480 then you're back for like that is. 1247 01:04:00,880 --> 01:04:02,520 I don't know if I'd survive doing that. 1248 01:04:02,520 --> 01:04:05,480 That is a grind. That is, every grind is 1249 01:04:05,480 --> 01:04:07,280 difficult. But that's one that like, is 1250 01:04:07,280 --> 01:04:11,520 just so difficult. I couldn't do all that I'm doing 1251 01:04:11,520 --> 01:04:13,920 and and do and have a travel schedule like that. 1252 01:04:13,920 --> 01:04:16,840 I couldn't do all these different mediums if I had, if I 1253 01:04:16,840 --> 01:04:19,280 was covering baseball. For those for those who didn't 1254 01:04:19,280 --> 01:04:21,600 listen to the podcast with Trisha Trisha's the sideline 1255 01:04:21,600 --> 01:04:25,000 reporter for the Tampa Bay Rays and also does sideline reporting 1256 01:04:25,000 --> 01:04:28,040 for Apple TV Plus and you're and we actually I was just talking 1257 01:04:28,040 --> 01:04:29,880 with her about this the other day where it's like you're on a 1258 01:04:29,880 --> 01:04:34,040 six game road trip you're it is. And I, for those who don't know, 1259 01:04:34,040 --> 01:04:36,920 I did play by play for about five years in minor league 1260 01:04:36,920 --> 01:04:40,920 sports which was like a different and both better and 1261 01:04:40,920 --> 01:04:43,200 worse version of that where you're on buses instead of 1262 01:04:43,200 --> 01:04:45,440 planes. But you're still, you're gone 1263 01:04:45,440 --> 01:04:50,000 for a week and a half and then you come back and you're not 1264 01:04:50,000 --> 01:04:51,960 really home. You're just waiting until you 1265 01:04:51,960 --> 01:04:55,240 leave again and then even and it's funny we're talking about 1266 01:04:55,240 --> 01:04:59,400 this we're we're doing this podcast on the 16th of of April 1267 01:04:59,800 --> 01:05:03,200 and I'm looking at the MLB scoreboard and Razer hosting the 1268 01:05:03,200 --> 01:05:05,600 Angels right now and then the bottom of the 13th inning. 1269 01:05:05,720 --> 01:05:08,200 So it's like even if you even if you've got a game like a night 1270 01:05:08,200 --> 01:05:10,400 planned out it's like I'm gonna go do something after the game. 1271 01:05:10,680 --> 01:05:13,400 Then you get 5 extra innings of baseball just randomly thrown at 1272 01:05:13,400 --> 01:05:16,520 you. It's it's it is a hard balance 1273 01:05:16,920 --> 01:05:19,560 and it's certainly something that's it's it's you don't 1274 01:05:19,560 --> 01:05:21,000 really grasp it unless you're in it. 1275 01:05:21,080 --> 01:05:25,800 So and you and you only get better at like I I've learned 1276 01:05:25,800 --> 01:05:30,320 little tips and tricks of working ahead to stay on 1277 01:05:30,320 --> 01:05:31,560 schedule. That's why I have like a 1278 01:05:31,560 --> 01:05:35,200 physical written out planner so I can keep like have you know, 1279 01:05:35,200 --> 01:05:38,640 benchmarks for myself. Because when you have a schedule 1280 01:05:38,640 --> 01:05:41,960 that's all over the place and a lot of things that are, you 1281 01:05:41,960 --> 01:05:44,440 know, eating away at your time and a lot of demands on your 1282 01:05:44,440 --> 01:05:47,680 time, it can be really hard to actually get the work done. 1283 01:05:47,680 --> 01:05:50,600 When there is the travel element and there is the meeting element 1284 01:05:50,600 --> 01:05:55,680 and there is the prep element, that's it, it that helps. 1285 01:05:55,880 --> 01:05:58,000 What I've been doing now has been kind of help keeping me 1286 01:05:58,000 --> 01:06:00,600 accountable on all of that 'cause it can just be so 1287 01:06:00,600 --> 01:06:02,800 overwhelming and you look up, you're like, wait, I had all 1288 01:06:02,800 --> 01:06:05,560 these extra things I had to do today and I wasn't able to get 1289 01:06:05,560 --> 01:06:08,760 them done because work got away from me. 1290 01:06:09,120 --> 01:06:12,480 And of course, what did I do to Courtney right before she's 1291 01:06:12,480 --> 01:06:14,160 getting ready to do all these draft things? 1292 01:06:14,160 --> 01:06:17,800 We kept her on a podcast for 65 minutes as opposed to letting 1293 01:06:17,800 --> 01:06:18,480 her. Go to stuff. 1294 01:06:18,520 --> 01:06:21,520 No, but this is, this is my way of kind of like unwinding, as 1295 01:06:21,520 --> 01:06:23,720 weird as that probably sounds to somebody, where it's like, well 1296 01:06:23,720 --> 01:06:26,800 it's technically it's not work to me, but it's like we're still 1297 01:06:27,000 --> 01:06:29,880 talking about work. But this is my way of unwinding 1298 01:06:30,200 --> 01:06:33,160 and I think you just have to find that whatever it is, 1299 01:06:33,160 --> 01:06:36,560 whether you know, cause a lot of people ask me, oh, are you, you 1300 01:06:36,560 --> 01:06:39,440 know, cover sports. You must be a huge sports fan in 1301 01:06:39,440 --> 01:06:41,720 In a way I am. But I don't have the. 1302 01:06:42,200 --> 01:06:44,920 I have to sit down and watch every single Cubs game every 1303 01:06:44,920 --> 01:06:48,720 single night the way that I would if I wasn't working and 1304 01:06:48,720 --> 01:06:53,080 entrenched in this all the time. Because sometimes you just need 1305 01:06:53,080 --> 01:06:57,160 like a mental break from it. Like I love football and you 1306 01:06:57,160 --> 01:07:00,120 know, I'm constantly consuming whatever games are on. 1307 01:07:00,120 --> 01:07:04,640 But there's not, you know, for me it's you just have to find 1308 01:07:04,640 --> 01:07:07,120 something sometimes that just like lets you put it down for a 1309 01:07:07,120 --> 01:07:10,120 couple minutes. And if that's me being able to 1310 01:07:10,120 --> 01:07:13,440 go to bed an hour earlier, then then that's what I'll do versus 1311 01:07:13,600 --> 01:07:16,760 let me stay up and you know, watch. 1312 01:07:16,880 --> 01:07:20,200 You know, whatever is gonna happen in this Warriors Kings 1313 01:07:20,200 --> 01:07:23,120 game, excuse me, Warriors Kings game, if I if the game's not 1314 01:07:23,120 --> 01:07:25,360 over and I'm tired, I'm going to bed, then I'm going to bed and 1315 01:07:25,360 --> 01:07:27,840 I'm going to catch up on it in the morning. 1316 01:07:27,840 --> 01:07:30,000 This is where the DVR era has really helped. 1317 01:07:30,040 --> 01:07:32,200 Oh God, or. Or whatever they're calling it 1318 01:07:32,200 --> 01:07:33,320 now. If it's not DVR, no I. 1319 01:07:33,800 --> 01:07:36,200 I I still have Xfinity. I think I'm the only one in 1320 01:07:36,240 --> 01:07:38,120 America who's not cut the cord and. 1321 01:07:38,600 --> 01:07:41,360 You're keeping the RSN's alive by yourself right now. 1322 01:07:41,360 --> 01:07:44,520 So no, I am, as I always tell students, and we'll we'll wrap 1323 01:07:44,520 --> 01:07:47,000 up after this. But it's, you know, if you're 1324 01:07:47,000 --> 01:07:49,120 going to go in this business. I didn't invent this. 1325 01:07:49,120 --> 01:07:52,560 This actually I think came from Keith Olbermann in that in that 1326 01:07:52,560 --> 01:07:56,360 book that he did with Dan Patrick, the big show where, you 1327 01:07:56,360 --> 01:07:58,680 know, it's like, do you like ice cream, you know, Yeah, everybody 1328 01:07:58,680 --> 01:08:00,960 likes ice cream. What if you had to eat ice cream 1329 01:08:00,960 --> 01:08:04,040 for your job three times a day, every day? 1330 01:08:04,680 --> 01:08:07,880 And not just the flavors that you enjoyed, but like the weird 1331 01:08:07,880 --> 01:08:09,960 flavors that you wouldn't normally touch. 1332 01:08:10,680 --> 01:08:15,440 That's essentially if you can still love it, but you have to 1333 01:08:15,440 --> 01:08:18,720 take breaks from it for a while, you know, just to just to kind 1334 01:08:18,720 --> 01:08:21,920 of refresh the palate and give your mind a break and get it on 1335 01:08:21,920 --> 01:08:25,080 to something other than that. Because after a while you reach 1336 01:08:25,080 --> 01:08:27,279 a point of saturation. And I think this is, it's a good 1337 01:08:27,279 --> 01:08:29,720 lesson for anybody going into anything that involves like 1338 01:08:29,720 --> 01:08:33,399 really deep study of, you know, I mean sports, you would think 1339 01:08:33,399 --> 01:08:36,279 it'd be a casual thing, but sports is so complicated and 1340 01:08:36,279 --> 01:08:39,359 it's such this weird combination of personal stories and 1341 01:08:39,359 --> 01:08:43,200 storylines and personality profiles and statistics and 1342 01:08:43,200 --> 01:08:47,000 analysis and all of this noise and it seems to get added to 1343 01:08:47,000 --> 01:08:48,960 every year. There comes a point where you 1344 01:08:48,960 --> 01:08:51,680 cannot digest anymore, like you're you're just going to hit 1345 01:08:51,680 --> 01:08:54,960 a point where your brain's like, sorry that didn't make it in. 1346 01:08:55,800 --> 01:09:00,000 Some of the hardest times for me in doing that, oddly enough, is 1347 01:09:00,000 --> 01:09:04,240 like is during the NBA playoffs. Because a lot of times I'm doing 1348 01:09:04,240 --> 01:09:07,359 radio or at least last couple years, like I was filling in a 1349 01:09:07,359 --> 01:09:12,120 bunch, the two to six stretch and I'd have around the horn 1350 01:09:12,120 --> 01:09:15,520 like, you know, the next day. So I've gotta stay up and watch 1351 01:09:15,520 --> 01:09:18,680 multiple NBA games. And sometimes it's like, God, I 1352 01:09:18,680 --> 01:09:21,120 just got done talking. Like one thing I've had an issue 1353 01:09:21,120 --> 01:09:22,800 with. Like an issue is probably like a 1354 01:09:22,800 --> 01:09:25,960 strong word. But one thing I have like coming 1355 01:09:25,960 --> 01:09:29,880 down and like my family's kind of, like gotten to like know, 1356 01:09:29,880 --> 01:09:34,160 like you know when to when to expect me to be present, when to 1357 01:09:34,160 --> 01:09:38,000 not expect me to be present. Because when I've been talking 1358 01:09:38,000 --> 01:09:41,000 for four hours and I know it's four hours out of your day, but 1359 01:09:41,000 --> 01:09:45,960 like, you have to be on that entire time because otherwise 1360 01:09:45,960 --> 01:09:47,720 you're not gonna be entertaining, you're not gonna 1361 01:09:47,720 --> 01:09:51,960 say anything worth a damn. And it's just bad radio. 1362 01:09:51,960 --> 01:09:54,760 If you're you can't be like somewhere else. 1363 01:09:54,760 --> 01:09:57,320 You have to be fully physically and mentally present. 1364 01:09:58,120 --> 01:09:59,760 It's not easy for me to shut that off. 1365 01:09:59,760 --> 01:10:03,080 And by the time I may turn that off at the end of the of the of 1366 01:10:03,080 --> 01:10:05,240 my shift or whatever it is, I'm exhausted. 1367 01:10:05,240 --> 01:10:08,280 And then I've got a I'm not just sitting down casually watching, 1368 01:10:09,240 --> 01:10:12,840 you know, watching Jimmy Butler rip apart teams last year like 1369 01:10:12,840 --> 01:10:16,000 it made it easy because he was so entertaining and that my Heat 1370 01:10:16,000 --> 01:10:18,120 team was so electric as they just ripped through the Eastern 1371 01:10:18,120 --> 01:10:21,440 Conference. But I'm consuming that in a way 1372 01:10:21,440 --> 01:10:24,840 where I'm consuming for knowledge of what I'm gonna use 1373 01:10:24,840 --> 01:10:27,640 for my arguments the next day. I'm not just oh, let me casually 1374 01:10:27,640 --> 01:10:28,920 watch this. I'll be on my phone. 1375 01:10:28,920 --> 01:10:33,040 Like, you know, that's when it's your job, you consume it 1376 01:10:33,040 --> 01:10:36,800 differently and you're taking notes and you're you're trying 1377 01:10:36,800 --> 01:10:38,840 to remember certain things. Oh man, like, look at this run, 1378 01:10:38,840 --> 01:10:40,280 they went on. I'm gonna reference this 'cause 1379 01:10:40,280 --> 01:10:41,960 I know it's gonna come up in this thing tomorrow. 1380 01:10:41,960 --> 01:10:47,280 Like, like when when the when what you used to do or what some 1381 01:10:47,280 --> 01:10:49,680 people do for enjoyment is part of your job. 1382 01:10:49,680 --> 01:10:55,440 Like you've got to massage that delicately so you can get what 1383 01:10:55,440 --> 01:10:57,880 you need to out of it, 'cause it's sometimes that's where I 1384 01:10:57,880 --> 01:10:59,640 get burned out. The most, and that's the 1385 01:10:59,640 --> 01:11:02,760 challenge I think is with people working in in any form of media, 1386 01:11:02,760 --> 01:11:05,040 but especially sports media. Can you can you not become 1387 01:11:05,040 --> 01:11:08,960 cynical about it? Can you retain the the optimism 1388 01:11:08,960 --> 01:11:11,720 and the enjoyment that the audience wants to hear? 1389 01:11:11,800 --> 01:11:14,880 And if you try to come across, you know, if you try to 1390 01:11:14,880 --> 01:11:17,880 manufacture the enthusiasm, people notice that immediately. 1391 01:11:18,640 --> 01:11:21,320 So you have to find a way to make it genuine, and that can be 1392 01:11:21,320 --> 01:11:25,640 a genuinely difficult thing to do so well, Courtney, this was, 1393 01:11:25,640 --> 01:11:27,240 this was awesome. This was kind of a therapy 1394 01:11:27,240 --> 01:11:29,360 session as much as I know. That's why I like doing them 1395 01:11:29,360 --> 01:11:32,560 because it does feel like a therapy session and I've anytime 1396 01:11:32,560 --> 01:11:35,000 I do a friend's podcast and we end up like talking about like 1397 01:11:35,000 --> 01:11:37,880 the business element around sports and what you do. 1398 01:11:37,880 --> 01:11:41,600 It's like we all have common threads in it and we all deal 1399 01:11:41,600 --> 01:11:44,800 with the same struggles and and that's, you know, it is therapy 1400 01:11:44,800 --> 01:11:46,160 to get to like talk through those things. 1401 01:11:46,160 --> 01:11:48,360 But it's also really cool to like see how far you've come. 1402 01:11:48,360 --> 01:11:50,480 Cause like when you're in the thick of it every day you don't 1403 01:11:50,480 --> 01:11:52,920 realize like oh wow, I've got all these really cool things 1404 01:11:52,920 --> 01:11:55,480 like you didn't just didn't just come out of thin air. 1405 01:11:55,480 --> 01:11:58,920 You earn them and it's it's neat to kind of stop for a second and 1406 01:11:58,920 --> 01:12:01,240 realize, wow, I am doing some really cool things I'm very 1407 01:12:01,240 --> 01:12:02,920 proud of. Yeah, and you should be. 1408 01:12:02,920 --> 01:12:04,080 You've done. You've done. 1409 01:12:04,080 --> 01:12:08,600 You've had an amazing career so far and it's it's nothing but a 1410 01:12:08,600 --> 01:12:11,160 source of pride watching you do what you do on a daily basis. 1411 01:12:11,160 --> 01:12:15,640 So, so we'll on that note go ahead and wrap up. 1412 01:12:15,760 --> 01:12:18,160 We really appreciate Courtney joining us here on the show and 1413 01:12:18,160 --> 01:12:20,120 I appreciate all you folks listening as well. 1414 01:12:20,680 --> 01:12:23,440 You can catch Courtney on NFL draft coverage coming up and 1415 01:12:23,520 --> 01:12:26,160 pretty much everywhere else in the ESPN constellation, 1416 01:12:26,160 --> 01:12:27,720 especially if you're living in Chicago. 1417 01:12:28,440 --> 01:12:30,240 So tune in for that. Thanks to all you folks. 1418 01:12:30,240 --> 01:12:32,400 We'll be back. Lot of Little 5 content this 1419 01:12:32,400 --> 01:12:35,600 week as the Little 500 is happening Friday and Saturday. 1420 01:12:35,880 --> 01:12:38,560 So stay tuned for that. For Courtney, I'm Galen, this is 1421 01:12:38,560 --> 01:12:39,680 Crimson Cast. We'll catch you folks. 1422 01:12:39,680 --> 01:12:41,440 On the flip side, bring back the Bison. 1423 01:12:41,840 --> 01:12:42,360 So everybody.