Adam Schefter: The Story Behind the Insider

That's what he does. He gets information.

And it's impressive the way that you do it. Well, how do you do it? I don't think the job is all that different from anybody doing their job. They make it work through relationships. They make it work through trust. They make it work through hard work. They make it work through being reliable. When you're starting out, you're asking for a lot of help.

Yep.

And then over time, I think you are in a position where people ask you for help. You can help. So it goes from being a taker to being more of a giver than anything else.

So excited of this version of MacDaddy, the one and only Adam Schefter joins us here at Louis Restaurant in Port Washington, Long Island. What a beautiful spot. One of the most followed guys on social media. Adam Schefter joins us on MacDaddy. Welcome everyone to another edition of MacDaddy, Patrick Mackiner, along with Rich Big Daddy Selgado. Nice to see you. And another Long Islander, Mr. Adam Schefter. We're here, by the way, at beautiful Louis in Port Washington. A little upgrade of this place here. They did a little re uh little renovation, phenomenal. So we thought this is the perfect place to talk to Adam Schefter.

It's great to be with you, Patrick. It's great to be with Big Daddy. It's great to be here at Louis in Port Washington. It is a beautiful place.

It's a good spot. Apparently, we're going to get a little food, maybe a little sushi as well. And of course, it wouldn't be a proper interview with Adam Schefter if he's not looking at his phone. Don't mind me if you're in a matter of moments, you will understand what it feels like to be my wife or one of my children. Exactly. So we totally get it. I gotta ask you though, the first thing is you guys I know are tight. Go way back. How did that happen?

I guess we met back in the day.

I know you know where we met? We met at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. Oh. I thought about it. We met at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. You were there by yourself, and I was there by myself, and we were sitting there. Two lonely guys. Hey, you're from Long Island, yeah. And then uh off we went.

And then lo and behold, I moved to New York. Yeah. And then Big Daddy kind of knows everybody, and we'd already met at the Pro Bowl, and we didn't find only that.

Well we all we we we all, the three of us, grew up uh in these parts. I, in fact, driving past Louis brings back a lot of memories for me, Adam, and for my family. We used to drive here to go to the Port Washington Tennis Academy, which is just like a mile from here. So I remember literally driving past Louis. But uh, as we said, this place is looking amazing. But you grew up in Belmore, right?

Correct. About I'd say 30 minutes south of here. Yeah. And Long Island was my home as a little boy. And somebody was actually in my neighborhood the other day, sent me a picture of my house, and I'm like, that house looks entirely different.

They totally the way you remember it, right? No, no, no, no. Not even they've redone it.

Like right. I wouldn't even, if you had put me in front of the house and said, Do you know what this house is? I would not have been able to guess it. That's how different it looks. But I just remember I grew up in Belmore on Judith Drive, and uh the house is entirely different. Yeah.

I grew up in Douglason, which is about 20, 25 minutes from here, and we had the same, you know, kind of nice little suburban house, and we moved from Beverly Road, literally to Manor Road, which the two houses were next door to each other. So I often I'll drive past her sometimes on my way, you know. I got some time going to the island or going back to the city, um, and I'll drive past that those two houses, and they felt so much bigger at the time than they do now. Like when I go back and see them now, and I said, Oh yeah, that was my little room. That was my other brother Mark, that was brother John down there. Um a lot of memories in these.

Any family's still there? Yeah.

Uh no family still there. All my family, my brothers are still in the New York area, but not in not in Douglaston. But we're still still a lot of friends. That's why I learned first picked up a tennis racket, the Douglaston. Anyway, this is not about me. This is supposed to be about you. No, but I'm married to the Macin Rosia legendary in New York in March New York.

Listen, I'm the guy that's just sitting there in awe going, all right, I got these two heavyweights in front of me, and it's an honor and a privilege to be here, too.

It it it's it's nice to be with you now, Adam, because I know um at the time we're doing this, you just signed your new deal. Yep.

Congratulations.

Congratulations on that. And I I don't know if I told you this story. I know you'll be listening to me, Adam, while you text, because there could be some breaking news coming today. Then there's a few things dangling out there in the NFL world. But um I I don't know if I told you this. Well one of the few times that I went to Bristol, Connecticut, the home of ESPN, to do the car wash, you know, which was when you go to do all the interview shows. And they rarely do that for tennis, but they did it this one year. I think it was right before the U.S. opened. How come?

Just because the US opened?

Just yeah, just because, and they, you know, they're just it was I think it was I was with my brother, and so that might have something to do with it. But I'm walking through and they're taking you around, you know, to the different places to do the interview, and then they look up on the screen, and it was like your first week on the job at ESPN. And the and the woman who was taking me around, who worked there at ESPN, said, Oh, Shefty, good pickup. Really? She's just said, good pickup. Like, like they just picked you up, like you know, like you're on the trading on the block. Well, you know what I remember about that.

It's a very funny story. Um I got to ESPN, I believe it was August 19th, 2009.

2009, yeah. So it was right literally the that's the week of so before the US opened.

The Monday, the Monday that I was on air, I was driving up from New York to Connecticut, and Brett Favre landed, I believe, in Minnesota. Or he whatever he wherever he played in 2009.

He left Green Bay and then he went to because he did go to Minnesota for like two years, right? I think I think that I think he landed in Minnesota.

In fact, I'm I'm almost certain. Right. But here's the great part. So they have me scheduled, as they do for all ESPN employees, for orientation on Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. And so I went in for oh here, here's our food at Level. They're getting us all set up here. So I'm getting ready for my orientation at uh an ESPN in Bristol. And I walk up to the room at 9 a.m. And as I'm walking in, Plexico Burris gets arrested. As I walk in, I said, we need you on the set for sports center right now.

Forget the orientation.

So I went, yeah, I was on TV all day, and to this day, some 17 plus years after I was hired, I still haven't done it. I haven't done the orientation because every time we're going to do something, they need me to do some news. Of course. That's fine.

That is a good story. But I remember that you uh were, I think, when you left uh Michigan and you went to journalism school at Northwestern, right? Yeah, well, I think that's Patrick's. I think that's right. We just dippy it all up. Oh, that's right. Um, and then what what was your first job out of school when you got out of when you got out of college?

Well, when I was in college, I I honestly never imagined that I could make my living doing this, ever. And I got rejection letters for two straight years. Wow. Really? Like hundreds of rejection letters.

This was after journalism school.

Well, I went to journalism school because I couldn't get a job out of Michigan.

Oh, wow.

And when I went to graduate school, then I still couldn't get a job. And so I took an internship in Seattle, and I I would have happily signed on to work in Seattle. Um I came home from Seattle in September of 1990, after two years of looking for a job and hundreds, and I mean hundreds of rejection letters, so I couldn't get anything. And uh I remember getting a call that the Los Angeles Times was gonna hire me as a high school bureau reporter. Which it was the other time it was a high school bureau, not really a big deal. But I went out celebrating in New York City. When I got back, there was a message on my pillow, a purple note that I could still see, said Barry Forbes, Rocky Mountain News, 303-892-5623. And it was the sports editor of the Rocky Mountain News. I called up that morning. I knew he wasn't calling to say hello. He said, How fast can you get out here for an interview? I said, I'll be out there today. My mother literally rushed home from work, took me right to the airport. I flew to Denver, uh, got the job and moved to Denver in September of 1990. You know, the funny thing is a lot of people moved to Colorado. They they choose to go to Colorado because it's a beautiful place. I I didn't pick Colorado, Colorado chose me, and I moved out there at the age of 23 in 1990 and uh how long did you say that? 16 years. Wow. Yeah, 16 years, and and loved it, and it was Colorado was in my soul, but Long Island kid in Colorado. Yeah, it was it was it was a great thing to do. Yeah. And I tell everybody I went to Michigan undergrad, I went to Northwestern graduate school, and I got my master's from the Denver Broncos. Because they were unbelievable. I would be living in the building, I'd be around them all times. You know, you're you're at training camp with them, in the dorms with them, every meal with them. And you got to understand what it was like to be around a professional sports organization, coaches, players, what worked, what didn't work. Um, and it was quite a learning curve because I made a lot of mistakes back then. So thank you to the Denver Broncos and all the people in Colorado that put up with me.

But you know, you I got to learn something about you that I I didn't even know, knowing as knowing you as well as I do. You played uh you were a pretty good point guard in basketball, huh? I played. Listen, I'm discovered by the info that I get.

That's incorrect. That's not actually confirmed. I can't confirm the other thing.

You ran track?

You ran in track? I ran track too, yeah. I ran track. I played basketball. I did run. What was your race? Whatever I could do. I didn't have any. I didn't have enough better. I didn't have I was not that good basketball. Um the high school basketball team that I played on was ranked in New York State. I was the last guy on the bench. And the only reason I was on the team was because I hustled and I played defense in practice. Um, we had a lot of great players in that team. One of the guys in that team was Kenny Dictor.

Oh, wow. Oh wow, he was on the team.

On that team. We played high school basketball together. Oh, and uh he he was always he was the same way then that he is today. Could talk to anybody, very smart, very shrewd. Um, but some great players. I was not one of the great players, but I happened to be fortunate to be on the team.

And when you were in Denver, um, was it specifically your gig was for just for football?

Or did it you know if it's a lot of I went out there? Um it's so funny what you the things you learn. Um, having grown up in New York, I always wanted to do baseball. Like I always thought that would have been the greatest thing ever. And I went out to Colorado. My initial assignment was a general assignment reporter. I was gonna be covering some Denver Broncos and some University of Colorado. University of Colorado won the national championship. Alfred Williams, Cannabis McGee, loaded, yeah, you know, some great players, and I got to cover those guys when they beat Notre Dame for the national championship, Charles Johnson playing quarterback. Anyway, I was doing some Broncos. And after a couple of years, Colorado got an expansion baseball franchise. And like I said, I wanted to cover baseball. Right. I applied for that job, and like many jobs in my life, I didn't get it. And I was forced, forced to stay on football. Like incredible. I tried my best to get into baseball. To go cover the Colorado Rockies, and they forced me to stay with the Broncos who went on to win two Super Bowls in the NFL, which is you know the most popular sports league in our country that there is, and so I didn't know any better. I only wanted to cover baseball, and they they denied me that chance, to which I say thank you. Yeah, right.

Well, so did so do all the NFL fans out there with the all the followers you got. And when you um went into when you left Denver, you went to NFL Network first, right? Before you went to ESM. How and where where were you based for that?

Um, I was well, I I started, I got hired in by the NFL Network in 2004.

Okay.

I spent the first couple of years in Colorado because the LA network offices were uh they were in LA. Right. I would go back and forth, and then after a few years, I decided, you know, let me try living in New York. I'm from there, I've never lived there as an adult, a working adult. Let me go back there and see how it works out. And uh went back there. I came back here in New York and and spent uh a couple of years working out of the league office. Okay, getting to know more people. Right. And that was a great experience too. And then and then my contract was up and I got thrown out basically.

And and now it's been gobbled up by ESPN. Well that that's when ESPN is full circle. Right.

That's when ESPN picked me up, so to speak, because NFL Network literally um, yeah, it it it was a it was an unfortunate ending. I wanted to stay. The contract talks went south. Um, they never moved off their offer. I said, I'm not gonna take that, and they pulled me off the air.

Wow.

Yeah, it was it was hardcore, and that's that's when ESPN stepped in and picked me up off the street. Have some sushi, we'll have a look at it. You know, with Big Daddy and Patrick?

Is that a we we we we mix it up? We mix it up. We've been we've been to a boxing ring in Harlem. Really? We've been to some restaurants, yeah. We had um uh Mr. Hopkins on for that one. Wow. Yeah. So um, but you're you're we had when we knew you were coming, because you know, you you know Big Daddy, so well, we were like, we need to step it up. So we we I do like to eat. Yeah, so do I. I'm not very good at playing sports, but I do like to eat. Well, you like to talk sports.

So those Bronco years, yep. I got to be around those Super Bowls. That was a lot of fun. Yeah. You know, uh one of the weirdest feelings I had was the Jets go to Denver. And I'm sitting there and it's 10-0 New York and I'm saying to myself, I can't believe like we're winning, you know, the Jets are winning this game. And the thing that was strange for me was that former New York Jet Marvin Washington was on the Broncos.

Yep. So we're 97.

Yep, I was out there seeing him and then flipped the coin. No, I'm sitting in Greasy seats watching the game, you know, on the Broncos side. Yep. But I'm like being quiet because, you know, I'm kind of like not trying to be loud or whatever, and it was cold as hell that day. But and then you know, afterwards, Broncos win. We go back to some uh Elway's house or somebody's house, I forget. The Asian championship. You were back at Elway's house. I would I didn't even have that access. Yeah, yeah. We uh we uh went back and you know everybody's cheering and happy, and and I'm kind of like torn a little bit because I'm like, you know, I've gone through all these two and seventeen and you know, oh and whatever. So and then to get that close and not get there, and I'm like, wow. And then I think that was the closest the Jets have come to the shoe roll. Yeah. I was uh exactly right. You know, so it was uh that was but I enjoyed Denver a lot. There was a lot of great games I got to see there, and uh obviously I went back there when Brian Greasy started playing and and whatnot, but uh yeah, uh you know, you you watch from afar, and you know they say how do people grow? Well, I've watched Adam Grow.

From up not really from afar.

From not from afar, pretty close, but uh you know, you you watch and and people ask all the time, how, how, how. I'm like, he wrote. Yeah, no, they want to know why, like what gets you going, like what keeps you moving. And I'm like information. Information. That's what he does. He gets information, and it's impressive the way that you do it.

You know, how do you do it? Give me a little like insight in how you actually do it.

I I I don't think the job is all that different from anybody doing their job. I mean, when you're playing tennis, you are gifted, you have a talent. I I've never had that. But I think if you're talking about lawyers or financial industry people or salesmen or insurance, how does anybody make that job work? They make it work through relationships, they make it work through trust, they make it work through hard work, they make it work through being reliable and dependable and loyal. Like those are the things, you know. Um and you learn these things over time. It's it's not a simple thing. I think when you're starting out, you're asking a lot of people, you're asking for a lot of help.

Yep.

And then over time, I think you are in a position where people ask you for help. You can help.

Right.

And and so it goes from being a taker to being a giver-in-taker to really hopefully being more of a giver than anything else.

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I have people call me all the time and ask me questions, uh, advice questions, um, questions about things that are going on around the league. And there's a fine line. You can't compromise other people, and I never, I have never would come. I remember one time there was one team that was desperate to try to trade up for a quarterback, and this other team called me, like, this team's trying to get out of this spot in the top ten. I'm like, well, that would help that team, but I can't tell them that because they're in the same division. That wouldn't be fair. And so you're always judging things, and there's a line not to cross. It's sort of a feel, but it comes back to relationships, I think, in the end, right? Like uh how you do your job. I think there's a lot of that that goes into how you do your job, even yeah, analysis, right?

You're you're of course you're talking to people, especially when I was a Davis Cup captain, I was sort of the leader of the American team, and so you know that could ruffle some feathers if you criticize some players. I try to keep it just about the tennis. But I do remember one time when I was first starting out in the TV business, I was working for CBS at the time, was also working for ESPN, but CBS had the open, US Open. So I was like the courtside guy, you know, the like the reporter, like you, what you do. And uh it was a semifinal between Pete Sampras and Pat Rafter, the Australian. Rafter ended up winning, won the open that year, but it was a devastating loss for Sampras. And he was the big American star. And so the producer, when the match ended, you know, the the uh my job is to interview the winner. And he said to me, the producer said, No, you gotta interview Sampras. And I'm like, um that's gonna be a little dodgy, you know. So I I I I walked over to him. He was picking up his bag, you know, to get off the court, and he just yeah, I I gave him the look, like, you know, and he's like, he just gave me like real quick, like, no. And so I just and the then when it was over, the producer got in my face.

Well, so so so they so do you ever speak to Pete about that? Like explain to him.

You just gave me a look that said I'm not doing it, and don't, and don't and the and the producer was saying to me, put the mic in his face and ask him a question. Correct. Right, and I'm like, uh I ain't doing that. Correct. And he the the producer cake got in my kitchen when it was over. Fine. And I said, that's fine. I said, but if you're asking me to to do that, I ain't doing it. So you can hire somebody else. But that's I I I'm guessing that you have to deal with that, those types where you someone tells you something, listen, Adam, you can't take this to GSPM, right? You know what I'm saying? There are all sorts of scenarios.

Like it, but but but what you're talking about is exactly the type of thing you have to make a decision at that moment.

What's right?

Please your producer, yeah, or piss off somebody that you work with, coach, whatever it may be, be around. And you make your decision. And and I think that was the right decision. Thank you. I think that was the right decision, right?

Right? The producer didn't like it, right?

But you know what?

Right, the broadcast goes on. Right, exactly. The producer doesn't have to deal with him the way I'd have to deal with him. And you know, for the next time, you want to be able to get him to come and show up.

And by the way, I hope that Pete appreciated that you took that bullet. I don't even know that he realizes. Maybe not. I think he does. Oh well, okay. It doesn't matter. Yeah, it doesn't matter. But but he would have remembered if you did stick the mic in his face.

Yeah, he would have remembered. Well, he maybe doesn't remember this, but he would have remembered it the other way. And that wouldn't have been good. No.

So, you know, here's uh we always talk about things that you might not even remember this, but so Adam is getting married, and it's his wedding's on a Saturday.

Yes.

Engineers, right? Uh engineers in Roslin. And it's Friday. So I'm in New Jersey, I'm at O'Donnell's house. And oh, Adam, hey, what's up, Adam? Hey, Big Daddy, what are you doing? Blah, blah, blah. I'm oh not much. I'm hanging out with Neil. What are you doing tomorrow? Oh, I don't know. I'm driving home tonight and I'll be around. You're coming to my wedding. I came to the wedding, and thank you. That was a great wedding, and it was like a whole whose hoo. And you know, uh, I got to meet Coach Shanahan and uh the writer from Detroit Mitch album. Oh, Mitch, yeah. Yep, he was sitting there. A couple of great books. So it was uh yeah, I was uh you know, I was privileged enough to have been there for that special. He remembers more about me. Exactly. Right. How many years?

That was uh 19 years ago. Over 19 years ago, almost getting close to the years. I'm approaching 30.

Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah. That's a good that's a good milestone. 30 is. And you'll have your 60th birthday. We were discussing this before. On my 60th was you just had your. Yep. And my wife put a little nice little gig together. We had a nice little party over there. My brother even showed. This was great. He's the only guy that could do this. He was calling a match on center court at Wimbledon. And you know, now they have the roof so they can play until night. So we went over to the restaurant. They they let me leave early that day. He asked me, and I said, it's my birthday, my wife's putting on a low party. So they said, Well, they let me leave early, which was great. And then John was doing the match with Andy Roddick, who was his first year, who was great this year, and Fowler. I was like a Djokovic match. And Djokovic uh was up two sets to love, and then he broke to go up in the third set, and John said, Listen, I gotta go. He goes, I gotta go, but my brother's party, I gotta go. You guys can cover this the rest of the way. That's a status. He came and joined the party. He came, we had a couple glasses of wine, he was happy. How was the party? It was nice, it was good, it was very good.

Did did at the 60th birthday, did you give a speech? Did anybody give a speech?

No, I just thanked everybody for coming. It was pretty low-key. We kept it low-key. How many years? Uh about 20, 25, so it's small. I have I invited some other ESPN people, but they're all everybody's working. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's what happens. But you should celebrate well. I want to ask you this because um I know we're here, we're we're talking now, it's what are we in late July. You just signed your new deal. Obviously, you know, training camps getting ready to start. How much different is it now than it was when you started in 2009? Is it like night and day? I mean, the amount, yeah, you know how big the NFL is year-round.

You know, I I I tell this to people. When I got hired at ESPN in 2009, I got hired to do NFL information on the 9 a.m. Sports Center. Okay. There is no 9 a.m. Sports Center. It doesn't exist anymore. Right. It has been disbanded and GetUp has sprouted up and become a great show. When I also got hired, I did not have a Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and now you're like on Twitter. Did not have an account. Nothing. It didn't exist. Right. And now, you know, that's a huge part of everybody's job in media, is to be on those platforms. Um, and and so again, I just think 9 a.m. sports reporter, no social media presence. There is no 9 a.m. social, uh, no, there is no 9 a.m. Sports Center, and now I have a presence on social media. Right. So it's 27, yeah. It's totally different. And it gets that way all the time. I could be sitting here right now and get a text that something's happening. And we live in an instantaneous world, right? And the NFL obviously is a hugely followed event, hugely followed league. So um a lot of the moves that are made, they're on your watch. And that may be at six in the morning, that may be at six at night, that may be on a Monday, that may be on a Sunday. There's no rhyme or reason. It may be while you're sitting at lunch, maybe while you're at dinner. It never takes off, it never lets up. You know, my family has been incredibly gracious and understanding what comes along with the job. Um, like I said, your phone's going off, you're looking down, right? You feel like you've got ADD, you feel like you're being rude to everybody you're ever conversing with, but that's that's the life I've chose. Right.

Well, the first thing is I I learned firsthand one time where uh we were at the draft, I believe it was in Philly. Yep. So uh Adam and I were dressed by the same clother at the time, and uh I met Adam at his hotel room and I dropped off his suits. Right, yeah. I remember that. I mean he remembers one more than I do. So the funniest thing is he, you know, we lay them out, he pulls them out, you know, out of the garment bag and puts them on the bed, and wow, that's great. And you know, and he takes a picture of it, uh, then he tweets it out. I'm all set for uh, you know, draft week, blah, blah, blah. And I was somewhere, I don't know where I was, but my phone was on vibrate. It's blowing up. Blowing up from all the retweets and you know, all the life, and and I'm going, so it's sitting there, and the guy, the two people I'm with are like, Daddy, sound like a problem or something. I'm like, no, why? What's the matter? Well, your phone doesn't stop vibrating. I'm like, well, let me see what it is. It was him, it was Adam's retweet, you know. And I was laughing. I'm going, well, that's what happens when you have 45 million followers, and you know, you're popular, and uh, you know.

Didn't have one when I got there. Amazing, isn't it?

So it was pretty cool. That was uh really cool. Thank you. So um now, camp starts in a week, right?

Yeah, pretty much. And well, it's basically going on right now. We had we had the Bills, Texans, Panthers, and Dolphins rookies report to Trinity Camp today.

Oh, wow, okay.

We're taping this on Tuesday, July 21st.

Correct, yeah, yeah.

I'll timestamp it for you.

Thank you.

At this time next week, at this time next week, right? On Tuesday, July 28th, every single NFL team will be in Trinity Camp. Wow. Wow. Every single team. So we are a week away from being full throttle.

And will you pop around to the camps or do you mostly stay put and just do your counters?

Yeah, text people, monitor things. Right.

What does that mean, monitor things? Like how do you how do you do that? But just by your phone?

Yeah. Um somebody can get traded. I I think the biggest thing during training camp, frankly, is certain players are shining, certain players are disappointing, and there are always injuries that get hurt. So you can be sitting at lunch and all of a sudden get a text, oh boy, this player just went down.

Now you now I gotta check on that the rest of the and then when you when you get that information, you're getting it through through social stuff, or you're getting it from a contact of the team.

I'm getting it on my own.

On your own.

Gotcha. Yeah, it's in the you're not I would never see something on social and then just pass it along. There's a lot of there's a lot of incorrect information out there.

Yes, there always is. Gotta be very careful with that.

It's amazing the stuff that comes out that people don't realize is wildly wrong.

Yeah, because you're like, where did you hear well I'm like I'm like saying to myself, where did you get that info from? You know, and you're like, I'm like, if it's not, you know, him I don't really happens all the time. You know, yeah, I know it does. It's uh you know, you get the the problem I have sometimes is being in the big circle that we're in. Someone calls me to like try to get something. And I'm like, uh, that's not my job. Right. That's Adam Schefter's job. I don't put out so-and-so went down, yeah, you know, and then but then a lot of those are a waste of times where I'm like, I'm not gonna have you let them call you because I don't want to waste your time and it's a BS, you know.

You know, you said something earlier I think that that struck me because I know that when you were you go back to your high school quite a bit to talk to kids about opportunities and you know giving them some guidance. What what would you say is the biggest thing that you say to them? And I know you talked about you go doing your internships and getting rejected many times. What what do you what's the message you give to them?

That's a great question. I uh I was back there, I believe, in March. Okay. Was it this year or last year? I keep in tabs and I know you go back there quite a bit.

Yeah, I've I've been back a few times.

Um but my message to them would be the message that I give to a lot of people that I speak to. It's that rejection is nothing more than redirection. And that's what it is. All the times of my life that I've been rejected, and there are too many to count, it just was redirecting me to something else, whether that was professionally or personally. Um and so every time somebody tells you no, doesn't give you the job you want, doesn't give you the internship you want, you should thank them and then look forward to whatever opportunity is next. Because again, I go back to when I was younger, when I went to Michigan as a freshman in 1985, I wanted to get into the fraternity. I did not my fresh junior year. I wanted to get a job with the football team, picking up jock straps and handing out water bucks. They did not give me one. I went to the basketball team. Same thing. The only organization that didn't turn me away was the student newspaper. They turned away nobody, welcomed all comers, and so that's how I got my job at the student newspaper. Not because I aspired to be a writer or wanted to be a writer, but I always felt like I had to be busy and do things. And when I went there, um true, I'll give you a chance. And I did it, I tried it, I loved it. I stuck with it and parlayed that into whatever it is I'm doing today. And so whenever I'm talking to young kids, I say, do as many things as you can, do as many internships as you can, meet as many people as you can, try as many things as you can, make yourself as valuable as you can, be the first one into work, be the last one out, work hard. Like it's nothing that's revolutionary, or but they are a lot of people don't do it. You know, it's funny. My daughter was doing an internship this summer. She's going to her senior year of high school. And the day before she started, I'm like, what's the story with tomorrow? She said, I have to be there at 9 50. I said, okay, so get there, you know, about 8 30, 9 o'clock. She's like, Dad, that's too early. I'm like, Dylan, you need to be there before the others. What time is it? It ends at 3. So you'll stay till what, four or five o'clock? No, I'm gonna come. No. You're gonna stay. Right. So last week she had her final presentation. Right. So I went into New York City to watch the presentation in front of the executives, and and they all made comments at the end. And one of them said, and Dylan, we really appreciated you getting in early and staying in. And one of them said, You you know, you you you worked more hours than I did, and we noticed it. And it was just a little thing, yeah, yeah, yeah. And she argued with me on it. Right. But she did it, and it was noticed. It was noticed, yeah. So it's just the little things when you're starting out that I think make a bigger difference, I think.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you you one of the things that uh a lot of the people that are gonna watch this don't realize that you and our other friend, Mr. Steve Levy, went to the same school together.

Yeah.

And uh I think he's a little older than you. Not much. Uh but uh and then I was able to uh do something that really meant a lot to me. Uh we did Adam Schefter Day for Nassau County because we wanted to uh you know, uh it's a huge day, Adam Schefter Day, and we did the same thing with uh Steve Levy. You know, I wanted to make sure that my friends who grew up here were recognized. So uh thanks to Bruce Blakeman.

Yeah, he he he he did a great job that day, and we got to have lunch and saw him at your golf tournament that you did a great job with, and he was very, very nice and gracious. But as you're talking about that and Steve Levy, Steve Levy and I went back and spoke to our high school together, and we were there the same night, and they were asking us about our paths. And it was very interesting to me that mine was figure it out as you go. Right. No real clue, no real direction. Um I nobody I had nobody, I I mean I love my parents, they did everything for me, but nobody said to me, You should do this. You can do anything you want to do.

Uh-huh.

Nobody said that to me. And I didn't realize that. Like, I thought you're only supposed to go to work in the family business, which the family business was like selling housewares and sponges and cleaning products. Like, I thought that's what I was supposed to do. And in fact, even when I was going to college, my grandfather was in the business, like, you're making a huge mistake. You should just come to work. And so nobody said to me, You can do anything you want. While we were at school, Steve Levy was talking about how when he was in high school, he was doing an internship for the local TV station, and then he was and then he did an internship for the fan radio station, and then another internship with a fan, then he did an internship for this big sports agent, then another, like every summer was charted out, everything was planned, everything was maximized. He did exactly what you should have done.

He had a game plan, I see.

He had a game plan to put himself into position to do what he's doing today. I had zero game plan. I won it. And so it was amazing to me that somebody could be that clear at that young an age of the vision that he had of what he wanted to do. Whereas, again, I didn't realize that you could do those shit. You knew the arena you wanted to be in. So it's like, no, you didn't even know that. No, no, no, I didn't even know that. Okay. Like, I'm telling you, I thought like a lot of kids, you you you go to college, you go to work, I was gonna be like my father, a salesman selling cleaning supplies, or maybe I would go to law school like a lot of people do and turn that into something. But sports, like make a job out of that real people don't do that for a living. That's not real, right? Really, like and so it never dawned on me until I was in college. Oh, you you actually can do this for a living. Right. And I would say to anybody that's watching this, you could do anything you want for a living. Particularly now, right, with the way things have changed. You could do anything you want, and nobody ever said that to me. And I didn't know that until I was in college and actually pursuing the field that I eventually chose by luck. By luck.

But you but you got there early and you stayed late. But I got there early too. That's the one that I think.

I don't remember what I was not good at basketball, I was not good at track, right?

But I was hardworking and I was reliable. Yeah, well, I've obviously been able to do that for many, many years now. I got I want to I'm I know this is in your field of expertise, but it sort of is because it's college football. And I've been getting very involved in the overall college sports issue through tennis, because there's there's international players or you know, 60, 70 percent are international, which doesn't happen in football. But to to the question for you that I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on or like what is is where it is now, is it help is is it a good thing? I mean, obviously the players are getting paid.

Yeah, I I love that players are being paid. Yeah, me too. I love that. Right, and and I'm sorry that it didn't occur 50 years ago. Yeah, like it it's long overdue. But I also think that college sports have become a cesspool and a total mess. Like, as great as it is for some of these young people to be paid, when you're 17, 18 years old and you're being paid all this money, and like I think that's I also think that that's terrible for a young kid.

Can you imagine I've sat I've sat in different rooms with kids that they just got a check for a million bucks.

You you you probably like if somebody had given me a check at that age, for some of the checks that are I would think I haven't made and I don't have to do anything the rest of my life.

Yeah, yeah. That's uh I one of the kids was uh got a check for five million bucks. And and what what's the NFL's role, if any?

None that they can't do anything.

No, no, these are kids. Right. Like there was one kid one time where he was choosing colleges. Uh uh, this is a this is amazing to me. He was in high school. And he was gonna be a quarterback in Michigan was after him, and he and and and I've spoken to a few recruits, like Michigan sometimes let me speak to somebody about what it's like at the school, no problem.

Right.

And so this particular individual said to me, goes, Hey, if I if I decide to go to Michigan, would you tweet it? And I was like, Would I tweet it? Nobody ever I'm like, would I tweet it? Like I don't I don't really tweet announcements of high school kids.

Right, yeah, that's not true.

But I said, but if you want to do that, if you're coming to Michigan, yeah, okay, I'll I'll tweet it. Okay. So about a month later, I get this call from this NFL agent. And he said, Hey, I see the phone ring. I don't ordinarily hear from him. Like, uh, what's going on? He goes, Hey, I just want to follow up to make sure you're gonna be tweeting about my guy. I go, who's your guy? He said, That quarterback, I go, he's your guy in high school, he's your guy? You already managed it. Like, I couldn't believe it. But that's that's the world we're living in.

Our firm sees it now because we're the kids that we insure are coming out of college, they're paying their own premiums now because they have the money. You know, you you sit with a kid and you say, look, you just got a check for two million bucks, your premium is ten thousand dollars. You're not I mean, that should be no-brainer for you. There's no loans involved, your parents don't have to sweat it. You are gonna be able to get insurance on yourself, and you'll be able to pay for it yourself.

Crazy. By the way, we're just gonna text, doesn't matter from right, uh somebody that they said, give me a call here a moment. I want to talk to you about something, right? So it just it's a coach, right, and they they want to bounce things off me. Like they just want to see what the deal is, right? Like so So what what what do you think?

You know what it I have an idea of what it's gonna be about.

Yeah, and and so that person wants my thoughts on how to handle a certain situation.

Okay. Well that's that's trust, yeah. Right. That's the contacts. That's why ESPN just hired you for can you say how many more years or just multiple years? Multi-year. Okay, for a little while.

I I'm just following the company policy. I understand. I'm less an honor to be there. Yeah, and it's one of the great privileges of my career to be there as long as I have.

I've been there now for uh almost 30 years. Is that right? Yeah, yeah.

So you've been married to ESPN and your wife. Exactly.

I'm gonna say the wife is, you know, loving ESPN, you know, a little more important, but you know, they've taken care of a lot of my kids.

Has one relationship been smoother and easier, Patrick?

No, I'm gonna, you know, no comment. I'll let that one go. All right, before we let you go, we appreciate you doing this with us here at Louie's, which by the way is sushi's absolutely famous. Great, really good. Yeah. Um we have a little thing we like to do, things you can't Google. What do you got? What are you gonna what do you got for him since you know him so well? What don't you know about Adam Shafter? Do you sing to know?

Ready? This is funny, but uh you're gonna look at it.

Well, we'll decide it. He'll decide if it's funny. Exactly. Well, yeah, he'll decide before we go. We can decide together. Exactly.

He's gonna give me the old look, but Rennie? Adam, do you sing in the shower?

Not anymore. Okay. I think in the shower. Okay. I used to sing and now I think.

What what what sport do you play for fun though? Golf.

Yeah.

Not very good. I play basically. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm I started to get into it too, and I had shoulder surgery and another shoulder surgery about nine months ago, which was a more serious one. So I haven't been able to play tennis or golf, but I'm hoping to do that. What's your handicap?

But you also said, what do you play for fun? It's not fun for the phone. Yeah, that's true. Right. It's playing the ass. My handicap is about uh 19. I'm not very good. Okay, no, I'm not I'm terrible too. Not very good.

Yeah, I'm not sure. What what sports, how about this? What sports other than football do you like to? Is she still a baseball fan? What do you like to watch?

You know, football dominates my attention and it takes so much of your time. I do like to watch golf.

Okay.

I do like to watch golf because I like to play fantasy lineups in golf. And that's for me a lot of fun. And I do watch a lot of basketball because Yeah, because you're now calling.

I mean, like you're working on the. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm in a fantasy basketball league at ESPN.

Oh, you are? Okay.

We have an an ESPN fantasy war room league, like me and a bunch of the guys that I work with. Right. We play against each other in fantasy football. Okay. That's great fun. And then we set up an ESPN basketball warm league. So I've been in the ESPN Fantasy Football League for roughly 15 years when it started. I've never won the championship. I've made it to the finals a couple of times. In the basketball league that's 10 years old or nine years old, I've won the league five of the nine years. Wow.

Wow. So in basketball.

Yeah, yeah, and that I think that's a function of work because in basketball, you can make moves every day. There's games every day, and it's a function of who's going to put the work and time in. And that's you. And that'll be me. Yeah. In football, it's one game every like there's work, but there's a lot of luck involved, too. Right. Yeah, right, right, right. A lot of luck involved. And so I can't win in football. And uh, I've consistently won in basketball.

Wow, okay. What are your favorite what's your favorite meal? This this, by the way, is for me, it would be up there as good. Yeah, it's good sushi up there.

It's fantastic. You could have one meal. Well, I I was gonna say to you On your 60th birthday, what are you gonna have? That's a great question. Because I've been I've actually been mulling it. I'm helping you with the process in December. Yeah, I I I I it was one time.

Well you could you might have to come back here and have your own party. Actually, when I walked to the room, it should be the great room to have like family and friends. My 60th birthday.

She heard Jerry the owner here, who was nice enough to just come here. Yep. Um I'm I bet you helped you out.

I I think I could have pizza and sushi and alternate them each night and probably eat that for the rest of my life.

I'm with you there. Uh just got back from Italy, had a nice little trip to Italy after Wimbledon. Where did you go there? Went to Lake Como, which I'd never been. Never been. But it was phenomenal. Yeah. So I had to you and your wife? Just me and my wife. Is that part of your 60th celebration? Yeah, it was, yeah. And then we met up with our daughters, you know, after that. So but we They didn't come. Uh they didn't come to that part. They were doing other stuff in Europe. So where'd you meet up with them? Uh Amsterdam. Amsterdam, one of my girls is doing ballet. She's a ballet dancer. Oh, that's awesome. So she was there, and then we um then they went, they stayed in Europe. They're in the south of France now, living the high life. And um, you know, I said, listen, I gotta interview Adam Scheffner, so I'm coming back. You got any last Google form? You got one more that no more Google questions?

Uh nah. You know what? I was just gonna say, Adam, you know, you've been a close friend, and you've been so I I'll share this one thing with Adam. Maybe he doesn't even remember this. Adam gave me my first piece of PR break when NFL Network did a piece on it.

Oh, yeah.

Remember that? No. And uh it was kind of cool because nothing, I had never done anything like that, and uh, I just started my business, and you know, Adam trusted me to, you know, not make him look bad, and uh that was really uh it worked out great, and uh, you know, like I said, we've developed such a great relationship and friendship, and I try not to bother him because I know he's always busy, but I will say this every time I've needed Adam for something, he's always there.

Yeah, uh not surprising. Yeah, not surprising. And we so appreciate you doing this with us. Actually, that's it, huh? You know what I mean? I really enjoyed it. We could go on for forever, but we got crab cakes too, crap. You know, you know, we'll let's let's let's keep eating.

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