Lisa Salters

welcome into the on thee call podcast you're listening to Joe Chambers and Spencer tomet the podcast for sports broadcasters by sports broadcasters this is season two episode 14 and Spencer we have a great guest today Miss Lisa Salter let's welcome her [Applause] in they don't give us as much Applause as we Pro probably deserve in sports media so we'd like to make sure our guests are always given that appropriate manner especially with the amount of Emmys we see in that background for you so definitely welld deserved appreciate you taking the time and looking forward to the conversation Lisa sure um so miss alter first one of the first questions I usually ask when we um do these interviews is um just discuss your journey in the industry from working at Penn State ABC News to now at ESPN um that's been 36 years now um yeah I graduated in in 1988 with a degree in uh journalism with a broadcast option um and my first job was uh at a local TV station in Baltimore Maryland um WBA WBTV I was kind of a reporter trainee uh nothing more really than a glorified gopher you know I ripped scripts and you know uh listen to the the wires and uh the you know the television radio or the um the Police radios and things like that um and I eventually was able to get on the air in Baltimore and worked there for seven years uh and then I uh got hired by the network ABC ABC News to go cover uh a trial that was going on in Los Angeles the OJ Simpson trial um so uh I did that for a couple of years and uh eventually kind of transitioned to Sports in 2000 and so um you know I did news for 12 years before I um I made the transition to sports and now I've been doing uh I've been at ESPN now for 24 24 years so uh so you're certainly you hail from Penn State as a nit Nanny lion um I know ESPN more covers the uh women's side of the NCAA March Madness but uh your thoughts if any on Penn State being the first four out on the men's tournament are they were they okay that that answer my question but yeah they were uh they were one of the first four teams out that were not included in the tournament so I I guess that shows how much you're paying attention to theba you know I I have a lot on my plate um with the NBA and the NFL so I I don't watch a lot of college sports um but I know that ESPN covers the men and women's um March Madness um so uh you know I've kind of pay been paying a little bit of attention to what Caitlyn Clark has been doing oh yeah um what South Carolina has been doing so although I don't watch a whole lot of college uh I do keep my a little little bit of an eye on the women's game and watching what's happening there now that interests me because I know um ESPN if if I'm not mistaken they also have the rights to the WNBA on most of their broadcast except and I know you're more stuck on the NBA side but I I wonder how how that's going to shape some of the landscape for media rights because I know the NBA is in heavy negotiations right now with their Partners at ESPN and uh TNT but I wonder if maybe because of you being the lead sideline reporter for the NBA if maybe we see Lisa stter start to cover big WNBA matches maybe Caitlyn Clark's debut would that have any interest of you if uh if the WNBA comes to comes to those Prime Time nighttime matchups um I think that we're pretty we're pretty covered Holly row has that pretty much covered right so I I I'll stay in my lane and and stay with the NBA um Holly row does a great job uh covering all things W um so but I'll I'll probably be watching for sure so let's dig into your time at uh Penn State and uh C certainly with uh undergraduate experiences there it's a lot of shaping and uh molding us into who we are and the kind of styles that we are in that we are in today and uh I know I know at least one other colleague in our industry Melanie Collins also graduated from uh Penn State as well I'm interest to know what did you take the most from your time as an undergrad uh pursu doing at the time looking more into the new the news media side well back in my day um didn't have all of the fancy equipment and stuff that the that the students have now um but you know we had great classes and great professors and uh I just I kind of remember what I remember most is just the writing how much they stressed writing uh and accuracy I remember one particular class where you know you had to put together an article and if there was one factual error or misspelling or anything like that you got an F on on the assignment and so I guess that would be the one thing that I took away from uh my coursework at Penn State is just the importance of being right uh not necessarily being first you you always want to be first but being right yeah that's uh now I am a instructor of record at the University of Alabama I'm fortunately not that strict with my students but but that really that that's interesting because that really shows how you you could not make a mistake you had to triple check everything that you were doing and especially in the day day and age of uh to my knowledge it wasn't as AC accessible with like word processing documents or spell checks or things like that so I'm sure those uh that was a lot of um uh C filled nights till 2 in the morning at the libraries making sure your assignments were all correct this I mean it might interest you being a professor that this this one class it was pretty I remember it vividly um out of any of my other classes it was just one class it wasn't o over the course of the semester it was one hour hour and a half class where the professor stood at the front of the room and she said I am going to be the person giving the press conference the you know the police spokesperson you guys have 10 minutes to ask me questions like in a real press conference and then you go write your stories and so she she basically just said there was a fire that happened um at blah blah blah time uh two people were you know killed or injured whatever now you have 10 minutes ask me questions and then you write and then you write a story about it and I remember there being um you know one of the question you know these are the V you know somebody said you know what are victim's names you know Bob and Sue Smith all right got it and then like towards the end like somebody said how do you spell that and she was like and she was like s SM YT H and it was like oh my God we were almost all gonna fail because we didn't ask something as simple as how do you spell it which is you know something now that I always ask just because of a class I took you know all those years ago you know someone says their name like how do you spell it even you know common spelling or you know and so you know I remember that class just like it was last week and just how much I learned about asking questions and there was another like she said it happened in the morning and we're like well what time was that and it was like it was midnight or was something like that it was right at the line um you know and it was like oh we would have gotten that wrong had we not asked about it so it was a really cool class man I need to I need to use that to use that cuz I so we just launched a sports announcing course here at Alabama and uh we're I'm trying to put them kind of through the ringer on making a demo reel and I also have clearly on their submissions or their critiques that they have to have to be mindful of spelling and grammar in that circumstance but I I should probably use that especially when I go through the interviewing section and on sideline reporting I that that's a good thing I need to use um But continuing on on that so you mentioned about uh perfection of how what was demanded in that class I think that translated pretty well to your career as a Collegiate basketball player especially with how competitive you had to be with the other people in the field and it's very uncommon too that us as H broadcasters for the most part you see color analysts that uh have play played the game at the professional level before play-by-play guys are normally more on the journalistic side of things but in your case you were able to translate that as well in natural basketball knowledge over to your coverage of the NBA so uh in in your basketball experience what do you think translates well to your broadcast not a whole lot like I I was on the Penn State basketball team but I was not a factor I was you know glor you know I was a benchwarmer I I rode the pine um but the one thing that you know playing uh you know College athletics you know being involved in college athletics the one thing that it taught me was just resilience I guess a couple things and kind of how to manage your time um because even though I wasn't uh you know a huge part of the team didn't play many minutes uh I still had to go to practice every day and I still had to get my homework done every day and so it really just kind of taught me how to manage my time and it it made me uh resilient as well because practices are hard in college uh I mean they're really really hard so you know I remember being in my first job out of out of school and you know things kind of weren't going my way I wasn't getting on the air as quickly as I wanted to but I I really wasn't uh you know I wasn't too upset about it because I I realized as long as I wasn't being asked to run or forced to do suicides that I was um you know that was doing suicides are are hard you know running is hard but you know so anything that you know they they could throw at me in journalism I'm like H as long as I'm not being asked to run I'm good um So Lisa one of the things you mentioned earlier is how you used to work at WBA and I actually live in Bal like 20 minutes west of Baltimore right outside elat City so very familiar with that um broadcast I'm from El like right outside elat City woodst Maryland okay yeah um so one of the next questions we have is your stint at ABC News how is that for you how did that grow with you and your career in on broadcasting uh at ABC how did that start yeah so I was um you know I was working in Baltimore and I had won a couple of awards a few national awards so I got the attention of an agent um who kind of hit me up and said hey do you have any representation I'd like to represent you um and I was like do I really need an agent I was kind of happy where I was in Baltimore and you know I had been for seven years I was doing well um and then within a couple of months he got me an inter he had got me an interview uh with ABC News um and so I went to New York met with all the executives in New York and I'm 28 years old and you know at the time it was uh your aspiration was to be at the knitwork by the time you're 30 um but I was kind of happy where I was in Baltimore I liked where I lived I liked the people that I lived with or that I worked with um and so I was like H now it's you know it's that it's that old say that you have to become uncomfortable to grow and so even though I didn't really want to leave Baltimore I knew that you know going to the network was something that you just you don't say no to um and so that's how I started at ABC news and it was literally covering the OJ Simpson trial every day for two years um so you know and doing live shots for for uh ABC Affiliates all around the country about that trial um so that's how I got to ABC and after the trial was over uh I stayed about three more years at ABC you know doing things for Good Morning Good Morning America uh world news uh World News Tonight um with Peter Jennings uh ABC didn't have a didn't have a 24-hour news cycle like they do now um but uh so a lot of it was good Good Morning America and you know uh that's how I got to ABC there's a lot of different directions I would love to Pivot in that but I I love what you said about the agent situation um I quote our colleague Andrew catalon who told me that with agents they're kind of a necessary evil in in our industry in that sort of circumstance so I guess uh through your experience it was one of those where decided okay maybe I should take one on when do you think is the appropriate time to hire an agent to represent you um I guess when you're ready to move when you're ready to make a move uh it's hard to look for a job when you have a full-time job so if you're if you're already working someplace and you want to move upward it's it's um I mean you can do it yourself but that takes a lot of work putting together you know links I guess it would be links now for your real uh and sending them out um to places and then following up to make sure that they got them um yeah like I don't love giving a percentage of my salary every every paycheck to to an agent but um you know like you said kind of a necessary evil I'm sure the athletes feel the same way and there many athletes who represent themselves so it's not to say that you can't do it um but for me I just really didn't have any I don't have any desire now to negotiate contracts or anything like that yeah ESP special especially like Andrew is telling me he was one of the uh lone wolves in a sense where he got to call the NBC's Olympic coverage without an agent like he mentioned a story he was sitting at a dinner with the NBC Executives and they're like how do you not have an agent and you've gotten through the door to be able to call the stuff on the Olympics and he said I don't know and the the executives told him you you need an agent going forward so he had to he had to kind of compromise on that in a sense um now certainly when we get into news stories especially a major national attention uh I'm sure the last thought in our mind is oh this is a great thing to put on my Sizzle reel this is a great thing to put on my demo piece but certain certainly the OJ Simpson trial and for you to be covering it for two years it's very significant and important that you get it right and that you make sure you're covering the facts and being as impartial as possible are there any moments during that whole process that stand out to you as either uh challenging your emotions or challenging your journalistic integrity or any memories that stick out to you during your experience covering that no the OJ Simpson trial was a blur for me uh I mean when it was happening it was just kind of so routine every morning to just get up you know get dressed go to the courthouse listen to testimony all day put a report together uh go home rinse repeat do it again and so at the time I knew that uh the trial was a big deal but I didn't have a sense of just how historic that it was in that moment um so you know since they've made documentaries about it and I've been able to to watch those and think oh yeah I remember I remember when all of that happened um you know the the moments that stand out the most for me are of course of course the verdict um which happened really fast and we were thinking it was going to take much a lot longer um um so the verdict and all of the hype surrounding um the verdict and you know the anticipation of of what the verdict was going to be what the aftermath of the verdict was going to be uh that kind of thing uh and I remember um I remember OJ Simpson having a a kind of a welcome home party at his home and being there and outside the gates of his property uh with all of these other reporters and you know we could see OJ um through the gates of his house and you know I I remember looking around I was like well is anyone going to ask and I'm still young is anybody gonna ask like go talk to him and nobody did and I just kind of walked up and started talking to OJ through the you know I like hey can we talk to you he was like no not just want to enjoy my family right now okay all right thanks right but like nobody was gonna ask like like what are we doing right um so those are really the only two moments that really stand out for me about the yeah and uh that you know that's where you could kind of get into trouble but it can also be beneficial of just you know asking him if only TMZ would do that right if they would actually ask ask those in the notable live saying hey can we actually talk to you instead of causing any situations like that um and and uh do you feel like you're an expert in legal ease now or legal language no but but I did learn a lot um yeah I did learn a lot I mean you have to in two years of being being in a courtroom you learn a lot and you learn that what you see on television is not how it really absolutely so get that we've had this conversation conversation before and it's it's a weird notion that people have had I don't believe it but there's this weird notion that people have had in the past about claiming that sports broadcasting isn't really journalism or Sports journalism isn't Jour journalism which it is I'm on your side with that but there's this weird notion about it so for all the naysayers out there and those who try to doubt on it what um how do you feel that Sports journalism is absolutely journalism uh journalism is journalism whether it's about sports whether it's about politics whether it's about crime whether it's about economics uh journalism is journalism and the tenants of Journalism don't change uh you know no matter what the kind of like the the genre is that you're covering um now you might be able to say that Sports journalism hasn't been held up to the highest standards you you might make an argument for that but that's not the individual journalist and uh you know for me what you know whether my job didn't change once I left news to do Sports to me journalism is journalism and and you know I don't really feel the need to argue or to make the case to anybody like they can think what they want um you know because I don't go to their job and tell them you know the importance of their job so yeah um Lisa one of the next questions you want to Pivot to is obviously now you're one of the best at ESPN um being the sideline reporter for the N um NFL M Night Football and NBA just discuss how this journey with ESPN made you into the reporter you are now um well it's been a long journey um for sure um there have been you know there have been just some great stories that I've been able to cover some great opportunities uh that I've been blessed to have uh been able to go to some really interesting places uh to talk to coaches players uh their families um it's given me just kind of a great perspective on um Sports uh so that to me it's not really about the hits runs and errors it's it's really it's really all about the people for me um who are are playing or coaching or or watching uh or supporting cheering um so you know again it it's it's really not about sports for me MH it's about the people who are who are doing it and that's kind of been the the lasting imprint that uh I I take away from my career we're definitely going to talk about the relationships uh late later on in the show um but I wanted to know because you mentioned how at 30 your goal was to get to a get to one of those three or four-letter networks to be able to be hired on that um I'm interested to know what was the day like for you when either your agent got the call or you got the call saying hey uh ESPN wants to wants to take you on in the The Sports World oh I blew ESPN off for two years oh really yeah I mean the goal of you know back then was to be a network correspondent that was ABC NBC or CBS um ESPN I mean we kind of looked down our nose at at that um that was Sports again you know it's like not real journalism so when ESPN kept asking uh I kept saying no because I was like I I'm at the network why would I you know my colleagues at the network were saying why would you leave the network to go to ESPN like that's career suicide and um I agreed I was like that's not journalism That's Sports um so you know for two years uh I said no no thank you and then finally you know I I said yes I'll give it a try and you know if I like it great if I don't then I can go back to ABC um because ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney so it's was kind of like a lateral move within the company just going to a different department of the same company um so yeah um after two years of them asking I finally said okay I'll try and um yeah I wasted two years so no note to everybody out there if ESPN is asking you you could maybe say no on the fir first attempt and maybe on the second one but maybe not take as long as Lisa did to say yes to him in that regard um but uh but on that you talked about how the people stood out to you the relationships the actual storylines and I I always like to equate it with my students I talk to them about how statistics are significant it's important to talk about that stuff but you always want to talk about the why and the what and why are these stats showing up what is significant about it um from those memories are there any specific stories that stick out to you as this is why I love covering Sports so much [Music] um you know I mean each each game is is different each uh each you know it's just like the moments like when Drew Brees broke the record interviewing him afterwards or even just uh this past season Drew lock oh who yeah you know H Drew lock is not big was not big on my radar coming into the season about you know wanting to get to know him but I I got to know him just in those two minutes and 40 seconds after the game and felt so much um happiness for him um same with Gino Smith you know last year after the season that that he had um so you know it's there th those are the moments that really kind of stand out for me uh whether they be good moments or bad moments like in the case uh of Demar Hamlin um just kind of the moments that um that make you feel something um and that's what sports do you know they they kind of make you feel something whether you whether you win or lose you're feeling something um so in those postgame interviews that's really kind of what I'm trying to get at is just you know what what people are feeling whether it's after you know game 70 of an 82 Game season um you know if it ended dramatically it's always better for the reporter if the game ends dramatically because something to talk there's emotion there um and so you know th that's what I I'm always left with is just how how you know how you know this guys men and women feel uh how they're feeling in in the moment of their of their successes or their failures I did want to jump uh dive deeper into the Demar Hamlin uh Monday Night Football game because and we we've had conversations about this before but certainly a situation that we hope never happens again in a situation that nobody really prepared for in that circumstance what was your perspective like on the field uh when that went down uh I was scared I was scared for Demar Hamlin who I didn't know um you know he was a a backup a backup defensive back so i' never talked to him uh or anything like that but you know I could see the the the shock and the fear on on the faces of all of his teammates and those were people that I did know and had talked to and I could just see you know you know from man to man um just how upset everyone was and that was kind of the overriding um emotion of the night for me uh was fear that I you know had just watched or was watching someone die yeah on the field uh during a game which is essentially what happened um it's just you know by the grace of God and you know the the skill and the the determinedness of you know those athletic trainers um that they were able to get him back so it was just fear that you know is this guy G to be okay um yeah that's what I remember most and I um I I I think that ESPN did as best of a job as they could I'm sure the production truck was completely almost on fire during that situation of trying to cover it appropriately and I could tell not just from you but Joe Buck and Troy and even John Perry and Scott Van Pelt back in the studio of trying to uh in my opinion and I'm sure pretty much everybody expresses the sentiment you all handled it the best way that you could um especially with such a sensitive situation on that and even you know sometimes they they tell us in news that uh you try to be poised controlled and not show your emotion but in that in that moment all no holds bar um because seeing the emotion what stands out the most to me was you know seeing the emotion on your face trying to get through your reports and those live updates with with you know eyes watering that stood out to me as this is a human moment like you you could say what you want about journalists are supposed to get through and talk about this stuff but that was one of those moments I felt that stood out to me is that even with how sensitive and heart jerking that situation was for you and the rest of the crew to power through I just want to give my professional salute to you guys for getting through such a difficult moment thank you and it's great to be able to see tomarrow courtside at basketball games oh yeah give a hug or on the field pregame um you know that's just the happy ending made uh just kind of made made makes that horrible memory not so horrible let's transition to a lighter topic uh layoffs uh not specifically layoffs but uh the changes that the Monday Night Football booth has gone through um and I remember asking you about this in Winston Salem of which you know broadcast Partners you uh have learned from and different tibits you've taken from them and uh we had this conversation actually we had sha mcdna on for a season opener and uh I and I'll say same thing I expressed to expressed to him to to you in that I I was a big fan of Mike too and John guden paired with yourself and even when Shawn mcdna uh transitioned in for that brief season or two he was with Monday Night Football I felt that was a great nit broadcast crew and um I I still feel Joe tesor and Steve Levy and the rest of the guys did did a good job with what they had but it was certainly a experimental time for ESPN where they were trying to figure out what's what's the good booth for us what's the perfect nck crew and everything and you've been essentially an anchor in that crew in those crew Transitions and being consistent so what was your perspective like in seeing those changes and still being a part of Monday Night Football you just feel happy to to still be there that's all um but you know it's it's sad I you know I loved uh you know I loved working with with all of them um Lov working with Mike too Sean um Joe Steve uh love working with Joe and Troy uh there was a lot of change um but none of that was in my control so you know I I just uh you know it was a little made me nervous that there was so much uh so much change because you know at any time it could be you um but and if that had happened then you know again it's not anything I can control the only thing that I can do is try to give them a reason not to make a change as far as the sideline reporter goes and so but even then like you know that that can still happen even if you don't give them a reason so um you know I whoever is in the booth uh I always say that the sideline reporter's job is to serve the booth uh to be the eyes and the ears for the people in the booth um um to do whatever I can uh to help them uh with the broadcast so while I was you know sad to see you know guys leave I was also happy to you know to welcome and and work for the new guys and um I think that we're in a good place right now I don't see any changes happening anytime soon unless it's me but I hope not um Lisa you OB are one of the best in the business and when you said specifically how you know doing your best to make sure that you're not one of those people was really powerful so I just want to say thank you for sharing that what was that uh first interaction with Joe Buck and Troy Aman like uh let's see the first time I met Troy was um last year Seattle we just so we could get a game uh under our under our belt uh and we didn't even really do it to go on the air um somebody else was calling the game and we just did like did a fake broadcast um in Seattle last year and um I I Met Troy in the gym that morning um we were both going to work out and you know uh I remember thinking like wow he's really in great shape still he's funny and I said that to him I was like gosh you're like still buff and in shape and um and uh you know you watch these guys on television and um they are as professional um as you as you see on TV just a lot of fun uh though all the guys that I've worked with have just been a lot of fun just great personalities um I've really enjoyed working with all of the different booths that that I've had uh but Joe and Troy um and they're you know they're no different just a lot of fun um always very helpful if I have a question about something you know I can hit them up at any time during the week um and you know they they care about they care about each other they care about the team um you know guys keeping touched in the offseason you know how's it going how's your family how are your kids that kind of thing um I think Troy just hit me up last week just saying just want to see how how how's it going how's the NBA going that kind of thing and so you appreciate that that it's not just going to work it's like people actually you know care about each other and and and that makes it easier to to go into work and to leave your family for as long as we do um but uh yeah Joe and Troy they've been they've just it's been a pleasure it's been an honor really to work with those guys I I assume are you thankful that uh ESPN didn't keep the booger mobile around and potentially stick you up there yeah there was no there was no chance of that happening yeah that lasted for what a season yeah one season yeah let's move on absolutely uh all right let's move on to a topic last year that flooded social me media uh was Carissa Thompson and her comments about sideline reporters now as part of your situation of being right uh I look back at it because you know as sometimes with the media we like to take quotes out of context blow up things so I know Carissa Thompson specifically mentioned that at times if coaches refuse to talk to her during half time or during breaks she would have to pull from her production meetings uh stuff she talked about in order to as she phrased it make up for sideline reporting or reports and because of that uh so social media took that in media Outlets as um as the well sideline reporters just make make up their stories and I I really loved what you had to say about it on now X formerly tw Twitter of how this really cast a shadow and really is disrespectful to the role of sideline reporting and other colleagues like Tracy wolson and Aaron Andrews and other colleagues uh had some really good thoughts on this as well but it's I guess just to kind of prompt a conversation on this it's very uh in in that moment it was very much looking at it as well this it really is uh grain salting all the work that go that goes into whatever position you're being on the air but especially sideline reporting because some of the stories you've talked about with production meetings meeting with players and coaches and everything there there's so much more to it than just trying to come up with stuff on the Fly because I mean it's live television sometimes you do but it felt like chissa Thompson's comments were very uh uh very much um not reflective of the position that you serve uh I don't know Carissa Thompson um so I can't really speak for her all I know is that that that was has never been my experience uh I have never made up anything um in in my time as a journalist period um so you know just hearing the words made up reports now I know she sent after that you know tried to clarify you know what she may or may not have meant but I've never made up anything as a reporter there have been times where I didn't get something from a coach at halftime and in those inst instances I you know very disappointedly would tell my producer I didn't get anything and which is not what you want to do because you only get so many touches in a game but if it happens it happens like I'm not g to make up something um I I might say like I didn't get anything from the coach but I can't tell you give you a report about X Y or Z something else um which may or may not include something that was told to you in a production meeting to look out for something like that but to and I don't know if this is what you meant or not but it's what you said to make up something and say that a coach said it even as as vague as it may be and like yeah he probably would have said it if he had said something to you doesn't matter like you can't just make up something and say that you know that someone said it um and again I don't know Carissa and I don't know really what she meant because other than that one comment I I really haven't followed too much uh about it but um I kind of took it took the initial comments at you know face value and it said that you know I made up reports and you know I just wanted it to be known that I've never made up any reports in my 36 years and I would doubt that my colleague that many of my colleagues either and that was that was it um I know especially uh in the in the last couple years with the New Media right deals uh there's been more of a mandate of players have to be more open on uh talking to reporters same with coaches in that regard because I I don't know the specific terms of the NFL CBA but I'm sure they have a Marshon Lynch clause in there where he can't just stand up on the podium and go I'm only here so I don't get fined and then walked off um I guess from your perspective do you feel like coaches and players anytime you've gone to ask them questions at least in the last decade have they been more open to chatting with you I I think they have been I think and that's uh it comes with um you know experience you know them being used to seeing you for all these years now um and I think it you know just your reputation I'd like to think that I have a reputation for not asking silly questions um uh ask Fair objective questions um I I think that you know I haven't really you know there the occasional Greg papovich interviews but even Greg papovich is a great guy who you know always says he's trying to make a point about we shouldn't be doing sideline interviews to which I always counter and say but pop you know you're making your point at my expense and that's not cool um but you know I think that players and coaches um for me anyway I think that uh I've always been I've been pleased with you know the respect that it's been given and uh you know I'd like to think that they know that I'm that they're that they're in good hands when they're asked to answer questions in front of a camera with me that they're in good hands is there an athlete or coach that has been Star Struck from the first time they've interacted with you Star Struck why would they be Star Struck well I mean because you mentioned about being around being around the NFL and NBA for so many decades because I know there's uh like there's been some athletes who've expressed when they've gone into production meetings with Jim Nance they're kind of like oh my gosh I get to talk with Jim Nance I've been watching him for years when I was a kid I mean they they'll be the the young ones I remember Lamar Jackson his rookie year was like I've been watching you like you're my mom's favorite and like gosh it just makes you feel so old um but uh you know but it also helps you do your job when they've seen you they grew grew up watching you then they're going to be Yep they're going to be open and and answer your questions and um so you know with that with with that age with that experience comes some respect and uh you know it's Lamar when he calls me Miss Lisa all the time and everyone's like oh Lamar that's so funny he calls you Miss Lisa I asked him you know you know why call me that because you just it just makes me feel like such an old lady and he's like it's just me showing you my respect that that's way I was raised that you are you are to be on a pedestal and I'm supposed to call you that and that's why I call you that and I was like oh okay I was like all right well you can keep keep calling me um so Miss Lisa said like he just larked it um um so me and Spencer met through the national sports media Association in 2021 and obviously you won the 2022 sideline reporter of the year what does the National Sports media Association mean to you um well I think any anytime you're recognized by your peers um it's just a a great feeling um because your peers know how how difficult this industry is and how you know cruel it can be how unfair it often is how totally subjective uh it is you know one boss thinks that you're great the next boss comes in it's like eh um so anytime you're recognized uh by an organization of your peers um it it makes you feel good it makes you feel appreciated um and everyone wants to feel appreciated so fun story that I kind of take pride in um So Lisa and I met at Winston Salem at the nsma banquet this past year and uh we didn't know this until afterwards but uh Lisa actually had to bolt out right after she got her award in the convention such she had to get back get back home with her with her son and we were I call it with the rest of my colleagues strategic positioning for when people are entering into the banquet hall we positioned where they're going to enter after they check in with the table and such and then s saw Lisa introduced myself and the rest of the colleagues who who were around and we were we were fortunately one of the few people who were able to get a photo opportunity with you so that part was special but what was even more special for me was that one of the kids in our party his named Jake rer he actually uh mentioned when we were leading up to the convention I'm like so which colleagues you want to meet the most so I can introduce you to him and he he said well Lisa Salters I've modeled my entire sideline reporting and on air style after her so I'm probably going to be completely Star Struck dead not able to say anything when I see Lisa so when you hear stuff like that of people not just from you know Lamar the giving the respect but colleagues in the industry who look up to you as a role model what does that mean to you yeah I mean it's it's very humbling um because you know when when people say things like that to me or ask for advice you know aspiring journalism students or Aspire aspiring Sports reporters um you know I I struggle with that because I I don't really think that I have any kind of secret to success um because you know television is so fickle and you know I don't know if there is a secret um I just know kind of what has worked for me um and so I just try to share you know usually just a few things that I I think have worked for me but it is humbling when people say that you know they want to be like you because to me I'm still trying to be like me too so I'm still trying to work to become you know a better reporter a better journalist or you know I'm trying to work to be you know as good as the people who who did it before me um so it is it's definitely humbling um and it because you you don't want to you don't want their admiration to be misplaced you know you don't want to think like well they're trying to be like me but I'm not all that great so you know they should be trying to be like somebody else um so it's it's humbling for sure and one of the other privileges we had during that banquet is we were able to meet your son and to be able to see him as kind of a part of that that experience I know that he might not necessarily be at the age where he understands what's going on he might remember it in later years but how important has it been for you to put Family First even with the chaotic schedule that you have uh very important um you know it's uh you know adopting my son had just kind of was a total Game Changer where you know work is still very important to me but it's not the most important thing anymore um and so now I get to you know I go through life I go through work I go through my career um seeing things with the different lens almost um and it's been kind of it's been kind of cool um it's hard to do both um but uh it's it's definitely uh all been worth it and you know I love being able to share what I do with with my family um and I also love being able to come home and get away from it all with my family was he any chance that you've taken him Courtside yet to uh any of the NBA finals games uh he has not been to any fi like once we get to the playoffs and the finals I like to be locked in so I don't like to have any distractions um but he's he he came to some uh NFL games this year I believe he came to a playoff game because they were off school during that time um he gets around he gets to his share his share of uh of sporting events for sure so I quote uh Dave Goran he has the adage of it's not what you know or who you know it's who knows you and what can they say about you whether you're in the room or outside of it um I'm sure you could go on and on about the uh relationships that meant the most to you over your career and we'd certainly love to hear that but uh what have you found has been the most effective way to build meaningful relationships in our industry um just good reporting you know being honest fair objective accurate being a good reporter um people people respect good work and so you know my goal was not to go out and build relationships with the people that I cover but over the course of covering them for so many years that's what ends up happening and your relationships are either going to be good or or bad and I'd like to think that because you know I've been able to be consistent um through my years of reporting and consistently fair and uh objective and and accurate that that has made those relationships uh better that's awesome um Lisa few last words before we sign off um thank you first of all and then um if You' like to support the podcast you can look us up on the buy me a coffee website you just look up on the call podcast the link viewr page will be in the description um Lisa before we sign up I just want to say thank you so much for coming on to speak with Spencer and I it was a great interview um when I told my girlfriend that I was interviewing you she's like oh my gosh that's amazing because she um loves you and um was her inspiration when she was trying to do broadcast journalism when she was at University of Alabama so I just want to make sure I said that before I signed off and is there any last words you two have before we sign off no go ahead again much appreciated for you taking the time out of your schedule Lisa I know especially it's starting to ramp up towards the NBA playoffs and everything like that uh oh always a privilege anytime we get to get to interact and such and just uh I'm hoping fingers crossed I could see you again some sometime down the line sounds good thanks for having me guys thank you Miss Lisa and this has been Joan Spencer on the call