Fans Tell All

Happy Holidays, Football 101 Women Fans! Check out our very first interview — and read on as Sarah Spain Tells All!

Sarah Spain

You have a great range of experience in sports writing/reporting. How did you get started?
To be honest, I took a kind of roundabout route. I was an English major at Cornell and I’ve always loved sports–did track in college and also competed on the national level in basketball and field hockey in high school. I grew up wanting to be an actress and host, but during and after college I did some jobs in other industries like PR to see if something else made me happy. Eventually I realized that no matter how tough the entertainment industry can be, I had to give my dream a shot. I moved to LA and worked at a restaurant and a PR firm while I auditioned and did various writing, hosting and acting gigs.

After a couple years of spreading myself too thin–acting, doing improv comedy at Second City, writing–I decided to focus my efforts on hosting. In order to get my foot in the door, I started working as a PA for “The Final Score” on Fox Sports, and eventually worked my way up to Assoc. Producer. The job was great, because it taught me a ton about some of the sports I hadn’t grown up watching–NASCAR, hockey, etc. I strengthened my knowledge base and learned a great deal about what goes into creating a live, national show. I was doing freelance sportswriting and hosting gigs on the side, but wanted to make a full-time transition from producing to hosting, so last October I moved back to Chicago to take a reporting/writing job with MouthpieceSports.com. Ever since, I’ve just been adding to my resume and continuing to pursue bigger things. My writing background has been paramount to my success. The difference between a sports fan and someone who works in sports is an ability to speak and write correctly and to impart that knowledge in an entertaining and informative way. I’m glad I took the route I did because it’s kept me from being one-note. I’m not just a big sports fan, I’m also a comedian and writer who can bring more to the table than just a brain full of stats.

What is your favorite sport and why?
While my parents always encouraged my older sister and me to be active, they weren’t and still aren’t big sports fans. I didn’t go to a ton of games as a kid, nor did my parents spend hours teaching me the ins and outs of Chicago sports, I grew to love sports from being an athlete myself, and basketball was definitely my first love. Not only was it one of my best sports, I also grew up in the Chicago area during the Jordan era, so it was impossible not to be a Bulls fanatic. I still have the ESPN 18-hour Jordan marathon on VHS, along with every MJ video, book, commercial, t-shirt–even MJ candy. To say that I’m a HUGE Jordan fan is the understatement of the year. I’ve been a Cubs fan since I was seven or eight and my mom surprised us with a trip to Wrigley and I’ve became a big hockey fan in the last few years. Covering the Blackhawks last year made me love hockey even more, too. That team is full of great guys who have a great bond and a live Blackhawks game is a sports experience that can’t be topped in Chicago right now. So I guess I love all of ‘em!

Have you always loved football?
If pressed for an answer, I’d say that basketball will always be my favorite sport to play, but football has become my favorite sport to watch. My love for football came a bit later in life, though. Since I never played the sport and no one in my family watched it, I didn’t have the same connection to it growing up. I was only five years old when the ’85 Bears won it all, so for my whole life the city has been looking back on one of the greatest teams ever–one that I was too young to enjoy rooting for.  As I got older, though, I began to really appreciate the real athleticism of football players. Speed, strength, toughness, jumping ability, hand-eye coordination–you gotta have it all to succeed in the NFL. Now I love it so much it frustrates me that football isn’t a women’s sport, too. I would’ve been a fantastic wide receiver in my prime…although now I think I’m more of a tight end.

She’s great, right? Stay tuned for the second part of our interview on Monday, Dec. 28!!

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