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Speaker 1: Welcome the playmakers. Everyone. I'm Haley Elwood. It is Week

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Speaker 1: four and the Los Angeles Chargers. We'll take on the

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas Raiders on Monday Night Football. So joining me

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Speaker 1: is ESPN's Laura Ledge. Laura, how are you. I'm great, Haley,

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Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. Thank you. I'm so excited to

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Speaker 1: talk with you. I actually remember being in San Diego

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Speaker 1: working for the Chargers watching you with the Padres back,

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Speaker 1: which feels like a million years ago but really hasn't been.

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Speaker 1: But since then, you've had really quite the rise. So

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Speaker 1: when it comes to doing things like covering baseball, covering

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Speaker 1: college football recruiting, how did that maybe all of that

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Speaker 1: ad to kind of what you're doing now with both

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Speaker 1: hosting NFL Live and also SEC Nation. Yeah. I think

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Speaker 1: so much of the path that I've been fortunate to

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Speaker 1: have so far has had to do with sort of

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Speaker 1: gathering information, in gathering experience along the way. So the

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Speaker 1: time that I spent in San Diego, you can ask

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Speaker 1: anybody that knows me, I absolutely love San Diego and

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Speaker 1: I love just being in California, and so it was

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Speaker 1: it was so much fun to spend that time with

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Speaker 1: the Padres and I just got a ton of reps

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Speaker 1: at that time. So I was twenty four, so you know,

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Speaker 1: for that age to be able to get a bunch

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Speaker 1: of reps not only reporting but also hosting was huge.

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Speaker 1: And I was terrible and I had a long way

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Speaker 1: to go, but I learned a lot, and then you know,

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Speaker 1: from there was able to get back into college football

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Speaker 1: a little bit more. And I think now with the

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Speaker 1: combination of reporting and hosting in different sports and different

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Speaker 1: leagues and all types of experience, I find that I

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Speaker 1: use that stuff every single day. And I also think

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Speaker 1: that at the end of the day, one of the

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Speaker 1: things that has helped me a lot, and one of

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Speaker 1: the things that I'm always trying to remind myself of

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Speaker 1: is just that, you know, people at home want to

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Speaker 1: feel that warmth from whoever's on the TV or whoever

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Speaker 1: they're listening to, or whoever they're reading the person's article.

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Speaker 1: I think that just being human and being kind and

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Speaker 1: trying to always put that out there and having fun

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Speaker 1: it is one of the best keys to all of this.

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Speaker 1: I used to really beat myself up about mistakes and

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Speaker 1: sort of dwell on those things, and I'm trying now

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Speaker 1: not to do that. As much, and I do think

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Speaker 1: it's made a difference for me. I love that too,

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Speaker 1: And I think, as we both know, this industry is

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Speaker 1: so small and sometimes you never know, Like when you

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Speaker 1: talk about kindness, I say that a lot like who

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Speaker 1: you might run into at one point, you might cross

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Speaker 1: paths with later on down the road, and sometimes you

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Speaker 1: just never know. So being kind is of the utmost importance,

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Speaker 1: I would say, right. Yeah, So when it comes to

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Speaker 1: I mentioned college football recruiting scout dot com, I actually

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Speaker 1: did that back in the day, and I loved it,

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Speaker 1: and I just kind of wanted to touch on just

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Speaker 1: how sort of covering high school football in a way

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Speaker 1: is really an entree in and sort of a great

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Speaker 1: way for maybe young journalists to kind of get in

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Speaker 1: the business. Yeah, it's a great point. I actually did

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Speaker 1: my first sideline on web high school football broadcast so

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Speaker 1: broadcast online, and I was like, I had no idea

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Speaker 1: what I was doing. I've never done the sideline before,

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Speaker 1: and it was funny because I was I mean, even

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Speaker 1: just some of those first reports are so terrible. But

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Speaker 1: it was baptism by fire and I learned a ton

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Speaker 1: from it, and so I think I always recommend the

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Speaker 1: same thing. You know, go and try to do anything

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Speaker 1: at at your high school or at a high school.

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Speaker 1: You know, the recruiting side is fascinating because it really

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Speaker 1: is more at the scouting side, and you have to

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Speaker 1: understand the game at a higher level, I think than

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Speaker 1: you normally would, and that's helped me a lot. I

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Speaker 1: still refer to so many of those things. The other thing, too, is,

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Speaker 1: you know, I covered Lamar Jackson when he was in

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Speaker 1: in high school and when he was doing you know,

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Speaker 1: Nike camps up and down the state of Florida. You know,

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Speaker 1: all of these guys that have gone on to have

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Speaker 1: great success. I covered them all the way back in

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Speaker 1: high school. Now they're in the NFL. So those connections,

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Speaker 1: it's exactly like what you just said. Those connections just

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Speaker 1: continue on and on. And I think understanding where players

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Speaker 1: have come from in the high school level gives you

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Speaker 1: a great layer of understanding that you wouldn't have otherwise

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Speaker 1: had about them. So I find myself leaning on that

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Speaker 1: a lot. But yes, I think high school football is

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Speaker 1: one of the best ways to get started in this business,

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Speaker 1: and there's so much passion and pride surrounding it that

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Speaker 1: it really is a great example of, you know, just

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Speaker 1: one of the great parts of football. How cool is

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Speaker 1: that to see someone like Lamar Jackson, someone who you

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Speaker 1: covered when he was in high school, have gone on

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Speaker 1: to have the success that he's had now in the NFL. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's amazing. I mean I covered him in college too,

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Speaker 1: and actually did a couple of Thursday night games where

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Speaker 1: we had Louisville on ESPN, and it was funny because

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Speaker 1: even at that time, you know, he had won the

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Speaker 1: Heisman Trophy, or even the year that he was going

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Speaker 1: to win the Heisman Trophy, and people still doubted him.

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Speaker 1: People still thought, well, he's not your traditional quarterback. He

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Speaker 1: doesn't just stand like a statue in the pocket make

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Speaker 1: all the throws. And I remember thinking, these people don't

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Speaker 1: know him. They don't know how hard he's worked to

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Speaker 1: get to the point that he is at now and

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Speaker 1: how much it matters to him. And I think that's

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Speaker 1: still true for him. You know. You even look at

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Speaker 1: this Ravens team and they get Rashad Bateman back and

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Speaker 1: Miles boy Him back this week, but they've been so

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Speaker 1: bereft of weapons with alder injuries, and yet still somehow

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Speaker 1: he's making it work. And still being Superman so often

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Speaker 1: in the game. And I just think that speaks to

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Speaker 1: obviously his skill set, right, we know about that, but

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Speaker 1: just the persona and the drive that has always been

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Speaker 1: part of him, you know, ever since he was even

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Speaker 1: a child. You can ask his mom about that, and

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Speaker 1: it's been there for a long long time. So one

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Speaker 1: of the really cool things I think that ESPN has

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Speaker 1: is how women really head up their NFL programming. You know,

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Speaker 1: I think of you, I think of Sam Ponder, Susie Colber.

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Speaker 1: What does it mean to be part of that? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I can't even believe it half the time. Could you

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Speaker 1: know you would even like say that sentence and I'm

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Speaker 1: I'm in that sentence is sort of shocking to me.

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Speaker 1: But I'm so thankful that ESPN continues to make it

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Speaker 1: a priority to put women in prominent spots. And I

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Speaker 1: think it's it's a priority on some level and that's great,

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Speaker 1: but it's also about them saying, hey, these women have

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Speaker 1: earned it, and these women are what we want as

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Speaker 1: as the best possible option to head up our NFL coverage.

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Speaker 1: And you know, for me, as somebody who spent many

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Speaker 1: years in college football and then even back to my

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Speaker 1: days in San Diego did actually cover the Chargers at

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Speaker 1: that point too, and has had NFL ties, but wasn't.

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Speaker 1: I've never been associated up until lately the last couple

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Speaker 1: of years with the NFL. For them to give me

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Speaker 1: this chance, and for them to say we know that

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Speaker 1: you can do this, and that even believing in me,

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Speaker 1: probably more than I've believed in myself, I am so

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Speaker 1: thankful for that, and I think that when I look

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Speaker 1: at the future for ESPN and the partnership with the

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Speaker 1: nf FELL, it's an incredibly bright future and one that

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Speaker 1: I'm so honored to be connected to. So I can't

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Speaker 1: every single day. I can't even describe walking into the

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Speaker 1: NFL Live studio, which is named after Chris Berman and

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Speaker 1: Tom Jackson. It's like, how do I get to do

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Speaker 1: this every day? And I'm constantly amazed by Its something

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Speaker 1: that I never take for granted, and I feel like

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Speaker 1: if I were to take it for granted, then I

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Speaker 1: don't deserve the position. But you know, to your point,

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Speaker 1: just really thankful also to be surrounded by other great

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Speaker 1: women who are doing this as well. What do you

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Speaker 1: really like about working on NFL Live and being part

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Speaker 1: of the league in a sense now, you know, I

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Speaker 1: think one of the things that means a lot to

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Speaker 1: me is just being a part of a team and

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Speaker 1: being with these guys and girls every single day. And

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Speaker 1: you know, Mina Kimes is like my idol. I think

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Speaker 1: she's absolutely fantastic and certainly is somebody that is trailblazing

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Speaker 1: beyond just the regular trailblazing, right. She is truly the

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Speaker 1: only person who does what she does as a football analyst,

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Speaker 1: and it's phenomenal to watch. And then to have Dan Orlovsky,

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Speaker 1: who's the best in the game when it comes to

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Speaker 1: exo and breaking down tape and bringing that analysis that

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Speaker 1: is never surface level. It's always so intricate and deep

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Speaker 1: with Dan, and I think it really teaches fans something.

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Speaker 1: And Marcus Spears, who has been one of my best

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Speaker 1: friends all the way back to twenty fifteen when we

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Speaker 1: first started working together at SEC Network. For us to

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Speaker 1: be able to grow in these roles together and be

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Speaker 1: there every day together, and when we have Keyshon in

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Speaker 1: there and Adam Schefter and just Ryan Clark, all of

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Speaker 1: these great great analysts who are so much fun and

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Speaker 1: I really really enjoy that. And I think too, of

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Speaker 1: the other part of it that is exciting, you know,

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Speaker 1: being part of this league, being associated with this league

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Speaker 1: is probably a better way to put it. You've gotten

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Speaker 1: news every single day. There's always something going on. I

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Speaker 1: can't tell you how many times our producer Mark Eisman

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Speaker 1: will say, right, so, here's what we're doing, and we

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Speaker 1: have full meetings throughout the day. I'm actually about to

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Speaker 1: hop on one here. Shortly we then we think we've

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Speaker 1: got what's happening. Then something else happens. We have the

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Speaker 1: whole show planned out and we changed this, that and

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Speaker 1: the other, and then the whole thing blows up because

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Speaker 1: Cheft says thirty seconds before, oh I've got something. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: We're like, okay, well let's do that instead. And just

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Speaker 1: always being nimble and you know, delivering the latest news

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Speaker 1: to the fans at four pm every day on ESPN

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Speaker 1: is such an incredible thrill and a joy for me. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it is such a fluid situation working in the NFL,

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Speaker 1: because there's always something. Like you said, right, you mentioned

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Speaker 1: Mina Kimes. She is kind of like a unicorn in

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Speaker 1: her own sort of special way. But what does she

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Speaker 1: kind of bring to the panel in terms of just

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Speaker 1: her insight and football knowledge too. Yeah, it's incredible. I

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Speaker 1: love watching games with her and watching her real time

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Speaker 1: breakdown plays and analyze why a team would do this.

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Speaker 1: And I think it's interesting because Mina is often associated

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Speaker 1: with stats and next level stats, right, not just your

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Speaker 1: regular stat information, and she's so good at that, and

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Speaker 1: she's so good at the NFL next gen stats and

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Speaker 1: explaining them and explaining what pass rush wind rate actually

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Speaker 1: means and why it matters and all of those things.

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Speaker 1: But maybe what gets lost sometimes just her general ability

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Speaker 1: to analyze football and to look at formations and to

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Speaker 1: sit there and say, all right, they're doing this because

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Speaker 1: of this, and they've got this player that you may

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Speaker 1: not know about and that's why they're really exploiting this matchup.

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Speaker 1: Is it is so incredible to watch. And then the

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Speaker 1: other part of that is that she's so extremely smart.

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Speaker 1: So everything that she does and we always joke about

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Speaker 1: this and she gets annoyed with us, but obviously she's

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Speaker 1: a Yale grad and she's just eons beyond the rest

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Speaker 1: of us intellectually. But she's so funny because she's so smart, right,

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Speaker 1: She's got this great sense of humor, and so I

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Speaker 1: think that's my other if I really were to pick.

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Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that makes me happiest

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Speaker 1: about spending time with her, it's her sense of humor

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Speaker 1: and watching her think things are funny. And she and

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Speaker 1: I have a similar sense of humor, so a lot

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Speaker 1: of times we think the same things are funny. It

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Speaker 1: really is incredible. I mean, I think we'll look back

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Speaker 1: on Mina's career years from now and she'll be in

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Speaker 1: history books as somebody that did something that had never

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Speaker 1: happened before, right, And that's it sounds obvious and it's true,

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Speaker 1: but it's also remarkable as you watch it happening real time.

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Speaker 1: She's also a really great writer. She just wrote a

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Speaker 1: really awesome piece about a month ago or so on

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Speaker 1: a Chargers quarterback, Justin Herbert. I know that you're still

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Speaker 1: kind of involved with college football obviously, sec but having

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Speaker 1: now worked on NFL Live for a year sort of

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Speaker 1: what's really impressed you, maybe from what Herbert did at

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Speaker 1: Oregon to what he's done in the NFL now. I

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Speaker 1: think so many of us, and I would include myself

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Speaker 1: in this category we're wrong about Justin Herbert, and I'm

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Speaker 1: so glad to admit that, right because I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: if there are many quarterbacks that I root for more.

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Speaker 1: Mina's peace was so revealing. I'm sure a lot of

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Speaker 1: your fans have that piece. But you just get a

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Speaker 1: peek inside what he really is and who he is

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Speaker 1: and what drives him. I will never not put my

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Speaker 1: grocery cart away. I always did that anyway, because I say,

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Speaker 1: I felt like I'm worried about karma. I'm like, oh no,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna get in trouble for this um. And you know,

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Speaker 1: you just think about somebody like him caring about things

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Speaker 1: like that. You know, you've got to put your gray

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Speaker 1: cart away after you go grocery shopping. But I think

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Speaker 1: from a football standpoint, what we've seen is that he

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Speaker 1: is next level when it comes to processing. And what's

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Speaker 1: happened to him in his career, you know, being forced

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Speaker 1: into the game against the Chiefs even last year, last minute,

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Speaker 1: he has no idea this is happening, and all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden, boom, here you go, young man. You know,

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Speaker 1: let's see what you got. And the Chargers were close

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Speaker 1: in so many games that they probably should have won

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Speaker 1: last season and didn't. And this year is, in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: sort of the the opportunity for them to take that

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Speaker 1: next step, and they've already done it, right, We've already

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Speaker 1: seen it. I think they have another chance on Monday

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Speaker 1: Night football against a really good Raiders team. And I

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Speaker 1: don't know how I picked the Chargers, So I don't

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Speaker 1: know how you can look at this game and not

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Speaker 1: assume that they're going to be so competitive and probably

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Speaker 1: win it. And a lot of that has to do

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Speaker 1: with Herbert in his development, and I think where we

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Speaker 1: really went wrong to sort of put a bow on that,

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Speaker 1: is that we looked at Oregon's offensive scheme. It got

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Speaker 1: too caught up in that and less about what Herbert

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Speaker 1: was able to do and the potential that is there.

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Speaker 1: And so it's been a great situation for him with

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Speaker 1: the Chargers and coach Staley especially, But I really think

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Speaker 1: that he is going to be a bona fide already

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Speaker 1: is but will continue to be a bona fide NFL

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Speaker 1: star and one of the best quarterbacks hopefully for a

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Speaker 1: long career here coming. Absolutely. And then lastly, Laura, you

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Speaker 1: kind of mentioned it, but that Monday night matchup, it's

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Speaker 1: a really good one this week between the Raiders and

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Speaker 1: the Chargers. You talked about it a little bit, but overall,

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Speaker 1: what are you kind of expecting out of this one? Well? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this division maybe the best in football, and you know,

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Speaker 1: so much of the conversation coming into the season was, oh, well,

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Speaker 1: the NFC West is the best, going to be the

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Speaker 1: best division in football. I think we're seeing a little

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Speaker 1: bit more separation in the NFC West than we are

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Speaker 1: in the the AFC West when you look at you know,

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Speaker 1: what's happened with the Chargers and the Raiders so far

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Speaker 1: this season. I think if you you go top to bottom,

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Speaker 1: the Chargers have a better roster, right, and they have

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Speaker 1: I believe, a better group. But either way, this Raiders

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Speaker 1: team's shown a ton of fight. Their defense has been

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Speaker 1: significantly better, which is sort of what's been missing for

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Speaker 1: the Raiders over these past two years. We always knew

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Speaker 1: the offense could do it. John Gruden's been a great

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Speaker 1: play caller AND's been scheming it up for years, right,

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Speaker 1: and that that was no different even last season the

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Speaker 1: season before. But um, I think this is going to

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Speaker 1: be a high scoring back and forth despite the good defenses.

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Speaker 1: I think these offenses may have the slight edge in

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Speaker 1: that in that realm and Listen, if you're a Chargers fan,

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Speaker 1: you trust your team immensely after you saw what happened

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Speaker 1: against the Chiefs, you know, on Sunday, and what you've

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Speaker 1: seen from them in being able to win these games

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Speaker 1: late and knowing that they're going to be in a

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Speaker 1: fight and saying we don't care because we've got this

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Speaker 1: quarterback in Justin Herbert. That is such a difference maker.

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Speaker 1: I cannot wait for this game. I did reveal I

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Speaker 1: did already pick the Chargers, but I do think this

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Speaker 1: is going to be one of the great classics on

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Speaker 1: Monday Night football. And we've seen a few of those,

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Speaker 1: you know, in these past few years, and it's a

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Speaker 1: stage that I believe these Chargers, this particular group is

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Speaker 1: really ready for this year. Well, we are excited for

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Speaker 1: it as well. Laura Relig, thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: joining me today. Really appreciate it. Thanks so much. Hailey