美国国家公共电台 NPR Hannah Storm, Part Of First All-Women NFL Broadcast Team, Is Set For Kickoff

Hannah Storm, Part Of First All-Women NFL Broadcast Team, Is Set For Kickoff

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

If you tune 1 into Thursday Night Football via Amazon Prime tonight, you'll be able to watch something unprecedented 2. I'm not talking about what could happen on the field. For the first time, two women will call the game. ESPN's Hannah Storm and the NFL Network's Andrea Kremer are the first all-women broadcast team. Hannah Storm joins us this morning to mark the moment. Hannah, thanks for being here.

HANNAH STORM: It's great to be with you. Thanks.

MARTIN: Congratulations. I mean, as much as people like to say, you know, this probably should have happened a long time ago, nevertheless, it is significant. Right?

STORM: It is. Two women have never called an NFL game, much less, an entire season. So we're actually calling 11 games on Thursday Night Football, and I think it's something that whose time has come, but something that feels forward-thinking, as well. So it's a fantastic opportunity, and it's really something that we couldn't pass up.

MARTIN: What has been the rap against women in this role? I mean, you started out a long time ago. You've broken all kinds of glass ceilings. What negative feedback did you get?

STORM: It's funny. For some reason, sports has been considered, like, this bastion of male superiority or some kind of secret language that women couldn't understand. And the NFL in particular, you know, the broadcasts are extremely technical, and to some men and women it kind of sounds like they're speaking a different language. I think that the rap, if you will, against women, to answer your question, has been, well, they didn't play football. Which is absolutely ridiculous.

MARTIN: Right.

STORM: If you are smart, if you're a good communicator, if you're very, very hardworking and you do your homework, you can learn anything. And I think it's, you know, extremely myopic 3 to think that the NFL or really any sport is only for men.

MARTIN: So let me ask you, though. A lot of the marketing 4 around this move is that you and Andrea are going to offer something new, a different perspective. What does that mean?

STORM: Definitely - because I think it's our perspective. Amazon wanted to hire us, not two women as a gimmick 5. They specifically wanted to hire me and Andrea because of our years of experience, the breadth of what we do. I cover all sports. Andrea is in the Hall of Fame for football. It's a perspective of what we think is interesting. So it's not maybe the traditional play-by-play, X's and O's, let's go down to the sideline. This is that, but it's a lot of storytelling mixed in. That's really what fascinates me. That's the reason I got into sports. What makes these people tick? You know, what makes them achieve at such a high level? What did they overcome? So we don't feel that we have to necessarily describe every single thing that you're seeing on TV as we're talking. We might be having a discussion and, you know, we'll also catch you up on the action. But you're also, you know, watching it so you can see it with your eyes.

MARTIN: So when you call this game tonight, it's going to be the Los Angeles Rams 6 against the Minnesota Vikings.

STORM: Right.

MARTIN: Can you tell us what to look out for?

STORM: I mean, it's going to be really interesting. So the Rams are a total juggernaut. They've got so much talent on both sides of the ball. Minnesota is coming off this really embarrassing, huge upset at home to the Buffalo 7 Bills. So now they're going to roll into the LA Coliseum with this team that's on an absolute high that some people are saying is the best team in football. So two incredible coaches, so many storylines. And it's going to be a blast. Too, arguably, what looked like an NFC championship preview, perhaps.

MARTIN: OK. We'll be watching. ESPN's Hannah Storm. She and Andrea Kremer, you can watch them tonight on Amazon Prime calling Thursday Night Football. First time two women have done that. Hannah, it was great to talk with you. Thanks.

STORM: Thanks.