I grew up with sports, but I was definitely not good enough to become a professional athlete - I just loved the storytelling aspect of it.

There is part of you as a female - no question - that feels like you have to be overprepared and outwork the men because people are automatically going to look at you and say, 'Well, you didn't play football,' or, 'You don't know what you're talking about,' because you are a female.

When there is a certain subject matter where I want to get involved, where I think I could add to the conversation, and especially with gender issues, I appreciate having that voice and that seat at the table.

My friends would always joke that I'm 'the grandmother' and 'the homebody' because I can't stay up past nine o'clock, but a lot of that rest is so important for me.

The debate analysis in the media is rampant with contest analogies of war, baseball, boxing, football; you name it. Any testosterone contest imaginable is fair game.

My parents always kept my brothers and I in sports to keep us out of trouble.

WIth football you can have up to 28 guys you consider starters, and if they can pick up the slack when some aren't playing so well, you don't have to turn those two game losing streaks into six-game losing streaks.

Pumping iron is not what it used to be. It doesn't have the personality it used to. When we started out, people who worked out had nothing. Now there is so much money involved; back then it was the love of the sport. We appreciated what we have. Today it's not the same.