Colleen Wolfe

how are you? David? First off, don't be giving my government a name. That's your name, Paul, But I ain't ask you to reveal it again. There you go with that that word. I don't. I don't call you Stevan. I almost called you. It's almost said it with the hards. But but Steve, v if you're gonna say my birth name, say van, I don't, I don't. I don't see. I ain't ask you to tell my whole name. So if you're gonna say my whole name, share right almost again?

Hard are almost Steven Smith Senior? Now we got that out there, David. Okay, Gerard Jim Rome. Right now, the question is who's Jim? Who's Chris? Tell you tell me? I'm not sure? Okay, I like it AnyWho? Um Man, I've been able to uh watch you on Thursday night. You always doing a great job as usual. I think that. Why do I sense a little bit of glad handed you slide the hand? Are you over here? And do I look like David Blaine? I'm not slight of hand since one of my magician Yeah, so can I give

you your flowers? Why you why you can still smell? I'm not when you're You're tough one to please today, trying to get domistic Paul understatement. So watching you on Thursday nights doing a great job as usual? Question, thank you, sir. Question for you, is there a comparison you have between live TV and game day? That's a good question. I mean, no, preparation is still preparation. It's slightly different. Obviously, you get a paper cut on TV. You can get your leg

broken on game day. Slide different, right, a little bit, a little bit. You gotta let's see you know Disney band aid anesthesian surgery, right, So it's a huge difference with the injuries, but it's still preparation, a lot of a lot of watching films, sometimes too much film. You can also watch I can get in the data with so much film and and numbers and facts that you start to lose the perspective and your your mind is

going faster than your mind. You're trying to process, and you get numbers and start to you start to put names together with the wrong teams and and numbers with this and point seven and point this, you know, a great examples talking about So we're talking about Tom Brady the last couple of weeks and talking about, um, what's going on with him in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And and I said that one of the things that he's had to do, which is he's done for the last

fifteen plus years, is in New England. His philosophy was got look short first and allow the deep passes to develop as an outlet, which is totally different. But that's Tom Brady. That's why he's the goat. But now he's in Tampa Bay and Bruce Arians kind of offense is look deep first, short second. And just to give you this illustration is Tom Brady's last year in twenty nineteen for the New England Patriots. I believe it was roughly forty one forty four thousand, one hundred and fifty three

yards yards per temp. I don't have the I can look at my phone and tell you, but yards per temp is an average of six point seven or six point six yards per attempt. Last year under Jameis Winston Bruce arians offense with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers two thousand, nineteen, five thousand, one hundred and something yards, so a little bit below to hundred yards average yards per temp eight point six, huge difference, right, just to kind of show it.

Now in twenty Tampa Bay Buccaneers under under Tom Brady right now, seven point four yards per temp. Still below, right, but eat under pressure Tom Brady is average, and I believe a little bit above five yards per temp under pressure barely seven seven point seven yards per temp. So obviously not being pressured, not having you know, looking down there, you can stare things down let long developing play. So basically, those are some of the things that I experience and

deal with in the TV world now as a football player. Hey, bro, they're running this coverage. I don't care if they listened. Throw me the ball that that that's the difference in game day. In playing football, you allow the numbers to give you an understandable what plays the run. In TV, the numbers give you an understanding of why a team is good, indifferent, or can't get out of their own way. So you gave me a good correlation between game day

and live TV. Has there been a time when you're on live TV where maybe you had an instance where you you kind of wanted that play back. Well, maybe you made a mistake and you kind of wanted that play back. Man, live TV sucks because sometimes you just get stuck or you go over on the segment and you have a good point and you have to skip over that segment because now we don't have that time. So generally an hour show is really only forty seven

forty six minutes of content because you have commercials. You gotta pay for the advertisement. So um, But there's also a bit some times on live TV. Brother been on that struggle bus, struggle moment I got I'm an listen. Sometimes you just you're having a bad day. Through the magic I can't say the magic of television, through the

magic of podcasting. We've got a clip queued up. I guess, so maybe one I guess potentially you want to have bad Let's let's let's see if we can get our production folks to run that back the production because they haven't been the greatest of franchise uh since obviously damn damn remi uh Dan, I can't even speak right now. The Marino at the end is what does it for me? I was stuck. It was late that night though I'm I'm gonna shoot you some bail. It was late that night,

but that was like one o'clock in the morning. It seemed like it was really late. It doesn't matter. I was stuck. I get it. I mean, do you know about Dann Marino's name? Dan Marino? Now now I got But here's the sad poy. Just laugh, bro, She's like two days. I was still jacked up two days after that. But I was like, I'm just it's when you want back though, right, want back? Bro? I didn't cry, but

you run it back. I run it back in my mind, just like like you had to drop pass like I mean being at like, man, I wish I had that. You just you just screwed up my day. You were at the end of the day. Are you hard? Are again hard? Are again? Enough? Enough with this dollars? But seriously, it's it was. I was jacked up for about two days. I was I screwed that one up. Yah yeah you got you got, you got more positives than than you got or whatever. Man. Hey, so tough crowd. Yeah, Hey,

who we got next? Alright? Coming up on the Cut to It podcast, We've got Colleen Wolf, a host for NFL Network who works Thursday Night football, a number of NFL Network shows. A native of Philly and just all around friend of the podcast, Colleen Wolf. Cut to the podcast. Alright, So our first segment, Colleen is called get Iced Up the Random Ice break with questions. They're selected at random by Smitthie. So you know how he is. I don't know what's coming. I don't know if you follow up.

And we've got some creative stuff for you this time. So Smithie go ahead and give Colleen the first one. Buckle up, Buttercup, here it goes. Oh my god. Alright, not be nervous, but just maybe towards the right now. You are if you had the power to shrink anything and take it with you, what would it be And why, Um, it would be just one thing? Yes, one thing? All right? Can I can I reanimate it after I get to where I go? Can I like, if you shrink something, and then can I unshrink it after I get to

wherever I'm going? Judges, what do I? Judges saying you're good? Thumbs up? Okay, cool, cool, cool, coole. I'm putting John in my pocket. That was all that was really inappropriate for John? Yeah, I know. Well then I was like, I was gonna say my dogs, but then if I don't, if I bring my dogs and that John and that's the thing, and so I wanted to but I wanted to make sure I could unshrink John after I shrank him.

So yeah, that's the answer. Okay, I will text John after to let him he's getting shrunk and playing in your pocket? Is her husband? Everyone? So relax, all right? What is your favorite Christmas present you've ever received? Oh?

I got a couple of years ago. There's this picture at NFL Films of I think it's Betty Grable, um when she was like a young actress with a leather football helmet on and a football and it's like this glam shot and I saw it at NFL Films and I fell in love with it and somehow John figured out, like what where to get it and surprise me with it? And I love it. I haven't frame in my office. That's crazy. I just got an email about do we still any photos? Um, yes, I think I think John

definitely case. That's really cool. That's great John. John is a good dude. Man. This homework. Have you seen the show Neked and Afraid? No, it sounds terrible, Okay, so on it's so on Discovery. Um, Discovery Chi was actually a great show. So we're gonna kind of play that. But it's called Clothes and Afraid because we have morals. Yes, you uh, you can only have three items to bring with you to an uninhabited place. What are your three items?

And before you answer, would you like me to tell you a mine are to kind of help you because you don't seem like you watched the show, so it's you need negative phrase. Basically, they take people and they just they disrobe, they don't have any clothes, and then they give them survival kick and they like they get you get one item, you get one or two items and that's it. So mine is my list is I get a firestarter, a tent, and a huge knife slash machete?

Oh okay, those are good. Um, now you cannot use any of those three. Go I got a knife. A knife is a great idea. All right, fine, I'm gonna because now you can't because you have anything that has a sharp edge. Just yes, you can, just not a knife or machete, because that's mine. We're not sharing a box cutter. Okay, box cutter. How many busts are gonna be at an uninhibited island? You on an island by yourself? Who knows? Yeah, alright, fine box cutter. I'm gonna go

with that. How about matches? Is that too close to fire starter? No? That's that's that's a match. Okay. The key is going to be the like the kindle or whatever. And you gotta watch. And I'm bringing a raft with rose attached to it so I can get the hell out of there. So dead, so you are, it doesn't matter. I'm get to ask the questions. Listen, I get the win. I get the win either way. So taking away the box cutter and I'm replacing it with a spear. There

we go. You she just earned her shelf. Three extra days of life right there, like a six point because she's gonna die. She she gave drink salt water. She has no pot to cook it in, so all that stuff you learn when you're watching this show. Yeah, but I was watching Castaway the other day. So can I just get some moisture from coconuts? Yes? Because because you will never see anybody. But yet she's tanning, right exactly. I'm give me some channing oil and a volleyball for

a friend. Okay, all right, all right, a few more. When was the last time you gotten pulled over the speeding. I've never gotten pulled over for speeding, but I have gotten pulled over for not putting my turn signal on early enough to change lanes in the middle of the night when I was going to a radio station job that I had and it was very very shady. M hmm. Yeah, you're in Philly. Huh. Yeah, but like, how is that

even a thing? There was nobody on the road dead of night, and I got pulled over for not turning on my turn signal because early enough. Yeah, you were in Philly, correct, And you're probably in a sketch neighborhood, right, A little bit a little bit. Okay, you are not African American, but my windows were tinted and they thought you were trying to get dope. That's what the score. This is where if Philly comes out of her Cardi b or Megan Stallion. You know, I feel like my

allegiances have wavered. Uh. And I really really love Megan Stallion like I love her And I don't know what's going on with Cardi and Offset lately. I haven't been like two into the drama. But you know, I did listen to a couple of Cardi songs yesterday, But when I was listening to Whop, I was really into the Megan Stallion part. I don't know that I qualified. I'm talking about the Yeah, I'm not quiet. All right, Let's let's get down to who Colleen is, what, what is her?

What's what is she made of? What makes her tick? So here we go. Where are you from in a place you call your hometown? Well, shoot, that's Philly. Now. I grew up outside of Philly, um like forty five minutes outside, but went to school in Philly, have a house in Philly. Still, Philly is my city. I love everything about it, the good, the bad, all of it. It's such an awesome place, and the people are so very real there. They will tell you exactly what they're

thinking immediately, and they're all lunatics and mostly related to me. Yeah. So, how did your hometown impact and shape your perspective on how you see the world today. Well, I think Philly is really kind of it's it's a rough around the edges kind of city. It's very blue collar. It's very hard working, and that was something that was like instilled in me from the minute I was able to get a job. I got a job and I was working, and I was working multiple jobs at any time, like

usually usually I had three jobs at a time. And then that stopped when I went to college and I just had one job. But it was you know, it's such a it's a city where everybody really really has to scrap for to get ahead and for everything that they want. And I think that that has like really shaped the way that I kind of look at things. I over prepare for every single assignment, no matter what the heck it is, and that is just something like

my work ethic was built. I think from Philly. You it's funny as you over prepare, but you also worry yourself much. Yeah, and you think that is obviously it is a great quality of you. But how do you handle relaxing? Yeah, so that's a great question. And I think a lot of the the worrying, um and the sort of anxiety that I get around work is because I I just don't want to, like, I'm so competitive and I'm so competitive with myself and I don't want

to let anybody down. That's like with me, that like so any I don't want to ever be the weakest link basically on any of these shows. I just want us to, you know, do as as best we can. And so like I feel like I spend so much time preparing and worrying, and then once the show starts, I can actually relax. And then once the show is finished,

I can really relax. And that is like my sweet spot. Basically, when everything is done and I get through it and we do it and it's good and it's great, then I can just chill and then I can just kind of like coast, have a beer, like watch a show and just zone out it. I can relate to that because it's also you have the internal standard to write like you you don't want to let know write it down.

And I definitely feel that, but it's you also don't want to let yourself down, right, Yeah, And and like any time that you know you've been in a spot where you realize, oh my god, like I should have known that, I, you know, I should have prepared for that. That sort of I think changes you a little bit. And you know, I think for me, I what I need to do is sort of like dial it back sometimes, but it's just like so programmed within me that like that's just part of my fabric. So growing up, how

did you believe that the world worked? God, I didn't know anything when I was growing up about the world. I was like oblivious to a lot of things. Uh. I was very much in a bubble growing up. Um, And I don't think I realized a lot of things until I went to college and moved into the city and I met different people that grew up in different circumstances and heard their stories, and it's all really started

to click and hit me. And I think kind of looking back on that now, I realized how isolated I was growing up and how much I didn't know, and how much I've really changed and grown as a person since then, how can you say you are isolated? But yet when you look at Philly, like here in Philly,

which is Philly is Pennsylvania. Then you've got New Jersey, which depends kind of like Charlotte, which is depending on which route you take, you could be in Philly or be in New Jersey with the a few left turns and about a mile you know, a mile each way. So how could you really be isolated in such a city that has so much diversity? I know, it's it is. It's interesting because yeah, you can get you get to like a ton of different states in no time in

the Northeast. Um, but where I grew up, I grew up in a suburb that was like mostly white, and it was I feel like the suburbs around Philly are are pretty isolated and within their own bubbles. And even when I go go back home now and I see all of my friends who haven't left, and I talked to them and I hear some of the things they say, it it hits a lot different now. It changed my world view when I went to college and and met a lot of different people from different backgrounds, and it

was an amazing experience and it was life changing. We have to take a break and the morning thing. We gotta pay some bills. H you got chicks. I love cut to It and I love it even more when you download us and subscribe, and you can follow us on social media too, smittee Where where at this at? Cut to It on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook? Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr?

What about online? And you can follow UIs at cut to It podcast dot com where you can buy merch and you can subscribe to this wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my answers questions. Um, yeah, I got all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother. Cut to a podcast dot com. What did you daydream about when you're in high school? Well, when I was in high school, I was a figure skater, so I got it out of her. I knew I could get it.

I't like to talk about it. No, Yeah. I started skating when I was like six years old, and I loved it and I got really good at it, and so I was I skated before school. Like I would get up at four am and go to the rink and turn the lights on and like It was great because if you were the first one at the rink, then you could choose the music, and that meant like TLC was on, can you imagine this little skinny little girl.

I skate into tchecial and four in Philly and like, mind you, I like cut all my hair off too, so it's like short pixie cut. And my coaches were like, you are way too much of a tomboy. So they sent me to ballet classes because they were like, you

need to learn how to be graceful. They were like, you have the athleticism, you can lend these jumps like you have all like the power, because I was like all I was all legs when I was skating, like I was all I want to do was skate faster than everybody, jump high or spin better, just like I mean, I was fueled by anybody else that was on the ice. I was gonna outskape them. And then my coaches were like, yeah,

all that's great, but you're like presentation sucks. So they were like, here's a bunch of dresses, and of course, like that triggered me because I was like, why don't have to wear dresses? And they sent me to a ballet teacher. Um, and I had to take all these like serious ballet classes for years, and you know it ended up. I guess I I got more graceful, who knows. But when I was in high school, that's all, that's

all I thought about. Like I would skate before school, after school competitions, Like I didn't take jim class because I got credits for going ice skating. Yeah, it was I was really in it. Did you enjoy any other sports? I ran track for a little bit my freshman year of high school, but then it was it was kind of in conflict with skating, and my parents were spending a lot of money. I had a choreographer at one point. Like it was so I mean, it's ridiculous when you

look back on it. But like the price of skates, you have to get them custom made, you have to buy the boot and the blades separately. You have to take them to special places to get sharpened. I mean, it is a lot. And my parents would take me at four o'clock in the morning and sit at the rink in the freezing cold and just watch me skate around. So all right, let's let's skip over that part this week. Just too much. I know, I know, I was very intense.

Anything that I do, I just lock in. Let's let's talk about your TV career because a lot of people like I get the opportunity to work. I would say, I don't know that everyone knows that you guys are co workers only. Yeah, yeah, so we're coword. This is Colleen Wolf. She's the host NFL Networks Rising Star. She can host anything she and she loves sports. She knows about sports. But you didn't always have the confidence that you appear that you have the confidence now and see

I used that keyword appear. She does a lot of eternal dialogue that we're gonna get into later. But um, how did you get your shot in broadcasting? And when I say broadcasting, I'm not talking about TV. I'm just talking about in the business and the business of broadcasting. Well, this was like something that I had no idea I even wanted to do. This was not like, oh my god, I want to grow up and be on TV like that was not really uh the thing like I was going to go to art school. You're gonna go to

art I was gonna say, what what was it? Then? Yeah? I was like so okay, So I was into figure skating and art. I was really cool, and she wears contact, so I'm pretty sure she had. I'm just I'm just saying she She says she was really cool art and ice skating, so I'm like, you know, she and she's super smart, so I'm just going out there. She may she makes being intelligent cool. Well, thank you, like listen nerds around the world. So I loved art and I

was like, okay, I applied to all art schools. I was going to go to school for either illustration, graphic design or art education, and then, like last minute, I decided to go to Drexel in Philly, and I hadn't applied to their art school directly, so they were like, okay, you can't. You can't take any art classes this year. Just do something, you know as take all of your electives this year, reapply, and then you can start your art program next year. So they were like, just take

something like communications. So I was like okay, great, and I was like this is really easy and kind of fun. At Drexel, you have to you go to school for six months and then you work for six months, and you do that three times, so you get to have three internships like three co ops, and so when it came time for me to do my first one, because I stuck with communications, I was like, this is pretty great.

I'll just do some art stuff on the side. So it came time to do my first uh co op and through Drexel, all they really offered were really lame ones like you know, working in pharmaceutical eight like marketing spots and maybe you can get a job at like QBC or you know, home shopping network. And I was like,

all right, I don't really want to do that. But my dad, um it doesn't really follow sports, has never really been a big sports fan, but he was friends with one of the women that was on a sports talk radio show and Phil Radio on in the morning, and so I got an internship. They're just randomly and it was like that sounds like a fun thing to do when you're in college, work at a radio station. So I went and I walked in and my first day I saw these four people that were on the

morning show and their chemistry that they had together. They were having so much fun, they were talking about sports, they were like ripping on each other and it was such a great atmosphere and I was like, this is exactly what I want to do. How do I do this? What? What do I? What? Is of course exactly we're getting molded for it. Yeah, how it started, How it's going exactly Like you had a meme and you didn't even

know it. So it sounds like you fell in love with maybe the atmosphere, but you you largely it sounds like you didn't have the most interest in team sports. It was you fell in love with that atmosphere being at that sport station. I loved the atmosphere and I was competitive, but I hadn't like unlocked that yet in terms of like other team sports, Like I played softball growing up, and like I said, I tried to run track for a little bit, but that's not like a

team sport. And it wasn't until when I was in high school and the Sixers were in the playoffs with Iverson and like to Kimbay Mtumbo and Eric Snow and randomly I I stumbled upon one of the games and I was like I started watching the game and I was like, oh my god, this is oh what is that big No no exactly, and I was like, oh my god, wait a second, and I started listening to the announcers and it was like in the middle of the series and I'm watching and I had no idea

what was going on, but I I was so intrigued by it. And in a bubble in Philly. My family was not into sports like we did not It was not a house where there was football on on Sundays like it just that wasn't how I grew up, which is wild now that I think about it. I every time I got like, you know, on Thanksgiving or like yeah, on Thanksgiving, I'll go home and I feel like, you know where, why is it the TV on? There are games happening. What are we doing here? Like everybody get

it together? So so when I started watching, you know, more games and getting into more sports, and once I started working at the radio station, I was like, oh my god, I gotta I gotta really like figure this out.

So I this is like super embarrassing. Um. I went out and I got Basketball for Dummies, Football for Dummies for Dummies, and I read all four books and it took notes, and I every single day would read the sports section on like Philly dot Com, which was like the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia inquir and and I just like, little by little, I started and I would watch the games, and I started and listen to sports

talk radio station all the time. Once again, I just like locked in and became obsessed with trying to figure it out and obsessed with kind of like winning almost at it. And it's like, how do I become the best at this? And and I just it was it was ridiculous. Like then I was in college and I was doing this uh internship where I was waking up at four o'clock in the morning to go and do the morning show. And you know, thinking back on it now, it's like it was almost like it replaced figure skating

for me. It was something I needed and I latched onto it just like I did skating, and I just I made it every part of my life. And then I just from there as I as I started to understand it more and more and talk to more people about it and ask questions and learn and listen, I I started to finally kind of break in and I got a lot of behind the scenes and then that sort of led to the stuff on camera. What were some of your duties in the beginning that you had

to do? Oh my god, like you know you're you're getting coffee for people. I remember so Hugh Douglas was on the show a couple of days a week and he was like in the building where the studio was. There was in the garage like a car wash on one of the levels, and he was like, hey can you take these, like during one of the breaks, Hey can you take this down to the guys for my car?

And I was like, sure, no problem, and like I thought, he meant like driving his car down and it was a Bentley and I don't even know if he knows the story. I got in it and I was freaking out, Like I it didn't occur to me that I could just like drop the keys off to the guys down there and they would like drive it down. And I get in and I was like, oh my god, how

do I work this machine? What is this? And it was so and I remember it turns in the in the parking garage to like get down to the next level, and I was sweating so much. And then and I remember the steering wheel just being so heavy, like it was so hard to turn because like I just I always had total piece of crap cars growing up, right, I got back like five minutes later, and everybody was like,

where the hell have you been. In the beginning, when I first latched on in that morning show, they would have me go out and do ridiculous bits and then call into the station with it. So one of the ones I remember the most is uh, when Teo was having his contract dispute when he was in Philadelphia, they had me go to this city corner um. It was a fifth and Market, so it's like a busy intersection

in Philly. And this was when Teo was like, I don't know, I don't have enough money to feed my family, and so they had me set up this giant They brought down this big, giant plastic kind of container, and I set up a collection for Teo. And I had a like salvatition army bell, I wore sandwich board, I had like a megaphone, and I basically people were coming by all morning long. They were throwing their lunches in, they were throwing like pens in for him to sign

a new contract. Somebody threw some type of like lupercint in there for him. There was a lot of really interesting things that ended up popping up in the collection for Teo. I've been an intern before, but I never ever had to do something that I think that's worse than the um I always using this as an example. It is probably bad, but it's my podcast with um SO around um Tex season Liberty Liberty people. Yeah, when they got the statue of Liberty guy who generally looks

the same complexion. There's some stuff right why pretty say place does it varies? And always when we drive by looking at my kids, I say, you don't pay attention to school. That's what your ass is gonna be doing. Ride there? Now? When you getting paid? Was this for college credits? So for me it was, oh my god, none of those stuff. I had none of the that's

that's all unpaid, all unpaid work. The picker is the liberty task guy gets paid like when you are unpaid because I worked for the Charlotte Hornets, I was unpaid intern. So they have you do all that crap. You gotta go get coffee for somebody, you gotta contact, you gotta

go run stas to the coach and staff. But what she's having to do like having to get embarrassed listen, I mean, but it's worth it telling you didn't even notice g used to work for the Hornets, and his job for a little bit he would give at halftime the stats, not to Bernie Bickerstaff, not to Bickerstaff's son j B. Not to JB. Bickerstaff, not to Brown. He got to give Michael Jordan's the statue. So his life wasn't that I had nothing like right, but she was.

She was basically dressed up like a Salvation Army kid. Yeah. They had me do the most ridiculous stuff and I was like whatever, I don't care, Like, if it's gonna if we're gonna get a laugh out of it, let's go. Let's do it. But it obviously it puts something in you and the grains something need to where you're like,

you know what, I want more of this. Yeah, it became addictive, And I think it's because that adrenaline that you get when you're on the air, when you're doing a show, Like for me at that point was a

you know, college kid. I was calling into the radio station but they were on you know, I was on the station that you know, my friends were listening to and just being in that moment, the rush that you get, it's such a high, and I think That's what I loved so much about it was the high from it, and it was like it was something that you know once you're once you're done the show, it kind of sticks around too. So it's just like a really euphoric feeling and I love it. I think it's about that time,

just so we take a little breathing. Good, do it good. It's getting down to do it good. Hey Gerard, why did you get that T shirt? You mean? Oh yes, I got it from cut to a podcast dot com where we have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys at seven oh four shot. But yeah, you can go on, buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. Let's talk ball, and you're and talking ball. We can talk about football, but also talking really about

your area of expertise. And I work with you and I know how much you grind. So let's get this out of the way, because you know I get on you about the You are a die hard Eagles fan. So when I say a die hard Philadelphia Eagles fan, I want to know what's the dress, what's the food, the why, the what the winds? Now? Walk us through it because I'm gonna air with you. You can't really let your hair down. And like when the when the Eagles won the Super Bowl, then it wasn't a question.

It was like, oh, who's going to do it? Yeah he was not going here can we rain her in? She was at she was at the super Bowl like her Husbin was on the team, but she was working that works. She was over there bopping and dancing to the music. She she was in like the they had her into, like the the scaffolding, like like she's at a golf tournament, right, she's supposed to be whispering. She loud talking, Oh yeah, oh yeah, that was so awesome. She was acting a stone cold fool. So she she

is a straight up die hardy. She's supposed to look at all thirty two teams not not a little extra. She she got two loaves, John, her husband, and Philly. Everything he goes baccy. Yeah, but you know what that also means, like they get extra scrutiny to like just like it's like I love them like my kids. They really don't keep me up at night, which is great, but I will say, like you know when they they also get my eye as well, like they will if if they're not doing well, they're going to hear it

from me. And that just means in my own house when I'm watching the game. So you and Steve worked for NFL Network. I'd love for you to paint the picture. What how how hard is it working in TV? It's you know what, people, because you always have people on twit titter being people on Twitter, and everyone loves to nitpick every single little thing that goes wrong, and nobody truly knows what is happening behind the scenes and how much is just like a tight a tight rope act.

And even just for instance, in one of the recent shows we did, at one point, everybody in the entire production lost all capability to hear each other, and that includes like all of the product, like the producers, the directors, me as the host, all of the guys, like nobody could hear anything. And at that point it's like, what are you supposed to do? So there's just a lot of moving parts. So when something like that happens and things do go left, what do you for both of y'all?

What do you have to do? It's yeah, for a soul for the analysts, because Colleen is the host and being a host, it's kind of like being a general manager, which is a general manager in football terms. Just like being a fireman. You just put out fires, you don't

create them. You are just she's teeing us up. She's got to be able to pivot, like she gotta be able to pivot when somebody like me says something that it's like, bro, you didn't go over that, because a lot of times we save we'll save some stuff when I say a pre production to what happens. A lot of times in the pre production you don't hear the authentic conversation because because you get a natural reaction. And then also too, and she knows I've said some stuff.

At times she's like ohision, and then she'll say something or like well she have to funagle it where her teleprompter goes out. When your studio, yeah, you know what it's it's like it's a lot of you have to cover up any any mistakes that happen, and like a

lot of things happen when you're live. Sometimes producers will like when they when they hit your button to like get in your I F. Basically when they you know, when they talk to you, sometimes that button gets stuck and then you here in your ear the producer yelling to like the director to do this, and all of the checking in with the reporters and everything else, and you're still trying to complete a sentence and figure out like if it makes sense while hearing all of these

other conversations at the same time, and you know it's it's it's a lot that's happening. It's a lot of input. It's not just makeup, lipstick and and and chapstick. It requires a lot of film watching, and Klie writes her own script for for a lot of the stuff that she does, so she does a lot of things that a lot of people it is just not showing up and look pretty a smile. So what is the biggest misconception of working on TV or even something that you

didn't mention. I think that's I think that is the that's it right there. I mean that we just show up and all we do is put on makeup and then read off of a teleprompter um and just regurgitate

stuff that producers tell us in our ear. And like, let me just be clear, there there is not somebody that is sitting there feeding us information because they have a lot of stuff that they are doing, and that is like the least of their concerns, and they're trying to keep the show on track, and we need to be able to respond like normal human beings and have a conversation and be prepared and know the subject matter and be able to pivot when there is breaking news.

And a lot of the times I write scripts, but I don't totally love to be scripted. I like to be off the cuff. I like to add lib a lot more. And so during Quarantine, when we were doing all of the shows from home, like I had so many people tweet me and be like, oh, anybody can just sit there with a teleprompter, and it's like, hey, buddy, I don't have one at my house. Like all of this is like off the top of my head, and

that requires a lot of work. And I think a lot of times I feel like when I'm preparing for games and shows, I almost feel like I'm back in college again because it just feels like there's so much work goes into it and I'm studying and I feel like I never left school because it changes every couple of days and you have to refresh and after every game, there's new storylines and you have to get back in.

There's never a break during the season. It is a grind and it goes fast, but you've gotta you've gotta keep up because if you don't, you will just get swallowed alive. Today I was on another podcast and I was talking to a female but one was interesting. When I was doing this podcast on women in in in fashion, the woman said that there's not a lot of mental wars or people that she felt comfortable with to be

able to kind of seek out help. So what I'm asking you, Colleen, is in the war in the job you're in, how much collaboration do female host or female in general working in the sports area rely support each other on a day to daily basis. I think it's changed, um, and it is changing. Okay, hold on, hold on, is changing? So rewind that too. If it's changing, that must mean obviously you're gonna say it's changing for the good. Then what was it before before you start to paint this

rosie pitch or give me to give me the real real? Now? Yeah, well there there's You know, there wasn't a ton of us when I first started, and at least like in the places where I worked. You know, if I'm in sports, I'm I might be I might only be the I might be the only woman sort of in the room a lot of times, so when there was another woman, it would be it wasn't like friendly or cordial. A lot of times it was kind of a competitive type thing.

And I think it's sort of set up that way and a lot of instances because you there are so few positions, and there are so few positions in general, and then so few positions for women, and you know, when you're when you're competing with the people that you're working with, it kind of creates this really weird dynamic. And as I've been in the business and as I've gotten more comfortable and confident in my position, um and, I think that things in the world have changed a

little bit more. I think that women in general are becoming more supportive of each other than than they were previously, at least I have experienced that. Um So, I think that now it seems like there's more, Hey, there's strengthen us working together rather than us working against each other, and like, look what we can do or if we bring all of like all of our supporters, you know and and and people that follow us together and we could create something even better. Um. But yeah, when I

first started, there was very few female mentors. I really didn't have any. But I do remember when I first got when I first walked into the Eagles locker room, um, my first time in the locker room ever. There was one uh woman in there who she was awesome and she worked for one of the newspapers at the time

in town. And she pulled me aside and she was like, look, if you're going to be in here like this is this is what I'll tell you to like to help you kind of watch your back and and she was like told me the told me the different players too that are more prickly, told me, like, you know who who I should deal with like pr wise, Like which guys are going to be less creepy than other guys and kind of gave me laid the groundwork for me um and kind of helped me steer clear of potential

obstacles and pitfalls and stuff. And that meant so much to me, just that one conversation, but there weren't a lot of them. Are calling a last segment that we'll wrap up with. It's called the Deep Three. And so what we'll do is we'll ask you three questions that basically beyond who you are within your industry, getting to know who Colleen Wolfie is. So se me to give

you the first question. If you can write a letter to younger Colleen right now, you can go backwards and you can prepare her for this moment, what would you write? And I would tell her to relax, tell her to stop stressing out about all of these small things because they don't matter. They're not going to matter. There's going to be way bigger things that you're going to have to deal with and have fun now and live it

up and just be yourself. There were so many times when I first started that I was trying to be something because you get told by supervisors and managers and consultants, and you know, everybody is trying to get their opinion in and they want you to be a certain way. They want you to look a certain way, sound a certain way, talk a certain way, say certain things, and ultimately you just gotta be you. And that is I mean, I I don't know how to be anything else but me.

And the more that I was able to get comfortable in my own skin and be comfortable being uncomfortable. Then that's when I kind of found success. Prety good right there. Now that you've navigated through your career, how will you make it easier for women coming up underneath you to rise? Well? I talked to a lot of I talked to a

lot of girls that are, you know, in college. Now I get a lot of people that reach out to me on Twitter and Instagram, And it is a great question because there's no like, there's no great way to sort of bring people up, Like if I had some type of mentor program, that would be the goal for me to help other women break in because normally I

just I take a look at their stuff. They're they're reels, some of their clips, and I give them some notes and I try and set them up with meetings at different places or agents things like that, just just little things. But ultimately, it is such a it's such a fickle business.

And the thing that the thing that's the most frustrating about this business is it's not a meritocracy, and it's really subjective and it really depends a lot on right place, right time, who the people in charge are, what they like, and if they like you, and there's so much turnover that happens to so things change so quickly, and so I think it it's it is a really difficult industry, and I think more than anything else, what women need is just support. You and John both working in sports world.

What impact do you want to have? Wants you to are sitting on the porch with the dogs somewhere for now, how would that conversation go looking back? Well, I just I want to be able to look back on everything that I did, and I want to be able to feel like we we made people laugh, we made people feel better like this, there's so there's so much that's negative,

especially right now. I think in the world that if if we're able to kind of help people at all, just brighten their day even a little bit, I feel like that to me is a huge, a huge impact. Like I I there have been people that you reach out to me and and say that certain certain things,

certain shows have like helped them. I mean, I do a podcast another podcast around the NFL um at work, and one of the guys right now on it is going through cancer, Chris Westling, and he's talked very openly about his battle and the impact that he's had on people listening is just been and you can't even put it into words. And I think if you're able to affect like even one or two people in your life, then you've done You've done your job. Here, Colleen talks

about how she basically fell into sports media. Yeah, you have a much different journey. You played in the NFL for a number of years. How did you end up working now with NFL Networks? I fell into it too, is I was approached by a guy named Taylor's Arzer here in Charlotte, North Carolina. He asked me to come in on in the in the studio w f n Z, and so I started doing that and I was like, hey, let me take you internships. So trying to work the boards a little bit, and then I was getting on

air for like ten or fifteen minutes. Then I started coming in once a once a month. Then he had a an agent that he referred me to, so I went with them, talked to him, and then they worked a deal and I started working for XM Radio NFL channel. Did that once a week from like seven am to ten and then I was um went to Baltimore and all of a sudden, Um, Mike and Mike asked me

to come in. I had a contract with them. I was doing eight appearances on the Monday after a game, so I would fly to Bristol and do it, do the morning show. And then I got some great advice from Sage Still Um, she's female anchor for ESPN. Awesome, she's cool as a fan. Um, she's much cooler than her big brother Chad. Still with the with the Baltimore Ravens. But um, she was like, look, figure out what you want to do. If this is what you want to do. And I didn't think this is what I wanted to do,

but I was getting the opportunities to do it. She says, So this is what you do. Go and most guys when they come on, they just really show up for that little segment. She was like, no, don't do that. Tell them you want to be a part of the whole production or at least observed. So don't go in just for your segment. Because if you have a show that's on from six am to eleven and you come in at the eight thirty nine o'clock hour, they've been blown and going for a long time. What time do

they show up? What time, what's the process of production meeting, what is this? What is that? And it made so much sense. We end up being on the phone for about forty five minutes and she told me what to do, how to do it, and then you know, if you are one built for this business, do you want to do it? And I really enjoyed it because it had a process. It has something that coming out of a

process field job, which is football. You show up on you play on Sunday, but you show up on Monday, you get some weights or treatment, Tuesday's off, Wednesday first first, first and second down, Thursday third, third down and long and fringe, Friday's red zone, Saturday's walked through, Sundays the game right and so just not having that process anymore. Retirement. So I went through that and interview with CBS NFL. Uh, I was actually you want here a dirty secret, do tail?

Do tail? So I was interviewing with Fox Sports with Undisputed and all that stuff. So I was interviewing with them, but I had a lunch hour and a half that we slid into a restaurant down in um down. Where

was it down in Holly? Uh? I think it was a Hollywood area of Cover City area and had lunch with the hiring guys with NFL Network, so he was used a highly contested free agent had But later I had dinner with Fox Sports, but I was doing an interview with Fox Sports who was offering me, and then I had an interview with NFL Network and ended up in They interviewed me, but I ended up interviewing them, and so what got me the job was they said, hey, um, what do you think. I said, well, I know you

guys don't have a presence on the East coast. Let me be your presence on the East Coast. I'm not gonna come to l A on a consistent basis. But what I will do is every major event I'll be there, Combine wanted training camp, I'll do it, super Bowl there, intersit down interviews. But I'm not coming to l A on the consistent basis. I don't want to do that Sunday show because I got a family. Blah blah blah.

I said, really, next day, you know, had dinner. Crazy part is Fox Sports pay for my flight, play for my whole til you dirty dog and basically got me the job or NFL Network. Now, I interviewed with Fox UM as well. They wanted me to do the other show that Sunday morning, but again that's l A. But it was cool and interview with ESPN a little bit, but they had some things going on internally, they were shaping and changing up and they were trying to figure

out Um. They didn't really have a place for me UM, so that didn't work out. And and that's how I got with NFL Network. That's how I got That's how I got the job. I got some great um advice from family friends, and that's how I got my job. So it was it was really started at a local radio station and man moved up. So without w F and Z and Taylor's oarsla so UM, I would have

never got I would never be a media guy. So both of y'all small humble beginnings radio stations and then putting the grind in and then look where you just fall into place. That's dope, man, that's a dope. There's dope, just a long, long journey. It's not well tracked. It's not the well traveled round and and it like we said before, people want to see the fully baked version, but they don't want to see what it took when you were just in yeast mode. See how play that? Yeah? Yeah, dude,

that don't cook like that. I'm pretty good. I don't make I don't make. You don't. That's some good right there. Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me is a production of Cut to It, LLC Ball Told Creative Media, The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio. For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your

favorite shows from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, singer co host Gerard little John, talent and booking manager Joe Fusci, social media manager Peyton Smith from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrec, Production manager Sarah Pollock. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. If you ain't heard about it, then we're about to let you know. It's all