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Speaker 1: Welcome to Playmakers everyone. I am your host, Haley Elwood.

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Speaker 1: It is week seven. The Seattle Seahawks are coming it

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Speaker 1: down to take on the Los Angeles Charters. But I'm

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Speaker 1: so excited because Laura Oakman is on the call. We

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Speaker 1: are doing this in person. I've never done this before

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Speaker 1: with Playmakers. Yeah, first time. We're in the front yard

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Speaker 1: out here at Hope Performance Center, as I like to

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Speaker 1: call it, and we'll obviously touch on the game at

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Speaker 1: the very end, but with you being here, I just

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Speaker 1: wanted this to be a conversation about so much of

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Speaker 1: what you embody off the field and in terms of

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Speaker 1: your job as well, but in terms of building relationships

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Speaker 1: prep Galvanizes. We'll get into all of it. So thank

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Speaker 1: you for joining me the whole introduction. While you were

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Speaker 1: looking in the camera, I was looking at you smiling

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Speaker 1: because I'm like a conversation and camera together together. Thank

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Speaker 1: you for having me. I'm so excited. Any anytime you

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Speaker 1: is meaningful time. So I'm thrilled to be here. It's

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Speaker 1: awesome you were here just a couple months ago with Galvinize.

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Speaker 1: We'll get into that a little bit later, but I

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Speaker 1: want to start with this first because I did get.

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Speaker 1: I asked for questions, I got a question. Then involves

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Speaker 1: game prep for you, and I think for a lot

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Speaker 1: of women in the industry it's something that they're supremely

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Speaker 1: interested in. And with this game specifically, though you don't

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Speaker 1: have the Chargers a lot, maybe once a season. So

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Speaker 1: for you, what does a week look like? It is

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Speaker 1: from the second that we leave our last game, which

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Speaker 1: for my group of Kevin Coogler, Mark Sanchez, we left

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Speaker 1: the Rams on Sunday and you're back in LA. So

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Speaker 1: we leave and we get to our plane and everyone's like,

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Speaker 1: do you have a glass of wine? Like do you relax?

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Speaker 1: I'm like, no, you gotta then open it up and

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Speaker 1: go you know who's who's your next team and how

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Speaker 1: did they do today? And so from the second that

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Speaker 1: you leave your game, you are now all about these

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Speaker 1: next two teams. And what we do is every day

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Speaker 1: we get clips sent to us every article that's written

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Speaker 1: on both teams, which is terrific to be able to

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Speaker 1: see what's being written, watch the games, and also lean

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Speaker 1: into the relationships. Make sure that I'm reaching out to

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Speaker 1: players and coaches who have a relationship with both teams,

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Speaker 1: and one just saying yeah, I'm so excited to see you,

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Speaker 1: but also starting to ask questions and starting to just

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Speaker 1: do all a research. And it's always an interesting thing

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Speaker 1: because we get plopped in and you've been following the Chargers,

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Speaker 1: and the Chargers fans have been following the Chargers, you know,

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Speaker 1: all year, So we come in and we can never

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden say things where everyone's like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we know this, they talked about it last week and

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Speaker 1: the week before. So it's catching up on all the

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Speaker 1: teams and making sure that you're continuing the conversation and

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Speaker 1: looking back a little bit because the Seahawks fans don't

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Speaker 1: necessarily know how the Chargers have been doing, but also

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Speaker 1: making sure that Chargers fans don't feel like, what are

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Speaker 1: you doing, You're just kind of repeating everything we know. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but it's a great week of really trying to immerse

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Speaker 1: yourself in both teams. And by the time Thursday and

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Speaker 1: Friday come along, that's when we start doing zoom conversations

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Speaker 1: with usually the visiting team these days, and we meet

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Speaker 1: with the head coach and the coordinators and players, and

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Speaker 1: then Friday we jump into the facility and we get

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Speaker 1: to do all of that and go to practice. So

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Speaker 1: it's such a fun week of just all of a

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Speaker 1: sudden not having two teams in a while and suddenly

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Speaker 1: feeling like, oh, I can't wait for Sunday, Like I'm

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Speaker 1: so into these storylines and so excited to see everybody again.

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Speaker 1: Were you a good student, because I feel like sometimes

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Speaker 1: with this job there's so much preparation that for me personally,

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Speaker 1: I have to go back to like study habits that

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Speaker 1: I had in like high school and college. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: probably like most of us in journalism, at different times

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Speaker 1: I was a very good student. At different times I wasn't.

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Speaker 1: But my preparation has always been the same. And my

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Speaker 1: reoccurring nightmare, I'm sure you have this too, it's constantly.

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Speaker 1: Still thirty plus years in this business, I still have

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Speaker 1: a dream that wakes me up that I show up

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Speaker 1: for an interview and I didn't know what was happening,

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Speaker 1: or again and you're like, I don't know what I'm

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Speaker 1: talking about. So I would say that it wouldn't matter

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Speaker 1: if I'm doing TV, if I'm doing radio, which I

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Speaker 1: also do, my preparation is absolutely the same week to week.

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Speaker 1: You had mentioned when it comes to athletes that some

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Speaker 1: of the best lessons you've ever learned have come from them. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: what's the biggest one? Two? But my earliest one was

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Speaker 1: from Charles Barkley and I had reached out to him

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Speaker 1: as a young reporter and a young woman figuring it out,

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Speaker 1: and he answered the phone before cell phones, but he

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Speaker 1: answered his phone and he said, well, well, well, Laura Oakman,

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Speaker 1: what do you need? And I was like, Charles, can

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Speaker 1: a girl just call and say hello? And he said,

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Speaker 1: a girl can you just never do? And he's like,

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Speaker 1: I'm not trying to give you grief. I'm just saying

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Speaker 1: you always call when you need something. And as a

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Speaker 1: young woman one that just hit me in the heart

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Speaker 1: because who wants to be that person? You know when

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Speaker 1: someone looks and it's like, oh yeah, here she goes

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Speaker 1: and that's the nature of our business, right like I need,

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Speaker 1: I need? But that jarred me very early on to go,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to be that as a person, forget

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Speaker 1: as a reporter as a person. But I just at

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Speaker 1: that age and stage, was like, why else do I

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Speaker 1: reach out? I'm not going to say good game, I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to say how was your weekend? Also, weirdness

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Speaker 1: of a young woman reaching out and so navigating that,

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Speaker 1: but I immediately went, that's not what I want to do.

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Speaker 1: So it completely changed my path to making sure that

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Speaker 1: I was constantly reaching out, still constantly reaching out to

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Speaker 1: people when I don't need anything. And the other one

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Speaker 1: was from Michael Jordan. I covered him playing baseball, and

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Speaker 1: when he left to go back to basketball, I also

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Speaker 1: got a job in Chicago and started covering him. And

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Speaker 1: I used that to my advantage because I was a

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Speaker 1: big reason why I was hired. And I kind of

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Speaker 1: would do a little sneaky thing after practice when no

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Speaker 1: one was around to get a couple questions answered, and

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Speaker 1: my bosses were telling me to do it. And the

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Speaker 1: third time I did it, he kind of as he

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Speaker 1: did a Michael Jordan finger, and I walked over and

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Speaker 1: he said, I know this isn't you. I know you

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Speaker 1: have bosses that you're trying to impress, and I know

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Speaker 1: they know what they're doing. Yeah, so what I'd like

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Speaker 1: you to do is go back and tell them just

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Speaker 1: because you can go to the well doesn't mean you should,

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Speaker 1: and back to building relationships. So he said, I will

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Speaker 1: give you one sit down interview a year. You decide

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Speaker 1: when choose wisely, but that's it. And so I also

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Speaker 1: had to quickly learn, Okay, my bosses don't have my

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Speaker 1: best interests, they just want Michael Jordan. I have to

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Speaker 1: be the one to have the relationship with Michael, which

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Speaker 1: they were already or if they're not getting anything, they're

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Speaker 1: not getting anything. So I mean, I could go on

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Speaker 1: and on, but those were my first two and they

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Speaker 1: completely shaped the way that I viewed relationships and this

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Speaker 1: and not just in this business, in this life. The

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Speaker 1: Charles Barkley story hits me because I think back to

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Speaker 1: my time when I started at the Chargers. I was

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Speaker 1: in my mid twenties, but I was part time, so

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Speaker 1: I was only coming in a couple of days a week,

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Speaker 1: and I got to get to know them, got to

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Speaker 1: get to know him. Yeah, exactly. But I'm gonna parley

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Speaker 1: the story to even the staff. When we were in

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Speaker 1: our building that we were in down in San Diego

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Speaker 1: is called South Park. It housed our digital content team,

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Speaker 1: a couple other community relations was in there, a couple

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Speaker 1: other just sort of people from different departments, so it

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Speaker 1: was like a smaller The main building was on the

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Speaker 1: other side, and I would constantly just be blinders on, Like, hey,

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Speaker 1: if I had to go to the bathroom, just blinders on,

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Speaker 1: go to the bathroom, come out, get back to my bullpen.

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Speaker 1: And one of our guys who works here, who works

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Speaker 1: in operations, we've become so close now and he would

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Speaker 1: always tell me, he's like, you were so serious back then,

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Speaker 1: and he's like, I didn't know, Like you're funny, like

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Speaker 1: you can make joke. He was like, you're so serious.

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Speaker 1: And for me, I told him, I'm like, you know,

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Speaker 1: I was just so concerned about doing the wrong thing

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Speaker 1: that I thought the right thing to do was to

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Speaker 1: blinders on, not worry about anyone else, not make the relationships.

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Speaker 1: But then we had a coaching change, and that to me,

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Speaker 1: not to mention the move to Los Angeles, but that

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Speaker 1: to me was the wake up call of like, oh,

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Speaker 1: I got to get in with these like I need

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Speaker 1: to start lowering my guard because the higher that's up,

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Speaker 1: they're not going to respond to that either. And so

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Speaker 1: just to have a staff member tell me that was

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Speaker 1: like the wake up call and sword of the moment

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Speaker 1: of like, yeah, iyah to shift at that point, I

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Speaker 1: don't I think every woman watching this, if you're in

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Speaker 1: sports or not, And I want to say, if you're

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Speaker 1: gonna mail dumb and industry, which one isn't We'll understand this.

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Speaker 1: Proving yourself is really hard, really hard, and it's just

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Speaker 1: it's this never ending tightness of I gotta prove it.

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Speaker 1: I gotta prove I know what I'm talking about. I

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Speaker 1: got to prove I'm doing it the right way, gotta

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Speaker 1: prove I got to prove can't do the wrong thing.

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Speaker 1: You can't do the wrong thing, And so that's just

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Speaker 1: its own blinder. And so by doing, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: kind of like if you're if you're in your head,

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Speaker 1: I can't make a mistake. I can't make a mistake.

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Speaker 1: When you're on the field, of course you're gonna make

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Speaker 1: a mistake. And it's the same thing with us. It's

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Speaker 1: just we're coached to not do the wrong thing instead

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Speaker 1: of what's the right thing I want to do? You know,

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Speaker 1: let me open up. It's the beauty of aging. Finally,

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Speaker 1: when you prove it to yourself and all of a

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Speaker 1: sudden you don't have to prove it to anyone, and

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Speaker 1: suddenly you're not a reporter and a person. You're not

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Speaker 1: you know your job and who you are. It's just

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Speaker 1: you become you who does a job, and that for

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Speaker 1: me was forty You got that. We always talked about this.

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Speaker 1: You got it so much younger than I did, thank God.

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Speaker 1: But it's hard. It's hard to be a woman when

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Speaker 1: all eyes are on you. And still I've been in

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Speaker 1: it thirty plus years and there's still people assigned to

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Speaker 1: teams that I hear about that are like see where

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Speaker 1: the women are looking in the locker room, see how

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Speaker 1: she's dressing. And that's the stuff that I dealt with

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Speaker 1: thirty plus years ago that you have dealt with. And

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Speaker 1: also the young ones coming in are still so the

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Speaker 1: proving isn't going to change. Yeah, it's always going to

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Speaker 1: be there. Yeah. What's the biggest lesson that you share

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Speaker 1: with not only young women who want to get into

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Speaker 1: this industry, but maybe even young men too. Yeah, totally.

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Speaker 1: I make sure when I've been talking to players about

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Speaker 1: more than anything right now is making sure that you're

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Speaker 1: not focusing on there, and make sure you're focusing on here,

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Speaker 1: because there's no such thing as it there. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's just you keep waiting for it there and it's

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Speaker 1: like there is next step. No, it's just you know,

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Speaker 1: I can't wait till I get to this. Well, then

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Speaker 1: you get there and there's another there and another there,

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Speaker 1: and so it's what are you doing right now? So

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Speaker 1: lately I've been talking to a lot of players who

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Speaker 1: I have relationships with about don't wait till you're finished

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Speaker 1: to start going. I want to go into broadcasting. I

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Speaker 1: want to go into real estate. I want to go.

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Speaker 1: You have the currency right now, You've got you know,

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Speaker 1: seven or eight what is it now? But your road games?

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Speaker 1: So are you making sure that every time you're on

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Speaker 1: the road you're inviting someone that one day you want

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Speaker 1: to partner with to come to a game. Are you

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Speaker 1: doing your home games? Are you giving them, you know,

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Speaker 1: opportunities to go to practice. Are you making sure that

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Speaker 1: right now you're using this because if you don't right now,

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Speaker 1: while you have currency and you have gold to give,

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Speaker 1: you're just another person in line. And I know when

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Speaker 1: I started, if you asked days, if you asked a

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Speaker 1: play or what you wanted to do, they were like,

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Speaker 1: I can't talk about it. I'm here, I'm here, I'm

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Speaker 1: focused on football. Cool. You can be focused on football,

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Speaker 1: but you also have to be going what do I

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Speaker 1: want to do to align myself with the next chapter,

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Speaker 1: and probably with the women. It's a little bit of

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Speaker 1: the same in terms of I'm gonna use such a

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Speaker 1: tired coaching and cliche, but it's the truest thing. It's

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Speaker 1: just be where your feet are. It's just there's no there.

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Speaker 1: I know you want to get to the next job

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Speaker 1: and the next job and the next interview, but you've

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Speaker 1: got to focus right here because this is where the

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Speaker 1: fun stuff is. I think about all the complaining and

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Speaker 1: whining I did in Montgomery and Chattanooga and my two

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Speaker 1: first years in the business, and if you sat here

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Speaker 1: and made me tell more stories about what I've learned,

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Speaker 1: they're all from Montgomery and Chattanooga. So take your time

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Speaker 1: and enjoy the moment. Enjoy the here because everyone's in

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Speaker 1: such a hurry to get there. And as someone who

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Speaker 1: I'm always asked, since you're there, I'm like, but I'm

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Speaker 1: not there. I'm still growing, I still have goal, so

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Speaker 1: I still have all these cool things that I'm doing

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Speaker 1: and I want to do. And thank god I stopped

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Speaker 1: the tunnel vision and I started looking a little bit

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Speaker 1: bigger and going, who else am I besides this job?

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Speaker 1: And how do I take advantage of it while I'm

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Speaker 1: still doing this job. So one of the cool things

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Speaker 1: that you do is obviously working for the NFL on

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Speaker 1: Fox as a sideline reporter. That is a role and

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Speaker 1: you and I have had many discussions about this that

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Speaker 1: sometimes people think doesn't add value to a broadcast. Some

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Speaker 1: broadcasts don't have them on. What did COVID teach you

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Speaker 1: maybe about the importance of that role. It taught me

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Speaker 1: most importantly, there's no such thing as a football reporter

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Speaker 1: or sports reporter. It's really making sure that I really

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Speaker 1: hit this hard with the young women. You better be

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Speaker 1: a reporter. Yeah, you better know what you're talking about,

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Speaker 1: and not just the sport you're covering, but in general.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's we were standing in empty stadiums and

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Speaker 1: you know, in experience moments that we will never god

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Speaker 1: willing experience again. So I don't think I ever viewed

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Speaker 1: myself during you know, two years in a moat as

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Speaker 1: a football reporter. And also it changed every conversation, you know,

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Speaker 1: I didn't It was very rare that I had a

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Speaker 1: conversation with a player or a coach one on one

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Speaker 1: and we talked football, because it was just you couldn't

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Speaker 1: the world was going on right, So it taught me

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Speaker 1: the importance of making sure that they're hiring journalists and

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Speaker 1: training these young men and women to be reporters, not

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Speaker 1: you know, filling the blank reporter. And also it really

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Speaker 1: was a reminder of were eyes and ears down there,

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Speaker 1: because suddenly for two years you could hear everything going

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Speaker 1: on over there. There wasn't anyone in the stands, so

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Speaker 1: for that full season of being like, oh my god,

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Speaker 1: it's like you're literally just hearing every conversation. And it

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Speaker 1: really was a great lesson of reminding myself that not

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Speaker 1: to count hits, not to think of my value as

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Speaker 1: when I'm on television or on the radio. That's part

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Speaker 1: of it, but the bigger thing is how am I

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Speaker 1: helping this team? And during really weird, you know, a

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Speaker 1: couple of years, that's where I felt the value. And

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Speaker 1: also we were the only ones who's our jobs changed.

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Speaker 1: Everybody else stayed in the truck, stayed in the booth,

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Speaker 1: but we were doing our job in a whole different way.

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Speaker 1: And how cool to be, you know, doing this for

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Speaker 1: a really long time and have to completely reimagine how

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Speaker 1: you're going to do your work. Going back to I

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Speaker 1: have my routine, I do it the same way and

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Speaker 1: suddenly like, no, you don't. So I think it was

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Speaker 1: a reminder also to trust yourself and to also lean

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Speaker 1: into the growth a little bit. How did you build

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Speaker 1: relationships with that during that time with maybe some new

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Speaker 1: players because for me personally, I wasn't in this building totally.

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Speaker 1: And I tell the story of I never met Justin

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Speaker 1: Herbert in person until the summer after his rookie season.

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Speaker 1: We did a bunch of zooms and all of that,

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Speaker 1: But from that point of view, what was that Like,

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Speaker 1: I gave up two things for COVID. I gave up

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Speaker 1: assholes and I gave small talk. I just didn't have

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Speaker 1: time for either one. And that small talk helped everything.

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Speaker 1: So it was the zoom interviews making sure that they

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Speaker 1: were still meaningful, to make sure that my conversation like

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Speaker 1: this didn't change because we were in a box and

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Speaker 1: leaning harder into my relationships that I had so to

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Speaker 1: be able to reach out to people and sometimes ask

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Speaker 1: for things for the game more often than not. But

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Speaker 1: also I mean every game I had, I was texting

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Speaker 1: anybody that I had a relationship with each team and

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Speaker 1: going I'm in a boat here's where I'm allowed to

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Speaker 1: be come visit, you know, like say hi. And that's

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Speaker 1: probably where I found a lot of joy and realizing

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Speaker 1: you know who your friends are, you know, to have

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Speaker 1: coaches and players come up pregame and you know, texting

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Speaker 1: to go where are you in the moat? So I

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Speaker 1: think it was it was making sure that I was

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Speaker 1: heating Charles Barkley's advice and reaching out a lot just

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Speaker 1: to check in on people, and also just not doing

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Speaker 1: the small talk, making sure that every conversation was meaningful,

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Speaker 1: which I know is always appreciated, but that year, you know,

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Speaker 1: that year was extremely appreciated, and I treated how are

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Speaker 1: you like a question. So sometimes I would just someone

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Speaker 1: would come to the mode or call and I would

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Speaker 1: just start with how are you? And they'd go hanging

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Speaker 1: in there, how are you? And I'd be like, hold on,

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Speaker 1: how are you? And that was it? Right, That's the

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Speaker 1: only and then you kind of close the book. No

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Speaker 1: more questions are going to be asked because that just

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Speaker 1: kind of went. So I think I think what got

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Speaker 1: me through it with the relationships is making sure I

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Speaker 1: leaned in on them and I grew them and I

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Speaker 1: made sure that they were probably more meaningful and impactful

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Speaker 1: than probably ever. So let's get to galvanize because, like

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Speaker 1: I said, you were here just a couple months ago.

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Speaker 1: And for those who might not be familiar with it,

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Speaker 1: what's your quick elevator pitch of what galvanize? I need

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Speaker 1: to be better at that because it's, like, you know,

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Speaker 1: like three hours later. Galvanize was started because I didn't

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Speaker 1: have a woman in sports to lean on when I

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Speaker 1: was navigating it all these years. I didn't have a

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Speaker 1: woman mentor. I didn't have women friends who were peers,

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Speaker 1: and so I wanted to create something for all these

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Speaker 1: incredible women to help them navigate this this gray there's

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Speaker 1: no black and white, as you know, in this business.

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Speaker 1: It's gray. And so now you know, it's been over

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Speaker 1: a decade and it's every agent stage. Our last cycle,

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Speaker 1: we had as young as seventeen, and we had as

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Speaker 1: old as fifty, old as fifty two, and just incredible

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Speaker 1: women in all over sports. We have women not just

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Speaker 1: broadcasters on camera, off camera, agents, HRR, marketing, PR everybody

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Speaker 1: and just trying to get a sisterhood in an industry

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Speaker 1: that I really didn't feel one. So when you come

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Speaker 1: here to NFL team facilities. I know you've worked with

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Speaker 1: hockey before who else colleges at the same time. One

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Speaker 1: of the things that you do is you pair these

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Speaker 1: women up with like the rookie class totally, and the

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Speaker 1: Chargers have done it multiple times with you six years around. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I remember we were in San Diego and

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Speaker 1: I saw you and your group walking out, and that's

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Speaker 1: how I connected with you because I was like, is

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Speaker 1: there Oak been doing here? Oh? This is really cool?

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Speaker 1: What was the like being back in person for these

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Speaker 1: so meaningful? It was so amazing because as much as

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Speaker 1: I kept saying to the women and to the players

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Speaker 1: when we would bring them in, nothing's going to change

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Speaker 1: you guys. You know, we're gonna the same thing we're

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Speaker 1: doing in person, we're going to do in a zoom box.

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Speaker 1: And then you get in person and go, oh it's different,

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Speaker 1: you know. And as you know, we get very emotional,

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Speaker 1: and we get extremely vulnerable, and we do a lot

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Speaker 1: of exercises with the women and the men up in

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Speaker 1: empathy and trust and vulnerability, and we get a lot

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Speaker 1: of men who cry, a lot of players who do

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Speaker 1: who break down, and so to be able to see

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Speaker 1: those moments again and to watch a player reveal something

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Speaker 1: he hadn't revealed to his teammates, and watch guys hug

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Speaker 1: each other and listen to a room being really quiet.

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Speaker 1: You know, on zoom it's muted, so you don't know

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Speaker 1: if it's just because everyone's muted or if everyone totally

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Speaker 1: and so, you know, I mean the Chargers, Rookie's crushed

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Speaker 1: this year to have that silence again and that it

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Speaker 1: was really meaningful, impactful silence was really special. And when

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Speaker 1: I was leaving, like walking out of here, I was

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Speaker 1: walking out and there were a line of guys coming

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Speaker 1: up to give me hugs, and you know, and I

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Speaker 1: don't get this. I'm not the one on one. I'm

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Speaker 1: pairing them up. So for me to be able to

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Speaker 1: have those moments and to be able to hug the

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Speaker 1: guys and to tell them how wonderful they were and

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Speaker 1: to feel like I got to know them was really

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Speaker 1: special in person. I missed that for me because I

399
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Speaker 1: get to be in that room. It reminds me of

400
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Speaker 1: like the Hamilton room where it happened kind of song,

401
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Speaker 1: because it's just so it is like it's a moment

402
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Speaker 1: and it's really special and you get to see them

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Speaker 1: pair up. In years past, you've had the women interview

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Speaker 1: the players, and this year you did something different. You

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Speaker 1: had them speak to the player, get to know the player,

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Speaker 1: and then you had them share the players who not

407
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Speaker 1: what they do, which I know is your mantra and

408
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Speaker 1: something really important to you. But then at the very

409
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Speaker 1: end you asked if any players wanted to switch. Jamari Salyer,

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Speaker 1: who has now stepped in it left tackle for the Chargers,

411
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Speaker 1: was like hand up, ready to go. What did that

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Speaker 1: tell you about him? Um? It told me that I'm

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Speaker 1: talking to him today. He was the first player that

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Speaker 1: I said also just to say how proud I am

415
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Speaker 1: with him, because I feel like a mom to the

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Speaker 1: women and to the players when I leave. But boy,

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Speaker 1: did it tell me about his empathy. It told me

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Speaker 1: about his leadership. It told me about to have a

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Speaker 1: young man whose head was like all of them, their

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Speaker 1: head is so full by the time we walk in

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Speaker 1: and we're the first group after, you know, after months

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Speaker 1: of them getting to know each other to kind of

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Speaker 1: stop everything and go take a breath and how are you?

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Speaker 1: Back to the how are you? And it showed me

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Speaker 1: that even with him probably overwhelmed with this new chapter

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Speaker 1: in this new life, how engaged and interested he was

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Speaker 1: in in other people's stories, and that was a big

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Speaker 1: reason why I did the switch. It was one of

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Speaker 1: the good things with COVID because we couldn't do the

430
00:20:56,119 --> 00:21:00,480
Speaker 1: interviews virtually. You knew you've seen this for as long

431
00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:03,640
Speaker 1: as we've been doing it here. The interviews were never

432
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:06,440
Speaker 1: the magic. The magic was the exercise of the chatting,

433
00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:08,439
Speaker 1: and then they would get there in front of a

434
00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:12,200
Speaker 1: camera and the guys would sort of just you know, yeah,

435
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:14,600
Speaker 1: like I don't want to now say this. So why

436
00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,040
Speaker 1: I wanted it to change was because it put the

437
00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:19,600
Speaker 1: pressure on the women because now you got to find

438
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,320
Speaker 1: out all the information and just stand there next to

439
00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:25,760
Speaker 1: your partners, standing up and tell a room of teammates

440
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:29,960
Speaker 1: something they haven't heard about their teammate. And I liked

441
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,200
Speaker 1: it for both. I liked it for the men because

442
00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,119
Speaker 1: they could finally feel like they were sharing something in

443
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:37,840
Speaker 1: that field the pressure. And boy did I love it

444
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,920
Speaker 1: for our women's storytellers because it is so thirty plus

445
00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:44,879
Speaker 1: years in, I still feel the pressure and the responsibility

446
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,440
Speaker 1: and my shoulders, like you do to get it right

447
00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:50,520
Speaker 1: when you tell someone's story, and I want them to

448
00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:52,679
Speaker 1: feel that in the room, to have to stand up

449
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:56,800
Speaker 1: with a guy standing there looking at you, here's my heart,

450
00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:01,200
Speaker 1: here's my vulnerability, share it like that's heavy. So I

451
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,560
Speaker 1: loved watching the women crush it, you know, for the

452
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:07,560
Speaker 1: whole every Bootcamp partnership, and also watching the guys tear

453
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:12,280
Speaker 1: up and watching their hearts swell having somebody share their

454
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,840
Speaker 1: story was magical. I'm always amazed at the level of

455
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,520
Speaker 1: trust that happens so quickly, because some of the stories

456
00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:24,000
Speaker 1: that you hear are deep and tough, and like you said,

457
00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:26,560
Speaker 1: there are teammates in that room that probably have never

458
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,600
Speaker 1: heard that before, and I think it is just incredible

459
00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:32,879
Speaker 1: to have and I think it you know, sometimes I

460
00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,120
Speaker 1: think these younger generations get a bad rap. And I'm

461
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:39,480
Speaker 1: not saying every single person who's maybe gen Z subscribes

462
00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:42,199
Speaker 1: to that notion, but to me, it's it sort of

463
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:44,520
Speaker 1: restores your faith in humanity a little bit when you

464
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,800
Speaker 1: see that happen. It's almost Also, when I stopped proving

465
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:52,399
Speaker 1: myself proving myself, I never asked good questions, insightful personal

466
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:54,960
Speaker 1: questions because I thought that was a girl kind of thing,

467
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,600
Speaker 1: and so I was so hell bent on making sure

468
00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,440
Speaker 1: I was asking football questions or whatever sport because it

469
00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:03,440
Speaker 1: prove it. And then once I got comfortable, and my

470
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,320
Speaker 1: sweet spot is the meaningful, purposeful, you know, like who

471
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:11,120
Speaker 1: not your due? And it helps so much now because

472
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,160
Speaker 1: I can't tell you the last three years how much

473
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,000
Speaker 1: I've gotten to know Aaron Donald. And Aaron went from

474
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,400
Speaker 1: years of having a shield up and I just thought

475
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:23,199
Speaker 1: he was aloof and intimidating, and so I sort of

476
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:27,600
Speaker 1: stayed away and then started connecting with Aaron. And the

477
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:30,439
Speaker 1: last few years, every game I have, he'll go deeper

478
00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,000
Speaker 1: and it's always I get to share it on camera

479
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,879
Speaker 1: about him and therapy and him right now. You know,

480
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:37,359
Speaker 1: I just saw him a couple of weeks ago and

481
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:40,720
Speaker 1: he's reading a book on masculinity and about how real

482
00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:44,160
Speaker 1: alpha men cry and share their emotion and show vulnerability.

483
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,560
Speaker 1: And for me to be able to stand up there

484
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,200
Speaker 1: in front of rookies and to be able to say,

485
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,480
Speaker 1: let me share some things at Aaron Donald or you know,

486
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,800
Speaker 1: i'd say justin Herbert, but justin Sillin thea He hasn't

487
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,040
Speaker 1: gone there, right like, he's still in there. And we

488
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:00,960
Speaker 1: had him for Gallupnize, but brand or Locker, you've talked

489
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,280
Speaker 1: about before. It took me years to get that out

490
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:06,919
Speaker 1: of Brian. So I think, um, it helps as a

491
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,800
Speaker 1: woman because it's taken me so long to figure out

492
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:13,359
Speaker 1: how to do that and to do that well, and

493
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,400
Speaker 1: then to be at a stage of getting to get

494
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:20,159
Speaker 1: all these young men, these young gen zers, they crave

495
00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,399
Speaker 1: the vulnerability. They these guys crave more than any other

496
00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,359
Speaker 1: group I've ever been around in all these decades. They

497
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,160
Speaker 1: crave the who are you? They're not scared of that.

498
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:34,679
Speaker 1: So it's it's I will forever ever be grateful for

499
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,359
Speaker 1: these conversations. And again, you know I always say this

500
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:39,400
Speaker 1: to you, but like that's so different than when I'm

501
00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 1: on an airplane. That's no different when I you know,

502
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:44,800
Speaker 1: when I meet somebody at a party. Um, I just

503
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:46,720
Speaker 1: was at an event the other night of my husband

504
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:48,960
Speaker 1: and I didn't know anybody, but I just kept looking

505
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,600
Speaker 1: at this like incredible woman. She was just so beautiful

506
00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,000
Speaker 1: but like radiated inside out. And before we left, I

507
00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 1: was like just walked up and was like just like

508
00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: room of you know, like great people like you are

509
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:04,760
Speaker 1: beautiful and she was my age and so it just said,

510
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:06,359
Speaker 1: I know you hear it all the time, but I

511
00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:08,560
Speaker 1: hope you hear it from women saying how wonderful. And

512
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,399
Speaker 1: she kind of turned me and Mike and was like,

513
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,520
Speaker 1: what do you do? And I was like, no, we're

514
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,239
Speaker 1: not doing that. Like Jeff came here to say like,

515
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:20,040
Speaker 1: how magnificent you are, and we're out. And so I

516
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,120
Speaker 1: want to make sure that the same things that I'm

517
00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:24,399
Speaker 1: doing every day are the same things we do with

518
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:26,920
Speaker 1: the players in there, because it's no different. Well, I'm

519
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,159
Speaker 1: super grateful for this conversation. We're gonna end on one

520
00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:34,560
Speaker 1: football question, just overall thoughts on this game. What I'm

521
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:38,800
Speaker 1: really excited about is we have two teams that are

522
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,440
Speaker 1: really still trying to figure it out, and I think

523
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,680
Speaker 1: both have good records and would say that we still

524
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:50,560
Speaker 1: have not yet found our identity. And so the Chargers

525
00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:54,400
Speaker 1: coming off a win which felt like a very fortunate win,

526
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,840
Speaker 1: and the Seahawks coming off of their first win where

527
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:03,119
Speaker 1: they said that's what we're capable of defensively, So both

528
00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:07,200
Speaker 1: sides really feeling, both teams doing the whole let's see

529
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:09,560
Speaker 1: what we can build off of this. So I know

530
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:12,399
Speaker 1: I can't wait to be on those sidelines. As the

531
00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:16,400
Speaker 1: momentum always shifts, you know, and seeing that who's really

532
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 1: going forward and who's and who kind of goes wait

533
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,920
Speaker 1: a second, maybe we aren't who we were hoping we are.

534
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:24,280
Speaker 1: So I think this should be a really fun one.

535
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:26,520
Speaker 1: We're looking forward to it. Thank you so much for

536
00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:29,880
Speaker 1: joining me out here. Appreciate it any time with you

537
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,160
Speaker 1: and in this environment and the side and the vehicle day.

538
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:33,800
Speaker 1: Thanks for having