Emily Berman learned this week the perils, and the thrills, of being an NFL insider.
Berman is not an NFL insider, but a working mother of two in Philadelphia. Her husband, Zach Berman, is the NFL insider, covering the Philadelphia Eagles for PHLY.
While Zach was in Brazil this week for the Eagles’ season opener against the Green Bay Packers, however, Emily found herself ghostwriting her husband’s news posts for X. Brazil has banned X in that country, so NFL players, media and others visiting the country for the game had to resort to other methods to get their message out. Stories abounded of players’ and reporters’ significant others posting content for them back in the United States.
Emily Berman discovered something interesting about playing the role of NFL insider: it’s very competitive, but it’s also rewarding.
The Athletic‘s Dianna Russini reached out to Berman to hear her story. Berman said she had never tweeted before, and found herself learning the app, while also getting the kids ready for going back to school and handling other duties.
“Our process was he would text me “Tweet this … with the content and an image,” Berman said (via Russini). “The first time he sent me a report, I accidentally included “tweet this” so I had to clean that up, but I’ve learned.”
Berman dutifully tweeted her husband’s reports on @ZBerm. As she got more comfortable with X, she posted a few fun, family items.
Btw, we’re controlling Zach’s twitter account while he’s in Brazil. He might miss twitter more than he misses us! pic.twitter.com/xX5vIS5PEM
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) September 4, 2024
But Berman quickly learned the pitfalls of being an NFL insider, namely, breaking news stories can come down to a matter of minutes — or a minute, in one case.
“I’m really good about being close to my phone, and he sent me a text to put out a report, but I was a minute too late,” Berman said. “Jeff McLane @Jeff_McLane from the Philadelphia Inquirer beat us. Zach was annoyed, and I was annoyed. It was 1 minute!”
After Saquon’s explosive debut as an Eagle, I’ll still remember the Brazil game as Emily Berman ghost writing her husband’s twitter back in Philly so he could get the information out. (Some reporters were told they can’t do this, but others got permission)
I called her.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) September 7, 2024
At some point, Berman noticed other Eagles reporters’ wives were also ghostwriting posts, and she felt the thrill of competition all NFL insiders get when they’re chasing a story.
“I noticed E.J. Smith @EJSmith94 from the Enquirer had his wife posting after I did and I gotta to tell you, I felt the competition,” Berman said.
