An interesting new podcast this fall is What The Football, a weekly show from Suzy Shuster and Amy Trask. Shuster spoke to AA recently about the podcast, what it’s like working with Trask, her decades in journalism, how she feels about the current journalism landscape, and more. To start with, Shuster said What The Football (which is part of the Rich Eisen Podcast Network; Shuster is married to Eisen) started out of her long relationship with Trask, which has included using her regular time guest-hosting The Rich Eisen Show to have Trask as a recurring guest.
“I have asked Amy to come on the show when I’ve been sitting in for Rich a bunch of times, because I love the fact that she’s the highest-ranking woman in the history of the National Football League and she has actual hands-on experience,” Shuster said. “But she’s also really funny, and I don’t think many people see that side of her. We became friends originally through Al Michaels, and when we sat at dinner one night having a super-easy conversation about football, I said ‘You’ve got to come on the next time I do the show.'”
And Shuster said the audience for The Rich Eisen Show was very receptive to Trask’s appearances, and to their chemistry. And that convinced them this was worth exploring as a podcast.
“People really reacted to it,” Shuster said. “Her fans are large in number just because of her 30 years with the Raiders, and they love hearing what she has to say. And we have a good time together. And I know it’s one of those kinds of bull****** things people say, ‘We have a natural banter,’ but we actually have fun working together.”
Shuster said that chemistry is a key part of why she wants to keep working with Trask.
“She’s spent a long time in the business, and I’ve been doing television since I was 22. You often find the list of people you actually enjoy working with is pretty brief. So when you find someone you actually really enjoy spending time with, you capitalize on it.”
Shuster said Trask has been a great partner for this podcast, and she has a lot of unique insights and experiences.
“Amy has a wealth of information that hasn’t been tapped about one of the more fascinating times in the history of the National Football League. And who’s more of a mystery than Al Davis?” she asked. “On the show, Chris and I were talking about the Tuck Rule, or as Amy calls it, The Forward Pass, and we’re like ‘Can you imagine what it was like in the press box when that happened?’ and I’m like ‘Oh, s***, Amy was there!’ And there she is shooting daggers at us.”
“There’s this meme that she loves of herself with lasers coming out of her eyes. She wanted that to be her headshot, but I said no. But to have her experience, she’s actually been there. And plus, we eat ice cream while we do it, which is actually the best part. We’re looking for an ice cream sponsor if anyone’s out there and wants to sponsor two women talking about football.”
And Shuster said the experience both she and Trask have in the sports world differentiates their podcast from many.
“The difference is that we’ve both been there getting our hands and feet dirty as opposed to opining based on watching it from home on the sofa. I think that’s the biggest difference. I started out working in television the day after I graduated from college, I literally went straight to work the next day, and pretty much haven’t stopped since except for the time I took off to have our three kids.”
Shuster said there are plenty of prominent commentators who haven’t spent a lot of time covering teams closely, and she thinks she and Trask bring something different given their experiences.
“Our hands are dirty. It’s really easy to give your opinion if you’ve never been there. I know guys say ‘Oh, you never played the game.’ Well, name me 10 or 15 broadcasters who have actually played the game that are men. I was so lucky; I got to ask Rod Woodson to teach me Cover-2 in detail when I got my ABC Sports job [College Football on ABC sideline reporting, 2004-05]. Who gets to do that?”
While What The Football is targeted for both male and female football fans, Shuster thinks there’s a huge female sports audience out there that isn’t always properly served.
“I feel really strongly that it exists, and not just to talk about Taylor Swift. I get that there’s a bump in female viewership with her, I understand that. But I’ll tell you how many more women have incredibly solid knowledge of football, baseball, basketball and beyond, and the highest demographic building amongst fantasy owners is women.”
And she said thoughtful and insightful coverage of sports is appealing to that audience as well as male fans. But she said that unfortunately hasn’t always been the perception of why female fans care about sports.
“People used to say all the time that women are just there for the looks,” she said. “I remember being so offended by one of the hosts of The View who was talking about men in tights back in the day, I think she was referring to Mike Piazza. I just remember how offensive it was and how demeaning it was to the female audience of sports lovers, because it made women look stupid. I really resented that.”
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“When Korey Stringer passed away, I believe it was Sally Jenkins who said something like ‘The difference between men and women was men wanted to know what drill they were doing and women wanted to know how hot it was on the turf.’ And yes, women can look at a story very differently.”
But she said it’s also important to not overgeneralize to “Women watch sports like this, men watch sports like that,” as there are many different ways to watch and appreciate sports for both male and female fans.
“I tend to look at the narrative as opposed to the statistical, but that’s just how I like to watch sports. And I will say that more and more women are understanding the statistical relevance and the actuality of the downs and distance. And I just think oftentimes they’re overlooked and underestimated.”
Back to Shuster’s career, she said she’s always taken her work and her preparation seriously to offer the best possible product for audiences. That included her time in sideline reporting, including 2000-2002 reporter/anchor work for Fox Sports West, 2004-05 NBA sideline reporter work for TNT and NBATV, that aforementioned College Football on ABC work in 2004-05, and host/reporter work for USC’s Trojan Radio Network from 2003-09. There, she did a lot of pre-broadcast research on different types of injuries.
“I tried to make even injury reporting that much more in depth and learn so much more so that when I was called upon by Mike Tirico or whoever it was at ABC, I was able to give whatever information I could to make the broadcast better.”
And she unfortunately wound up with some personal injury experience, but wound up getting treatment from some prominent sports doctors.
“Also, shredding your knee and having the Lakers’ doctor redo it and then Dr. Neal ElAttrache redo it helps you tell stories about injuries, because you know what it feels like firsthand.”
Read on for more of Shuster’s thoughts on her career, including her time at Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Fox Sports Net West, and what she’s been doing with The Rich Eisen Show and now What The Football.
