Fox NFL Kickoff On-Air Crew Talk Chemistry & The Taylor Swift Effect

What's up, guys? Leslie Robbins here. Young Hollywood is on the Fox Lot in Los Angeles, about to take you behind the scenes of a Fox Sports show, a show that has been a staple of football coverage for over a decade. Welcome to Fox NFL Kickoff. Three, two, one, roll Randy up on Red. I'm on set watching you guys. It is like a locker room that we're not supposed to be in. You're having a blast in there.

Yeah, it's fun. I mean, credit for me, it's a credit to the people I'm around. It's credit to Charles, Carissa, and Peter. The chemistry that we have and being around those guys, they they all help me because I feed off them. It's it's my dream job and I I pinch myself. There's Hall of Fame players. I'm just a guy who likes studying stats and reading almanacs as a kid. So, to me, this is every dream I ever wanted and they the best part about it, they're all pretty cool.

I have a great group of guys that I get to work with every Sunday and just the relationship that we have off camera. They're my family, they're my brothers, they're my children sometimes when I have to keep them in line. So, so much of hopefully our on air chemistry comes from the fact that we all really like each other off air and I got really, really lucky that they respect me and they respect my position. So, sometimes when I have to tell them to zip it or we're moving on, they are amazing that way. So, they make my job very easy.

You know, this is a locker room, so we come in here and uh we have a great time together. Uh we we we have a great time with everyone here that's working. You see everyone on the floor. They throw the balls to us as well. So, we we just have a good time, man. We um we all have a good rapport, you know, with with each other. And so it just makes the show fun.

There's someone there's someone here. Yeah. Crashing our

Crashing. To my guy, Jewels. What do people not know watching the show?

I would say that Charles, he's a tough captain. That's the only secret I got. That's the only secret. That's the only secret.

And what's the secret to getting up at 4:00 AM then?

I do get it do a cold plunge every morning before I come do the the show. That I don't know if that's a secret.

Why, how?

At my house, I go, you know, I have a cold plunge and a sauna and you know, to wake up, to get you going. I just jump right up in that cold plunge and it's terrible and it sucks, but I feel great after.

I get up. I set my alarm at 4:30. Um, I set two. Get myself together, shower, the whole nine. Uh, we get in here and then we all meet, you know, our team and kind of talk about, a little run down of the show. Um, go, you know, try to get beautified, get your makeup and all that stuff, get dressed. And then we're out here on the set and kind of, you know, going down over the the run down of the show uh to get ready to make sure that our show is perfect.

Well, you come to the table or the anchor desk with quite a resume. I mean, your street cred alone, you've earned the spot.

I think what am I going into? 18 years I think I've been lucky enough to do this and I started in this building um in a very unorthodox way. I always knowing that I wanted to be a sports broadcaster, so I took any job that was available in this exact building, which happened to be in human resources. And if you know anything about me, I should not work in human resources. Um, but I learned production, I mean, this place has really raised me from the time I was a 24-year-old kid to my first job on air as a Rockies reporter, to then coming back and working at the best damn sports show and all of the different opportunities that I've been afforded in my life is because this place has allowed me to do that. And I'm like forever grateful.

So what do you miss most about being on the field with your teammates?

Uh, I miss competing. I I you know, I miss competing against another man. It's like some modern day gladiator stuff.

Do you get fulfilled talking about it then?

I do. I I get my team environment. I get my team fix, my football fix from this job. We get to have our locker room talk for everyone to watch. And that's like the one of the main things you miss the most when you when you retire is in between meetings when you're sitting there talking with your friend at the locker or, you know, in the cafeteria when you're eating break and bread with guys. That's when you really get to learn people. Executing and, you know, going out and showing my coaches that I understand exactly everything that they want me to go out and execute, doing that at a high level. It's something that I miss. Um, but I don't miss getting hit. So, even when I'm watching these guys and and I'm watching the game now, I I kind of sympathize for what they're going through, but hey, we get paid a lot of money to make it work.

Mentally, I want to go back on the field. My knees say way different in my shoulder. Like the body's done. And you can't just take two, three years off. We're older. Like you go out there on the soccer field and you do a thing with your kid and you're like, man, I still got it. And then you wake up the next day, you're like, oh, no, I don't. You know, it's just it's it's this is my new team.

Last time we spoke, you were on diaper duty. I mean, it's all different now. Now you're it's all everyone's all grown up.

Oh, yeah, now it's, you know, Taylor Swift concerts, Olivia Rodrigo songs. Uh, I mean, it's it's full kit and caboodle growing up right now.

I mean, I wasn't going to bring her up, but Taylor Swift has made football like hip and cool for the young girls now. Look at that.

100%. It's been honestly really cool because my daughter will come home and talk about the Chiefs and I go, Lily, we we don't like the Chiefs. But she goes, Taylor likes them. I'm like, all right. Well, yeah, we'll talk at least she's talking about football.

That guy, Tom Brady, he's a co-worker now. He's a co-worker now again.

Still teammate. He's a teammate. That's right.

Uh, how's he doing? You want to give him some.

I think he's killing it. Yeah. No. I I I'm I'm not giving no tips. No, he I think he's like he improves each week. And I I anticipated that at the very jump. Tom's not going to be the same guy in week one that he's going to be in 17 and you know for a fact he's working his tail off behind scenes too try to improve cuz that's what he was as a player. So I think it's awesome to get to hear his insight of the game, how the greatest of all time views a play, views, you know, a penalty or something like Yeah, it's it's been really it's a treat. It's a treat. I think he's killing it.

So all the girls thinking, wait, so I can just get any job in the entertainment business. You're like living proof it can happen.

Well, yeah, I just think that you have to be willing to do anything. Like don't just think you're going to go on air because you want to be on air. Like take all the I'm sure like you the way your

Yeah, it does not just happen.

Yeah, you got to be willing to do all the other jobs and I think in doing those other jobs, hopefully when that opportunity, if it ever arises, then it makes you more appreciative, but it also makes you like, okay, I'm going to make sure I know the audio guy's name, the camera guy's name, the because everyone is there to make you look better and to help you do your job. So don't ever just like show up thinking, you know, I'm talent. I hate the word talent. It drives me nuts. Um, because it's really a group effort and working in sports is the perfect thing for me because it is a team effort for everybody behind the camera, in front of the camera, and all the different opportunities that you get, hopefully leads you, you know, continuing down the path of more and, you know, bigger and better.

Uh and you're epic athlete, of course. Uh, you ever have pinch me moments?

Yeah, like today when, you know, you walk in the cafeteria, you see Derek Jeter, Big Papi, and Alex Rodriguez. I mean, I grew up watching those guys too. Uh, it's it's pretty cool to have that Venn diagram of athletes come together. You know, so it's been fun.

That was Aaron. Aaron. Who He he dabbed you up. He like Is that what's going

I don't know. I just This is what's happening. This Welcome to Fox. This I'm I'm actually never going to leave. Yeah, it's fun.