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00:05All right, we're gonna go even deeper into having a good time.
00:07How many folks like sports, right?
00:09I know you like it.
00:11They were just talking about the Knicks and everything winning basketball.
00:13But we are fast forwarding on our road to the Super Bowl.
00:17And we are about to talk about how football is shaping not just the game,
00:20but it's culture, it's music, it's all of that.
00:23So let's get ready to bring out our dynamic panelists.
00:25We have ESPN NFL reporter Kimberly A. Martin and Sheila Matthews from Anscape.
00:32Welcome, ladies.
00:35Y'all can do better than that.
00:39That's right, we got company.
00:40Act like y'all got some sense.
00:42Okay, so our panel today, we're gonna be talking about how you all are telling the stories,
00:46because you are defining the story.
00:48Black women are telling the story about culture and music and the intersection of sports.
00:53But before we get into it, and before we dive and have a great time,
00:56talk to us about yourselves.
00:57Kimberly, give us some info about who you are and what you do.
01:00For those of you who don't know, Kimberly Martin, I cover the NFL.
01:03I cover all 32 teams.
01:05Every Sunday, I'm at a different stadium.
01:07But people know me best for telling Stephen A to be quiet on TV.
01:13Come on, somebody's gotta do it.
01:15And what about you, Sheila?
01:17Hi, I'm Sheila Matthews.
01:19I'm D.C. born and raised, a proud graduate of an HBCU Bowie State University.
01:23Come on.
01:24So I'll be in my sorors of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
01:27And here today, hi, sorors.
01:30They're in the building.
01:32They're in the building.
01:33All right, ladies.
01:34And I am an on-camera correspondent for ESPN's Anscape.
01:38She's also a correspondent for ESPN's Anscape.
01:40Come on, round of applause for that.
01:42Matter of fact, when I went there, it said something about Sheila Matthews' picks for such and such and such.
01:46They were talking all about you front line, by line.
01:49Come on, sis.
01:50Okay, so wait.
01:50Let's go and talk right now.
01:52I have a question.
01:53In one sentence, what makes football culture so powerful?
01:58Sheila, start us off.
01:59I think it's the understanding of what we've always known, right?
02:02Is that black people are the drivers of culture.
02:05We're the drivers of conversations.
02:07And when you think about football, it's so layered and it's so storied, right?
02:11From the traditions of, you know, all of us getting together for a Super Bowl party.
02:15Even if your auntie doesn't like football, she's going to want to watch the show.
02:17And we're all going to be at someone's house and eating and drinking and talking and having a great time.
02:21And also when you think about the HBCU culture of it and the pipeline and the visibility.
02:26And black culture is football culture and vice versa.
02:29So for me, I have the privilege of covering these athletes up close and personal.
02:34So for Mental Health Awareness Month, I did a feature on ESPN about players struggling with that, the suicides that
02:43we're seeing.
02:44As a black woman, I love covering football because I'm covering young men who could be my brother,
02:51who could be my coaches, could be my uncles.
02:54And I think the stories that resonate with me resonate with me because I am covering people who look like
03:01me.
03:01And I don't think there are enough reporters, unfortunately, who see football players as three-dimensional,
03:09very smart, intelligent, complicated, complex, regular human beings.
03:13And that's what I try to bring with my coverage every Sunday.
03:17And when you're doing that coverage, how has that relationship with the culture, how has that changed in the last
03:23decade or so?
03:23What do you see that's different now?
03:25Well, I think players are showing more of who they are.
03:28Yeah.
03:29But the intersection of sports and politics and race and all that, that's always been a thing.
03:35Those landscapes are always interconnected.
03:38But I think now that players are on social media, they're able to tell their stories.
03:43They're able to sit down and do one-on-one features with me and sort of talk about things that
03:48are important to them beyond just the game itself, which is very important.
03:52For example, I was a columnist when President Trump was first elected and he didn't want players to kneel.
03:58He said, if you're protesting, get out of the country.
04:01And a lot of the stories I did was about players' reaction to that.
04:04So the intersection of sports, all the things, I love what I do because we get to tell different
04:10stories, not just what's between the lines.
04:13And do you think they feel more comfortable?
04:15They have more freedom to share their stories, Sheila?
04:18Yeah, absolutely.
04:19And that's something that I love about Anscape is we take it beyond the stat line and we tell
04:23the fuller story of who the athlete is off the court, off the field.
04:26What are they interested in?
04:28Are they interested in philanthropy, politics, mental health?
04:31We touch on everything.
04:32So they feel more comfortable now, like showing who they are because they understand that people
04:36care and all of you care as well.
04:37And let's talk about the HBCU of it all, because you were just talking about,
04:41you went there to, what was it, Bowie?
04:42Yes.
04:43Yes.
04:43And I went to Norfolk State.
04:44Shouts out to those Spartans.
04:45How has the HBCU impacted the league and how do we see it being impacted now even by
04:50what we're sharing as stories from these athletes?
04:54The HBCU football scene culture has put the league on notice.
04:58There's so many great players in HBCUs.
05:02Yes.
05:02And it's so great to also see former players go back as coaches and go back as advisors
05:07and go back as ADs to help pull up the students.
05:10Because often we do get overlooked at HBCUs for a variety of reasons.
05:14And I think we all know.
05:15But it's really good just to see that pipeline and that come to first show.
05:18Can I just say, even at ESPN, when first take, they'll have multiple days going to HBCU campuses.
05:25Yes.
05:25Disney, going to HBCU campuses, I think that's why I like working for our company.
05:32Because we do provide that sort of spotlight on HBCUs.
05:36Now, in football, I would love to see more players get drafted, but I think...
05:40From the HBCU classes, colleges, yeah.
05:41...from HBCUs, of course.
05:42But I think the times that we're seeing those games on TV, on ESPN, there has been a push internally
05:49to spotlight more HBCU players and rivalry games as well.
05:53I think that's a great thing.
05:55So we're headed in the right direction.
05:56Now, as we're continuing on, on our way to Super Bowl 61 in 2027,
06:00how has all this become like a year-round thing and not just for the fall?
06:04We're all talking about it.
06:05It's summer and we're already pushing towards going towards the Super Bowl.
06:09Can I just tell you, we have in Bristol, Connecticut, which is home to our headquarters,
06:14there was a clock starting at the end of last year's Super Bowl,
06:18the minute that was over.
06:19That clock was up and running.
06:21So when I tell you this ESPN-ABC Disney Super Bowl will be bigger and better,
06:27that's the goal, because we have had a countdown for the last year.
06:32Yeah, and it's been so cool to see within the company as well,
06:35so many Black women leading the charge of Super Bowl.
06:38The show that you all are going to see, a lot of it is produced by Black women,
06:41ideated by Black women, and also reported on by Black women.
06:44So it's really cool and a great time to work here.
06:46We are handling business.
06:48As a matter of fact, we're handling business with all the collaborations.
06:50Let's take a look and see what we have.
06:55Hey, you're not packing your toys for the Super Bowl?
06:58No, they got to hold out on the fort while we're in L.A.
07:00Like Toy Story.
07:01Toy Story.
07:04The whole company's going.
07:06Let's roll.
07:07Let's roll!
07:30We're never going to make it.
07:32It would take some kind of unbelievable miraculous Super Bowl Hail Mary.
07:36That's not funny, Eli!
07:43To Super Bowl 61 and beyond.
07:51Yes, we're going to the Super Bowl, ESPN, ABC, Disney.
07:56And we'll tell you how you can go there as well.
07:57But Kimberly, can you tell us some of the stories we might not see?
08:00Some of the things that are happening behind the scenes?
08:03And your vantage point and sharing those stories that we see on the way to Super Bowl?
08:07I think for me, it's more about the players being able to share who they are.
08:13And so every time on a Sunday, like I am there at 730 in the morning,
08:19even if the game is at one o'clock, I am talking with not just refs.
08:23I'm talking with coaches. I'm talking with players and getting a sense.
08:27You always want to get a sense of who they are.
08:29And I think because when you watch a game, you're just seeing helmets.
08:32And that's the thing about football players that I need people to understand.
08:36You may recognize the quarterbacks, but there is a backup running back who's just as important,
08:42who's got a family that he's trying to provide for, that has a story.
08:45And I think where Sheila and I connect, though our jobs are different,
08:49we're storytellers by any means necessary.
08:51And I think this Super Bowl, you will get to see from the commercials
08:56to the type of projects that are being done to the type of stories written in on TV
09:00that get to tell those stories about players.
09:03Is there anything that's resonated with you that you've seen throughout the years
09:06as you were going to a Super Bowl game or heading up with some of the players?
09:10Anything in particular?
09:12That's a good question.
09:13I think honestly, just the branding of the athletes and the branding of the football players.
09:18Like, yes, the business has always been who you are on the field, but now the business
09:22is who you are off the field as well.
09:24There's podcasts, there's fashion brands.
09:26And also, I think my favorite thing that I always see going in is like,
09:29you'll see the agents running around and the managers.
09:32And when you see these black quarterbacks out here and their moms are in the room,
09:37because their moms are the managers, their moms are the agents,
09:39and they're creating generational wealth in such a different way now.
09:42For me, that's always so exciting to see.
09:45And it makes me be like, yes, look at us out here doing it.
09:47You know what the flip side of that is?
09:49It's been interesting now that players are able to tell their own stories.
09:53It makes it interesting as journalists, how you're able to get them to still sit down with you.
10:00Because they may say, oh, no, no, no.
10:02I got my own production company.
10:03I can tell my story.
10:04You know, my agency can tell my story for me.
10:08But so the story that I'm sort of watching over the next few years is as players become
10:14more autonomous and become a business unto themselves, what that relationship between
10:19journalists who got it out the mud, whose job is about storytelling, how do you still create
10:27those relationships where they'll say, you know what, based off your reputation,
10:31I'm going to sit down with you because I know you'll tell my story accurately.
10:34Exactly.
10:35Because it's one thing for someone to tell their own story, but to have someone else put
10:39it into words because I can go on and do all this myself.
10:41But you might be able to draw something out of me that I might not be able to do it
10:45right
10:45off the top of my head because you're trained and you were taught that way.
10:49And matter of fact, we're seeing a story from a Super Bowl celebrity this weekend,
10:52Travis Kelsey allegedly tying the knot.
10:54Now we're all in his business and everything.
10:56How is that with social media, though?
10:58We're seeing a lot of that.
10:59How has that impacted the stories that you all tell and the way that you shape their stories?
11:04I mean, I think that it's also, it's a double-edged sword, right?
11:07Yeah.
11:07It's like, I know what people are interested in now because I see what everyone's putting
11:11on threads and what everyone's putting on Instagram and making reels about.
11:14But at the same time, I think that in a world where everything you do is so public and privacy
11:21is valued and overvalued in some ways too, it makes it a little bit difficult because it's also like,
11:26I want to get in your business, but I want to get in your business.
11:28Like, I want people to know things about you, but also be able to help you protect
11:32that little slither that you do have of your own autonomy in this type of world.
11:37It's tough because players, because of social media, they may feel that everybody is coming
11:42at me, everybody's saying this.
11:44And I think even in our own lives, it might feel like that.
11:47Listen, I'm on TV.
11:48I'm a black woman on TV.
11:49Like, you will hear criticisms left and right.
11:52And I think trying to get athletes to understand that that tiny piece of the internet isn't all
11:59of us.
11:59And so you have to, you can still let your guard down and not think that everybody is
12:06take, take, take.
12:07Sometimes as journalists, we want to amplify what it is that you are doing.
12:11How has the landscape changed since you began your careers reporting in sports?
12:17Let's talk about it.
12:18First of all, I remember a time where I was the only black woman who was a beat writer
12:24covering football for a major newspaper in the United States.
12:30I'm not that old.
12:31The fact that I was the only always blew my mind.
12:35Yeah.
12:35So now that there are so many other black women in the space and not just, not just in TV,
12:41but like who want to write, who want to produce, who want to be content creators, but also
12:46social media, like the whole industry is different.
12:49But just the participation of women who look like me is the biggest thing.
12:53Cause I remember constantly being the only.
12:56Yeah.
12:57And for me, it was like, I would be in spaces and I would be in rooms and I would
13:00look around
13:01and I was like the only, to your point, the only, and the only like younger person too.
13:06And that was always, you know, dealing with imposter syndrome.
13:09I started when I was like 24, 25 and I'm like, oh my God, like everyone's already looking at me
13:14because I'm one of the only black woman.
13:16And then I'm also so young, like, do I belong here?
13:18But what I love also about the social media of it all is social media is becoming your real
13:22in real time.
13:23So people are posting their own interviews.
13:25They're posting their own credentials and they're getting into the spaces.
13:28And there's more and more young black women in there.
13:31And that makes my heart so happy because we have stories to tell that we could only tell
13:34because we live these lives and experiences.
13:36Can I just piggyback though? Just because you have a mic does not make you a journalist.
13:40Yeah.
13:41Come on.
13:41Somebody say it again for the people in the back.
13:43Just because you have a mic.
13:44Just because you have a mic does not mean you're a journalist.
13:47Now, I think it's great that so many people love sports and want to get into it.
13:52But I do think what the difference of being like a journalist who, who came up studying the
13:59craft, protecting the craft, working on the craft is different than, oh, let me put this mic right here.
14:06And let me tell you this about this.
14:08You know, I do think there is a difference.
14:10And what would you advise a young woman who's trying to get into sports reporting right now?
14:14What's that one thing that you wish you had known that someone had said, hey, sis,
14:18you might want to do that?
14:19Is there any particular?
14:20So two things for me.
14:22I wish I had known from the jump, be yourself.
14:26Yeah.
14:26Because the minute it took me a year of being around all these other middle-aged white men
14:31and wanting to be one of the guys in the locker room, realizing my superpower is the fact that
14:36I'm a black girl from Brooklyn with West Indian parents.
14:39You know what I mean?
14:40So big Knicks fan, Knicks in five.
14:42So that, but also, but also work on your craft, a pretty face.
14:49It's not going to get you as far as you think you have to work on your craft to have
14:53longevity.
14:54That is the most important thing in this business.
14:56Absolutely.
14:57I would say connections.
14:58Like I'm big on shoot your professional shot.
15:01DM people, get on LinkedIn, send a message because if they're not looking, someone on
15:05their team is looking and someone will reach back and help you and help you at the table
15:09and open the doors and also have your business together.
15:12Because once you do get your opportunity, the business moves fast, have your talent coach,
15:18have the people who can help you keep your appearance up, have your agent,
15:21have your account and have all the people in line because you want to capitalize off your
15:24moment and make it more than a moment, but your lifestyle and your career.
15:28That is so good.
15:29Are y'all taking notes?
15:30Tell everybody who wants to be in sports and reporting to make sure you are true to who you
15:35are and of course to continue to make sure your business is together.
15:38Ladies, let's leave on one good note here.
15:41How does it stay?
15:42How does it affect you when you're dealing with all the stuff that's going on around you?
15:48How do you stay true and authentic to you and the story you're telling
15:51without having to sacrifice your soul for these stories?
15:55I think in my job of being, again, a black woman who is on morning television,
16:01on popular shows like First Take or Get Up or SportsCenter or NFL Live,
16:06you have to have a tough skin.
16:09And trust me, after six years of being at ESPN, the skin cannot be any tougher
16:14because people will try to tell you about yourself when they don't know you.
16:18So I think you got to just be, you got to be comfortable.
16:21And you mentioned imposter syndrome.
16:23You got to understand that every day you're evolving and growing
16:25and you will be better, but you're human.
16:28And that's okay.
16:29So sometimes on air, I won't be the skinniest.
16:31I won't be the prettiest.
16:32Come on.
16:33But I know I'll be the most prepared and I'll do my job.
16:37And to go off of that, y'all, the internet is a very mean place.
16:40Okay.
16:41The internet is so mean.
16:42And you have to know when to put the phone down.
16:44You have to know when to not check the comments.
16:46Like, of course, you know, you want to look, you want feedback, you want to get better.
16:49But it's having that true sense of you that at the end of the day,
16:52you know, when you log off, you turn it all off.
16:54You know who you are, who you aren't, and whose you are.
16:56And I think that's the thing that's cut me grounded through all of this.
17:00Great conversation, ladies.
17:01Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing with us.
17:03Y'all give them a round of applause.
17:05Kimberly A. Martin, Sheila Matthews.
17:07And wait a minute.
17:07Let me tell y'all, let me tell you.
17:10ESPN and ABC want you to take this road to Super Bowl all the way to the Super Bowl.
17:14So we want you to stop by our Disney booth for Saturday.
17:17Tomorrow, they're going to be doing a drawing and giving away tickets.
17:20Somebody say tickets.
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