Following my interview with Tina Cervasio in mid-September, I decided to go for broke, email ESPN, and inquire about the possibility of speaking with Erin Andrews. It took a few weeks and several email exchanges with an ESPN PR rep, but we finally managed to set up an interview for last Thursday afternoon.
I spoke with Erin for about half an hour, during which time I became very impressed with her overall love of sports. It is also obvious that she's a professional, as evidenced by the way in which she took a first-time live interviewer (the Cervasio one was via email) and did her best to make sure I got good in-depth answers regardless of the quality of the original questions (and trust me, there was a lot of stammering and repeating and whatnot; I should probably just stick to writing).
OMDQ: Erin, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.
EA: Yeah, no problem. Thanks for inquiring.
OMDQ: The first thing I’d like to ask you about is your schedule, because it seems like every time I turn on ESPN, you’re there. You’re doing college football, college basketball, baseball – I mean, how do you find all that time? Are you pretty much working year-round?
EA: Yeah, I basically I guess that’s kinda the one thing that I pride myself on - I’m really the one sideline reporter that works year-round, I do basically every sport, which to be honest with you, I have never played a sport, I obviously (intelligible) at all, so I think that makes me more versatile as a reporter because I can cover so much ground, so that’s one thing that I’ve really enjoyed and I take pride in the fact that I’ve done so many sports.
Last spring, a post comparing NESN field reporter Tina Cervasio to ESPN counterpart Erin Andrews was mentioned on Deadspin and resulted in the biggest day in the history of One More Dying Quail. Since then, Google searches for "Tina Cervasio" and similar terms have been fixtures in my list of Site Meter referrals; it varies from day to day, but between those searches and continuing hits from a Red Sox Times story on Andrews and NESN's female reporters, Cervasio is a major part of my daily traffic.
Last week, I visited Cervasio's web site and decided to contact her for an interview. Somewhat surprisingly, she accepted and answered a few questions for me via email. I'm not the best interviewer in the world (alright, I suck - this was my first time, so be gentle), but I tried to cover a variety of topics, from common perceptions of sideline reporters to the awesomeness of Tim Wakefield. The only true disappointment? She won't introduce me to Erin Andrews or Bonnie Bernstein. Not cool, Tina. Not cool.
OMDQ: Let's start this thing off by resolving some trust issues: since we're doing this via email, how do I know I'm really dealing with Tina Cervasio and not just an intern in NESN's PR department?
TC: Because I would never TRUST someone else answering questions about me!!
OMDQ: Can you take me through a day in the professional life of Tina Cervasio?
TC: On the professional side of things, after I wake up, 90% of the time I’ll put WEEI on and listen while I get ready for my day. I’ll go buy & read the Globe and Herald, then read the other Red Sox and sports stories either online or when they are emailed to me. When we are playing in Boston, I’ll head over to NESN in Watertown to have meetings with producers, voice over any features, get my mail, answer emails, autograph requests. Then I’ll head over to Fenway (the latest I’ll get there is 2:30 … any later and I’ll feel out of sorts.) For about an hour, I’ll type up in-game reports that I would like to do, edit sound bites, talk to my game and pre-game producers about what they need from me for the Pre-Game show and the actual Game broadcast. I’ll share my ideas, I’ll write out my check list, write up my in game reports and hand over or email copies to everyone involved. The clubhouse opens at 3:30, I’ll go in, get the lineups, set up any interviews with players or coaches that I need, check in with Don & Jerry, catch up with the Globe writers that I will be talking to later on the pre-game show. Sometimes I’ll get sound bites right in the clubhouse, other times we’ll head out to the dugout to do interviews. At 4 PM, Terry Francona has his media meeting in the interview room at Fenway or the Manager’s office in other ballparks. After he’s done with the formal meeting, taking questions, having off-the-cuff conversations … he does another meeting with the electronic media. When we are on the road, I’m usually the only camera. From there, I’ll call my pre-game producer and update him on the meeting and the sound I’ve collected, we’ll discuss my news hit, and “Insider & MLB Topics” with the Globe writers. Then I’ll head to the opposing team to either get sound from the manager, or grab a quick interview with a player. Sometimes they are formal, some quick stick mic interviews, sometimes I’ll just get sound bites from the player on a story idea I have for in-game or for our pre-game show. (Am I boring you yet?) At Fenway when the Sox take B.P. first, I’ll do one last check at about 5:30 in the clubhouse for any updates or lineup changes … powder my nose, hook up my IFB … and I’m in the chair for pre-game by 5:50 to do a sound check. From there … It’s show/game time!!
I am a 28 year old sports fan who enjoys following the Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots and Boston Celtics (and I wrote that before Garnett and Allen came to town).
I've lived my whole life in southern New Hampshire, graduating from UNH in 2003 with a degree in history/relig ious studies. Two of my favorite jobs have been related to baseball, first as an intern with the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002 and then as an intern/Media Relations Manager with the Nashua Pride in 2003 and 2004.
OMDQ: Erin, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.
