During the course of her career, Julie Stewart-Binks has covered many different sports and events. When she was doing sideline reporting on the MLS and college football for FS1 or ESPN, she wanted to make sure that her reports were a little different from everyone else’s.
Stewart-Binks explained how she did that and much more on The Sessions with Renee Paquettepodcast on The Volume. In order to make them different, she made sure to do extra work so that she was always prepared whenever it was time for her to give a report:
“I really learned it when I was doing MLS and college football. We would always be in the same meetings together, so you are getting the same information. I always in my head thought if I’m in these meetings, none of this is mine. It’s all everyone’s, fair game. I would have it as information, but even if I asked a question and I’d be like hey guys, can I have this answer? Because the way brains work, if they heard something, they might say it on air. It’s the nature of a human talking about something.”
“I regularly did a ton of interviews outside to get extra stuff. In any kind of reporting in a game, you can have 3-4 awesome stories/hits and I’m going to get these in. Then, the game goes completely different. None of this stuff is relevant anymore. Now, I really have kind of hits on every guy that can potentially do something and have something extra.”
During the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year, Stewart-Binks was part of the Turner Sports crew for the Lightning-Maple Leafs First Round series. There were times she would be the only person from Turner in the broadcast meetings, so she made sure to give the information to the rest of the crew when she saw them:
“For TNT, they would have different crews come in each game. I didn’t meet my crew till 6 PM for an 8 PM puck drop. They had missed the meetings. I got to do the broadcast meetings with SportsNet. I would then go and use a lot of the stuff and tell it to the people that it would help. What can I add to the conversation that these guys don’t already know?”
As for what Stewart-Binks wants to do next, she knows she wants to continue to do more work with hockey, but she knows she is influenced by many things, and she admits that might not be best for her career:
“I would like to work in hockey more. I know that’s where my heart is… I want to work in hockey. Someone can ask me a question about hockey and I can riff like I know it.”
“I’m still very much open to doing so many different things. That’s what’s interesting is through all of my travels and this has probably hurt my career, I get influenced by so many different things.”
In addition to covering more hockey, Stewart-Binks wants to take her own podcast, Drinks With Binks, to the next level:
“I like Drinks With Binks. I think it has a lot more ability to do something. I’d like to take it outside of my apartment and make it kind of like an Anthony Bourdain kind of thing and in the sports world and beyond, but mostly sporting events. Make it more of a travel interview show.”
Ricky Keeler is a reporter for BSM with a primary focus on sports media podcasts and national personalities. He is also an active podcaster with an interest in pursuing a career in sports media. You can find him on Twitter @Rickinator555 or reach him by email at RickJKeeler@gmail.com.
In what has been considered a formality for some time, Fox today officially unveiled Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen, Erin Andrews, and Tom Rinaldi as their number one NFL broadcast team Monday. Burkhardt and Olsen were elevated to Fox’s top booth after the departure of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to ESPN’s Monday Night Football earlier this year.
There were some reports that Drew Brees could have been a possibility to join the network, but those discussions fell apart.
The network’s other teams include several familiar faces to football fans:
#2 team: Joe Davis, Daryl “Moose” Johnston, Pam Oliver #3 team: Adam Amin, Mark Schlereth, Kristina Pink #4 team: Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, Shannon Spake #5 team: Kevin Kugler, Mark Sanchez, Laura Okmin #6 team: Chris Myers, Robert Smith, Jen Hale
Olsen’s jump to the number one team with Burkhardt is a formality until the retirement of Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady. The seven-time Super Bowl winner will ascend to Fox’s number one booth upon his retirement, whenever that may be.
Former Pittsburgh Steeler, and current ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark and recent Radio Hall of Fame inductee Chris “Mad Dog” Russo squared off on Monday’s edition of First Take, with a heated exchange taking place between the two.
After a discussion about Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas meandered into a discussion about whether Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp would be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame if he never played another game, Clark said about Hall of Fame voters “they must be voting like you (Russo) vote for the Heisman, where you just vote on whoever the hell you want based off the fact that they play quarterback”.
Russo quickly took exception to the perceived slight.
“Ryan, hold on now,” Russo said, in a louder manner than normal. “You said something, now I’m going to comment. I’ve been voting for the Heisman since before you were born.”
“Mad Dog, stop screaming at me now, bro. For the last time, you’re gonna stop screaming at me,” Clark interrupted.
“You said something that wasn’t right,” Russo said.
“Lower your voice,” the former Steeler interrupted again.
“I’ve been voting for the Heisman since before you were born,” Mad Dog reiterated, with a lower volume. “30 years.”
“I don’t care about that,” Clark rebutted.
“You’re saying I’m voting for the Heisman and saying I don’t deserve a vote. I’ve been voting for 30 years!”, Russo began to raise his voice again.
“I never said you don’t deserve a vote,” Clark replied before clarifying he disagrees with Russo’s sentiment about the college football award being only awarded to quarterbacks.
It’s not the first time Russo has clashed with First Take contributors. A discussion with J.J. Reddick went viral earlier this year after Reddick told Russo previous NBA players played with “plumbers and firefighters”.
When people talk about 11-year MLB veteran Todd Frazier, some of the things that are usually mentioned on broadcasts usually is that he is from Toms River, New Jersey and that he played in the Little League World Series in 1998 (won the championship). Now, Frazier will have a bigger connection to the annual event in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
As first reported by Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer, Frazier will be in the TV booth (remotely) for ESPN for this year’s Little League World Series. He made his broadcast debut on Monday morning during one of the New England region semifinals between Maine and Massachusetts.
Frazier told Nightengale that he wants to use this event to begin his second career in the broadcasting industry.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, especially for the Little League World Series since I’ve been a part of it. I know it and understand it really well. Kind of kickstart my second career here.”
It will be a memorable summer for Fraizer at the LLWS because he will be inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence.
The Little League World Series begins on Wednesday, August 17 and ends on Sunday, August 28. It will be broadcasted on ESPN and ABC.
Ricky Keeler is a reporter for BSM with a primary focus on sports media podcasts and national personalities. He is also an active podcaster with an interest in pursuing a career in sports media. You can find him on Twitter @Rickinator555 or reach him by email at RickJKeeler@gmail.com.
