Bleav in Eagles, a standout podcast from the Bleav network, is carving its own niche in the world of team-specific sports media.
Leigh Mayock has spent the last decade behind the scenes, working in production and talent relations at NFL Network and Fox. But now, she’s stepping into the spotlight with a new on-air role. Joining her for the ride is none other than her father, Mike Mayock — long-time football analyst and former GM of the Raiders — who makes regular appearances as a guest.
Ahead of the Eagles’ Super Bowl LVIII appearance, the Mayocks spoke to Awful Announcing to discuss the genesis of their podcast. Mike credits Bleav president and executive producer Eric Weinberger, a former NFL Network executive, with sparking the idea.
“He knows Leigh also because Leigh had done some work at NFL Network,” Mayock said. “But she wasn’t an announcer; she wasn’t talent. But he had a lot of respect for her, and he kind of was like, ‘Why don’t you guys do a podcast together?'”
Mike’s initial reaction? Not exactly thrilled.
“My initial reaction was, ‘You know, I’ve got enough on my plate.’ She’s my daughter, but at the end of the day, what that means for me is I’ve got to watch more tape on whatever we’re talking about,” Mile explained. “I can’t just go out there and fake it. So I initially said, ‘I’m not interested.’
“And then he went back to Leigh and said, ‘Well, forget about your dad, why don’t you do one?’ And at which point Leigh was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.'”
But Weinberger didn’t give up. He circled back to Leigh and suggested she go for it alone. Leigh was in.
“He presented a different opportunity for me,” she said. “I’ve always been on the production side in the media world. But Eric said I’ve been really active on social media, so it’s kind of another avenue of that. It’s something fun to do, a new thing, and I like a new challenge.
“I was definitely really nervous for it too, but he really presented it as a new creative outlet, a new challenge to see where it goes. It didn’t seem like there was any pressure there; it was just more like a fun new opportunity for me to try something new. And I had just moved back to Philadelphia, so the Eagles thing was kind of perfect for me.”
Originally, Leigh planned for her dad to make just a brief appearance. But after a few engaging conversations, Mike’s guest spot quickly turned into a regular gig.
“My dad was going to be a guest one time, and then we actually we had a great time and he turned into a regular guest,” Leigh said. “And just in terms of preparing for these podcasts every week with him, it actually wasn’t as hard as he thinks it was for me because he has kind of exemplified that with everything he does. To me, it was just like, ‘I’m going to show up how I’ve always seen you show up for these things.’ And I think that’s the right way to do it.”
Mike has been impressed with how well Leigh holds her own, especially with technical football talk.
“She can talk football,” he said. “And I give her a ton of credit because she’s really worked at being able to get me on the line and ask all the right questions. I help her a little bit, but it’s mostly her. I told her ‘You’ve got to do this the right way. I’ll do my homework; you need to do your homework.’
“And she comes to the podcast prepared every week with what I think are the right questions. So I give her a ton of credit because I didn’t even want to do it, and now she’s got me as a regular guest every week, which shows that she’s way smarter than her dad.”
While Leigh loves discussing football strategy, she strives for balance in the podcast, incorporating lifestyle and pop culture elements, even though she knows her audience craves the Xs and Os.
“If it were up to me, it would be more balanced,” she said. “However, I do know the audience, and I know what we’re talking about. And when people tune into my dad, they want the Xs and Os. So you need to obviously play to that for the guests and for the audience.”
Mike’s ability to simplify complex topics has greatly influenced Leigh’s approach.
“He has a really unique way of explaining things, breaking things down, and people just really flock to that,” she said.
Leigh’s on-air role is just one part of her career. She continues to work in production, booking guests for Fox Sports Radio at the Super Bowl, but enjoys this new creative challenge.
“It’s really fun being in the comments, talking to people, seeing what they like and don’t like, throwing things against the wall,” she said. “Sometimes I think, ‘Oh, this is going to be so good,’ and no one cares. And sometimes I do something that I don’t think anyone’s going to care about that just pops off.
Mike said he finds it interesting to watch Leigh follow a similar path into football media that he took, albeit from a different angle.
“I’ve done an awful lot of everything: television, radio, podcasts, you know, from top to bottom,” he said. “The cool thing for me is because I was a football player but not a very good one, I kind of had to work my way up.
“I was the sideline reporter on Rutgers and Princeton games in the 1990s, I did CFL games, I did arena football games, I did every bad game that was out there, kind of trying to earn my spurs. And I did it. I converted over to that in kind of my mid-thirties, and I was working full time in commercial real estate, but I knew that football was something I couldn’t just leave.”
And he said he sees that influence from both him and his father in what Leigh’s doing now.
“My dad was a coach, so Leigh grew up with a grandfather that was a coach, a father that spent his whole life in football,” he said. “And she’s been on the production side working hard, but she loves kind of gravitating to some of the social media.
“And what I thought was kind of cool for a father-daughter podcast was that here I was in my mid-thirties making a conscientious decision to try and get into football again using television, and here’s Leigh, who’s now in her 30s, has been in production for a lot of years and kind of gravitated to this in a similar fashion, but in her own way. I thought that was really cool.”
As for covering the Eagles specifically, Mike said he has plenty of connections there from over the years, so this was a fun podcast to do.
“It’s interesting because I grew up in West Philadelphia, I did the Eagles’ preseason games for five years before I before I took the GM job with the Raiders, so I have a pretty good feel in that building. So for us, I think it’s really cool.”
He’s also excited about this week’s Super Bowl and the team’s clash with former head coach Andy Reid.
“And then you throw in the added Andy Reid Philadelphia connection; he’s another guy that I’ve known for years. And he left Philadelphia because I guess Philadelphia people just didn’t think he could get over the hump of winning the Super Bowl. Yet, he’s going to go down as a Hall of Fame coach, one of the best. So I just think, for both Leigh and I, it’s extra special to have all these different connections in the final game of the year.”
Leigh also said she thinks a Super Bowl featuring the team they’re covering would greatly increase interest in their podcast.
“I think more people are interested now because it’s the only football going on, so they’re like, ‘I want to hear about the Eagles.’ And the excitement in the city alone is palpable, and it’s so fun. Anything touching the Eagles right now is a fun thing to be a part of. I’m here in New Orleans, we’re going try to do an episode this week with Dad remotely, and we’re going to ride this thing out. Maybe we’ll do one from the parade, who knows!”
