 People are calling me the Spike Lee of the Nets. I'm not saying that. Some people have said that on Twitter. I didn't say it, but I've never been court-side. Just saying. Just put in the atmosphere. So that's- I'm just putting it, I'm just saying people are saying. People are saying that Nick Claxton really took off once I threw my support behind him. All right, Mina, tell me the first thing you remember wanting to be when you grew up. Besides a Nets superfan. That's Nets superfan. Which is so appreciated, as you know. Oh, I agree. You know, I'm just going to start off with this. I feel like Nets fans get a lot of shade from the mainstream media, the rest of basketball fandom. As a superfan slash bandwagon fan, I have to say Nets fans are amazing. Like they are so welcoming to me. They're so passionate. They get so much hate from the rest of the NBA world and NBA Twitter. And they, I feel like this is, they deserve all of this. So I'm very happy for them. But no, I did not want to be a Nets superfan as a child. That was not true. I wanted to be a painter when I was little. Oh, what inspired that? I just really like painting. By the way, because I love what I see you put out there on social media from what I see. I appreciate that. Yeah, it's just a hobby now. Like I'm not that good at it, but it's like a nice diversion. You know, when you're in like the fourth quarter and it's a blowout, I'll pull out the watercolors paint. James Harden or whatever inspires me. What, why do you think the Nets get so much hate? I mean, you know, I mean, the ultimate super team. You know, the big bad wolves, they represent some things that have happened in basketball that people don't like in terms of player mobility, the weight teams. It's not new, you know that, but it is an extreme example of it. I think there are also the three stars are somewhat divisive amongst certain corners of the NBA world, each of them. So I think that combining them all and then having it actually work out is infuriating people. OK, now let me go back to, let me go back to childhood. You mentioned wanting to be a painter. Do you remember falling in love with sports? Do you remember the first time you did? Yeah, so football, it's what I cover primarily at ESPN. I'm an NFL analyst and it was my favorite sport as a kid, too. I mean, I love baseball, group of Mariners fan, group of Sonics fan, which is why, by the way, my fandom is always up for grabs is being from Seattle. But yeah, I love watching college football. I grew up in Nebraska football fan weirdly at a moment when it was really exciting to do that. So for me, watching some of those dominant Nebraska teams in the 90s is when I really fell in love with the game. Oh, man, now, now, what role did your father have in the sports family? Massive football fan. And that's probably why football, first and foremost, like my dad likes basketball, baseball, but football is number one for him. He's from Seattle. So that's why I refer Seattle teams is. Yeah, no. So how much would you love to see it? We're embracing your Brooklyn next fandom. How much would you love to see a team back in Seattle and SuperSonics back doing that thing? Yeah, people have asked me, would you go back to Seattle? Of course, I would if they got a team. But I will say, you know, there's nothing wrong with having a West Coast team and East Coast team. But yeah, I would I would absolutely embrace. And I think it sounds like there's some positive momentum on the front and the NBA and God willing, it happens soon. All right, your journey from, you know, coming out of college at Yale and then the titles that you held before stepping in at ESPN and that opportunity come. Yeah, I was a business journalist for a long time. We worked at Fortune Small Business, Fortune Magazine, then Bloomberg before coming to ESPN, where I was a writer at first for ESPN writing features about everything, football, basketball, what have you, before I became an analyst and host. Was that was that opportunity at ESPN? Could you tell me about about that? You know, don't be on the Bloomberg and that side of things. You mentioned your your passion for sports and then getting that opportunity with ESPN and how they come about. Yeah, so I was an investigative reporter at Bloomberg, but working in business still spent all my free time watching football and not just watching football, but tweeting about football. Mostly really dumb stuff and writing just for myself, writing a personal essay about football and ESPN saw that I was doing all this football content, I guess for myself reached out to me, asked if I'd be interested in making the job. Wasn't something I was pursuing or thought I would ever do. But I decided to kind of, you know, you only get a chance to do what you love, not that often in life. So I took the offer and I think 2014. 2014 and then transitioning to television is something that's also wild as well. When was that when was that first time you were on camera for ESPN? Well, so I would go on camera to talk about my stories. Like if I had written a story, for example, you know, I went back when I was writing more often in the piece on Luca Dodgecich, where I went to Spain a couple of times. And after writing that, I went on the job to talk about it. I went on Sports Center. You know, I have these appearances, but I didn't. I wasn't a regular analyst until 2017 when I started doing Around the Horn and Highly Questionable, which are, you know, you do general, we cover all sports on those shows. And then football, you know, I was always my main passion and sort of area of expertise. And when we rebooted NFL Live last summer, I became a regular on that show. So I still do those other shows. But NFL Live is now like kind of my home base. Well, speaking of that home base, first full time woman NFL analyst at ESPN, what does that what does that mean to you? Um, I think it's just kind of wild that that's the phrase we're saying in 2021, like it's taken that long, you know, and not just that, but that there's still that there aren't others. I think it is shows we still have a really long way to go in terms of diversifying in football, because I actually think basketball is the head of football in that regard. There's a lot more women doing, you know, not just hosting and reporting, but doing analysis in basketball, especially at ESPN. Obviously, we have the great Doris Burke and Rachel Nichols, but also younger women. I mean, Shanae, Monica McNutt, we've got. She focuses on a team that I don't like that much, you know, with. But point is like, and of course, you work with the great Sarah Kustach. So I think basketball football really needs to catch up to basketball in that regard. The you inspire a lot of people, as you know, but from a specifically from a representation standpoint, the role that you have, the visibility that you have, how how important, how big is that for you? Um, you know, it's very nice of you to say. And for me, I just kind of focus on I want to sort of bring a level of preparation, excitement, passion, originality to my approach so that when people are watching, they really don't think about my gender or my ethnicity. And it becomes normalized, frankly. And I think we know we're trying to get in there. But it's it's a lot of pressure because I feel because I don't want to like screw it up for everyone else. You know, I know everyone kind of relates to that feeling, not everyone, but those of us who aren't in the majority can relate to that kind of feeling. So, you know, I really it is a privilege, but I try not to think about it too much. Now, it would it would have been nice to see you in the house, but you were you were recognized and honored at Bank at Barclay Center. You just tell me great little about that and how you are you found out that's coming about. Well, you can text me. She was like, I think it's just on the jumbo. Well, like Andrews, of course, texted me. She's like, I think I'm just on the jumbo trial and I just started laughing so hard because this is so infuriating to like my colleagues who are, you know, lifelong Nix fans and Sixers fans. Here I am, ultimate bandwagoner, just stampeding in as a heel turn and I'm already on the jumbo try and you know what? That's credit to to to the Nets. That's where I'll actually bring them together because they really reward passion, I think. Yeah. And I've got passion, Michael. I've got it. I it started as a bit, but now it's like I in game one against Boston. I was genuinely like I'm so upset right now and stressed in the first half when they were like, you know, one for five hundred from three. I was like, why am I here? I'm stress eating and it's like, wait, I thought this was just like a bit. It's not a bit anymore. These are like real feelings, real passion, you know, for, you know, for me, sometimes it's it's the passion from the fan base that excites me and gets me engaged. And then it's also the trash talkers and the people who don't like the fact that you're cheering on this specific team that makes you even a little bit more invested. Have you given people to get the next people? Have you gotten other people saying, Meena, what are you? What are you doing? Yeah, it's a divisive like point that, you know, it's a divisive take, divisive alliance I've made. I just taped a podcast. It was JJ Reddick's podcast and Miro. I don't know if, you know, Miro from Deez and Miro, Nick's hand is on. Yeah. And he was like, you know, it's like he talking about me. He said, it's like when you have a relative who has like political views, you don't agree with, you got to try to like, you don't want to alienate them too much. You just got to try to show them what the errors of their ways. And I said, you know what, you can have your popular team and your beloved fan base. I've I've picked my side and I feel great about it. I'm never leaving. We love that. You know, the fan base loves that. Oh, yes, we have our crew, you know, I and Eagle, your mission. Sarah Kustah, great people behind the scenes and, you know, chemistry. Folks, you know, tell us how much they appreciate and love that chemistry. When I when I see you and the crew on NFL Live, I see genuine chemistry where off, you know, off camera. It seems like you guys absolutely get along. And so can you just tell me about the vibe that you have in the, you know, that work environment there with NFL Live? Thank you for saying that. And I want to I know I mentioned Sarah earlier, but like I said, I've watched every next game, which means I've watched all the different broadcasts. You guys do a terrific job. And it's part of what's like pulled me into the nets is because the broadcast is so engaging and fun. It's one of the many reasons why I've embraced it. But yeah, no, I am blessed to work on NFL Live with like my really good friends who I was friends with before we did the show, Laura Rutledge, Daniel Lasky, Marcus Spears, Ryan Clark, it's amazing. And we genuinely like cut it up. Not only like when we're not airing, we've got the group text, you know, just roasting each other and sending jokes. But like during the show and the commercial breaks, just because I like watching people on TV who like each other and are having good time and respect each other. And I hope that comes across always when we're on TV together. No, it absolutely does. What do you love most about breaking down the game? I've heard people talk about, you know, if you want to make it as an athlete, it's not just you have to not just love the games, but you also have to have a certain level of appreciation and passion for the practice and the work it takes to perform well in those games. And I have to imagine it's not much different, at least from my perspective. I'm sure you can speak to this when it comes to preparing for being on air, which you alluded to a little bit earlier. What do you what do you love most about the game and breaking it down? Yeah, you know, football is there. There's it's tricky in that not only are the third two teams, there's so many players and on our show, we talk about all of the teams. And, you know, like, obviously, covering basketball is incredibly nuanced as well. But it's less it's less characters. Football is like Game of Thrones basketball is Harry Potter. Actually, Harry Potter has a lot of characters, too. So maybe it's not a good time. But, you know, it's a lot to keep track of. So that can get a little bit taxing. But what I what I love about football is what football is that while there's so many teams and you got to remain this constantly turnover and things that are changing in the game. There were also, you know, fundamental principles and sort of tricks and and insights and things that you when you start to see them, it's like when you watch the game, it's different. You just see it differently. It's almost like unlocking it. You know, and that's what I like about it, because it's such a complex sport when you have all the time in the world like I do to learn about it and study. It makes the actual experience of watching it more enjoyable. Yeah, it's a new day, obviously. You know, when I get, you know, fan mail or hate mail, as it is now, it's instantaneous. How do you how do you amuse yourself with people who have who have comments or want to comment on your commentary or take or whatever it may be? So I have it on Twitter, so I only see people if they follow me. There you go. That the reply. So that that weeds out a lot of the worst of it. Very useful for anyone who watches highly recommend that. Um, but yeah, I mostly it's mostly just like I just don't want to look at it because it's just too much every now and then I'll catch something. Um, but yeah, I try I mix it up a little bit, but I try not to mix it up too much because it's too time consuming. Yeah, well, that's one place that could be a crazy place. Let's go to a happy place. Lenny, let's talk about, you know, the podcast, a mini con show with Lenny, where is Lenny, by the way, Lenny? He's in his bed over there. I was going to get him on. There's like a Nets bed. That's like a hat. It's like a Nets hat for dog walks into. I was getting him a jersey too. I want like a split hardened, Kyrie, Katie, Jersey or something with all three of them for him. Just the most infuriating possible thing I can come up with. But, um, you know, maybe like with the Basquiat, that's fine. But, um, he's good, man. You know, he's he's a big star, as you know. So a lot of demands on his time, attention. He tried, I, you know, I try to keep him humble. It's not easy. It's not easy. You know, he's got his own he's got his own show. What do you what do you love about that platform, the podcast, you know, versus, you know, television versus the platform of a podcast? And we're more time to to share your thoughts. Yeah. Yeah, it's time. You can kind of geek out about stuff like this last week I had my friend, Charles McDonald, um, who used to cover, you might, you might only cover his football, but, um, he comes on my show a bit. And, you know, we spent like 30 minutes talking about Travis Etienne and Najee Harris cross training as wide receivers and what it means like for running back value. Like that's really nerdy shit. So like, you know, I'm not going to spend 30 minutes talking about the on TV or the radio. And that's great. That's the great thing about having a podcast format is like you can really get into your passions and, you know, I also use it to like to learn from my friends, like whether it's Charles or Dominic Foxworth or Michael Jr. The guys, you know, I have on a lot. They always teach me stuff through conversation. And I think it's really it's a really fun experience. All right. So as we as we wrap you on the West Coast, if could we get you to Brooklyn one day? Is it possible to get you have a demand? I would love it. We're going to we're going to we're going to work on this. We're going to work on this. We want to make this happen for sure. For sure. Spike Lee at Barclay Center. Me and your defense. I appreciate it. I feel that that's like offensive on 100 levels, but it wasn't. I didn't say it. Some on the area, I said it, though. We're running with it. We're running with it. I need that. Bruce Brown, Jersey, then I'll be said. Oh, we got you. We got you. Meena, thank you so much. Appreciate you.