Thirty Minutes in Football Heaven With Erin Andrews

When Auburn and Oregon face off on January 10th in the BCS championship game, it will mark an interesting first in the history of college football: the first time a cable network will own the rights to broadcast the season's biggest game. The lucky network? ESPN. That means lucky viewers will get to spend a good portion of their evening with Erin Andrews, America's favorite sideline reporter. Andrews is just wrapping up her rookie season as the host of the first hour of ESPN's flagship Saturday program, College GameDay, and she'll be roving the sidelines on the tenth. Days ahead of the game, we spoke with Andrews to get her take on the title matchup, her feelings about the career-boosting-but-emotionally-ravaging double-edged sword of the Internet age, and her secrets for how a woman can survive and thrive in a macho man's industry.
I noticed your Twitter avatar is from your old GQ shoot.
Yeah, it is! A lot of pro football players, like NFL guys, have seen that and they're like, EA, that's awesome, your arms look jacked! Other people say I look like Jeremy Shockey. I think it looks awesome.
Agreed. So, ESPN has the BCS title game for the first time this year. Do you think the ESPN brass were happy with the game they got?
Oh, my gosh, yeah. Especially when you saw the way the season was unfolding—that, really, the powerhouses weren't going to represent themselves. It was just such a weird year—I think Oregon was ranked 11th in the preseason. Personally, I wanted to see Cam Newton in the national championship and I love to see other teams that have success go up against SEC teams. The SEC has won four straight BCS titles, so we'll see how Auburn does against Oregon. And I really am a big fan of what Oregon has done, they wear out defenses while the Duck is doing thousands of pushups a game. I think this is a perfect matchup.
Have you gotten any insight on the game?
I just spent a couple of days in Eugene and I was privy to some practices. They're trying to do anything they can to get a feel for what Cam can do on the field. He's bigger than eight of their defensive starters! They've never faced anything like him. Really, no one in college football has faced anything like him. It's going to be a big challenge for Oregon. Last year, they lost in the Rose Bowl against Terrelle Pryor, who isn't Cam Newton by any means, but he's a beast on the field, too. But Cam's on a different level.
What are your thoughts on Mark Cuban and his proposed college football playoffs?
I haven't read into it. Honestly, all these people with all these great ideas—and I'm a friend of Mark Cuban's, I like talking to him—but I really haven't looked at it. I mean, it's not going to happen. Everybody comes up with their own theory.
In this country, sports in general—and college football in particular—seems to be a unique window into the passions of men. From your vantage, as a female reporter and host, what have you learned about the American male?
They're all pretty much the same. Whether it comes to injuries, stubbornness, they're pretty much… yeah, they're all wired the same. They don't really bother themselves with complex issues in the world. They just think about the next task at hand, not a lot of overanalyzing there.
Do you think that's unique to athletes? Or men in general?
Yeah, I mean, there are the exceptions. But I tend to really look up to the athletes and coaches—I call them ballers—the ones that put everything on the line, play hurt. I have friends who play with head injuries, and you're sitting there begging them not to play.
I know it's not something you want to dwell on but part of a sideline reporter and host's appeal is openness, interacting with the fans, so I'm wondering how the hotel-room incident and the more recent death threats have changed the way you interact. Do you view fans more skeptically?
Not just the way I work, but the way I live my life has changed. I used to be the person that would run up to fans, throw my arms around them, and take pictures. And while I'll still do that, I'm not really good with people running up behind me. That frightens me. We had an incident on College GameDay this year where a kid flipped over the fence and tried to get onstage to give me a hug, and I panicked. You know, when you ve been stalked and you've had death threats your outlook is a little different, unfortunately, you're not as carefree and easy-going as you were, and you're very guarded. You gotta be safe! There are some crazies out there.
Sideline reporting has clearly become a woman's "in" to the world of men's sports. Is there camaraderie within the ranks? Do you go to the older vets for advice? Do younger women come to you?
That's really been a cool thing for me. Sage Steele, who's now anchoring SportsCenter on the weekends, was really good to me when I was 18, 19 years old. She was working in Tampa; she took me under her wing. When I was interning, other women were not as instructive to me and I understand people are always worrying about their jobs and stuff, but I vowed I would never turn my back on someone who I could tell was eager.
Does it ever concern you when new girls get in the game—that they might be stepping on your brand?

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When Auburn and Oregon face off on January 10th in the BCS championship game, it will mark an interesting first in the history of college football: the first time a cable network will own the rights to broadcast the season's biggest game. The lucky network? ESPN. That means lucky viewers will get to spend a good portion of their evening with Erin Andrews, America's favorite sideline reporter. Andrews is just wrapping up her rookie season as the host of the first hour of ESPN's flagship Saturday program, College GameDay, and she'll be roving the sidelines on the tenth. Days ahead of the game, we spoke with Andrews to get her take on the title matchup, her feelings about the career-boosting-but-emotionally-ravaging double-edged sword of the Internet age, and her secrets for how a woman can survive and thrive in a macho man's industry.
I noticed your Twitter avatar is from your old GQ shoot.
Yeah, it is! A lot of pro football players, like NFL guys, have seen that and they're like, EA, that's awesome, your arms look jacked! Other people say I look like Jeremy Shockey. I think it looks awesome.
Agreed. So, ESPN has the BCS title game for the first time this year. Do you think the ESPN brass were happy with the game they got?
Oh, my gosh, yeah. Especially when you saw the way the season was unfolding—that, really, the powerhouses weren't going to represent themselves. It was just such a weird year—I think Oregon was ranked 11th in the preseason. Personally, I wanted to see Cam Newton in the national championship and I love to see other teams that have success go up against SEC teams. The SEC has won four straight BCS titles, so we'll see how Auburn does against Oregon. And I really am a big fan of what Oregon has done, they wear out defenses while the Duck is doing thousands of pushups a game. I think this is a perfect matchup.
Have you gotten any insight on the game?
I just spent a couple of days in Eugene and I was privy to some practices. They're trying to do anything they can to get a feel for what Cam can do on the field. He's bigger than eight of their defensive starters! They've never faced anything like him. Really, no one in college football has faced anything like him. It's going to be a big challenge for Oregon. Last year, they lost in the Rose Bowl against Terrelle Pryor, who isn't Cam Newton by any means, but he's a beast on the field, too. But Cam's on a different level.
What are your thoughts on Mark Cuban and his proposed college football playoffs?
I haven't read into it. Honestly, all these people with all these great ideas—and I'm a friend of Mark Cuban's, I like talking to him—but I really haven't looked at it. I mean, it's not going to happen. Everybody comes up with their own theory.
In this country, sports in general—and college football in particular—seems to be a unique window into the passions of men. From your vantage, as a female reporter and host, what have you learned about the American male?
They're all pretty much the same. Whether it comes to injuries, stubbornness, they're pretty much… yeah, they're all wired the same. They don't really bother themselves with complex issues in the world. They just think about the next task at hand, not a lot of overanalyzing there.
Do you think that's unique to athletes? Or men in general?
Yeah, I mean, there are the exceptions. But I tend to really look up to the athletes and coaches—I call them ballers—the ones that put everything on the line, play hurt. I have friends who play with head injuries, and you're sitting there begging them not to play.
I know it's not something you want to dwell on but part of a sideline reporter and host's appeal is openness, interacting with the fans, so I'm wondering how the hotel-room incident and the more recent death threats have changed the way you interact. Do you view fans more skeptically?
Not just the way I work, but the way I live my life has changed. I used to be the person that would run up to fans, throw my arms around them, and take pictures. And while I'll still do that, I'm not really good with people running up behind me. That frightens me. We had an incident on College GameDay this year where a kid flipped over the fence and tried to get onstage to give me a hug, and I panicked. You know, when you ve been stalked and you've had death threats your outlook is a little different, unfortunately, you're not as carefree and easy-going as you were, and you're very guarded. You gotta be safe! There are some crazies out there.
Sideline reporting has clearly become a woman's "in" to the world of men's sports. Is there camaraderie within the ranks? Do you go to the older vets for advice? Do younger women come to you?
That's really been a cool thing for me. Sage Steele, who's now anchoring SportsCenter on the weekends, was really good to me when I was 18, 19 years old. She was working in Tampa; she took me under her wing. When I was interning, other women were not as instructive to me and I understand people are always worrying about their jobs and stuff, but I vowed I would never turn my back on someone who I could tell was eager.
Does it ever concern you when new girls get in the game—that they might be stepping on your brand?

Ommino - Quality music for everyone


See Pic go to ommino


Social Network and forum
http://www.ommino.com/

Tweet