The Football Girl Podcast: Ex-Raiders CEO Amy Trask and SI’s Maggie Gray
From the inaugural episode of The Football Girl Podcast, hosted by Melissa Jacobs. Please subscribe in iTunes to get the pod in your feed the second we press publish!
We have a podcast! The Football Girl Podcast been a long time coming and we could not be more thrilled to offer an audio home extending on the work we do at TFG: provide an NFL outlet where smart, engaged female fans come first.
The Football Girl Podcast is hosted by me, TFG Managing Editor Melissa Jacobs, and I will be talking to an array of illustrious, empowering women. Some you will have heard of, some you will hear for the first time. We promise they will all be compelling and know their football! I will also bring a bit of my Monday Musings column to the pod and offer my thoughts on some NFL burning issue (of which there is never a shortage).
Episode 1 kicks off with two superstars. Amy Trask, former CEO of the Oakland Raiders and current analyst for CBS Sports Network’s That Other Pregame Show, and SI’s Maggie Gray, soon to be one of Mike Francesa’s replacements at WFAN. More importantly, she’s a suffering Bills fan. We sincerely hope you enjoy the episode and see below for highlights.
The rundown:
Melissa Jacobs (:54): More on purpose of the podcast
Amy Trask (11:06): On being guarded with the media during her time in Oakland
Trask (14:14): How often she thought of her gender
Trask (21:03): Where the league is heading in light of the revelation that CTE will be able to be tested in the living
Trask (26:45): A shocking take on ice cream
Maggie Gray: (31:30): On how her new dream job at WFAN came about
Gray (39:35): On more women in sports radio juxtaposed to the #MeToo movement
Gray (44:25): What is going on with the Buffalo Bills?
Jacobs (56:00): Melissa’s Musing on the NFL’s quarterbacking crisis
A few highlights from our esteemed guests:
Trask on working for Al Davis, beginning in 1987: “I was very privileged to work for a man who hired, cussed at people (and I’m saying that with a big giant smile on my face) without regard to race, gender, ethnicity or religion, and it’s my hope that whatever people think of the Raiders – love them hate them, Al Davis, loved him, hated him – would acknowledge that this is a man who decades and decades before anyone thought to do so hired without regard to these individualities which have no bearing or whether a person can do a job or not.”
Trask on whether being female has been a factor in her career: “If I didn’t want people in the room thinking about my gender then it’s kind of nutty of me to be thinking about my gender. If I don’t want my gender to be an issue than I don’t think I should make my gender an issue. I didn’t spend a moment thinking about my gender throughout my career. “
Gray on her job replacing Mike Franseca at WFAN: “I moved to New York with the aspirations of being a sports broadcaster but I was in production and then moved in front of the camera working for really small stations. I started in radio but I always wanted the FAN.”
Gray on her Bills fandom: “I’m not going to say woe is me but it’s hard being a Bills fan. Even when things are going right they can’t get stuff right. They can’t even get out of their own way in a lot of ways. I am not one of those people who is willing to concede that Sean McDermott, a first time head coach, is like the mastermind playng mind tricks willing to sacrifice a game in Los Angeles with the Chargers to send a message to rest of the team. No way.
A friendly reminder to please subscribe and rate us on iTunes. You can reach me on Twitter or at info@thefootballgirl.com with any comments or guest suggestions.
