Good Morning Football's Jamie Erdahl Shares her Journey in Sports | Her Playbook | New York Giants

Sideline Reporting welcome into an all new episode of her Playbook I'm Maline Burke and I'm thrilled to be joined by good morning football host Jamie erll you can see her on good morning football bright and early Monday through Friday on NFL Network as well as catcher on CBS on Sidelines out here at the scouting combine in Indianapolis this girl never stops working how are you thank you for taking the time I'm so good thank you for having me on it's so good to see you I feel like a real human operating between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and we're talking midday here it's like wow so this is really when things are going cuz yeah gmfb we roll early it is very early it's 7 a.m. start right there you guys are up early you know this is your second season on gmfb I know when you first took that job you mentioned how this is kind of a different path for your career it was kind of a fork in the road because you had been doing Sidelines so much so well You' been doing a lot of that with college with uh football and basketball but doing a studio hosting show was a pivot for you how has that been now that you're two years into that so ironic that you asked the question that way cuz we just got done hearing from the prospects at the combine and there was this one running back in particular who you look at his his sheet and he had been like four years at a certain College as a wide receiver and then someone moved him to running back and now he's at the NFL scouting combine with running back four or whatever on a sweatshirt and it just made me think like I wonder who planted that seed to convince him that he had to make a change in order to get from a position style in order to get to the NFL or get to the scouting combine and it's very much what I felt in being a sideline reporter or reporter for CBS was I could have stood on a corner in 57th Street and 11th Avenue in New York City and had a poster that said I'm a studio host I'm a studio host for every day of my life but I think when you begin your career and I had done it for 8 to 10 years between the NFL and the SEC you know rightfully so CBS is like you're a sideline reporter this is how this is this is what it is and what your role is and I I just felt in my gut and in my heart that I had to make a change to really Flex a muscle learn a new muscle the studio hosting muscle and show CBS show everybody like this is something I want to do that I can do but you're not going to be able to do it until you put the work in and so you know three hours a day 15 hours a week together second NFL season on the show I've learned so much from the guys that I'm with every day just from the the TV perspective the business of it but yeah I I felt like I had to make a major change just to kind of say to to Rebrand myself as a host right well and you mentioned three hours a day 15 hours a week that's just when you're on air yes that's just the time that you're on air there's a lot of preparation that goes into that show it's a heavy lift and you know when you're talking about NFL football especially during the season you've got Monday night games Thursday night games Sunday night games uh I don't know how early your alarm clock goes off but I'd imagine it's a it's a short turnaround from that what is your secret to preparation for a show like that um I do what I like to call a split shift so um I have two little kids at home you know they really get the bulk of me in the middle of the day or I try to give them my best self in the middle of the day but football gets me in the morning and then it gets me closer you know at night so um it's not your traditional 9 to-5 sports TV never is your traditional 9-to-5 so you have to be okay with that um but I I give it up I give it my all from when I wake up at 4:30 until the show's done at 10:00 and then um a little bit of unwind after that maybe an hour recap of just what we just did and looking ahead to the next day and the next and the week unfolding and then at night I really hit it you know 6:00 to 9: at night and just like do the prep for the next day but the beautiful thing about the football season and you know this just content wise how much things snowball you know like all of a sudden your recall from things that happened in week two and it's week 11 and you're able to just it it really fires off the tongue a lot faster just like the deeper you get into the season absolutely now you mentioned how you know earlier in your career looked at you and said you're a sideline reporter and I don't not see why because I've seen you on the sideline and I got to say you are so good at that and I've long admired that skill of yours I've seen you you know over the years doing NCAA tournaments doing college football Sidelines and even now sometimes during the NFL season you'll do the international games and whatnot um it's such a specific skill you know and it's such a hard job and sometimes people will look at it like oh well what's the sideline reporter got to say but there's a lot that goes into it you're running around you're gathering information you got to file away a lot of things you got to have relationships and to do it and do it well is is a feat how would you describe what that job takes okay so early on in my career I don't know who it was I should really think long and hard about this someone told me just stop referencing the stats the numbers it's not my job that's not where I should be living in that realm also when I talk to you when I talk to a coach or an athlete you rattling off the fact that this guy had 95 catches over 16 games it's like that you lose someone when you start to say numbers at them if you watch their eyes um it has it's so basic but it has to be about good storytelling and that's people hear that all the time but the way I like to explain it is when I would go to dinner with my CBS crew my first crew in the NFL I worked with Greg Gumble and Trent green my SEC crew I worked with Brad nestler and Gary Danielson my favorite thing to do is ever go to a crew dinner because I love when Gary or Trent would start tell Greg Gumble they start telling these stories and you're like I just like get drunk on the story so I'm like tell me more I want more of this so I took that into my role on the game you want to tell this compelling story is if you're sitting at a dinner and you got to tell a story that makes Gary Danielson or Trent green want to hear it from you and respond to it appropriately if you create this nice well- packaged scripted numbers-based factual report that's information and that's good but it's not compelling and people it's not going to stick in people's head right so my goal specifically when I'm sideline reporting is always say something that the guys in the booth have to respond to that they com feel compelled to say what you what do you mean almost make them want to follow up with you more air time more more time to tell your story but it makes me just think quickly Back to December I was in this building for a CT scheme and I told a gardener menshoe story about how he was living in a van in the offseason in Naples and he plays pickle ball against older ladies and you know we had a second and eight and a run play and Rich eisen's talking to Kurt Warner and Kurt's like I'm sorry Rich I'm still thinking about how Gardner was living in a van in the offseason it was just so perfect and it would just made me so proud I was like I told the story the right way and that's how I always kind of thought of it yeah if you've got the guys in the booth still thinking about it you know the viewers are engaged as well um and it's such a hard thing but not just those moments as well but you know you you've covered a lot of NCAA tournaments y those are some emotional finishes some uh like things change so quickly on a dime grabbing Best Memories somebody after a game like that a win like that and doing an interview in that environment and asking the right questions and being prepared what goes into that well specifically when it comes to college basketball um there's so much emotion behind it and the really great memories and the moments I think are teams that you didn't expect to be there you know fdu beating Purdue last year that coach there's that image of me with my arm like gripping that coach for a brief second I think people were kind of like whoa you know she got a hold of that coach like a lot he was kind of like stumbling on his feet a little bit like just the entire moment his watching his players celebrate realizing what he just did we he was he needed someone to hold on to him for a second and just get us going grounded a little bit secondly you know in those moments I think it's not about your voice it's not about the amount of words you use it's get to the point of what you want to hear and even if it's as simple as I always I love reading people's faces and even just saying you're crying or you're emotional why it makes them answer the question there has to be a why behind that and it's a simple observation but you know just getting into if you if you take too long their emotion evaporates really and so then you can't Circle back to the why if you let if you make them go on a technicality of the x's and the O's and you were in that time out and tell me what happened if your next question is about the emotion the emot is gone cuz you made them go on the technicality so I just love keeping it so simple I had an interview once with Nick Sabin at halftime I think of an iron bowl game and Alabama was down like 10 nothing or 10-3 it was brutal and all I asked him was like coach what's the problem cuz I could not come up with is it an offensive line issue I I couldn't I couldn't say like you have negative 10 rushing yards anything there were so many problems so I just asked him Coach what's the problem and he looked at me and he just went on this beautiful rant and then that was it it he went on his way and I was like great I mean you're the expert tell me what the problem is exactly exactly like I'm not trying to impress you guys now that is so true and that's such a good approach um you know I know basketball has been one of your favorite sports you played basketball in college at St Olaf in Minnesota yeah um covering the NFL now and covering football how much has that changed is basketball still your favorite sport has NFL won you over where where's the heart lie now it's hard to not have football have won me over just because the sheer amount of hours I put in into it now it's almost like basketball's become my guilty pleasure you know um football is work football is the business I love watching the games but I always know when I watch whether it be games or shows or you know content that people are producing it's like there is a there is a part of it that it's like part of my work and it's part of my career basketball it's like I just like it's on I hear the sneaker squeaking and I it's an upset oh this is an unranked team and they're up five with under four to play like you just like I can't help but watch it and so um splitting that dedication when I was at CBS used to be kind of a heartbreak you know mid December late December would roll around a football would wrap up and then you just jump right into basketball and that was the business but now it's almost like because the NFL goes so long and then I get to still be a part of March Madness is such a blessing um but I still I I I love playing basketball still so like that that probably still for me I'm not I'm not trying to get out there and like in a seven on seven League or anything like that I'm not trying to play flag like I'll do play I'll play pickup basketball every night do you have do you have a hoop in the driveway we did put a hoop in the driveway when we moved to New Jersey we did yes um well you know my my little girls are four and two so they're not quite the dribbling is just coming into effect um The Hand Eye we're still working on it but um yeah if I have anything to say about it then we'll definitely be uh we got to lower the hoop a little bit right now but we'll get you know I mean I get that the four and 2-year-old not quite coming out with that smooth handle no no no no but you see these kids now with these like YouTube videos everything I'm like how did you get your kid to be like that my girls yeah so we'll we'll get there but my husband played soccer and football and so he's like trying to get we're we're like having a parental pathway issue right now I'm like let's just try to get him to do everything all the sports all the sports yes now you grew up in Minnesota you went to school in Minnesota uh you lived in Minnesota when you started your career moved to New Jersey for this job with good morning football that's a rarity especially in the world of of journalism and sports journalism broadcast as a whole to be able to you know born and raised and stay in the same place um how special was that time for you and how hard was that decision to make to leave that behind very hard to leave Minnesota behind uh my husband being from there as well uh that being said there was speaking of the crossroads professionally just reporter host um you know there was personally there's a lot of travel that comes along along with the freedom to live where you Hosting Good Morning Football want to live so CBS says you know you're on the NFL sideline you're on the SEC sideline we don't care where you live just be able to get to an airport that's all well and good but you start having kids and the kids want to see you and they don't want you leaving for 17 weekends in a row and there there came a moment where I was able to have a very real conversation with my husband who luckily his company's based in New Jersey I said to him listen we this this is going to suck but like we could rip off a Band-Aid here and leave Minnesota a place that we love and we loved growing up but it means that we get to stay together as a family unit a lot more frequently and it was it was a no-brainer at that point I mean flying here to Indie even I was like man I can't believe I used to do this every weekend with the carry-on and the lugging and the midnight landing and everything um you do it because you don't know any better but now that I've kind of been off the road and focus so much on the three hours a day um and and the sacrifice that it took to leave home is I we're we're both like very okay with it yeah that being said having grown up in Minnesota and living there I never really did a lot of Minnesota sports coverage in my career so I I was very lucky my first TV job was out in Boston and then for me to go back to Minnesota but it was working for CBS so the the time I moved back to Minnesota it was on the road for 49ers games for whatever so I was able to stay a fan really of Minnesota sports which I really enjoyed would have loved a little bit more cheering when I was there but um I I liked being able to the separation of church and state there a little bit which is fair yeah cuz it Doesn't you know muddy the water a little bit you don't want to see how the sausage is made on the occasional Vikings game I really loved you know there'd be a little article in the newspaper about this local girl on the on the like I had a London game and the Vikings were in it like that was really awesome but I I really I never had to be like at training camp in the scrum with the Vikings and like having been a kid growing up as a fan like I you know I I appreciate being able to still just like love the team for who they are yeah nice to get an occasional hat tip in the star Triune exactly um but you know you talk about you know balancing family and travel and all that U you're expecting your third daughter now you had a great announcement around Halloween uh NFL Network on good morning football they all dress up on Halloween if you haven't seen it and you did Rihanna yep pregnancy announcement and all for both of you which you know well done well done um but I bring this up to say that you know a lot of women when they're pursuing their dreams professionally feel like they have to take choice of like am I going to pursue my career path am I going to pursue my family path you have done both simultaneously and are doing both simultaneously as we speak um describe number one how hard that's been but number two how you've been able to ma manage and navigate that I don't take no for an answer very easily I do have Minnesota nice and my personality um but that doesn't really make me like amiable to certain situations I I put that into to what I've done with my you know rearing children and doing the jobs that I've had I I just I just try so hard until the universe tells me like it's enough you can't do it this way um I think that's what happened with good morning football I think sure I could have kept doing the sideline report you know Tracy Wolfson has three kids and she has been on the road her entirety um I know she had her first kids her first couple when she was on the SEC or maybe she had all three when she's on the SEC and now we still see her doing Super Bowl she has been traveling and she raised her kids and I I applaud her so much for doing that all through that era um it was it was just very hard for me to leave them every weekend and so when this opportunity came up I was like I think this is The Universe telling me that you've you've kind of hit your wall in terms of how hard this has been on your family Dynamic and you're allowed to go this other pathway and pursue something and it it allows family life to be a little bit easier like I mentioned the sacrifice before of leaving Minnesota but it was so well worth it so I just I just try everything until I'm until someone or something tells me take a beat so um you know I flew here yesterday I'm 35 weeks pregnant I was like let's we're just going to check the blood pressure we're going to talk to the doctor we're good to get on the plane right and then off I went and if I can get in and out of Indie without having this kid then we're good um um yeah please so although there's plenty of medical staff around here in yeah yeah I mean if there's anywhere that it's going to happen this is not right you guys got something back there I could check out what's going on in here what's up Howard um so it I just I keep going until until I'm told to stop or do it differently and I think that's just kind of always that's how I crafted my style of sideline reporting that's how I crafted the relationship that I was in with a person I ended up marrying that's how I we decide to parent and live and move and do this life together yeah is just keep trying if you really want it which I've always really wanted to be able to do it you are going to be able you you you have to fight for the dynamic that you want to set up in your life and I feel like I've done that right right absolutely and you have now your third girl on the way do you ever think about the example that you're setting for your daughters of like hey you can have it all yeah I do I I try I try to show them that I say mom's got to go to work just as frequently as dad has to go to work and that's an equal balance and and on the flip side of that you know Dad gets your time just as much as mom gets your time and there was an ERA I think for women in general not just in sports where that was not a dynamic that existed that it really was just so much was on the mom and there was so much sacrifice there and I really am so lucky to live in a world now where the expectation is balancing out more um and that I found a husband who's just like you go you he's always said that to me like you do you whatever you know we'll figure it out we'll always figure it out I think a couple times he has said regretted saying that to me because even the good morning football thing I said wow this you know K Adams is leaving the show and I I I might be able to get that job what do you think he's like go for it you just and I think after a couple weeks he's like oh God you might get this job he's like well I said that go for it shot you know like I didn't think it was a exactly so driving right he might regret that uh sentiment now but um yeah I I just want to show them that that you if you just keep a good head about you and a good heart and you treat people kindly and you just work hard and you like what you're doing that nothing is ever that difficult and you just like you know it was it I like going to work in the morning and I I pick them up and they're happy and I'm happy be and you know being around them and just that example the daily like it's okay to do hard things and trust me doing good morning football is hard being a parent to small people is hard too yes so you've got multiple hard jobs that you are you are doing right now um when you look back at your career early on and look at where you are right now what is one thing that you learned over the years that you wish you could have known earlier or that you would like to impart on you know younger girls and women who might want to follow in your path oh I I think today you know you and I were around we're still women are still outnumbered in an event like this at the NFL combine when it comes to Media representation and football and um I used to be so scared to walk into a media contingency and ask my question my one question and think about it and overthink about it and then you might stumble on it and then it doesn't come out right and you regret doing that think about all the time you just wasted thinking about what you were supposed to say and how it was supposed to come out you probably didn't even listen to the answer of the person that you ask the question to no one else cares and I'm going to make this like a a guy girl thing but like the other guys the other 50 dudes who are standing around you they don't care about your question they care about theirs so like just ask your stuff get in there like elbow in there they're all standing next to each other there's no reason why you can't be standing in there they don't care if you ask three questions they've asked six like it it don't Focus so much on what's coming out it it's you belong there you are you are credentialed to be there just as the men that are there and no one should ever make you feel like you're taking up their time that's your job to be there and if you want to do it then go out and do it and feel comfortable being in that environment now it takes practice being in that environment you know I think I remember the first like Minnesota Gophers men's basketball press conference I ever went to and I shaking having to ask tubby Smith a question and my hands are sweating and but I remember that feeling and and now I'm here you know taking up someone else's time from the Dallas Morning News or something and and that's okay and you you know it takes practice but I think you just have to have strength and confidence in the fact that you belong in the room yeah it I mean it does take some time to learn that it's okay to take up space a little bit but like you said you know sometimes people are going to ask questions that you know oh why why they ask and we heard a guy ask everyone if they believe birds are real today so if they can ask that you can ask your question exactly exactly like wow that person has confidence to do that so I should ask mine about my legitimate football question exactly exactly and even you know say's room for everyone at these events we' love to see it Jamie erll it has been such a pleasure chatting with you today thank you so much for taking the time thank you for having me I love watching your coverage of the Giants Johan O'Hara uh you have to put up with him as DUI so at least we have that in common Sean we love you shout out to 60 Cent uh it's been another edition of her Playbook thanks for tuning in we'll see you next time