Recently we were asked if we wanted to speak with Lindsay McCormick of NBC sports as she prepares for the Super Bowl this weekend. Lindsay has had a busy career that has included.
Her work as a sports broadcaster who hit the road with NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” this season as their Social Host. Prior to that she hosted the 2012 NFL Draft for CBS Sports and the 3-hour show, “The Fan” on Comcast SportsNet. She was an analyst on the panel for “Rip City Live,” covered the Portland Trail blazers and has appeared on “ESPN Streak for the Cash” and “ESPN College Pick’em” on ESPNcom, the MtvU music countdown show “The Dean’s List,” ESPN Radio 1080 and CBS Radio’s “The Drive.” She began her career covering the Auburn University football team and then covered the NFL for ESPN The Magazine. McCormick was also featured during the NFL Playoffs along with Sage Steele and Suzy Kolber for Esquire Magazine. She wrote Esquire’s “Monday Morning Cheerleader with Lindsay McCormick” column for the NFL Season.
Justin Giza was kind enough to do the interview for us and we have included the audio for the parts that were a bit harder to make out. We want to thank Lindsay for taking time from her very busy schedule to answer our questions.
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JG: So, you’re probably exhausted. I’m sure you’ve been giving interviews all week. I guess – how’re you feeling, leading up to the Super Bowl?
LM: Oh, you know, I could play on Sunday! I’m not on IR right now, I feel great! [laughs]
JG: That’s good! So, hosting Superbowl Live Events – could you actually just talk to us about how you got into hosting in the first place?
LM: So, my grandfather was really big into sports and was drafted in the Redskins in 1946, played defensive end for Illinois. And I grew up in a sports family. Like, after he retired from the NFL, he then went on to do Engine Coolant Technology for NASCAR and was Vice President of [garbled]. So, I grew up around NASCAR and football, my brother and dad were big into baseball, basketball, and I really had no option. So, I grew up in a sports family, but I also knew that I wanted to do broadcasting at like the age of six.
JG: That’s awesome.
LM: So, I used to practice with my stuffed animals – my mom has photos of it – and when I got to college, I was able to put the two together. Because at the time, having women in the sports world was almost unheard of. So for whatever reason, the sports director at the time at the Auburn campus news station in college had to go on a trip and he needed somebody to take over the sidelines for him that week. He goes, “Lindsay, you know NFL and college football better than anybody I know, you’re a great broadcaster, so why don’t you take over the sidelines for the day?” I said okay, so I took over, and he was never able to get his position back after that.
And then ESPN saw me working on the sidelines at the Auburn-LSU game when they were there for game day. And I ended up getting a job with them. I started out as an intern with them, then my demo reel from college got passed around. I hosted all their ESPN.com stuff. That led to writing for ESPN the Magazine, hosting the NFL Draft coverage with [garbled] in 2012. And then hosting shows for Comcast SportsNet, and then I joined Sunday Night Football and the crew [garbled] last season and was their social host.
JG: So it basically sounds like you’re living the childhood dream so to speak!
LM: Yeah! I can’t complain. I get to do what I love what I’m doing, and it pays the bills, and I look forward to it every day. So what more can you ask out of life?
JG: of course. And I’m sure you’re loving everything you’re doing right now, but what’s the toughest thing you have to do day to day in your job?
LM: Probably just talking and maintaining my voice! You can tell I’m already a little raspy and it’s only Thursday – we’ve been here since Friday. I think just talking all day. And then when you get home, just wanting to relax and not wanting to talk to anybody about sports, and all my friends are like, “So what’s gonna’ happen in this game, who should I put money on in that game?” It’s neverending! And I’m so thankful that I love football as much as I do or else this would be a really challenging job to constantly keep up with what’s happening every day, because it changes every day.
JG: So, what have been some of your favorite cities to visit, some of your favorite stadiums that you’ve gotten to see as part of the job?
LM: So last season with Sunday Night Football, we traveled to every single stadium except for Green Bay. So the only stadium I haven’t been to yet is Green Bay.
JG: Wow. That is a whirlwind.
LM: I have to take a trip at some point there. Some of my favorite stadiums? The Superdome is a really cool place. It gets really loud. Cowboy Stadium, or what is it now? AT&T Stadium is beautiful. It looks more like an art museum than a football arena.
There are a lot of good ones. I love visiting Washington D.C. Obviously love New York. I lived there for four years, and MetLife Stadium has a special place in my heart because I attended and covered so many games there over the years.
JG: It’s a great stadium.
LM: I learned that the guy who designed AT&T Stadium is the same guy who designed MetLife Stadium. So that’s a fun fact for fans that didn’t know that.
JG: You’ve done basketball, you’ve done football. How would you say it compares and contrasts between the reporting of the two?
LM: They’re very different. Basketball, there are so many games. You can feel the effects on the players. It’s just very different. I feel like with football, there’s so much emphasis on each game and the injury report and what that player’s going to play. In basketball, if a player’s just out a game or two because of a migraine it’s not a big deal until the playoffs come around. Basketball, you start to become a family with everybody because you’re spending so much time together.
Also, the locker rooms are very, very different. [laughs] The locker rooms in the NFL, they’re a lot larger, you have more players, so it’s more of a spectacle. In the NBA, the locker rooms are smaller, quieter, you have [garbled] for each athlete, so it’s a little harder to get one on one interviews. And the players are more focused, for whatever reason. It’s because the locker rooms are smaller.
In the NFL, it’s just a free-for-all with music playing in different corners. It’s a little tougher to get your job done in the amount of time.
JG: I’m not sure if it’s fair to ask which team you’re rooting for in the Super Bowl. Is that a fair question to ask?
LM: Yeah, I’ve been asked that a lot. In terms of rooting, I grew up a bigtime Oilers fan. And they’re no longer in existence. They became the Titans. Obviously no real Oilers fans then started rooting for the Titans. It just didn’t happen. I didn’t pick up the Texans when they came to Houston just because I was no longer living Houston. I moved all around and lived in different cities. So I just became a fan of the game, to be honest. I don’t have one team I root for every Sunday. I root for my fantasy team, and the players of my fantasy team! I just enjoy watching every team for what it is.
And you work with all these different players, until you know what their strengths are, and what their weaknesses are, and I start to look at the game in a different way as a casual fan. So I guess I could say I root for my fantasy team, but for this game, I’m not rooting for one team over the other. I have friends and colleagues on both teams. I just want to see a really close game as opposed to last season where we thought it was going to be so close – the number one defense against the number one offense, and it was a blowout. I just want to see a really good football game.
JG: Are you a fan of video games? Do you have time for video games at all?
LM: When I lived on the Sunday Night Football bus, we had Madden on the bus. And I played Madden pretty much every day and I was undefeated last season. So, I haven’t played this season just because I don’t want to ruin my record, and they have this Madden setup over in the NFL Experience which is near one of the stages we’re hosting on. My colleagues keep calling me out like “Lindsay, let’s see if you can defend your record!” They treat me like I’m the Mayweather of Madden.
They keep wanting to challenge my reigning title. But I was undefeated last season. I beat Rodney Harrison’s kids, and he kept saying while we were playing, “I’m gonna’ disown you guys if you don’t beat Lindsay!” So, I don’t know if their last names are still Harrison or not…
JG: [laughs] That’s fantastic. Well, I think that just about wraps it up. Thank you so much for your time. Break legs with the hosting, and hopefully we’ll be in touch soon and we’ll keep our fingers crossed for a closer game this Super Bowl.
LM: Thank you so much!
JG: Thanks a lot, Lindsay!
