Linda Cohn and Neil Everett

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1:27Welcome to the Sports Media Podcast. I'm your host, Richard Deitch. My producer, Jared Roland. Two guests on this episode. You are a consumer of sports in the United States. These will be two very, very familiar people. Linda Cohn announced her retirement from ESPN after 34 years last month. You can now find her at Linda Cohn Sports on YouTube, where she is building up that channel. When I popped on there, live shows every Monday and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific, but I'll ask her about that. Neil Everett worked at ESPN for, Neil, you can tell me what that is. 23 years. 23, right?

2:10Okay. Great research department I have myself. Neil Everett worked at ESPN for 23 years, and following his ESPN tenure was part of the Portland Trailblazers television network. He was a studio host there from 2021 to 2026. We will get into Tom Dundon's inexplicable decision to get rid of some of the beloved Portland voices in that scenario, including Neil, Kevin Calabro, etc. Neil, obviously very, very well known for anchoring the West Coast edition of SportsCenter with Stan Verrett. So these are two, you know, you don't throw this word around, but these are two iconic SportsCenter anchors who were the soundtrack, visual soundtrack for multiple generations of sports fans.

2:51And I'm pleased to be joined by Linda Cohen and Neil Everett. Welcome. Thank you, Richard. I got to jump in here. You know, you mentioned the dumb decision by Tom Dundon. He's also the same guy that owns the Carolina Hurricanes who decided once they won the cup to put his name, his kid's name, his wife's name ahead of the Conn Smythe winner and the entire players and coaching staff on the Stanley Cup. So, Neil, you're in good company there of, you know, dumb moves by this guy and getting rid of you was one of them. yeah exactly yeah uh a lot of money a lot of ego and a lot of narcissism that's that is a that is a triple threat um when it comes to that um all right linda first of all i appreciate you being on because i believe this is this is your 247th appearance this month right on podcast to promote your your new youtube job i'm glad you're counting at the very least but i'm enjoying every second but I really was excited to be on yours.

3:51And yeah, I mean, it's great. I mean, I love finally in my show, you know, the Linda Cohn show, I have hashtag total freedom. And, you know, Neil can relate to this. I mean, it's just sort of like once you released, and in my case, it was mutually parting from the worldwide leader. It was great to like, I feel like I had total freedom. You know, I said that in one of these podcasts one day and I said, you know what, That would make a good hashtag to say what I wanted to say, to say what I feel in the moment and all of that. And I wanted to continue that and this time have fun 100 percent of the time.

4:29And if I stop having fun 100 percent of the time, then, yeah, then maybe I'll play tennis full time, you know. But right now it's been it's been great. And I don't mind talking about the past, the present and the future, especially when I'm here with my good friend, Neil Everett. Yeah, we'll get into the Neil. I used to like when I was really like in the day to day transactional stuff at ESPN, I'd go on Twitter if somebody eventually left and say congrats for escaping Shawshank. It's kind of like a ridiculous joke there. But, you know, I should ask you, Neil, like how often do you see or talk to Linda or is this you text?

5:05I know a little bit, but like when's the last time you guys actually saw each other as you are seeing her now? Trust me on this. I'm telling the audience, we're all up on our recording device and everybody can see everybody. Well, last time I saw Linda was her last show. And that's probably the maybe the it's the first time since I left SportsCenter that I actively tuned in SportsCenter. That was the last time it was appointment viewing because I wanted to see Linda. I wanted to see how they sent her off. and aside from that I've maybe caught glimpses of SportsCenter when I'm in the library checking out a book or something but it's on everywhere you go but you know so Linda doesn't live that far from me in fact my wife just said before I told her I'm going to be on this podcast she said well tell Linda we got to meet for brunch we'll ride our bikes down to Manhattan Beach and she'll ride her bike up from wherever she is and we'll have lunch so that's in the books, but just a great deal of respect.

6:08You know, Richard, when I got to ESPN, Linda had been there probably, I don't know, 10 years, maybe for eight years, five years. I still find it hard to believe that I sat on a set next to Linda Cohn, next to Kenny Mayne, next to Stuart Scott, next to Dan Patrick, because these are all people I was watching, living in Hawaii and never at any time did I think I'm going to be there. I should be there. My destiny is to be there. I just feel like I fell into it and was so blessed to be there. And the best thing part about this business is, uh, are the friendships that you make. And I, and I'm a friend with Linda Cohn.

6:49And that's pretty, that's cool. That gives me, that gives me chicken skin right now just saying it because that's, that's what the big takeaway from that gig. that's really nice no you know i would uh i normally would ask you to explain what a library is to people under 30 but i'll pass uh pass on that uh linda one of the things that um you're welcome during this answer to you know repraise neo because that was that was that was that was very nice of what he had to say yeah one of the things i am impressed by you is that you have jumped in to like your youtube channel right away like you know a lot of people uh might have taken who knows, six months, eight months, 10 months sabbatical just to chill out.

7:26I don't know, travel to Europe or something like that. But like very clearly, it seems like you are excited about the freedom, like you said, that you have. And you want to have a forum where you can either interview people or offer your own thoughts. So why, what was the motivation to not really take a big break and to jump right into this? Yeah. I mean, you know, you can rest, I can rest in 30 years. You know, I just always, I'm going backwards in time. I don't feel like I need to rest or anything like that. It's not that, you know, SportsCenter wasn't grueling or you always had to have your A-game ready.

7:59I just felt that this was like a totally rebirth, Richard. It was, it's just totally different. It was like a different career for me. And actually, you know, it reminded me of the old days before ESPN. Like people think I just started on ESPN. No, I worked 10 years before getting a sniff of ESPN, freelancing, doing radio seven days a week, trying to get a break. Then I got a break on TV. Thank goodness for Cairo and Seattle, K-I-R-O-T-V gave me a break. And that's where ESPN spotted me. So this was like, that reminded me of the old days. And I always love to be challenged. And I always, I'm challenging myself to see, you know what, I still got some, you know, gas in this tank.

8:46And let me do it on my own. Like the old days. Let me do it on my own and see where this goes. And let's see if the people, you know, like it. And they still, I found out, wanted to hear what I had to say. So then I kept talking and talking with my takes. And Neil knows, I always had something to say. Neil is the best because of the newsroom. You know, one of our catchphrases, what I seem to always say, and then Neil reminds me, is like, who's responsible? You know, because I would always be, like, passionate, right, Neil, about something that pissed me off. Yeah. Yeah. Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

9:27So that's where Linda's at right now. Good for her. Yeah. Go ahead, Linda. And I just want to say, Neil, thank you for those kind words. And I feel the same way, you know, when I got to ESPN of like, you know, you try, you just figure, hey, you always have a backup plan of if you don't get your dream job, so to speak. But then when you're on the set with the, you know, the likes of Dan Patrick, even Keith Olbermann, all these guys, you know, you're like, wow. You know, it's a little kind of be it back in the day, a little intimidating until you get, you know, get your feet wet. But, you know, I love working with Neil so much.

10:03And my sister Donna always like, she's like, make sure you get Neil on your show because you guys have such great chemistry. You guys always talk music. And over the highlights of sports, you'd always put in lines of music. And that's how we were, the yin and the yang. And we tend to like the same music and stuff. So, you know, Neil just made it fun. I really look forward to working with him. And I miss those days. Yeah, Richard, we're thinking of going to the Guess Who together. Great Canadian band. Thank you. Okay. August 19th. I think it's at the Hollywood Bowl, the Greek. Yeah. So there you go.

10:40Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings back together. Yeah. I appreciate, you know, usually sometimes, you know, we'll get the Americans to mention like some really bad Canadian bands, but that's, you've mentioned a classy one. So two of my favorites, and Neil knows is the guess who, it was one of the first 45s I ever bought. Wow. I was 10 years old laughing. that song laughing by the guess who that was one of my first six 45s along with sweet caroline by neil diamond and a few other ones and of course sugar sugar by the archies it was 1969 the things you remember by the way and the things you should remember but i remember that and of course i love gordon lightfoot he was yeah i mean i got to interview him in his later stages when I did some stuff for Sirius XM Mad Dog Radio.

11:27And I had them on. And so, yeah, I don't know why, Richard, that doesn't come to the forefront when people talk about Canadian artists. Canadian icon, yeah. I mean, these guys played, obviously, before my time. Oh, okay, yes. No, no, no, no, no. I'm about to say. Tragically hip, to me, maybe the greatest Canadian band with Gord Downie. And I wish I had seen that band live. I'm not aging you two. I'm saying I wish I had seen that band because everybody knows the current Bieber, Drake, everybody knows who the current Canadian pop icons are, but that's one I wish I had seen. We go with Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Neil Young, and you go with Tragically Hip?

12:16I don't have the same kind of catalog that you two have given that you can name every single, you can go to the depths of American bands. If you want to give me Europe, then I'll start naming, you know, U2 and the Stones and... We know those bands too. You know, Linda and I actually were on the stage, Richard. The podcast has completely come off the tracks. Which is what I told. Richard, will you just stop and listen to Linda and I talk about music first? I know it's become like serious XM rock. We were, we were at a fundraiser up in Cooperstown and we were actually on stage with REO Speedwagon singing a roll with the changes.

13:01Linda and I, we had a, we were on a mic together and, and it was actually planned. It wasn't like some drunken adventure. It was like, Hey, these two are the MCs and, and Kevin Cronin and the, and Dave. What's his last name? I love Dave, the guitar player brought us up. Linda and I went. All right. You know, they're big fans right now. They're big fans of SportsCenter and everything. Big fans. I think they were Broncos fans, too, for some reason. But anyway. No, you know, the cool thing. I mean, obviously, you guys had very, very high profile, cool jobs. But that was one thing. If you're a music fan, you know, whether it was like Eddie Vedder popping through.

13:39It felt like Hootie and the Blowfish. Hootie and the Blowfish. The Blowfish. Those guys seem to be everywhere with ESPN. But how many you guys, I'm sure, must have encountered so many artists who were obviously into sports who probably thought it was very cool to head into ESPN to hang out for a day or two. I had Derek Trucks on the show. Derek Trucks, great uncle, was Virgil Fire Trucks. That's right. Pinter for the Detroit Tigers. And Derek Trucks, huge San Francisco Giants fan. Then I had Warren Haynes on. Warren Haynes played the SportsCenter intro on a little guitar he brought up with an amp and told me he played Little League Baseball with Cal Ripken Jr.

14:26Wow. Derek Trucks, I believe, eventually maybe was part of the Allman Brothers. Oh, yeah. Now he's Tedeschi Trucks. Yeah, he's a great slide guitar. Yeah, him and Warren were both on the Allman Brothers as guys dropped off. So those are two great names. I mean, given now that this has become like MTV Cribs, like why not give who who basically did you entertain in Bristol? I'm sure multiple people. Oh, yeah. I mean, if we're staying in the music venue, I mean, me was the thrill was interviewing Scott Stapp. Creed. I love Creed. I don't care if they sounded like if Scott sounded like Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, which he was accused of.

15:09That's right. I mean, I thought that music was great. So that was so cool. He's such a big fan. I wrote I he was on an airplane that I took to Orlando back in the day. What was it called, Neil? We had you know, we went to in Florida ESPN. Oh, yeah. What the hell was that? I don't know. It was some silly thing. But anyway, I ran into him in a plane. But anyway, I interviewed him on sports and I interviewed another great band, OAR. I interviewed them. So, yeah, we both we love that. But I'll tell you, the coolest people I've ever met musically was before I got to ESPN. It was when I worked for Cairo TV in Seattle.

15:48They came into the studio. I'm going to let you know who it is. Yeah. And a Nancy Wilson of Heart. That's pretty cool. Oh, my God. I had a girl crush on Nancy Wilson. yeah i mean those videos like alone you know and never i mean 87 86 she was so cool i never saw a woman play a guitar like that and she looked beautiful and it was like oh my god look at the time you were working in seattle yeah you think of a better time to be if you were into music i was right before it was like 89 to 92 and it just exploded in 92 right right right yeah but like pre-Nirvana, right? Yes. Soundgarden kind of thing.

16:29Yes, absolutely. By the way, I'm guessing that if you guys were on your way to Florida, was it the ESPN Wide World Complex? Didn't you guys use it? They always seemed to have the on-air talent, seemed to have to always float down there and do some kind of doggy. Yeah, we had like athletes. I remember that was the first time I met Tim Tebow when he was still playing. I mean, yeah. I remember my daughter Sammy went with me. Dan went with my son too, but I remember a Tim Tebow story my daughter who was like, she might've been 14 at the time. She met Tim Tebow. It was like, again, when he was still playing a ball and he was so nice to her.

17:05And then after we said goodbye to Tim, she turned to me and she says, that's the most good. She said, that's the most handsome man I have ever seen. Wow. Again, she was 14, you know? Yeah. Neil, you know what? I feel like you guys, I feel like ESPN didn't cover Tim Tebow enough. Yeah. Oh, my God. You know, what they did was they do that is you cover. They make you cover somebody so much that then you start to root against them for no other reason, no fault of their own. And then I end up meeting Tebow like Linda did. And he's the great nicest guy in the world. He didn't ask that every five minutes we update, you know, here's here.

17:48You know, it's like Shadour Sanders. It's like, why are we covering the third string quarterback of the Cleveland Browns ad nauseum? You've hit on a really significant problem in media coverage, not just for athletes, for anybody who's overexposed. They become less human, right? More commodity. And then you start hating the commodity, having nothing, having no connection with the human being. I'm with you on that. All right. I'm gonna try to get this back on the rails. Neil, in your post sort of Blazers world now, which I know is very, very recent, are you going to be one who may be going to take a little bit of a break?

18:28Or would you like to get right back on the horse and start the Neil Everett YouTube channel? Well, you know, Stan and I did the Stan and Neil show last year. You guys are on the podcast. Yeah. And I remember we told you we were going to do it on Twitch. And I remember you paused a little bit. And you were right. Yeah. So we weren't able to, we weren't able to really get a foothold on what we were hoping to do. But you know what? I just talked to Stan the other day. We're going to try and figure out the YouTube thing. Linda's apparently got Monday. Linda's got Mondays and Thursdays taken care of.

19:05So we're going to go for Tuesdays and Fridays, take Wednesdays off. And no, we're going to give it, we're going to give it another shot. But, you know, it's fun, but, you know, I don't need to work for free. Yeah, well, the thing is, the one great thing that you two are in, I'm sort of in the same situation too, is there are some things that you can just pursue for creative passion or if you just want to work with people you like. Yeah. And the desire, yes, I'm not saying you shouldn't be paid for stuff, but I know, Linda, you're shaking your head. That, to me, now supersedes everything. thing is just to have some creative freedom and to work with people I enjoy.

19:45Yeah. Because I've spent most of my life just hustling in whatever job there is. And now, you know, that to me, creative freedom to me is everything. And Linda, for sure, you have this now on your YouTube channel, which is awesome. Yeah. And listen, I hope it gets monetized and all that. But Neil, I am doing it for free, but I like doing it. And I'm the boss. I'm the director, the producer, the writer, the whole thing, you know, and, you know, the main actress. So it is what it is. And, you know, I always said this, you know, you always have to put yourself in position to get a break. And that's what I'm doing with this.

20:17And if it turns out to be monetized or if it turns out to lead to other things, great. I'd love to have a decision to make. But in the meantime, I'm going to have fun and I'm going to have a platform. And the second it gets stressful or the second it gets to be a pain in the ass, I'm not going to do it. But the great thing for both of you guys is you really both you guys have very deep Rolodex and a lot of people you've connected with. And that's the ballgame. You're going to be able to, you know, create content just from your relationships alone. Hi, this is Jill Schlesinger, CBS News Business Analyst, Certified Financial Planner and the host of the Jill on Money podcast.

20:57With the end of the year upon us, it is the perfect time to check in on your finances. and the Jill on Money show is here to help. Your questions make it possible for me to provide unconventional and entertaining insights on your money and more importantly, on your life. Follow and listen to Jill on Money wherever you get your podcasts. Both of you during your ESPN tenure saw a lot of layoffs happen. And Linda, especially for you, I mean, someone with your tenure there, You know, you were there during the start of like smaller layoffs and then some mega ones, which really, I think, changed institutionally ESPN forever.

21:39So, Linda, I want to start with this in this most recent one. You really wish I've seen you like sort of comment on this a lot. This one really seemed to like get to you. And maybe it's because David Lloyd and Carl Ravitch, people you've known for a long time. But I wanted to just I wanted to get your thoughts on on how you were feeling when you saw that and maybe particularly how it was handled. Yeah, that's what I spoke about. You know, I spoke about it on my show. I spoke about it with people ask me like you and I didn't hold back. I just thought the way it was handled was poor. You know, Neil knows about when you're not wanted anymore.

22:15But this one hit home. I mean, you know, obviously you can like Ryan Clark. You cannot like Brian Clark, but he deserved a better exit. I mean, there were so many ways you could have told this guy the night before. If you were concerned about this story breaking and who was breaking it, you could have never let him take the set at NFL Live. You could have done it differently. There's just there's just no excuse. I don't I didn't want to hear it. I mean, listen, I know a lot of people on that PR staff. You know, a few of them reached out to me. They didn't understand, you know, why I was ripping them so hard.

22:47But I go, listen, I've been around the block a few times. I know how things could have been done and it wasn't done with Ryan Clark. And then that meant the other point I wanted to make, because ESPN, you know, it was buffoonery, I said, the way they handled the Ryan Clark situation. That got all the headlines. So a guy like Carl Ravitch, who, by the way, I haven't talked with in years. But, you know, we used to be friends. I mean, it was an afterthought. He was there 33 years. He was the heartbeat of that baseball coverage. and it was an afterthought. It was like, oh, by the way, Karl Ravitch is laid off.

23:21And oh, by the way, David Lloyd, you know, a guy I work with a lot on SportsCenter. You know, it became an oh, by the way, the other people and the 150 other people who were behind the scenes. So it got me really pissed off, as you can tell right now, as how my voice is elevating. And I just think it was the way it was handled. And that's why I kind of, it lit a fire for me, Richard. Neil, I know when you were on this podcast, I and you've been on a number of times with me and I did ask you when you left ESPN, you were sort of very honest with me that you could see the handwriting on the wall pretty clearly.

23:53I will say I try to, you know, during my career writing this stuff, I've really tried as best I can to be fair and to be measured. But I have to be honest, like this particular stuff repeats itself with ESPN. These exits are so sloppy and are not thoughtful. and it really is counter to what Disney as a corporation tries to sell if nothing else that like hey we're different and where you're part of our family and if you're part of our family and leaving we're still gonna sort of you know say goodbye to you in a family way but I gotta be blunt they've been their HR stuff has been a shit show like over the last 10-15 years when I've covered this stuff that's me filibustering Neil but I did want to get your sort of thoughts Because, again, like Linda, you know some of these people for a long time who were part of this.

24:43Well, you know, big businesses make mistakes all the time. So it's subjective whether they make mistakes on who they decide to cut loose and no one gets out of here alive. So it's like, hey, your number is going to come up eventually. And but how they handled it, to Linda's point, it's just sloppy. And, uh, and it's, you know, they, they used to have this, uh, saying there and it was something about, no, it was so bullshit. I can't, I've tried to exercise it from my mind, but it was like, you know, the, the people are our biggest asset or something like that. Yeah. Well, then live up to that. Yeah.

25:22You know? And so it's just, it's, it's just, um, you know, yeah. Carl Ravitch. I mean, you know, come on, the guy's been there forever. David Lloyd, he's been there forever. You know, I guess to the Ryan Clark thing, and like Linda said, you can like him, but that's the hot take part of this, what's happened. The guy with the hot takes on the hot take show becomes the hot take. whereas David Lloyd who just nicest guy in the building talented beyond all belief just goes and does his job on SportsCenter which used to be appointment viewing and then when it's time for him to go and Carl Ravitch who did SportsCenter and the batting lead up on baseball well baseball's out Carl's out you know it's just but you know there's no hot take with those guys but there's a hot take with the football player so Yeah.

26:16Yeah. One, I mean, one of the things that's just so frustrating, ESPN is not alone in this, but they're the biggest dogs. And so they get highlighted is just the lack of respect for institutional knowledge at a place. Just it kills me. I, you know, I saw it myself when I was at Sports Illustrated and time and time with ESPN. And, and, and I think a lot of times, a lot, a lot of what I'm talking about are people behind the scenes who people who are listening to this podcast have never heard of, but trust me on this. They're just, they're people who made that place what it is. And by the end, they were just shunned aside.

26:50Neil, you also experienced, I mean, I've now read this a couple of times, so I presume it to be true. The Blazers did not inform you that you were leaving. You read this in a Forbes column. So while I'm smashing ESPN, I mean, the Blazers, Tom Bundan's taking this to a different level. When you're literally reading about your own eggs. I still have not heard from the Blazers. Yeah, no, I got a text. I was in Sun River, Oregon, chilling, and a buddy of mine goes, hey, sorry to hear the Blazers aren't bringing you back. And that didn't surprise me because I was pretty confident that I wasn't going to be brought back.

27:32So that's why it didn't affect me, I don't think, as tragically as it might have otherwise. And so I said, hey, send me the article. And so then I read it. And then and then the front office sports got a hold of me. And his first question was, so how'd you find out? I said, I read it in Forbes magazine. I wasn't going about to bash the Blazers. I'm sure it just, you know, fell through the cracks. They got a lot going on. You know, I've got a lot of friends there that, you know, were there during the years I was there. And it was again, it's strictly a business decision by the new ownership. I get it.

28:10And I was it was great that I got the five years I did. Should it have been handled a little cleaner? Yeah, sure. But I'm a big boy. I can I can I can deal with it. Yeah. I mean, again, that's just sloppy isn't even the right word. I mean, if there's one benefit, you've got a great dinner party story to tell people. But still, it's I mean, it's ridiculous. Linda, I want to ask you this question. Neil, you're also welcome to weigh in. But this is something, Linda, I think when I knew I was going to have you on, I wanted to ask, I think you'll have an interesting take on this. There's a lot written about all of the different places that put sports on and sports media now has become, you know, very big sort of at least a subtopic of sports.

28:53People are interested in Joe Buck and Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith and Linda Cohn. You worked there a long time. Can you give me from your perspective why so many things leak from ESPN versus other places? Now, as someone who has been on the other end of the leak, I have my own thoughts. I'll save them for a different time. But you're a talent who someone like me would write about. So I'm curious from your perspective, why do you think your place leaked over the years as much as it did? Because it does. Yeah, I don't know if I can answer that because that was a different area. You know, when you'd hear things or you hear things through the grapevine that something is going to go down or this or that.

29:37My first gut instinct is always like, there must be a method to this madness that they do. And it's intentional. It's not an accident because it keeps happening. As you just mentioned, Richard, this is not a one and done situation. So I haven't really given it much thought other than, you know, it's it's business as usual. You know, it's it's part of it's you would think they would have learned how to prevent the leak. So if they if they haven't learned that, it tells me they don't want to learn it and that they were intentionally responsible for it. I don't understand. So you see this and how this is leaked.

30:17You see how an accident to Kyle Shanahan where he was at fault, nobody knew anything for 11 days, which I also talked about before we found out and his credit took full responsibility. So we're so used to, I say we're in our TMZ world, where when things happen, we expect to know about it the next day. Good or bad, whatever the reason, may not be fair, but we expect to know about it. when it comes to firings and layoffs at ESPN, all I can say is go with my gut. And I just think is if it happens all the time and they don't want to correct it, then they have to be playing a part of it. No. I'm going to let your sentence sort of hang out there in the wilderness.

31:05Neil, for you, and you're welcome to comment on this as well, but you were a dude from Hawaii. I imagine like you didn't think anybody was going to be writing about you. And then now all of a sudden, again, we're not talking your Pat McAfee, Stephen A. Smith, you know, Mike Greenberg, whatever, et cetera. But was it weird to have people like interested in your employment status or what you might what what job you might have within the ESPN universe or not? Well, yeah, I mean, it's weird to be on this podcast, you know, so it's what we talked about at the very beginning of this podcast i always felt like um how'd i get here um uh and wow i i really uh you know somebody was looking out for me and i always attributed to my my mom up up in the skybox was looking out for me when i was in hawaii and then all of a sudden i'm in connecticut and then you know three months into it i'm calling my godfather back in hawaii saying yeah this isn't for me and he's like you're not coming back here and uh after my first uh contract three years i told him i'm going back to hawaii man i'm done here and then at the last second i said you know what that might be a bad career move and uh and then you know i lasted another 20 years so um yeah i just uh and linda brought up the the the 49er story and all that i mean when i'm reading that I'm like Bob Lee must be pulling his beard off you know I mean what is what are what are we doing and Pat McAfee betting on you know where LeBron's gonna go because he's got the the info from Shams or I mean it's like come on it's just it's it's just a it's a different game it's a different game than one we played and and so we're not playing it anymore and good luck to those that are playing it, but don't, you know, it's the whole thing, you know, don't piss into the wind and tell me it's raining.

33:06Yeah. There are a couple more here that I'll get you out of here. By the way, just for Neil Everett trivia buffs, Neil was once the sports information director at Hawaii Pacific University. Yes, sir. That's a pretty, you know, if you're going to be an SID, not a bad gig to hold in terms of the locale. And you know what got me into the TV was they promoted me. From SID to compliance officer. And that is the worst job in America. And I said, that was the incentive to get out of that, to go into broadcasting. What's a compliance officer who makes sure all the athletes are eligible. Yeah. It's the person who keeps the rules.

33:50And she doesn't like compliance officer. Oh my God. I got to, I got to try this TV thing. I got to really get into it. Yeah. All right. We'll do some fun stuff before I get you. Linda, your passion obviously is the NHL. You're very, very well known for that. You know, the season will be starting before we know it. Being here in Toronto is always just, you know, just a joy to see Maple Leaf fans. New beginnings, Richard. New beginnings every year. New beginnings. But here's what I want to ask you. Like, I always respected, you know, I lived in Buffalo. Now I live in Toronto and I lived in New York.

34:26Those are three big places for me. So I lived in hockey cities. And like, you know, I grew up an Islander fan. And so, like, I always respected you and Barry Melrose and Butch Gras. Me loves the hockey. Me loves the pucks, man. Whoever the ESPNers, Steve Levy. That's someone I definitely should. Like, I always, like, respected that you guys were trying your best to, like, carry that sport as best as you could amid the juggernaut of the NFL, college football, the NBA, ESPN. There was a time when they did a lot of baseball. Now, I don't know. I always thought that was probably a cool thing to like be one of the voices and faces of a sport that wasn't like the biggest sport at your place.

35:12I know you had to fight sometimes to get air coverage, but. Sometimes. Yeah. Did you take it a lot? I don't know. Was there a part of you that must've really took pride in the fact that like, all right, I'm one of the, you know, the small band of like people who are trying to keep this thing. part of the public consciousness at ESPN. And I think you should feel good about it because I think you really had an important voice, like keeping that sport at the forefront for many, many years with them. Let me tell you something, Richard. That's one of the top five things I'm most proud of during my ESPN run.

35:41They didn't care about hockey. They barely care about it when they have it. I mean, it's just ridiculous. And I'll tell you, I'm not just saying it. I got external validation. When I, you know, left ESPN, I got a text message from Patrick Kane thanking me for keeping hockey alive when ESPN didn't have it and no one was talking about it. And, you know, and that was just one of the guys that reached out to me. And then I also know when the few times that ESPN allowed me to cover hockey, when I got to interview these guys, Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, you name it. I mean, these guys grew up watching me, even though some were in Canada, then they were in the States.

36:24They always saw me doing a million sports centers at night and they knew that. So it's not like I almost forgot that about what that meant, because I care about that game so much and that league and those players that it was almost like, well, a big F you to really the anyone who doesn't want to see how important hockey is and how it is the fourth. major sport and it needs to be reminded. Like I remember we would do an entire sports center without doing a hockey highlight. It barely got a top play. I begged for, well, at least put this on top plays. Neil knows. I mean, I would be doing that all the time.

37:05I mean, did you see this save? Or do you see this goal? Or can you at least put it on top plays? You know, and that, and that every single night, every decade, I'd be fighting for that. And I'm proud of it. And it's interesting, even today, when SportsCenter does not have the same cachet, obviously, as it did when you guys were during your run, there are still people who are really ticked off if like this highlight doesn't make SportsCenter, right? Or if like, why didn't my school, like, make this, this top 10 list or something like that? Neil, for you, maybe it's recency bias, but I always thought of you as more of a basketball person than anything else.

37:43Or am I just recency biasing there because you have been with the Blazers for the last couple of years? yeah you know i i just tried to know a little bit about it as much as i could so um i guess you know college football and my stepdad was a basketball coach so that probably you know i've always felt like i could do a basketball highlight with a cocktail and a cigarette if i wanted to uh where's that by the way that would be incredible i would actually if you do that on your youtube channel i will watch every i'll just watch it all the time there you go it'll be a fake cigarette but uh but the cocktail will be real uh you know but to before we you know to linda's point though what so the espn gets hockey coverage where's linda cone yeah yeah that's another podcast topic right yeah well i have my thoughts on this my thought my thoughts on that would be they were trying to age you out like yeah you know they want you want to some 30 year old, like, you know, sort of fresher face host or maybe they have a guy who's in, you know, who's doing the analysis on the A team.

38:50And, you know, he's, you know, why is the. So why are there different rules for the play by play person and the analyst? And it's different from the sideline or from the, you know, rink reporter. Yeah, I would say that I know, again, it may not have the same kind of solace, but you know there's that expression like that the real ones know like people in the nhl know like you're bona fide like yeah like espn made their assignments they did what they did but the people who like know in the league or who follow it they know who sort of stepped up um it's like one of the things i'm proud of my my career is that um i uh i've covered women's basketball since 2001 at si like people in that sport know who was there before caitlin clark blew up right like and so So like that makes me feel good because I know it's like the one sport I know I was there when nobody was talking.

39:45Right. And I feel I always think of you with the NHL like you were there really pushing hard when your own corporation was trying to essentially bury it like amid everything. So the real ones know on that. All right. Let's finish up with this because I've already. I got a really quick. Listen, I appreciate this. I'm not paying you guys. So it's very nice of you to do this. I'm in New Orleans to go to Hawaii, Louisiana, what is it? Louisiana Tech football game. So the guys from Hawaii come and I come down from Connecticut. And we meet in New Orleans because we're not smart enough to know that Louisiana Tech is six hours away.

40:31It's in Ruston. And so we're like, well, now we're not even going to the game because, you know we can't get we can't get to rustin and we're like we're like can we get a flight out of rustin right after the game they're like no we said well then we're not going because we're in new orleans and we go to a bar pete maravich's brother is behind the bar monty tau comes in then later later we're at the bar i think maybe another bar but so hunter wendelstadt is sitting there and i went to the dodger game last night and hunter wendelstadt was man in third base and Hunter Wittlestad. And so I go up to him and I introduce myself.

41:09And the first thing he says is, why is Linda Cohen on my ass?

41:18And I don't know. I said to Linda, I guess it was some double play and she called Hunter Wittlestad out, man. And I'd forgotten all about that until last night at Dodger Stadium. And they go, you're umpires today. Hunter Wittlestad. And I went, oh, I got to tell this story on Richard's show with Linda tomorrow. That's so great. When you're on my show, you got to tell that story. That is so classic. All right. I love that. And yeah, you guys, Neil, you should be on Linda's show. Make that, hopefully this podcast will make that. You think Stan will be insulted if I have you on first? You think Stan?

41:53I'm not having you on as a team. Where is Stan? Where is Stan? Yeah. I can't see Stan being. All right. Last one for me. And that is, you know, So one of the things like my guess is, you know, you guys, you have enough going on in your lives, but you really both of you, if you want, could really be phenomenal consulting people for young people who want to be on television or young people who want to present on whatever the video form is, you know, whether it's YouTube or TikTok or whatever. So, Linda, let me get to you. Like whenever I've asked this question of people like in your position, usually they say something to the effect of you have to be yourself.

42:30yourself you have to be authentic but the reality a lot of times is in your world a lot of people want a certain look right they want a certain hair color or they want a certain facial feature or something like that so if you were talking to a class today with 21 year olds who like they want to be on air in whatever the on air means like in sports what are some of the things that you would tell them well um you have to know your stuff man i mean that hasn't changed over the decades You have to know your stuff. You know, you have to be accurate. You know, that's what Ted Shaker, the former boss of CBS Sports, told me when I was first starting out.

43:08And that's when I was referred to doing radio all the time. And I remember walking into his office and just looking for advice. And he said, you know, because you're a woman in a man's world, he goes, first and foremost, you have to be accurate. And I always remember that. And that has not changed over the years. So if I was two and I have talked to young people all the time and I mentor a lot of young women and a lot of these young women you see on your screens now, you know, I have talked to over the years and given them advice. It was always about that. I said all the other stuff, the cosmetic stuff that that'll come naturally.

43:43But if you know your stuff, you're ahead of the game. No one can criticize you at all. But the first mistake you make for not being prepared or not being accurate, it doesn't matter how damn good you look on TV. I'm sorry. It shouldn't be. I mean, and that's the one thing that we're, you know, is this a me, me, me generation? Is this everyone look at me generation? You can't stop that train. It's already passed. I mean, that's, you know, a lot of young women think that's the way to go. They have to, you know, look perfect and all this, but I'll still bang that drum and say, no, that's not the way you succeed.

44:19You have to be accurate and put yourself in position to get lucky. And, you know, my brother has always always told me this. He says, someone says to you, oh, you're you're so lucky, Linda. I think they used to say that you're so lucky to have this job. A little sexism in that kind of. Yeah. And I go, yeah, if you spell luck, W-O-R-K. Right. And so that's what I keep banging home all the time. People may not want to hear that message. Young women and young men may not want to hear that message, but it's the truth. And at least you can look back and say, you know what? I did all I could to put myself in position to get that break, but nothing's coming to you.

45:00And if you're one of the few where it comes to you on a silver platter, God bless you. But it's very rare. I don't know what that is. Neil doesn't know what that is. Yeah, that's well said. I like that. Well, the same for you, Neil. If you've got some young people who sort of would like to hear from you in terms of, all right, how can I make it in the world that you succeeded at? Well, to Linda's point, you got to be accurate first. That's number one. Otherwise, your credibility is shot. You're done. You got to tell, you got to be able to tell, tell me something I don't know. Tell me an entertaining story, but don't go for jokes over fact.

45:38You've got to be able to mix and match and know when it's appropriate. but really, you got to be accurate and tell me something. I always said, you know, I'm writing a lead for somebody who doesn't want to be watching SportsCenter, but for whatever reason, it's always on at their house or their wherever. And so I want to tell them something they don't know, so they call somebody and say, hey, did you know that, you know, god is goat it dates back to you know a goat in a stall at a horse race they're like what you know so just something like that so that's that's what that's where i'd start with and then i'd tell him maybe think about doing something else yeah neil you neil is so great at that so great at that i learned so much from neil like i'm like where did he find that tidbit You know, I was just like, wow, Neil, you were really, you were really, I don't think anyone, you know, you really put your energy and time into doing exactly what you just said.

46:47We went from the guest to an REO Speedwagon to accuracy. I feel like my job is complete here. You know what we were doing? We were taking care of business. Oh, yes. That's right. Don't forget about BTO. You two are quick. No, you haven't lost a step. I love, I love, I love. you're like LeBron going to the Sixers Linda Cohen kind enough to make me podcast 347 on her tour continue to do this Linda this is how you get the word out find her at Linda Cohen Sports on YouTube where she's building up that channel live shows every Monday and Thursday at 6pm Eastern 3pm Pacific and as Neil said he's going to try to get the band back Stan Barrett at some point probably will do what Linda's doing and form their own YouTube channel.

47:35And then I imagine they will do live shows and maybe, you know. We might just stand on a street corner in downtown LA and say, hey, do you remember us? We used to be somebody. You might want to hire a security guard. You'll, I feel like, Linda has already seen this. Somebody wrote a piece about Linda. Like, Linda's doing this YouTube channel and she hasn't really done anything on YouTube yet and we'll see what happens. It went from like 500 people to like 10 ,000 subscribers. Yeah, 11 ,000, I think. Yeah, I'm really proud. The point is, I think at some level you both know, when you've put as many reps as you have on a national place, you'd be – I'm not saying this like you don't know this.

48:21There are so many people whose lives you've been part of that you probably don't realize. And then when you get a distribution like YouTube, you'll be pleasantly surprised that people have a lot of interest in what you have to say. I really enjoy this, Linda and Neil. Over the years, I had great respect for both of you. I've interacted with you at different stages of my career, and you've always been professional. And that, to me, is like job one. So thank you. And thank you for coming on the Sports Media Podcast. I love it. Thank you, Richard. Great seeing you, Neil. See you at brunch. All right, back in the studio.

48:51My thanks to Linda Cohn and Neil Leverett. That was great. Unsurprisingly so. And I really wish both of them the best. I think what Linda's doing right now, particularly very, very cool. And you can even just, when I popped on and listened to some of her, her episodes on YouTube, just like she's, you know, you really do feel you're listening to someone who like has creative freedom, which is so awesome and good for her. So I'm wishing both of them major success. If you like these kinds of conversations, please head to the archives. Last couple of weeks, we've done multiple shows on ESPN layoffs.

49:24Jay McManus, Austin Carp on one, Donovan Ben and Rashma Donnie on the other. Jimmy Trina was on this podcast not too long ago. We talked about a lot of different stuff. In terms of some other broadcasters, Derek Ray, the Fox Sports soccer broadcaster. Gino Aram was on this podcast July 6th, made a lot of news with his comments on. Caitlin Clark and Stan Van Gundy not too long ago as well in June. Thank you for the nice feedback that is there now. And again, reviews are always welcome and helpful. That's how the podcast continues. I want to thank my producer, Jared Rowland, for all his hard work.

50:02Thank you to everybody else for their support. Most of all, thank you for listening. We'll see you soon. Sports Media Podcast.

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