[Steele] So I was 11 years old when I announced at the dinner table
to my parents and my brothers that I wanted to be a TV sportscaster.
It was kind of comical. It was a cute little dream.
But it was so real for me because
I grew up in a very sports-oriented family.
I also was just in awe of how sports brought people together.
Race, gender, politics, none of that matters.
We're all on the same team screaming for the same players,
and cheering and celebrating, or crying when they lose.
I wanna be around that. I wanna be part of it.
Hi, I'm Sage Steele,
co-host of the 6:00 p.m. SportsCenter here at ESPN.
When I walk in this building,
I have to take a deep breath because I really don't know what's coming at us.
I go to hair and makeup at about 2:00 or 2:30.
These women in here, they're not just artists.
They're psychiatrists. [chuckles]
Most importantly, they're friends.
-You see yourself aging by the day. -[hair stylist chuckles]
I'm like, "This is dep-- I did not have that yesterday.
Where did that come from?" And she's like, "I'll cover it."
Thank goodness. But it's really--
Job security for us. [laughs]
She wants me to get wrinkles and gray hairs
so then she's like, "Oh no, Sage needs me."
-She needs me. -I do. I do though.
And then it's time to go write the show.
And I'm a little behind so I'm gonna have to... think quickly.
Watch tape quickly and pray.
[chuckles]
This is our director, Brian Albon,
-who makes us look pretty. -How are you?
-And, literally, puts up with me. -It's not hard.
She's one of the professionals that we--
everyone loves to work with so it makes my job that much easier.
[both chuckle]
-Sorry. That'll be $50. -Yeah, right.
Yeah, exactly. Check's in the mail.
-[Rose] Hello. -David Rose is our producer.
Look, he's so thrilled to work with me.
And my co-host, Kevin Negandhi, [chuckling] who's--
-Scarfing down lunch -Shoving food down our throats
-at 3:00 p.m., so... -as usual too, yes. So...
The biggest thing is this portion of the show.
Right now I have you doing Todd Archer
in the bottom of the eights on the Cowboys.
-What I've come up with-- -Four o'clock and this is
a semi-typical day where we
don't necessarily know what's gonna lead the show.
Is there a Michele Steele script?
Sage, check your e-mail in one second.
Thank you.
One thing I think people are surprised to hear
is that we write all of our own stuff. All of our own scripts.
There's help from a tremendous staff.
We have a really deep staff, a deep bench here on SportsCenter.
It truly does take a village,
and every single second of our 6:00 p.m. SportsCenter is planned.
Writing the scripts and tweaking things and then, "Uh-oh, this news just broke."
"Well, let's blow the whole thing up."
"Have we cleared the story?
Who do we have to credit? Who broke the story?
Which video are we gonna cut?
Let's try and get this in from last night."
Or, "I just saw this on Twitter."
It is fluid, with capital letters and bold print [chuckles]
um, all the way up until the end of the show.
I've always said that this collaboration is very much like a football team.
You know, the anchors are kinda like the quarterbacks.
They, whether they had a great show or bad show,
they're gonna get the most press or the most attention.
But in reality, all of us have to work together.
[Rose] Turn your attention to this.
So obviously if that happens,
that zooms up to the eights and probably leads the show.
For the last half hour to 20, 25 minutes, there's always an edginess,
a good level of creative tension, if you will,
that hopefully translates into a good product on the air.
We're a half hour before the show, so the pressure's as high as it could be.
We work really hard and she works really hard.
You just wanna make her look good,
and it's a great relationship between researchers and the talent.
Stand by.
-[Negandhi] ...Even on one leg-- -[Albon] Fifteen.
-[bell rings] -[Steele] But why move it?
Go, Jim. Take music. Got that. Stand by, 22.
We got 20 back.
-Playing out in five... four... -Four reel.
Three... two and live. Let's run through track.
Great news in college hoops.
Yeah, that coaching carousel continues with huge news into SportsCenter.
One of the members of the Fab Five heading back to his alma mater.
All right, let's go to the Steelers.
Antonio Brown is now gone. He's in Oakland. JuJu Smith-Schuster,
now the number one option in Pittsburgh, of course.
My teenage daughter...
has decided to change her plans.
I like how she does this while I'm on air so I can't do anything about it.
-[man] Three minutes. -So, just wait till I'm done.
-[chuckles] -See, this is called multitasking.
You have to multitask in commercial breaks to keep your kids alive.
That's it. Shot's working.
I can watch this all day because he's right on.
-[Rose] Yes, he is. -Just, you know, kinda loose,
-looks like Gumby. Kinda. -[Rose] Yeah.
[Steele] So much of sports is personality-driven.
So there's a ton of ad-libbing.
And I say things and do things
and write things much differently than anyone else here.
-That shorts? Awesome. -Perfect.
30 for 30 is next. Okay, bye.
-[man] Thank you. Appreciate it. -Awesome, guys. Thank you, thank you.
Good job, thank you.
Every day I'm like, "We just did that.
And the whole world potentially just saw it. That's kinda cool."
-[Steele] Thank you, guys. -See ya.
-See ya. Night. -[man] Thank you, guys.
[Steele] It's cliché, but I really do have to pinch myself sometimes
because how did this shy, really shy, little girl
who had this crazy dream
that girls didn't really dream of back in the 1980's, frankly,
how did I do that?
How, how am I here today?
I just wanted to go talk sports and learn what makes these athletes great.
That's all I ever thought it would be.
Had nothing to do with fame or money or anything or making a difference.
It was about my little dream.
So now, I gotta continue to bring it.
Every single day. Because you never know what little girl
or boy is watching and who wants to be me.