BSM Writers
Emily Kaplan is on the Clock During the NHL Season
“There’s only two things in the world that you can control: How hard you work; and how you treat other people.”
Drifting through the gelid, frosted roads of Regina, Saskatchewan on a luminous winter day in the comfort of his Ford pickup truck, Connor Bedard is en route to the rink. He is the consensus No. 1 prospect in professional hockey drawing comparisons to Wayne Gretzky and is preparing to lace up his skates in the National Hockey League next season. ESPN reporter Emily Kaplan was in the backseat. The effort it took to get into that car started last summer.
Kaplan connected with the young phenom’s agent and gradually engendered a professional relationship. She was told that Bedard, who is 17, would not agree to many media requests during the season, but Kaplan knew her end goal: to land a sit-down interview.
For one thing, Kaplan is indefatigable in her quest to augment her extensive skill set and enhance The Walt Disney Company’s fourth stint in producing national broadcasts of NHL games. As the rinkside reporter for the NHL on ESPN, she logs several miles traveling around the arena for each contest in order to conduct interviews and divulge critical information.
She garners a wide array of responsibilities on a typical game day. She appears across ESPN programming, writes extended columns and feature stories and communicates with sources to break news, genuinely rendering her among the network’s most versatile talents.
When Kaplan ultimately landed Bedard for an interview in March, she and her colleagues made sure to produce a variety of different content. In addition to a sit-down interview, Kaplan spent time with Bedard in his truck and at the rink, all of which was captured on video. She then worked with one of the network’s video editors to write and ultimately voice a script for a 10-minute visual feature and also penned a 2500-word article detailing the experience.
“I’m always thinking of different opportunities because we are a multimedia company,” Kaplan said. “How can we take one piece of access or the opportunities that I get and share that across all of our audience and all of our platforms?”
When she is reporting in prime time, Kaplan often finds herself up against the clock, trying to convey the necessary information to viewers interspersed throughout the game action. When she is on the road, she returns to the hotel or sometimes catches a flight, relaxing and reflecting on her performance with purpose. Usually, there is little time for rest before the process begins all over again, especially during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“I do understand that this is a grind of a time,” Kaplan said. “I’m probably not going to get the doctor’s recommended sleep every night. Planes are never conducive for sleep or hydration, and I just kind of have to live with it and accept it.”
As the sun rose in Montclair, NJ. each morning, Emily Kaplan awoke and grabbed the morning newspaper to diligently read the sports section. Pouring over columns, statistics, standings and a litany of other information. She paired what she retained with observations gathered from watching games with her family. Her ultimate goal was to become a sportswriter. It was why she chose to attend Penn State University specifically because it was the only institution with a dedicated sports journalism major.
“My first week on campus, I was already asking people how I could try out for the school paper,” Kaplan said. “I wrote for the sports section of The Daily Collegian, which was our daily newspaper. I did that for two years, [and I] also dabbled as a columnist for a bit.”
Her journalism career, however, began long before her first week on campus, as she wrote columns for The Montclair Times. One of the local newspaper readers happened to be Sports Illustrated writer Peter King – who was also a friend of Kaplan’s father. He quickly took notice of her and reached out to offer words of encouragement. When she was in high school, King arranged for Kaplan to meet with a player and manager following an independent league baseball game. She ended up writing an error-free story on a deadline, a feat that impressed King and kept her on his radar.
Kaplan was at Penn State University during the time when allegations of child sex abuse by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky began to come to light. Being a young journalist, she covered the team for The Philadelphia Inquirer as its on-campus correspondent and also provided other professional outlets an invaluable voice. From there, she joined the Associated Press where she worked as a stringer and continued to gain real-world experience and build her network. Throughout her years in college, she kept in touch with King and sometimes performed a variety of “odd jobs,” including transcribing interviews and researching for stories.
“He was just such a great sounding board for me as I navigated how to break into this field,” Kaplan said of King. “When he graduated, he had started his website on Sports Illustrated – the MMQB – and gave me some really good opportunities to write there.”
She wrote a variety of stories for the Sports Illustrated NFL coverage. Starting fresh off an internship at The Boston Globe, Kaplan had a deft knowledge of sports reporting at the local level and knew how to perform investigative journalism. From spending 24 hours with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to speaking with FOX reporter Erin Andrews about her civil trial and cervical cancer diagnosis; to chronicling the journey of Danny Watkins from football player to firefighter, Kaplan compiled a vast portfolio of penetrating, shrewd storytelling.
One story in particular she considers herself proud of involved former Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel. After a slew of events transpired involving the first-round draft pick that ultimately led him to be cut by the Browns, King tasked Kaplan to travel to Kernville, Texas to speak with people in his life. He wanted her to find a different, untold angle and she spent a week in the area to do so.
Stationed in Austin, Texas, Kaplan fastidiously accumulated substantive details about Manziel, who was a perplexing and captivating public figure. In the end, she published a comprehensive article on the Heisman winner’s situation and what others had to say about him, drawing national intrigue and uncovering new knowledge.
“There’s only two things in the world that you can control: How hard you work; and how you treat other people,” Kaplan said. “I made sure that my work ethic was my number one defining characteristic. I’d always make the extra calls. I’d always try to find different angles or different people to talk to and make sure I got as much information as possible.”
Both of those factors assisted her in landing a job with ESPN in 2017 as one of two NHL beat reporters, but she joined the “Worldwide Leader” knowing it did not hold the league’s media rights. The possibility intrigued her because of a nascent ardor for hockey and the chance it provided to establish herself as a beat reporter. As she became more comfortable and settled into the role, ESPN and the NHL agreed to a seven-year media rights contract – and everything changed.
From the beginning, her goal was to get close to the action. When ESPN was trying to determine its broadcasters, reporters and contributors who would appear on the games, Kaplan’s hand shot up to ask for a chance at sideline reporting. Although she had reservations about people not getting to know her nor being able to tell a nuanced story, she bet on herself.
Twenty seconds on the clock. That is often all the time Kaplan has to present information or divulge a story to broadcast viewers, and being succinct in storytelling after writing protracted stories with extensive research and meticulous edits was an initial challenge.
If she’s at a game, Kaplan is usually on the run. She does standup reports, interviews players in the tunnel and coaches on the bench and attends press conferences. The interviews with the coaches are particularly distinctive since they take place during a media timeout in the midst of the game.
“I have such a limited amount of time because we really are showing that clip as an entry point out of a TV break back into game action,” Kaplan said. “I think most times we get between 30 and 60 seconds, and I just want to make sure I’m as concise as possible in my questions and as direct as possible to get the most information out of them to support the broadcast.”
After the three stars of the game are announced, Kaplan is oftentimes interviewing a player from the winning team, usually doing so on the bench. It is at this time when her questions are designed to extrapolate facets of the player’s personality. Once the interview concludes, she makes it a point to thank players in their native language – a practice whose origin she cannot identify, but something she feels is essential in fostering professional relationships.
“I’m cognizant when I talk to guys where English is their second language of just how big of an ask that is [to put] themselves out there in something they’re not necessarily fully comfortable with in a lot of situations and trying their hardest,” Kaplan said. “My goal [has] always just been to humanize the game… It’s not very hard for me just to look up how to say, ‘Thank you,’ in the six or seven languages that NHL players typically speak.”
There are times, however, when Kaplan feels she is not always treated like a peer by the men around her. Men have the opportunity to interact in different ways, such as going to have drinks with sources at a bar. Rumors would flow abound if a woman followed suit. It causes her to feel “othered” and can make her job as a reporter more difficult than it genuinely has to be.
“The athletes I feel like sometimes are a little too cautious around me or don’t really know what to make of me,” Kaplan said. “Those are the areas where being a woman, I do find to be a little challenging because I’m just trying to say, ‘Hey look, I’m just a human being. I’m normal. This is a job I’m trying to do and we can completely coexist and help each other out,’ but sometimes it’s not as natural as it would be just for two guys to have that social agreement.”
Through it all, she has received immense support and assistance from her broadcast colleagues, Sean McDonough and Ray Ferraro. Having them by her side is something she considers a lucky break.
“Sean is just such a consummate professional,” Kaplan said. “He does such a fantastic job just documenting the game in a way that feels really significant and gives it a big-game feel. He’s constantly empowering me as well. I know he’s had so much experience across so many sports covering so many big events.”
With Ferraro in particular, Kaplan has the ability to interact with him during intermissions since he is situated between the benches for most games. It is an atypical setup for a hockey broadcast, but one that works in Kaplan’s favor since it gives her a chance to discuss the game, ideas for questions and evaluate the broadcast piecemeal.
“I can vent to him. He can vent to me,” Kaplan said. “It’s a really great relationship in that way.”
Transitioning into the limelight and becoming a public figure was a stark change from writing, and with it brought heightened tangible criticism regarding her performance. There were moments during the first year where it truly bothered her. As a journalist, Kaplan asked herself “Why?” Through self-reflection and experience, she found the answer and has consequently diminished the people from whom she takes feedback.
“While I’m there to serve the fans, I’m not there to please everyone,” Kaplan said. “I understand that people have different opinions of how I should do my job, but I’m only going to do the job the way I see fit.”
Even so, being able to define what encompasses a successful day of reporting is nearly impossible to definitively quantify, and one of the reasons she frequently seeks feedback. There are points throughout the year where Kaplan meets with executives about her performance and how she can improve, but through it all makes sure she remains objective and committed to reporting the facts.
“ESPN is a news-gathering organization, and we have a news desk that, to me, [is] sacred,” Kaplan said. “What they say is true because what we present to the fans is really important. Because I have a journalistic background, I’m constantly double-checking [and] making sure I feel super sound about my information.”
Kaplan is interested in shedding the stopwatch in the future, potentially considering chances to be an analyst or proffer her opinions on hockey. For now though, her next challenge will be more effectively demonstrating her personality as the clock ticks onward. She fears that some of her reports come off as “robotic,” and recognizes her sarcasm, sense of humor and inclination to engage in lighthearted banter.
“In the same way that I’m trying to bring out the characters of the game and really humanize them and create connectivity for the viewers to the players, I think that’s also important on the broadcast side as well,” Kaplan said. “As I get more comfortable in this, I think I’m starting to learn where to pick my spots [and] where to show some more personality, but it’s something I’m absolutely working on.”
The Stanley Cup Playoffs last for almost two months, and Kaplan is nearing the end of her bustling broadcast season. Over the course of a year, she travels to a majority of the NHL arenas, taking her across the United States and Canada, and also attends morning skates, practices and other pertinent team events. She considers herself fortunate to be in a position that keeps her close to the ice, but understands that working in sports media can, at times, be utterly exhausting.
Because of this, it is imperative Kaplan takes time away from the rink each day to recharge and ensure she is in the right headspace and has the bandwidth to properly do her job. When she arrives though, Kaplan is alert and ready for the chance to create moments that penetrate the bounds of time. Here, the stopwatch is shattered.
“Being on the ice when the Avalanche are passing around the Stanley Cup and being the first person to interview the captain and the star players and the GM [and] the coach of that team – that’s an opportunity that I’ll never take lightly.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Sports Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @derekfutterman.
BSM Writers
Robert Griffin III Wants to Tell Your Story the Right Way
“Even if I do know you personally, I’m not going to bring that to the broadcast because that’s not my job.”
During last season’s VRBO Fiesta Bowl, Robert Griffin III was part of ESPN’s alternate telecast at field level alongside Pat McAfee. Suddenly, the Heisman Trophy winner took a phone call. Once he hung up the phone, Griffin divulged that his wife had gone into labor and proceeded to sprint off of the field to catch a flight. An ESPN cameraperson documented his run and jubilation as he returned home to welcome his daughter, Gia, into the world. It encapsulated just what motivates Griffin to appear on television and discuss football, and why he is one of ESPN’s budding talents with the chance to make an impact on sports media and his community for years to come.
“This was an opportunity for me to go out and be different in the way that the media covers the players and truly get to the bottom of telling the players’ stories the right way,” Griffin said. “I look at this as an opportunity to do that.”
Griffin was a three-sport athlete as a student at Copperas Cove High School, and ultimately broke Texas state records in track and field. In addition to that, he played basketball and was the starting quarterback for the school’s football team as a junior and senior, drawing attention from various schools around the country. He ended up graduating high school one semester early and quickly became a star at Baylor University in both football and track and field.
Robert Griffin III’s nascent talent was hardly inconspicuous, evidenced by being named the 2008 Big 12 Conference Offensive Freshman of the Year and then, three years later, the winner of the Heisman Trophy. In the end, he graduated having set or tied 54 school records and helped the program to its first bowl game win in 19 years.
Ultimately, he transitioned to the NFL in a career with many trials and tribulations, but through it all, he never lost his sense of persistence. Nearly a decade later, he returned to college, but this time as a member of the media covering the game from afar. Unlike a majority of former players though, Griffin did not formally retire from playing football when inking a broadcasting contract with ESPN.
“I haven’t retired yet at all,” he said. “I tell everyone that asks me the question that I train every day [and] I’m prepared to play if that call does come. I’ve had some talks with teams over the past two years; just nothing has come to fruition.”
While Griffin’s focus as a broadcaster is undeniable, he never thought about seriously pursuing sports media until his broadcast agent pushed him to do so. He was urged to take an audition at FOX Sports. Griffin broke down highlights and called a mock NFL game alongside lead play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt. He was not prepared for that second part, but impressed executives and precipitously realized a career in the space may not be so outlandish after all.
Griffin then moved to ESPN where he experienced a similar audition process, this time calling a game with play-by-play announcer Rece Davis. Once the audition concluded, it was determined that Griffin would not only begin working in the industry, but that he would be accelerated because of his ability to communicate in an informative and entertaining style.
As a player, he saw the way media members covered teams – sometimes bereft of objectivity – and therefore saw assimilating into the industry as a chance to change that. Now, he is focused on telling the stories of the players en masse while being prepared to pivot at a moment’s notice.
ESPN’s intention was to implement Griffin on its studio coverage, but once executives heard him in the broadcast booth, the company had a palpable shift in its thinking. He was told he was ready to go out into the field and start calling games immediately, something of a surprise to him. FOX Sports felt similarly. This led to a bidding war between the two entities, which ultimately concluded with Griffin inking a contract with ESPN. He appeared over its airwaves plenty of times as a player, and even participated on a variety of studio shows in 2018 where he was almost permanently placed on NFL Live. This time around though, Griffin was suddenly preparing to work with Mark Jones and Quint Kessenich on college football games. He did not have time to consider the implications of the decision, instead diving headfirst into the craft and remaining focused on what was to come with producer Kim Belton and director Anthony DeMarco at his side.
“These guys took me under their wing, and I’m beyond indebted to them for that,” Griffin said of his colleagues. “They taught me everything that I know about the industry. They taught me everything I know about how to present things to the masses to where it can be easily digestible. They’ve allowed me to allow my personality to shine through.”
Demonstrating his personality was a facet of his makeup Griffin felt was inhibited by playing professional football, but he knows it would have been considerably more difficult to attain a chance to cover the game had he not laced up his cleats. Calling college football games with Jones accentuated his comfort in the booth because of Jones’ adept skill to appeal to the viewers and penetrate beyond the sport.
“He has the way to connect different generations of listeners to hear what he’s saying and perceive it in the same way,” Griffin said. “To me, that’s what we all strive to do in this industry is to be able to find the connective tissue between the fan who is 60 or 70 years old, and the fan who’s in their late teens or early 20s.”
From the beginning, everyone told Griffin to be himself and not adopt an alternate persona in front of the camera. That advice has guided him as he approaches his third year working in the industry.
“It is so hard to maintain a character or try to be someone that you’re not, but if you are who you are every single day, then every time you show up on camera you will be that person,” Griffin said. “I’ve made sure that when I stepped foot in front of that camera, I was going to be myself.”
Griffin identifies his style as pedagogical to a degree, critiquing players as if he was coaching them on the sidelines. He will never look to penetrate beyond football with his criticism, as drawing conclusions and using unrelated parlance could be viewed as indecorous. In short, Griffin III knows what it means to represent ESPN.
“We’re not a gossip website. We’re supposed to be critically acclaimed, prestigious journalists, and at the end of the day, that’s how I try to approach the job that I do. That’s why I got into the business – because I felt like there was a little of that going on, especially during my career, so I would never do to somebody else what was done to me.”
Over the course of his NFL career, Griffin was subject to immense criticism that went significantly beyond the gridiron. For example, sports commentator Rob Parker suggested that Griffin was not fully representative of the Black community and proceeded to question if he was a “cornball brother.” The incident resulted in Parker receiving a 30-day suspension from ESPN, and after he defended his comments and blamed First Take producers in a subsequent interview, the network decided not to renew his contract.
“My goal as a member of the media is to tell players’ stories the right way, and if I don’t know you personally, I’m never going to make it personal,” Griffin said. “Even if I do know you personally, I’m not going to bring that to the broadcast because that’s not my job.”
In addition to broadcasting college football games with Jones on ESPN and ABC, he also appears on-site for Monday Night Countdown, the network’s pregame show leading up to Monday Night Football. Making the decision to add NFL coverage to his slate of responsibilities meant that Griffin would be able to tell more stories and utilize his knowledge of players during their collegiate careers to enhance the broadcast.
The energy that he felt attending tailgates and interacting with fans at the college level gave him a unique skill set to translate to the NFL side, leading him to present the production team with an unparalleled idea for Week 1. He wanted to race Taima the Hawk, the live game mascot for the Seattle Seahawks who flies around Lumen Field prior to the start of each home game. It was an outlandish idea, but one that made sense for television because of the visual appeal it can present.
“If you know anything about hawks, they can fly up to 120-140 miles per hour, so they’re like, ‘There’s no way he’s going to beat this hawk in a race, but we’ll do it,’” Griffin said. “To that crew’s credit, they never once balked at any of the creative ideas that I brought to the table because they want to try different things and be exciting and have fun on the show.”
Griffin ended up winning the race, commencing the new season of Monday Night Countdown with immediate excitement before the Seahawks’ matchup against the Denver Broncos. He thoroughly enjoyed his first year on the show and having the chance to work alongside Suzy Colber, Adam Schefter, Booger McFarland, Steve Young, Larry Fitzgerald and Alex Smith.
“They always tell me, ‘Hey, anything you’re not comfortable with, you just let us know and we won’t do that thing,’” Griffin said of the show’s producers. “My answer always back to them is, ‘Well, I won’t know if I’m uncomfortable with it if I don’t try.’”
While Griffin had what looked like a seamless assimilation into the broadcasting world, he had a difficult moment when using a racial slur on live television in discussing Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. The clip quickly gained traction across the internet, and Griffin issued an apology on his Twitter account for using the pejorative language and claimed that he misspoke.
“I was shocked that it came out in the way that it did, and I immediately jumped on it and apologized because there’s no need to deny,” he said. “You messed up. You move forward, and I think that’s the easiest way to get over those types of things and to get back on your feet.”
The football season at both the college and professional level is undoubtedly a grind, and it requires a combination of dedication, passion and persistence few people possess. Robert Griffin III has garnered the reputation of being an “overpreparer,” often partaking in considerably more information than necessary to execute a broadcast. The information he consumes and conclusions he draws combined with his experience at both levels has cultivated him into a knowledgeable analyst who makes cogent, intelligible points on the air.
“I over-prepare for everything, and 70% of the information that I soak in going into a game or going into a broadcast for Monday Night Countdown, I don’t use because there’s just not enough air time,” Griffin III said. “There’s not enough opportunities to talk on it all.”
At the same time, he makes a concerted effort to make the most of his time with his family and separate himself from the field, engaging in activities including playing ping pong, going to the movies and supporting his children. He also embarks in charity work through his RG3 Foundation and strives to teach his daughters the importance of giving back. The mission of the nonprofit foundation is to discover and design programs for underprivileged youth, struggling military families and victims of domestic violence, and it has made a significant impact since it was launched in 2015.
“Trying to end food insecurity; making sure that our under-resourced youth have access to the things that they need just to survive – talking about food, clothes, books, the ability to learn [and] putting on these after-school programs,” Griffin elucidated in describing the organization’s mission. “We want to have an impact on our community. We mean that with everything in us and have shown that to be the true case of why we do this.”
Griffin’s wife, Grete, serves as the executive director of the foundation and also runs her own fitness business. Staying physically and mentally in shape is something they actively try to accomplish in their everyday lives, and lessons they are passing down to their daughters.
“I’m 33 years old right now, so if I want to continue to train every single day, I can do that for the next 10 years if I need to,” Griffin said. “Not taking hits and being physically fit is also a good thing for your own health, which is something me and my wife are extremely passionate about.”
Although his experience is in playing football and working in sports media, Robert Griffin III does not believe in limiting himself and would consider exploring opportunities outside of sports and entertainment. He wants to become the best broadcaster possible no matter where he is working in the industry and continue finding new ways to be distinctive en masse.
“We’re storytellers,” he said. “We’re here to break down things [and] to tell people a story the right way; things that people are interested in, and that expands across all media levels. We’re not closing the door on anything from that standpoint.”
While he was playing in the NFL, Griffin dealt with a variety of injuries that ultimately kept him off the football field and made it difficult to display his talents. Ranging from an ACL tear, shoulder scapula fracture and hairline fracture in his right thumb, staying healthy was a challenge for him over the time he played in the NFL.
Through surgeries and rehabilitation, he learned how to face and overcome these challenges. It has shaped him into the broadcaster and person he is today as he looks to set a positive example to aspiring football players and broadcasters everywhere.
“The eight-year career that I was able to have thus far didn’t come without roadblocks in the way [and] didn’t come without adversity. Learn from the adversity that you go through and learn from all the things and the lessons that you have that sports teaches you, and then go be able to present that to the masses.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Sports Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @derekfutterman.
BSM Writers
Pac-12 Pushing Enhanced Access, Deion Sanders Reeks of Desperation
What good is enhanced access for TV broadcasts or the star power of Coach Prime if those game telecasts aren’t seen?
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
Ryan Brown is a columnist for Barrett Sports Media, and a co-host of the popular sports audio/video show ‘The Next Round’ formerly known as JOX Roundtable, which previously aired on WJOX in Birmingham. You can find him on Twitter @RyanBrownLive and follow his show @NextRoundLive.