WEBVTT - KJ Live - Lisa Byington 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:10.320 This is kJ Live with Chris john Sallie and Chris 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:13.680 is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:20.680 entertainment in a strain. Now here's Chris Johnson. You're now 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.919 found in to kJ Live. Today's guests on the show. 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:26.560 He's a play by play announcement, studio hosts and future 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:30.200 producer reporter. She has broadcast games with Fox Sports, f 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:34.800 S One, ESPN, Turner Sports, CBS, and the SEC Network, 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:37.320 just to name a few. She's a trailblazer in the 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.159 field of broadcasting and in one she was named the 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:43.040 first full time female played by play announcer in the 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.920 NBA by the Milwaukee Bucks. Let's welcome in, Lisa Buyington 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:51.040 into the building. Lisa, how are you good? Chris, I'm 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.680 here a little bit of your dad. Boy. That's that's 0:00:54.680 --> 0:01:00.680 a compliment too, election, the pauses, the the pace of 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:02.720 your speech. I love it. I feel like I'm talking 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.240 to a younger m J. Which, by the way, I 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.240 always want to ask one of his partners, how is 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:11.560 it working with my dad? Shout out to my dad. 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:13.280 He hooked this up side. We got to talk about 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:15.440 markets for a second. How what how is it working? 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:19.280 With my dad, Lisa. I love it. Um, you know, 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.120 he's part Hollywood, part Hall of Hall of Famer. I 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:24.640 always feel like he should go into the Hall of 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:29.000 Fame eventually and be a people take no please. Um. 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:32.120 You know that's another maybe that's another podcast for another day. 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:36.319 But you know, Marcus Johnson provides um, what I call 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.280 is very unique in an analyst. You know, and whatever 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.120 sport you're doing, you know, a lot of people are 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.560 either heavy on the excess and nose or heavy on 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.960 the entertainment. And there are very few that can bounce 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.080 between both, you know, and and teach the game and 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:54.040 be heavy on the excess and os but also be 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:59.080 fun and entertaining. And Marcus Johnson is the unique individual 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.200 that can nay it through both worlds and he and 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:04.520 I consider myself a basketball person. I played in college 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:06.560 and and watched it my whole life. My dad was 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:09.760 my high school coach, so I'm not It's not like 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.320 I know everything about basketball, but when when you grow 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.760 up playing and watching the sport, you know, you notice 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.200 things beyond the obvious. And he has just a level 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:24.600 of observations that even teaches the basketball person something about basketball. 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.359 So I love yeah, I love to call my dad 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:33.200 your favorite basketball players favorite basketball player. I saw because 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:36.480 I read somewhere or I heard you talk about you 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.400 your love from Michael Jordan's growing up and I'm not 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:43.480 sure if you're familiar, but Michael Jordan had MJ had 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:46.960 MJ's poster. That's my claim to favor your favorite basketball 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:52.320 player's favorite basketball player, that's my dad. But talk about 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:56.880 talking about your beginnings, the foundation for you. You turned 0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:00.320 into this amazing broadcaster, but you have an athletic back around. 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:01.840 I kind of wanted to touch on that and just 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.160 get an understanding of when you know, what what sports 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:09.560 did you play and what got you into athletics so heavy, 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:11.560 you know, I love it. The fact that my mom 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.600 and dad they weren't they weren't the parents Chris who 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:18.560 made me specialized. I think too many you know, kids 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:20.960 growing up these days now like they just specialized in 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:23.880 the one sport. And thankfully I didn't grow up in 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:25.960 a household that was like that. So you asked what 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.520 sports I played, It was everything from swimming to tennis, 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.400 to soccer, to basketball to the softball. Um. They even 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:36.800 have me do some dance and gymnastics, you know, and so, um, 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:38.640 what they did is they let me, as I got 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.280 older than than Lisa got to choose what she wanted 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:45.160 to do. You know, So I I gravitated more towards 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.880 basketball and soccer. Um, and that's what I eventually played 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:50.760 in high school, and that's eventually what I played at 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.040 Northwestern University. I was four years of basketball and two 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.760 years of soccer. But the fact that they let me 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.040 experience a lot of things, and then on top of that, 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.560 the fact that they let me choose is really really valuable, 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.760 I think to my growth and just the versatility I 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:08.440 like to I still to this day, like to do 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:13.120 a little bit of everything. Were you a PG, you know, 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.279 I joke with not basketball people, so that would not 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:17.839 be you. But I try to joke with people that 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:19.599 I was at five, that I was a center and 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.039 had matt hops. But if you've seen me in person, 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.479 you know I'm I was listed at five six. I'm 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.000 probably more like five four or five five now, But 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:31.920 being a center is a little bit of a stretch. 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:34.839 So yes, I was a point guard, okay, okay, and 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.159 I played center. Believe it or not, I'm only six five, 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:38.640 But I got signed to U C l a as 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:43.080 a center six pounds center, so I understand what that's like. 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:46.760 And then in soccer, you were a striker or center 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.839 mid or Yeah. I was the Prima Donna forward. I 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:52.400 was just like sending to the corner flag. I'm gonna 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:54.839 chase it down, you know, I want all the glory, 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:59.760 all the goals. Yeah, I feel you, feel you, Yeah, 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.280 that's what I was. The soccer. Yeah. I always wanted 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.680 to play soccer. I just wasn't quite fast enough to 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:07.880 do it. I loved the game. I love to watch it. 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:10.279 Spent some time in Italy with my dad kind of 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.840 fell in love with soccer and that whole culture over there. Um, 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:16.200 while you were at Northwestern, was that when you first 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:19.880 rich is a renowned school for broadcasting and journalism. Was 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.440 that when you first got the bug to be in 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:26.800 front of the camera or a broadcast journalist. Well? I 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:28.599 always thought I was gonna be playing sports for the 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:30.599 rest of my life, you know. I had this ocean 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:32.880 that I was good enough, I was gonna play professionally 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.240 and find something, you know. But I realized actually in 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:40.559 college that I became the backup point guard for my team. 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:43.560 So I realized that I probably wasn't gonna be able 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:45.039 to play sports for the rest of my life. So 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.080 I started to kind of look at real people jobs 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.560 and realizing I didn't want the real people job that 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.040 had to sit at the desk in the corner office 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:55.520 and and and stare at a computer all the time. 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:57.000 If I was gonna stare at a computer, I wanted 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.640 to be like prepping for sports, and so I wanted 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:01.560 to find in a way. I love sports so much. 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.000 I talked about how my parents letting me play sports 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:05.799 as a little kid, and a lot of different things. 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:07.480 So I was so I was just thinking, you know what, 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.040 I don't want to get rid of that. So I 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:13.719 actually was deciding between becoming a basketball coach um and 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:16.200 becoming a journalist. And I didn't know if I wanted 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:18.720 to be a print journalist and at the time when 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.160 newspapers are a little bit more popular, being magazine or 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:24.760 newspaper which would eventually translate to being just an online 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:27.480 reporter that we have now, or if I wanted to 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:31.560 go into TV and so. But McDill School Journalism is 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.040 what I unbiasedly or maybe more biasedly, like to consider 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.120 as one of the best journalism schools in the country 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:43.320 at Northwestern, thank you, thank you, And so it was 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:57.880 it was really easy to give schooling, the edgication, the opportunities, 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:02.440 the networking. Someone right, Musburgers another Northwestern grad um. So 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.280 we like to go to Northwestern Syracuse. You know, we 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:07.240 have our we have our lums, we have our prestige 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.360 and tradition, and we like to kind of compare the 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:12.880 journalism schools between the two schools. But it was easy 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:16.080 to do once I once I hopped into that. Yeah, no, um. 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:18.520 I when I was at U c l A, which 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:23.080 isn't as famous for its broadcasting as Northwestern, but it 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.640 has produced some pretty solid individuals in front of the camera. 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:28.080 I kind of, you know, I was playing ball on 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:30.120 the team we had won an extra championship, but I 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.640 was also focused on kind of, you know, earning my 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:36.760 chops a little bit. I took drama, you know, I 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:38.520 took a couple of classes to learn how to do 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:40.440 stuff in front of the camera, behind the camera. I 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.120 took a journalism course. I kind of just at the time, 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.080 I was just thinking to myself, you know, hey, you're 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:46.400 at U c l A, You're in l A. You 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:48.320 might as well because this is the type of town 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:50.600 that if you got a little a little bit of 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.520 you know, anything, experiencing anything, that you might get a 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:57.080 shot and doing something. But which leads me to my 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.720 question about your first shot, when you first got your 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.880 first geek um working for a station or a newspaper, 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:06.120 wherever it was, where was it, how old were you, 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:09.160 and talked to me about that experience. I would love 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.480 to because there's nothing really the write home about, because 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.760 it's it's the It was the second smallest TV market 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:17.280 in the country. And it was all the way up 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:21.040 in Alpina, Michigan. So people who aren't familiar with Michigan, 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.240 and actually even people who are familiar with Michigan have 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:25.960 no idea where Alpino, Michigan is. So it's up north. 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:31.440 It's about forty five minutes south of mcinal bridge. I 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:33.360 think some people have heard of that, and in the 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.800 Upper Peninsula, so it's it's just really really far up north. 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:39.160 And when I say it was the second smallest market 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:42.160 in the country, for people who don't know market size 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:44.720 in the top of the market is based on populations 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.160 New York, in l A and Chicago. It is kind 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.680 of your one, two, and three biggest markets. Alpina, Michigan 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.200 was sitting I think at like two eleven and they 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:58.839 stopped counting at tot and uh, you know, I mean 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.200 it's it was right above Glenn Dive, Montana. I looked 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:04.840 on the list to see where is alf Alpina isn't 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:08.520 the smallest TV market? What is the smallest TV market? 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.760 And the answer was Glenn Dive, Montana. But I loved it, Chris, 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.440 because I got to do a little bit of everything. 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.319 And you know, it very much was a grunt work 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.160 kind of job. You know, you're you're working twelve to 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.760 fourteen hours because you have to do everything. You are 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:26.840 your own camera person, you are your own editor, you 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:30.120 are your own producer, You're your own reporter and anchor 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.680 makeup person. You know you you name it. Um. I 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.880 remember several Friday nights where we would hop in a 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:38.840 car and we would do this high school football show. 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:40.960 And we would hop in a car and drive from 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:42.920 high school to high school. And you had to pick 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:44.480 up a camera and you put it on your shoulder 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.880 back when you know, the cameras are bigger right back then, 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:50.120 and um, and so you shoot your own high school 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.800 football highlights. You get to the three or four high schools. 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.840 You come back to the station, you edit your own stuff. 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:58.760 You're looking You're like, okay, I gotta make the eleven 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.360 o'clock news. So so it's like ten forty five. You 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.080 got a race into the bathroom and change because you 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:05.760 were in sweats and James, because you were just shooting 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:08.800 your own highlights right and you running there, and you 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:10.880 do your hair and makeup, you try to look presentable, 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.800 and then you do the uh whatever it was twenty 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.000 minute a half hour high school football show, and then 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.000 you rinse and repeat and you do it again. And 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.680 I got to cover things like the brown Trout Festival 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:26.280 Alpino Community College. They were the Lumberjacks. That was I think, uh, 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:28.920 you know, like twenty different high schools and stuff, and 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:33.160 so like outdoor sports, you know, snowmobil and all that. 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.719 So things that nontraditional sports that I would never get 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.240 a chance to do now. And and I really got 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.120 my foot in the door, which was the message that 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.839 people gave me, Lisa. It's not where you start, it's 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:45.920 where you finish. You just need a chance. You just 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.280 need your foot in the door, and then work hard 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:50.720 and treat people the right way and you'll carve your 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:53.439 own path eventually. No, that's amazing. I mean there's a 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:56.760 lot to be said for how people start in the surroundings, 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.040 the atmosphere and sort of you know what's presented in 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:01.040 front of them. So you had to do a bunch 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.080 of stuff on your own, and that taught you a 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:06.200 skill set that's probably invaluable to you today. I mean 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:07.720 it makes a lot of things a lot easier. You're 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.720 probably easy to work with because you understand the makeup person, 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.400 you understand the camera. I mean, you understand everybody. So 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:15.120 you're probably easy to work with. I have to ask 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.520 folks about that. No, I'm just joking. But um, and 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:24.360 that's but that's that's dope. You're listening to Fox Sports. Um, 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:26.840 I love the small town story. It's always ironic to 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:29.480 me how so many of the biggest stories, some of 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:31.600 our big stories, and our big stars and people that 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:35.000 have accomplished come from smallest towns and humble beginnings. There's 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.480 definitely something to be said for that. Lisa. In two 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:40.440 thousand and seventeen, you became the first female full time 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.480 play by play UM announcer in for the Big Ten 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:48.400 Network College football talk about that experience, and I wanted 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:52.600 to know, do you get into sort of the thing 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:55.240 about being the first female in you know, in the 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.600 field of sports doing something, or do you care about 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:00.240 that or is this something that you wear with a 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:05.199 badge of honor. It's a great question, Chris. I understand 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.720 why people talk about it. I understand why it's a headline. 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:12.520 Anytime that nothing has been done before, it makes news. 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.959 Me personally, when I say this, I don't embrace, not, 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.319 you know, embrace being a role model. Let me get 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:21.800 that out of the way. But what I don't embrace 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:25.800 are those adjectives first and female, because I don't look 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:28.679 at myself in that way. I look at myself as 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.040 just an announcer. I mean, you know, when I sit 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:32.599 next to your dad and I'm about to call it 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.559 Bucks basketball game and I put on the headset, I'm 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:39.080 not thinking I'm a female announcer. I'm I'm putting on 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:42.400 a headset thinking I'm an announcer, and I'm an NBA announcer, 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.200 and I'm thinking about what our storylines are. I'm thinking 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.360 about matchups. I'm thinking about what Janice is going to 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:49.280 do that night, you know, and so it's it's the 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:53.600 furthest thing from my mind. But in two thousand seventeen 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.640 and that opportunity that you reference with football, it was 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:00.040 it was really the first time that I got a 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:04.520 feeling of maybe the implications. I don't want to say heaviness, 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:08.080 because I didn't. I didn't feel like overloaded by it. 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:11.120 But I felt the attention, and I felt a little 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.600 bit more of the pressure. And what I really wanted 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:17.680 to do was to be good enough that people would 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:21.120 continue to hire women in some of those positions. And 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:25.240 I've always said this, Chris, is that I cannot wait 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:28.640 when you know, first of all, we lose those adjectives 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.040 first and female. But when we watch a sportscast and 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.600 and we're listening, and we're watching, and we're not paying 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:38.000 attention to the gender of the announcers, and I do 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:40.560 it too. You know, if I'm if I'm listening to 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.480 a men's game, whether it's in basketball or football, baseball, soccer, 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.560 you name it, and I hear a female announcer on it, 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.120 I stop when I'm doing and I literally try to 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.240 figure out who's who's the woman doing this game? And 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.320 I think it happens across the country and many different households. 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:59.120 But you know, eventually, um, you know, maybe a female 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.839 voice can be back noise on a men's game and 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.679 and that's that's that's my dream. You know that that 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:11.640 someday that happens. Is that we're sitting here and we're 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:15.760 doing work, we're on our phone, you know, looking at something. 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:17.520 We got a game out of the background, and it 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.320 doesn't make we have a female voice doing an NBA 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:23.760 game or a college football game, and you know what, 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:25.800 we don't not trying to figure out who that female 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:30.000 announcer is doing that game. Yeah that that hopefully we'll 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:32.320 get to that place sooner than later. Um. But I 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:37.160 do enjoy the background noise at times when when that 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:41.400 that that that you reference, because when you hear a 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:45.280 woman calling the game, there's always a perspective that you're 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:49.120 you're introduced to, so you're getting a perspective that it's shared, 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:51.640 but it's also it's a different perspective. There's a little 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:55.120 nuances in there, and so I enjoy it. Um. I 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.160 just know that our culture is a little weird about it, 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:58.840 and I'm sure that I saw you talk about it 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:01.360 a little bit. Some of the things social media that 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:04.120 take place where there's really no place for where people 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:06.960 are saying you know things. But just so you know, 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:09.400 we love hearing you. We love your voice, we love 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.280 your insight and knowledge, especially the knowledge of the game. 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.280 That's the part that I think that is the most 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.840 impressive thing about it. It's the knowledge of the game. 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:18.960 And it's like it's like Doors does the same thing 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:22.120 Doors Burke. When you listen to Doors, it's like, Okay, boom, 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.480 you know, and you all you almost enjoy some of 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.360 some of the takes a little bit more than some 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:31.360 of the dudes. But that's another podcast. UM. Yeah, I've 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.880 heard you talk about stuff. You said this many times, 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.960 um or not many times, but you've referenced this this phrase. 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.960 You said, you gotta do the grunt job to get 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.920 the glory job. I want you to expand on that 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:46.040 and just kind of talk about what that means because 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:48.000 that kind of resonated with me when when I heard 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:51.520 it the first time. M Well, it goes back to 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:53.680 my first job. You know, I was making four team 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.840 when an Alpina Michigan. Chris and we talked about that job, 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.840 and I was making fourteen thousand dollars a year and working, 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.040 you know, twelve to fourteen hours a day, and I 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.600 loved it. And and that's when I realized I was 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:09.240 doing the right thing, because I wasn't counting the dollars 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:11.880 in in my bank account, which wasn't very many, so 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:15.160 we wouldn't have taked long to do that. Uh, you know, 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:17.400 I wasn't paying attention to my watch and how many 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.760 um hours I was lying because I just enjoyed the work. 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:24.040 And you know, I didn't just roll out of bed 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:27.000 yesterday and say, you know what, I think would be 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:30.640 really cool to be an NBA play by play announcer today, 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:33.960 or you know, like you know, brushing my teeth in 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:35.560 the morning and say, you know what I want to do, 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:37.760 and I want to call the Olympics or the World 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:40.840 Cup or n C Double a tournament. And I think 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:45.520 we fall into that trap where we meet someone, you know, 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.000 and the person standing in front of us. We forget 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:50.480 that there's so much work that goes into the person 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:52.640 you're standing in front of us, and and and so 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.560 many curdles and and so many mountains to climb and 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.960 and we all have them. And you know, when I 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:02.640 say grunt took glory a job, I'm talking about that journey. 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:07.480 And sometimes the space between grunt job and glory job 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:10.440 could be a month or five months, sometimes it could 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:13.199 be a year. Um there's a story where for me 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.000 that space in between grunt job and glory job was 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:20.080 ten years and and and my grunt job with Alpina Michigan, 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:22.840 and my glory job at the time was to be 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.560 a sideline reporter for the men's at c Double, a 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:29.080 tournament for CBS and Turner. And when I made my 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.440 first ask it was in um it was in two 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.840 thousand and seven. And then when I finally got the 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:39.679 first offer from CBS and Turner, it was two thousand seventeen. 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.840 And I asked every single year Chris, and I got 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:46.000 a no no no no year one year, two, year, 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.040 three or four or five, six seventy, I mean all 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:51.119 the way to year ten. The irony of that is 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.280 I didn't even ask in your tent. I had given 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:54.760 up because I had thought, you know what, I'm good, 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:58.119 I'm getting some good opportunities. But that's my point is 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.800 that I think everyone should appreciate the journey that each 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:10.560 person goes on, and we all have a job if 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:21.600 we can yes, M M. How do you stay locked 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:27.399 in through all the nose, Lisa, how did you stay focused, 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:30.480 you know, on on continuing to knock on those doors 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.000 year after year? They tell you know, what drove you, 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:37.280 what motivated you? Inspired you to keep trying? I think 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.199 that's an athlete in me, quite honestly, you know, like 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:44.520 it's it's the stubborn little you know, blonde point guard 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:47.800 who's trying to, you know, work her way through a 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:51.399 game and trying to figure out everything. And and that 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.600 was me. You know, I'm a stubborn person. I'm a 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:58.720 determined person. And um, I decided to not get better. 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:01.119 I decided to get better. And it's one of the 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.479 hardest lessons that you can learn. But as a as 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:06.000 a former athlete, you learn to be coached, right. You 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.919 learn to be told you're not good enough here, you 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:11.800 need to improve here. And it's probably one of the 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.880 everyone asks, like, well, what's the value of translating your 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:19.359 athletic background to your professional background? Is I want to 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:21.040 know where I need to improve on. I want to 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.560 know where I could get better. Um, sometimes I want 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.440 you to tell me no that yet you know, and 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:28.960 and then I'll figure out how to get to that point. 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:31.639 And so those are the lessons that you learn. You 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.040 don't get better, you get better, and you might not 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.240 always agree with the nose and you might not always 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:38.960 agree with the evaluation that the person is telling you. 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.359 But there's something there. I guarantee you there's something there 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.520 with that note coming from that person that you can 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:47.520 learn from and you can use and it can make 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.479 you a better person and a better professional. Yeah, that's 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:55.880 a very constructive way of taking criticism or taking a note, 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:57.920 you know what I mean? Because sometimes the nose could 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:00.359 it could break a person. You could it could really 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:03.560 take away your love of something. And you know, if 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:07.840 you're constantly told no, So no, that's great advice. Um, 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:12.800 that's great advice. What when you got to the NBA, 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:17.080 was it everything that you thought it was gonna be? 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.080 Covering it on a day to day basis, I wasn't 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:25.000 sure what that what that image is gonna look like? 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:27.480 You know, Um, I grew up, as you mentioned, I 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:29.320 grew up a Michael Jordan fan. I grew up a 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:31.280 Bad Boys fan. I grew up at the State of Michigan. 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:33.160 So watch that. How can you be a Jordan fan 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:35.199 and a Bad Boys fan at the same time, Lisa, 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:37.880 how is that possible? I was a little screwed up. 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.320 I was a little messed up, but I always wanted 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:43.800 MJ to get you know, forty and Pistons to win. 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:49.920 So absolutely I navigated through that world in in that way. Um. 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:55.400