Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
It's easy to sit in the press box and say, 'Hey, they should run the ball.' Come down and stand on the sideline with me and make decisions. You should run it here, you should pass it here, let's throw a screen here, let's get the quarterback out of the pocket right here.
Having been in football all my life as a player and a coach and having been on the sideline, I think the closer we can get to bringing people what it's like standing and watching the game on the sideline, with a better view, would be the perfect situation for television football.
Coaching was always intriguing to me as a kid. Watching 'Monday Night Football' with my dad and hearing him talk through the game management and watching the Tom Landrys and Don Shulas on the sideline was more intriguing to me than watching Troy Aikman or Dan Marino throw the ball.
I didn't want to just be an analyst for women's basketball and volleyball. I didn't just want to be a sideline reporter. I didn't just want to be a host. I wanted to be someone that my producers or coordinating producers could call on me for any event, any subject matter or any role.
I think with all my books, language has been their subject as much as anything else. Language can elide or displace or sideline whole groups of people. You can't necessarily change the way language is used, but if it becomes something you're conscious of... that gives you a certain power over it.
I show up in a playoff game, I have my sideline sheet. I can't even spit plays out, I get so excited. I mean, you get nervous. These are critical, do-or-die situations. Third down and 1, Red Zone, what do I call? Two minute drill? Are we going to go no huddle? These are decisions that you wrestle with.
Sideline reporting may look insidious, superfluous, or just a total waste of airtime from where you sit - probably on a couch or a recliner, perhaps on a bar stool in your local brewery - but let me assure you, if you're one of the handful who take it as seriously as some of my colleagues do, it is anything but.
