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Speaker 1: Welcome into an all new episode of her playbook. The

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Speaker 1: Her Playbook Podcast is brought to you by kendras Scott,

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Speaker 1: Game Day, Just Scott Personal. Find your winning look at

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Speaker 1: Kendra Scott where team spirit meets personal style. Shop jewelry,

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Speaker 1: accessories and more at your New York area Kendra Scott

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Speaker 1: store or online at Kendrascott dot com. Welcome into this

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Speaker 1: episode of Her Playbook. I'm Madeline Burke, joined by lead

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Speaker 1: NFL insider for the Athletic Diana Rossini.

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Speaker 2: Diana, thanks for taking the time.

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Speaker 3: It is great to be here. It's the perfect time

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Speaker 3: of year because it's a little bit of calm before

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Speaker 3: the storm, so it's fun to just be here, be

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Speaker 3: at the Giants facility and of course seeing you, I

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Speaker 3: know it's been it's been a minute's usually regular season,

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Speaker 3: I see you, so yeah, it's nice to see you

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Speaker 3: in February here.

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Speaker 1: It's so great to see you in February, and like,

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Speaker 1: who are we kidding? The storm of the NFL, there's

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Speaker 1: always a slight chance of precipitation. There's always something going

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Speaker 1: on in this league, you know, And I think you,

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Speaker 1: of all people would know that as an NFL insider,

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Speaker 1: you have worked your way to the top of the

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Speaker 1: game to being one of the most respected voices in

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Speaker 1: this league. But before we start there, I want to

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Speaker 1: go back to the origin. At what point in your

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Speaker 1: life did you say, Okay, this is a career path

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Speaker 1: I want to follow, this is something I want to

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Speaker 1: get into journalism, into that field.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, first off, thank you for those kind words.

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Speaker 3: It probably started when I was young, like I mean

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Speaker 3: five six. My parents tell a story that I used

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Speaker 3: to hear the fire trucks and run outside with my

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Speaker 3: coloring book and draw whatever it is that I imagined,

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Speaker 3: and go back in the house and tell them the

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Speaker 3: story that I would just make up because I obviously

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Speaker 3: didn't see the fire.

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Speaker 1: As you can see with my ots that I draw,

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Speaker 1: this is how the fire started.

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Speaker 3: So they used to put them on the refrigerator. Oh wow.

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Speaker 3: And they said that I just was always so curious,

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Speaker 3: and I think they guided me in that direction as

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Speaker 3: I got older to lean into that. And I was

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Speaker 3: an athlete in high school and sports was just my personality,

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Speaker 3: that's all I knew. It was my identity truly, but

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Speaker 3: I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to

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Speaker 3: go into sports Originally I had this news bug. I

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Speaker 3: love the idea of being a general assignment reporter my

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Speaker 3: dreamless work. And I went to news in New York

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Speaker 3: City and I went down that path and I got

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Speaker 3: to New York actually, and it was great and it

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Speaker 3: taught me a lot of the things that I now

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Speaker 3: applied to sports. But I wound up making a switch

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Speaker 3: because I realized that I think news comes with a

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Speaker 3: very big responsibility. But I didn't find my personality to

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Speaker 3: ever really be authentic when I was reporting the news.

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Speaker 3: I was always pretending to be a news reporter. I

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Speaker 3: felt like my grandmother was the one who actually picked

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Speaker 3: up on that. She's like, I just don't see my

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Speaker 3: granddaughter on TV. That's not her. I'm like, what do

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Speaker 3: you mean, I'm on five, six and eleven and she's like, yeah,

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Speaker 3: but I see you, but that's not you. And Bruce

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Speaker 3: Beck actually at Channel four in New York was the

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Speaker 3: one who gave me the idea. He says, I think

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Speaker 3: you need to get into sports. You've got something about

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Speaker 3: you that that I think will fit. And he was right.

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Speaker 1: Bruce is such a sweetheart, one of the legends of

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Speaker 1: this market and the real industry.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and he did something that's not very common. So

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Speaker 3: Shaye Stadium was closing at the time. This tells you

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Speaker 3: how long ago it was, and I was working a

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Speaker 3: weekend shift, and he said, why don't you do your

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Speaker 3: new shift and then come out to Shaye Stadium and

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Speaker 3: let's do a side by side live shot so you

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Speaker 3: can feel what it's like to be a sports reporter. Well,

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Speaker 3: like they took me live on Channel FOURD in that

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Speaker 3: moment and being around the fans, and it was such

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Speaker 3: a sad story actually, because all these Mets fans were

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Speaker 3: so sad that that Shay was closing. But I just

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Speaker 3: I got the bug I was. I remember finishing that

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Speaker 3: live shot with Bruce going, this is what I want

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Speaker 3: to do. This is awesome.

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Speaker 1: So well, and that's such a unique experience for so

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Speaker 1: many ways. But in the fact that Bruce Beck, somebody

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Speaker 1: who is you know, well established in his career and

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Speaker 1: all that, not only has the the thought to say,

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Speaker 1: let me involve you, but also the confidence to say, hey,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to bring you into my space and trust

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Speaker 1: you here too. Because it is such a competitive industry

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Speaker 1: and there are a lot of people who might not

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Speaker 1: be as welcoming in that regard, but has always been

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Speaker 1: one of the kinds as many people are. How did

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Speaker 1: that kind of mentorship help you along the way?

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Speaker 3: Well, he just showed so much confidence in my ability.

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Speaker 3: He was actually really straightforward with me about it too.

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Speaker 3: He said, there are not a lot of women in sports.

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Speaker 3: I think you could get to the top fast if

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Speaker 3: you did this the right way. And he suggested I

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Speaker 3: leave New York. He's like, you should leave New York

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Speaker 3: and learn learn from the ground up on how to

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Speaker 3: be a sports broadcaster. And so I moved to Seattle,

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Speaker 3: which was the furthest I'd ever been from New Jersey,

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Speaker 3: where I grew up, and I remember my family being like,

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Speaker 3: what are you doing? Like, I worked at this small

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Speaker 3: little radio station, which I'm sure right now is on

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Speaker 3: Cloud nine with the Sea Hooks waiting the Super Bowl,

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Speaker 3: and I went on there air and was pretty awful

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Speaker 3: and bad and I had no knowledge. And the only

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Speaker 3: reason why they hired me was that it was because

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Speaker 3: I had such a strong news background. At the time,

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Speaker 3: I'd done so much TV and I'm still yeah, I

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Speaker 3: was twenty four to twenty five, but I put in

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Speaker 3: so much time to through internships and I had the

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Speaker 3: experience from that standpoint, but I just didn't have the

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Speaker 3: sports knowledge. And somebody at KGr Radio pulled me aside

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Speaker 3: and was like, you're never going to make it if

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Speaker 3: you don't put in the work, Like you're not going

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Speaker 3: to be able to get by just learning on the

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Speaker 3: job or thinking that a personality is going to make

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Speaker 3: up for your lack of knowledge, like you have to

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Speaker 3: be the smartest one in the room. And it it

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Speaker 3: freaked me out, actually, and I wasn't sure if I

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Speaker 3: could do it. So I kind of reset a little

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Speaker 3: bit and started to really focus. I started to study more,

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Speaker 3: I started asking a lot more questions. I was pretty vulnerable,

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Speaker 3: actually because I had to admit to people that I

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Speaker 3: had this job but I wasn't very good at it

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Speaker 3: yet and I didn't know much. And so I slowly

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Speaker 3: climbed back up on my feet, so to speak, in

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Speaker 3: the sports space. And I got a couple opportunities after

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Speaker 3: that and it all kind of took off.

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Speaker 2: It can be kind of overwhelming, though, to be in

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Speaker 2: that space.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: I'm in this job, but I don't quite know what

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Speaker 2: I want to know yet.

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Speaker 3: And nobody wanted me there, right. I was this new

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Speaker 3: Yorker in their mind. Yeah, they used to make fun

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Speaker 3: of the way I spoke. They used to have a

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Speaker 3: thing at the start of the show where I would

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Speaker 3: it was me just saying my name and they would

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Speaker 3: laugh because my accent was so thick back then, and

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Speaker 3: they gave me like ridiculous nicknames, like I was so

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Speaker 3: not qualified to be around the men in that building

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Speaker 3: that worked really hard to be where they were at

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Speaker 3: and were very good at what they do, which it's

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Speaker 3: so rewarding. When they asked me to come on their

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Speaker 3: show now, by the way, right, I enjoyed it so

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Speaker 3: much and I give it back now now, like, remember,

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Speaker 3: you guys made fun of.

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Speaker 2: Me, You should say your name.

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Speaker 3: They put the drop before I go on every time

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Speaker 3: they do. They don't. They had not forgotten, unfortunately. But

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Speaker 3: it really took a lot of people believing in me

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Speaker 3: for for this to work out. And that was something

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Speaker 3: I didn't realize in the moment. I used to always

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Speaker 3: talk about my journey and point to the hard work

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Speaker 3: and the focus and the sacrifice. And now that I'm

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Speaker 3: older and I've been doing it long enough and I

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Speaker 3: can reflect on it, I realize how many people lifted

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Speaker 3: me up. And how many people took a chance on

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Speaker 3: me and stuck their necks out for me. I'd say

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Speaker 3: my biggest break came when I was in Seattle and

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Speaker 3: I was trying to get out of there because I

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Speaker 3: just missed home and I wanted to get back East.

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Speaker 3: And I used to have this old boyfriend named Mike,

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Speaker 3: and when I'm sad, I like to go real low.

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Speaker 3: And I was like, I'm gonna find old emails from him,

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Speaker 3: because you know, we used to be so in love.

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Speaker 3: So I put in my search in my email Mike,

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Speaker 3: and so I saw the emails and then there was

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Speaker 3: this one from a guy named Mike Saint Peter. I'm like,

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Speaker 3: who's that? Like, who did I write to? Who's this person?

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Speaker 3: So I opened it up and I was probably eighteen

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Speaker 3: years old when I wrote that email originally, and I said, Hi,

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Speaker 3: my name is Diana Rassini. I really want to be

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Speaker 3: a news anchor. Could I come up to meet your

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Speaker 3: news anchors in West Hartford, Connecticut? And he wrote back

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Speaker 3: that year, No, no, no, you're not you're in colleague. No.

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Speaker 3: So I thought it would be funny to reply to

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Speaker 3: that email when I was now, you know, twenty six

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Speaker 3: twenty seven. Hi. I know you said no ten years ago,

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Speaker 3: but I'm now a reporter. By any chance, do you

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Speaker 3: have any openings for any sports anchors? And he wrote

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Speaker 3: right back, what are you doing tomorrow? And I said nothing.

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Speaker 3: He said, come drive up to West Hartford. But here's

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Speaker 3: the deal. I will interview you as our weekend sports anchor,

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Speaker 3: but you have to do three days a week in news,

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Speaker 3: so be a news reporter during the week which I

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Speaker 3: really didn't want to do though, because I'm like, oh,

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Speaker 3: I'm done with that, I've already done it. So I

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Speaker 3: went up. I interviewed with him, and he's like, look,

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna guess that you can figure this out on

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Speaker 3: the weekends. I just need you to be like one

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Speaker 3: of my lead news people. I said, I'll do it.

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Speaker 3: So he gave me this absolutely incredible opportunity, and I

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Speaker 3: covered news stories that will forever be the most significant

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Speaker 3: stories I've ever covered, from Sandy Hook Elementary to the

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Speaker 3: Boston Marathon bombing to the Hurricane Sandy, all of that

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Speaker 3: in the same year. Wow, And if anything solidified that

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Speaker 3: I wanted to do sports all that and so I

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Speaker 3: got really lucky that on the weekend doing sports. A

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Speaker 3: news director from Washington, DC, happened to be driving through

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Speaker 3: Connecticut and got tired, got a hotel room, saw me

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Speaker 3: on TV, called the next Monday and said can we

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Speaker 3: bring her down to Washington? And then I had the

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Speaker 3: same thing happened to me in Washington where I was

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Speaker 3: on TV and an executive at ESPN was visiting his

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Speaker 3: mother and saw me, and they hired me to be

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Speaker 3: an anchor and sports center Wild. It's just like like

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Speaker 3: I mentioned you, so many people opened up doors for me,

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Speaker 3: and it was a lot of luck, but it also

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Speaker 3: was work, and I was willing to do things to

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Speaker 3: really just put myself out there and get an opportunity.

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Speaker 1: Well, and luck is when opportunity meets preparation, right. I mean, yes,

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Speaker 1: it was lucky that you know, executive was in a

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Speaker 1: hotel room and saw you, But it was also fortunate

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Speaker 1: that you were prepared and sharp, and I mean that

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Speaker 1: could have been a day that you maybe didn't have

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Speaker 1: your best show or didn't have your I.

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Speaker 3: Remember my highlight was the Yukon women and in Connecticut

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Speaker 3: they roll all like they were a lead sports story.

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Speaker 3: And I had really improved on my highlights and I

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Speaker 3: nailed it, and I remember, I remember the sports cast

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Speaker 3: that he saw, so he caught me on a really

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Speaker 3: good day. But you're right, like it could have been

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Speaker 3: any other day when I messed up a name or

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Speaker 3: or you know, did something that I wasn't as comfortable

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Speaker 3: doing at the time, but I would have. I would

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Speaker 3: give the crew at NBC Connecticut, the ones that worked

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Speaker 3: teleprompter and the cameras and the people behind the scenes,

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Speaker 3: give cards if they would stay after the show to

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Speaker 3: have me do the show again, to keep practicing because

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Speaker 3: I was so bad on the teleprompter. Yeah I can't read.

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Speaker 3: I don't know what's wrong with you, but it's terrible

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Speaker 3: at it. And so they would do it, and they

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Speaker 3: were so nice. They would sit there for another half

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Speaker 3: an hour after their shifts just to help me get

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Speaker 3: better at reading a telepromter. Oh, it's really cool.

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Speaker 1: That is great, and that's fortunate again to have so

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Speaker 1: many people around that are so helpful and all that.

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Speaker 1: And you had so many, you know, moments where somebody

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Speaker 1: else elevated you. Was there ever a moment that you

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Speaker 1: doubted yourself or do you did that ever waiver in you?

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Speaker 3: Or were you very it was a wreck as a

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Speaker 3: wreck for most of my career. It really only started

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Speaker 3: to sync in that I can do this job at

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Speaker 3: a high level a few years ago. I was always

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Speaker 3: worried that I wasn't savvy enough, smart enough, aggressive enough.

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Speaker 3: I used to be so uncomfortable talking to players, talking

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Speaker 3: to coaches. I didn't know what to say, I didn't

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Speaker 3: know what to ask about. I was worried what they

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Speaker 3: were thinking of me, of this girlma't not understand enough

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Speaker 3: about football or I was always so worried about what

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Speaker 3: everyone else thought about me, rather than not caring about it.

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Speaker 3: And it wasn't until I started to realize that it

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Speaker 3: doesn't matter what anybody thinks, and if you just carry

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Speaker 3: yourself with respect and confidence, and if you do the

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Speaker 3: work and you know what you're doing, people are drawn

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Speaker 3: to you. People want to engage because you know what

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Speaker 3: you're doing. So I doubted myself plenty. I was on

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Speaker 3: the Sports Center set. I did not know golf very well,

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Speaker 3: I did not know tennis very well, and I was

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Speaker 3: doing these highlights and just literally sitting at this like

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Speaker 3: on the edge, going I just got to get through this.

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Speaker 3: And again another story where a producer who's actually one

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Speaker 3: of the lead producers at ESPN right now, was the

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Speaker 3: only one to have the guts to Cobby in his

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Speaker 3: office and say, you stink at highlights for golf and tennis,

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Speaker 3: but you are very good when you do football. You

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Speaker 3: don't even look at the highlight sheets. You just talk

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Speaker 3: you should focus on football. But at the time, I'm like,

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Speaker 3: you don't walk away from Sports Center. You're Sports Center anchor.

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Speaker 3: There's not a lot of you out there. And I said, so,

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Speaker 3: how do you think this works? He's like, I think

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Speaker 3: you just go full time football. You just go go

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Speaker 3: into the thing that you love the most because your

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Speaker 3: joy shows. And so I did it and it was

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Speaker 3: the best. It was like the best critical advice yet

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Speaker 3: guidance because I don't know where I'd be right now

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Speaker 3: if you never said that to me. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 3: to to be able to have that vision for me

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Speaker 3: and guide me that way.

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Speaker 1: Right, and somebody who actually sees you and is honest

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Speaker 1: enough to tell you, hey, this is where your strength

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Speaker 1: is because some of us miss those moments and we're like, oh,

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Speaker 1: it takes a while to discover what our passion is

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Speaker 1: or what our joys are.

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Speaker 3: Yeah it is. And so to have somebody say you

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Speaker 3: are you physically look different right you talk about football.

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Speaker 1: Just like how your grandmother was, like, you physically look

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Speaker 1: different when you're on the news.

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Speaker 3: Who is interesting? Yeah. So the element that I brought

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Speaker 3: to football, that I really took from my news days

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Speaker 3: was the news element. Was the news part of.

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Speaker 1: It, right, because it is still telling a story and

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Speaker 1: you know what, when, where, how, all that, but in

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Speaker 1: a different circumstance.

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Speaker 3: So when I worked at Channel four New York, I

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Speaker 3: was on the crime beat, so I was usually the

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Speaker 3: lead or second story at least for the five, six,

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Speaker 3: and eleven, and it's always a murder, a fire, something awful.

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Speaker 3: But I realized pretty quickly that if you can build

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Speaker 3: some relationships with the police on the ground and even

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Speaker 3: firefighters on the ground, you can get information faster than

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Speaker 3: having to wait for it to be formally released through

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Speaker 3: their communication directors. So I learned how to navigate that

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Speaker 3: space and through relationships in the news space when I

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Speaker 3: was a general assignment reporter, So I really just leaned

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Speaker 3: back into that when I started to cover football full time.

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Speaker 3: Of wait, news can separate you. It is the easiest

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Speaker 3: and fastest way to build credibility, and I knew I

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Speaker 3: was so behind the other reporters at the time covering

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Speaker 3: the NFL that I had to catch up, and the

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Speaker 3: only way to catch up was to break stories. And

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Speaker 3: that's essentially how I came to doing this full time. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Now, one of the defining memories that I have

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Speaker 1: of you in your time as an ESPN NFL reporter

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Speaker 1: was relatively recently, within the last few years, you were

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Speaker 1: pregnant on the job, and I, first of all, like

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Speaker 1: Diana running around, whether she's pregnant or not, is like

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Speaker 1: a force, you know, and in the best possible way,

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Speaker 1: you covered an entire NFL season very pregnant, and if

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Speaker 1: anyone saw you in life, they would know, but if

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Speaker 1: anybody watched them on TV, it was like top secret.

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Speaker 1: You were always cut here and then like the last

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Speaker 1: game of the season, the cameraman pans out and it's like.

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Speaker 3: By the way, like by the way, you know, I

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Speaker 3: got a little guy my belly. I did it twice,

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Speaker 3: actually do which is crazy, But like, what was that experience?

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Speaker 1: Like, I mean, you know, people talk about, you know,

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Speaker 1: as a woman in sports, what that must be like,

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Speaker 1: but as a woman and a mother in sports and

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Speaker 1: doing all of this while literally.

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Speaker 2: Pregnant, yeah, and keeping it a little secretive.

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Speaker 3: Well, I was really fortunate. I had great pregnancies. I

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Speaker 3: had both my boys back to back, so they're thirteen

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Speaker 3: fourteen months apart. But doing the job, to me was

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Speaker 3: always the priority over what I thought was perhaps a distraction.

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Speaker 3: I thought showing my belly would distract from the work

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Speaker 3: I was doing because nothing changed for me from the reporting,

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Speaker 3: you know, perspective. I was still going at it and

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Speaker 3: attacking it just as aggressively. But I just wanted the

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Speaker 3: viewer at home to keep listening to me as the

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Speaker 3: reporter giving the information, versus me be going WHOA, that's

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Speaker 3: a big billy, because especially because I got lucky too,

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Speaker 3: I didn't really get that fat in the face. It

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Speaker 3: was just I was just a big ball. So I

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Speaker 3: had the same photographers and it was actually their suggestion

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Speaker 3: on my last day. They it was my last day

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Speaker 3: of working and they said today you're going to tell

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Speaker 3: the world and I was like, I don't know, We're

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Speaker 3: going to just slowly pan out. And nobody at ESPN

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Speaker 3: now accept my boss. So the set on the Sunday

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Speaker 3: NFL Countdown show, all those guys who have known it

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Speaker 3: was so close to I just never told anyone, and

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Speaker 3: their reaction to me still like gives me goosebumps because

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Speaker 3: they were so genuinely happy and surprised that I was

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Speaker 3: out there in the field in September and hot and

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Speaker 3: like that was I think I had Mikey like a

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Speaker 3: week later. So yeah, I appreciate that you remember that.

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Speaker 3: And that was, I mean, a highlight of my career.

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Speaker 3: I don't think I've ever been happier in my life

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Speaker 3: knowing that I was about to be a mom, working

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Speaker 3: at a at a place that I could only dream

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Speaker 3: of working, and doing it all at met Life Stadium,

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Speaker 3: which is like my home turf. It was. It was

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Speaker 3: really one of the best times.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because I think too, it's also a testament to

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Speaker 1: just what an incredible like this is a hard job

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Speaker 1: to do, you know, covering the NFL on a full

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Speaker 1: time basis and breaking news and maintaining relationships and all that,

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Speaker 1: And it's also not easy to be pregnant and doing

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Speaker 1: both of those things at the same time.

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Speaker 3: Something I wasn't prepared for how incredible the league reacted

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Speaker 3: to my pregnancy. I had more players and agents and

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Speaker 3: coaches coming up to me, congratulating me and getting to

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Speaker 3: know me a little bit more. There are people that

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Speaker 3: I've become friends with that I did not even talk

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Speaker 3: to before I had a baby in my belly. And

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Speaker 3: there's like a parenthood out there that you feel part

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Speaker 3: of and everyone can relate. And that helped me as

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Speaker 3: a journalist, It really did. I am the best version

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Speaker 3: of me as a reporter covering the League now than

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Speaker 3: any other time, because I think just being a mom

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Speaker 3: has helped me just navigate the space better. I also

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Speaker 3: think I care less, which I know sounds callous, but

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Speaker 3: when you have two little humans waiting for you at

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Speaker 3: home and their lives are the most important thing to you,

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Speaker 3: you realize, you know, maybe not getting the story first,

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Speaker 3: or you know, not getting the interview that you really

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Speaker 3: wanted to get is. Yes, it's important, but I don't

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Speaker 3: I don't dwell on it as much as I used to.

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Speaker 3: And it's made me better.

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Speaker 2: The priorities shift and the celebrity of it.

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Speaker 3: Everyone go out there and have a baby, not just

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Speaker 3: they don't do it. Wait, I'm so stressed out.

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Speaker 2: A little bit of column, a little bit of depress.

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Speaker 3: So much work they are they are having children is

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Speaker 3: so much harder than being an insider it's not even close,

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Speaker 3: and then doing it together. I have endless amounts of stories.

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna write book one day of my children's like

402
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Speaker 3: behavior affecting my ability to do my job, whether it's

403
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Speaker 3: them crying or then mowing or apple requesting money from

404
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Speaker 3: a GM like they have done all of this. They

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Speaker 3: have less voicemails on agents just yelling like not knowing

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Speaker 3: because they pick up my phone.

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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.

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Speaker 3: But again, like i've con conversation start. They're getting crazy

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Speaker 3: breaking new situations with Like I had this situation maybe

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Speaker 3: a month ago with an who was screaming at me

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Speaker 3: about a story I wrote, and he heard my key

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Speaker 3: in the background and immediately changed his tenor with me

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Speaker 3: and was like, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were

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Speaker 3: home with the boys. Why don't you just call me later?

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Speaker 3: And I was like, huh, bringing the boys around more

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Speaker 3: used as a prompt to get people to be nicer

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Speaker 3: to me. But yeah, no, it's all been you know.

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Speaker 3: One of the things that I had to decide at

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Speaker 3: ESPN was how much maternity leave I was going to

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Speaker 3: take sure, because I think in TV women are really

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Speaker 3: frightened to step away because there's always someone else. And

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Speaker 3: I was one of the first and or we'll just

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Speaker 3: call it a very few women that took their full

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Speaker 3: maternity leave. And I was so proud of that because

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Speaker 3: I refused to believe that there was good that the

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Speaker 3: time I missed was going to be worth, you know,

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Speaker 3: anything else than just being with my children. And I

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Speaker 3: remember my mom saying to me, which is, it's so harsh,

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Speaker 3: but she was right. She's like, if you're going to

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Speaker 3: get replaced while you're on maternity leave, then you probably

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Speaker 3: were never really that good anyway.

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Speaker 1: But also exact my part, like it's like a harsh

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Speaker 1: way of saying it, but kind of like you probably.

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Speaker 3: Should be doing something else. Then if three months away

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Speaker 3: from the job is going to have people in powerful

436
00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,240
Speaker 3: positions go, oh you know what, she actually wasn't that good.

437
00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:30,040
Speaker 3: This was so Fortunately ESPN was incredible and welcomed me

438
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,120
Speaker 3: with open arms, really actually pushed me to take more time,

439
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:40,159
Speaker 3: please go. And and I have zero regrets of taking it.

440
00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:42,760
Speaker 3: Like if anything that I am so proud to say

441
00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:45,080
Speaker 3: I took maternity leave twice during football season.

442
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:48,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh my gosh, that is incredible and an accomplishment.

443
00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:50,840
Speaker 1: You know, you've you've spoken about how much ESPN at

444
00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,360
Speaker 1: the time was such a dream job and a pivotal

445
00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:56,520
Speaker 1: moment in your in your career as a broadcaster, going

446
00:22:56,520 --> 00:23:00,720
Speaker 1: from sports center to NFL centric being an insider as

447
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:05,000
Speaker 1: much of an accomplishment as it was to arrive at ESPN,

448
00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:07,960
Speaker 1: how challenging was it to make the decision to leave

449
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 1: and go and move forward to the Athletic.

450
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,159
Speaker 3: I apparently don't like Cobb in my life ever, Like

451
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:14,960
Speaker 3: the second I have peace, I have to shake it up.

452
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,359
Speaker 3: It's like, as soon as I found my footing at ESPN,

453
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:23,000
Speaker 3: I got married, and then I had kids, and you know,

454
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,280
Speaker 3: we bought a beautiful home in New Jersey. We did

455
00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:27,440
Speaker 3: so much going on and then I was like, you

456
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:29,600
Speaker 3: know what, I want to switch. I want to go

457
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:34,400
Speaker 3: somewhere else. It was the hardest decision of my life

458
00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:37,320
Speaker 3: to leave ESPN. That is like, I can say that

459
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:41,920
Speaker 3: unequivocally because I loved working there so much, and I

460
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:45,359
Speaker 3: had so many friends and it was just home to me.

461
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:48,800
Speaker 3: I was good on camera because I was comfortable with

462
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:50,760
Speaker 3: the people. It really had nothing to do with my

463
00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:53,840
Speaker 3: experience or time. I just loved being around everybody, and

464
00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:58,440
Speaker 3: it gave me so much opportunity. But the Athletic had

465
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:02,040
Speaker 3: this belief in me that I had never received before,

466
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:05,040
Speaker 3: nobody had ever said, which that's.

467
00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,680
Speaker 1: A lot saying a lot considering I've heard so many

468
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:09,800
Speaker 1: people in this conversation alone who have believed in you

469
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 1: at such a high level, so that setting a new

470
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:13,919
Speaker 1: bar is a big one.

471
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:19,520
Speaker 3: To this day, they are They treat me so well

472
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 3: and believe in my ability is more than I even

473
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,280
Speaker 3: believe in myself. And when I spoke with them for

474
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 3: the first time, I just I was blown away by

475
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,679
Speaker 3: their ideas and just the responsibility that they wanted to

476
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:39,399
Speaker 3: put on me to essentially be their newsbreaker and be

477
00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:43,080
Speaker 3: a gigantic part of their coverage. And I think for

478
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:46,960
Speaker 3: me the hard part was going from TV a place

479
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:48,639
Speaker 3: where I would just stand in front of a camera

480
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:51,200
Speaker 3: and do what I knew and it was like breathing

481
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:53,960
Speaker 3: for me at the time, to becoming a writer.

482
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,080
Speaker 2: Right and writing at a volume too with regularity.

483
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,240
Speaker 3: So I threw up for about two weeks. I'm not kidding.

484
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,280
Speaker 3: It was actually a paralyzing moment in my life, and

485
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:09,760
Speaker 3: even my very good friends to this day don't understand

486
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:11,680
Speaker 3: what happened to me. They're like, what was that? And

487
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:16,119
Speaker 3: and I've kind of taken a deep dive on it myself.

488
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:18,760
Speaker 3: Now that things are great, I think I was a

489
00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:22,199
Speaker 3: little bit of I was afraid I couldn't do it,

490
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 3: and I didn't want to disappoint the Athletic, and I

491
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,719
Speaker 3: was afraid what everybody would think if I failed at it,

492
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:30,480
Speaker 3: because I knew they were taking a gamble on me.

493
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,480
Speaker 3: And once I realized that they hired me for my skills,

494
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 3: and it always goes back to the work you put

495
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:40,760
Speaker 3: into it, And it's the tale as old as time, right.

496
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:42,680
Speaker 3: You do all the practice, you do all the work

497
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:44,399
Speaker 3: so you can perform well with the lights are on.

498
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:49,040
Speaker 3: If you actually do the work, it's it's easy to

499
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:53,159
Speaker 3: perform because you have all that preparation. So once I

500
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,440
Speaker 3: realized the Athletic hired me for me, then I let

501
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:58,400
Speaker 3: go and I was like, wait, I could do this.

502
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:01,200
Speaker 3: And I remember writing my first column and it wasn't

503
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,200
Speaker 3: very good, but they wanted the information. They didn't care

504
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,680
Speaker 3: about the style. Yeah, and now three years later, I

505
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:12,760
Speaker 3: love writing. I write a column every Saturday. I write

506
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:14,959
Speaker 3: during the week two at times, I do a lot

507
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:19,200
Speaker 3: of deep dives on different football stories, whether it's stuff

508
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,160
Speaker 3: going on to different franchises or specific to certain players,

509
00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 3: and it's now part of what I do. And I'm

510
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:28,960
Speaker 3: probably the proudest of that in my life now over

511
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:30,879
Speaker 3: anything I did in TV, just because I was so

512
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:31,399
Speaker 3: scared of it.

513
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:32,000
Speaker 2: Yeah.

514
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:35,480
Speaker 1: Well, and reaching something that feels scary is also just

515
00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:37,640
Speaker 1: a sure sign of growth and evolution, which is also

516
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:39,840
Speaker 1: important for us to do in careers, in life and

517
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:40,159
Speaker 1: all of that.

518
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 3: Kind of But it's hard, and I think that's what.

519
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,080
Speaker 2: Which is what makes it special too, that is what made.

520
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,360
Speaker 3: It so great. But to go back to those two

521
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 3: weeks where I was a zombie and I was so scared,

522
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,600
Speaker 3: like I never want to go back there. But at

523
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:59,399
Speaker 3: the same time, the belief of confidence I have in

524
00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 3: my ability is where what it is because I was

525
00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,800
Speaker 3: at such a low point. I actually have a note

526
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:09,040
Speaker 3: in my kitchen that we framed. It was the day

527
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,679
Speaker 3: I took the job at the Athletic and I wrote, today,

528
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,560
Speaker 3: your life is going to change forever because I was

529
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:16,400
Speaker 3: going to make the decision that day and I did. Yeah,

530
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,359
Speaker 3: and we framed it and my really good friend Jeff

531
00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,439
Speaker 3: Darlington was facetiming one day me recently and he's like,

532
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:24,399
Speaker 3: what is that behind you? I said, oh, that was

533
00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,280
Speaker 3: the note I wrote myself. My husband and I were

534
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 3: talking in the morning. We wanted to remember the moment,

535
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:30,639
Speaker 3: the feeling we had of like I was going to

536
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 3: make a big decision on my life. And he's like,

537
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:34,680
Speaker 3: what does it say? I said today your life is

538
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,720
Speaker 3: going to change forever? He goes, oh, it's not. That

539
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:38,880
Speaker 3: was such a bad message to yourself. No wonder why

540
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,439
Speaker 3: you were paralyzed. Your life wasn't going to change. You

541
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 3: were good. They hired it to be you, and I

542
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:45,840
Speaker 3: was like, oh my gosh, you're so right. So I

543
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:49,000
Speaker 3: kept the note there because now it's a reminder of

544
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,679
Speaker 3: it's never that hard and believe in who you are,

545
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:55,000
Speaker 3: believe in what you can provide, because if people are

546
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,560
Speaker 3: hiring you, they're saying, you know, maybe the athletic was

547
00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,040
Speaker 3: seeing something Mike McQuaid at ESPN saw too, and sometimes

548
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:04,000
Speaker 3: it just takes that to get your butt gear. Yeah.

549
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:06,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you've gotten to a point too, where you know,

550
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 1: when you speak, people listen and sometimes build an infographic

551
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:14,200
Speaker 1: about it, and they're like, According to Diana Rossini, You've

552
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 1: become one of the most respected voices in football covering

553
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:19,560
Speaker 1: the league, breaking myriad stories.

554
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,800
Speaker 2: What's the biggest challenge in that space?

555
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:26,360
Speaker 1: I think, you know a lot of people think, oh,

556
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,399
Speaker 1: you're constantly tied to your phone. You must be, you know,

557
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:31,879
Speaker 1: having to keep up with so much. That must be

558
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,440
Speaker 1: an outside perspective. But from your perspective of somebody who

559
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,760
Speaker 1: does this job, what's a big misconception about it?

560
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:41,280
Speaker 3: Well, I think the Internet is really hard on newsbreakers

561
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:44,520
Speaker 3: because there's an audience out there that wants you to

562
00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:47,080
Speaker 3: be wrong right. They like live for it. They just

563
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 3: they watified ways to poke holes, and you're reporting a

564
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 3: lot of stories take time to develop as well. And

565
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:57,480
Speaker 3: I was just having this conversation with a friend of mine.

566
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,160
Speaker 3: A lot of the ones I've been working on in

567
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 3: the last six months are our examples of that where

568
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,240
Speaker 3: the fan may not get it right now, but they'll

569
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 3: say in a few months it'll pan out and you'll go,

570
00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:13,320
Speaker 3: oh yeah. But nobody tends to remember that. They just

571
00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 3: remember the in the moment news cycle. I also, I

572
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 3: think the other hard part about this is the way

573
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,480
Speaker 3: people aggregate you. It's always going to be a challenge

574
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 3: and I have found getting off social media has helped

575
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 3: with a lot of the reporting I'm doing, because otherwise

576
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:39,000
Speaker 3: it's it gets very frustrating. It's almost just you get

577
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:41,240
Speaker 3: stuck in this pool of pollution.

578
00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:43,440
Speaker 1: Well what do you mean, Because it's hard to get

579
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:45,760
Speaker 1: off social media when it is such a vehicle for you.

580
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:47,080
Speaker 2: You have to be honest.

581
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 3: I literally have to be on Twitter all the time

582
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,480
Speaker 3: to break stories and to promote my stories that I'm

583
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:55,800
Speaker 3: working on. You know, I have learned that the truth

584
00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 3: prevails and the people that I care about in terms

585
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:03,440
Speaker 3: of their opinion of me are in the league. Yeah,

586
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 3: And I often wish I could share with the audience,

587
00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:13,640
Speaker 3: with our readers, how many people in football will text

588
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,720
Speaker 3: to be like, oh you know that, Oh you're right,

589
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:21,360
Speaker 3: or you call that or whatever it is. And so

590
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 3: as long as I feel that I have the credibility

591
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 3: and the respect with the lease circles, that's all I

592
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:31,640
Speaker 3: really care about now at this point, and it's at

593
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 3: a high because you have to get it right. You

594
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:37,800
Speaker 3: have to be right to do this. And again, with

595
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:39,480
Speaker 3: help I've had over the years, I have tons of

596
00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 3: sources in football who helped me just to help me.

597
00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 3: Like it is incredible that there are people out there

598
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:49,000
Speaker 3: that do that, but it's part of the industry and

599
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 3: I'm very lucky to have them well.

600
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,360
Speaker 1: And you know, the priority of being right, being first,

601
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 1: those are things to balance, but also the priority of okay,

602
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 1: I'm right, I could be first. But is this story

603
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:01,080
Speaker 1: not just what people are ready to hear, but is

604
00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:02,040
Speaker 1: this important to be told?

605
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 2: How will this affect.

606
00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:06,800
Speaker 1: The person who's you know, I'm breaking this story or

607
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:10,360
Speaker 1: has there ever been conflict with you, like should I

608
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:11,440
Speaker 1: put this out there?

609
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:15,760
Speaker 3: It's the hardest thing I do is I have run

610
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:18,920
Speaker 3: into this probably six times in the last month, where

611
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:25,560
Speaker 3: a player shares information with me, and I can tell

612
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:31,760
Speaker 3: they're either emotional at the moment, or they're confused, or

613
00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:33,880
Speaker 3: they don't have the right people around them and they

614
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:37,240
Speaker 3: want to put something out there through me, And I

615
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:42,080
Speaker 3: have to decide, almost as a guide, is this smart

616
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:46,760
Speaker 3: for you to put out publicly right now? As a professional?

617
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:49,920
Speaker 3: And then I get stuck in this weird space because

618
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,760
Speaker 3: I'm a journalist and this person is telling me. Because

619
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:54,360
Speaker 3: I am a journal they know who I am, they

620
00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:56,120
Speaker 3: know what I am and what I do for a living,

621
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,920
Speaker 3: and my you know, my editor will say as a

622
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 3: kind of jokingly, like they told you go run with it,

623
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:07,160
Speaker 3: like that's a huge store, that's a scoop, you know.

624
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 3: And I hold back a lot because in my mind,

625
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,960
Speaker 3: it's a long game and I cherish the relationships I

626
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,080
Speaker 3: have in football, and I miss a lot of stories

627
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,760
Speaker 3: because I stand down on things. And I've had the

628
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 3: opposite recently too, where I did go with something that

629
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:29,520
Speaker 3: an agent really did not want me to run with

630
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,479
Speaker 3: and he had his own reasons that I didn't really

631
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:35,280
Speaker 3: believe were that genuine. But I went with it, and

632
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,280
Speaker 3: I'm glad I did. I'm glad I did. But it

633
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:41,280
Speaker 3: was hard in the moment when you have this pressure

634
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,720
Speaker 3: of people saying, like, if you put this out, you're

635
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,520
Speaker 3: going to destroy someone's life. You're going to make this

636
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,520
Speaker 3: person look bad, you're going to make this organization crumble,

637
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:51,760
Speaker 3: like just the most dramatic things are said to you,

638
00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 3: and you know if it's true. Though, I always have

639
00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:58,320
Speaker 3: to remember, yeah, I didn't choose to do that. You

640
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:00,440
Speaker 3: chose to do that, right, Like that's how I usually

641
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:04,400
Speaker 3: gauge it of I didn't make that decision. You guys

642
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,120
Speaker 3: made that decision, and don't get mad at me. For

643
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,880
Speaker 3: your mistake. So sometimes navigating that is really hard because

644
00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:14,719
Speaker 3: everyone's protective and paranoid, and agents only want a certain

645
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:18,040
Speaker 3: tail told, and teams only want a certain tail told

646
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:22,720
Speaker 3: that represents the organization well, So it really is hard

647
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:27,680
Speaker 3: to find a balance. I spend more time trying to

648
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:31,520
Speaker 3: iron out relationships that I do actually working on them now,

649
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 3: because someone's always going to be upset, Especially the type

650
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 3: of stories I write about. They're not all transactional. They're

651
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 3: usually a little bit more here's what I'm hearing and

652
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:47,400
Speaker 3: here's the effect of it, And that's always going to

653
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 3: get people upset.

654
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, causal, emotional, narrative wise, there's so many things going

655
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:55,000
Speaker 1: on in the league, and listen, we could chat all

656
00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:59,000
Speaker 1: day about this, but I want to leave with you know,

657
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:01,840
Speaker 1: when somebody is watching this or listening to this, who

658
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,080
Speaker 1: might want to break into this industry, might look at

659
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:07,040
Speaker 1: you and say, Diana Rossini, somebody born in the Bronx,

660
00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 1: grew up in Jersey, I see myself and her, how

661
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:12,560
Speaker 1: do I do that? What piece of advice would you

662
00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 1: give to that younger generation.

663
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,920
Speaker 3: I would say, to just be relentless. I think when

664
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 3: I look back at the times where I really took

665
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:24,840
Speaker 3: a step forward. I always was uncomfortable. I was always

666
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:28,279
Speaker 3: uncomfortable and just kept going. I didn't let anyone stop me.

667
00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:33,399
Speaker 3: I remember cold calling Bill Parcells like I'd never met

668
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,480
Speaker 3: the band. Yeah, and I just cold called him first.

669
00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,239
Speaker 3: Now I laugh, like what was I doing. Now he's a.

670
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,520
Speaker 1: Mentormine that unshakable confidence, like this is a good idea.

671
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:47,400
Speaker 2: He can I come visit you in DC. No, exactly by.

672
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:50,760
Speaker 3: The way Parcels hung up at me. He later eventually

673
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:53,680
Speaker 3: called me back and apologized because he didn't realize that

674
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:57,399
Speaker 3: I was just looking for some guidance. And now he's

675
00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:59,760
Speaker 3: somebody I can call right now and whole answer because

676
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,000
Speaker 3: he realizes I'm just trying to be good at what

677
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:06,600
Speaker 3: I do, right, and I have. I just the thing

678
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:09,880
Speaker 3: I did right along the way was just not I

679
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,440
Speaker 3: just never quit. If you just don't quit, even if

680
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,160
Speaker 3: you feel like maybe it's not working out for you

681
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:16,640
Speaker 3: or you're not the best at it. If you just

682
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:20,360
Speaker 3: keep believing yourself, people around you start believing, and sometimes

683
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:24,160
Speaker 3: that can really help take you to the next place

684
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:24,719
Speaker 3: that you want to be.

685
00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:29,160
Speaker 1: Lead NFL Insider for the Athletic Diana Russini, thank you

686
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 1: so much for taking the time on her playbook today.

687
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:32,440
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Love me, pleasure,