Erin Andrews Talks About Inspirations, Toughening Up ... and Contra Codes

Erin Andrews. Google her name and you'll get about 771,000 results, many of which are blogs that obsess over the ESPN sportscaster's every word. But meet her in person and you'll find a woman who may seem like you or I, stunning good looks aside. She loves sports, remembers old Nintendo games, and yes, does get her feelings hurt from time to time.

FanHouse recently had a chance to chat with the most popular female sports reporter at the NCAA Football 10 premiere party to find out what drives her, what gets under her skin, and whether she'd drop her career to be a backup dancer for Britney Spears. Our full interview with Andrews is below.

So, first off, what's it like to be featured as part of the NCAA Football 10 game as injury and sideline reporter? Is this your first shot at voice acting?
It's awesome. I have actually done two years already with the college basketball game. So I kind of already had a taste of it. But like I've been telling everybody, I'm from the south, I'm from Florida. College football is just a way of life in the south, so being a part of a college football game is awesome. It's pretty cool.



Have you had a chance to play the game yet?
You know, I haven't played it, I really don't have much time to play any video games. I have a Wii and a PlayStation at home, but I've only used it a few times.

What's your favorite Wii game?
I tried the tennis, I tried the boxing. (not impressed) I was like "Alright, great." But I really wanna try the Yoga. I haven't done that yet. I really wanna try the fitness.

The Wii Fit? Heath Bell actually said he lost 25 pounds playing it.
Oh really!? That's huge, good for him!

Do you think you could beat any of the cover stars in a one-on-one matchup in this game?
No, no. Maybe in Yoga, but no.

Do you see any acting roles or even more voice acting in your future?
Yeah, I would love to be able to do anything big, like in sports. Video games, even though I'm not really a video game player, although I was when I was younger. I played a lot of Nintendo. Duck Hunt, Super Mario. I was awesome and dominated in Contra. (reciting cheat code) Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, (corrects herself) or A, B, Start -- to get the 30 men, I don't know if it did it. But I dominated it. I also dominated the Power Pad, too. But the game was something I really, really wanted to be included in, I was so glad I was asked.

[Editor's note: According to WikiAnswers, the Contra cheat code for 30 lives is actually Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. And a band from New Jersey was even named after it.]


You mentioned in an SI interview I saw that your lifelong dream was to be a backup dancer for Britney Spears?
(shared laughter) Growing up it was.

So, growing up ...
Yeah, I don't think I could hold my own now.

Let's say, just on a whim ... if Britney decided to give you a call and said she'd give you the same salary, "come be a backup dancer for me." Would you drop it all and do that?
I would say, "Britney, I have a sister who's filming a movie, a dance movie in New York. You would wanna give her the role, because she's a lot cuter and she has more talent." And then, I would be my sister's groupie! It'd be perfect! (shared laughter)

You father is Steve Andrews, a six-time Emmy Award winner ...
(touched) Aww. Yeah!

Did you ever feel any pressure in your career, how does he support you and what's that been like?
Well, first of all, there's never any pressure from my dad, just because he's my best friend, I talk to him four times a day. And he's just so excited. First job I got was covering the Tampa Bay Lightning and he was so excited. We would be on a charter flight home from Ottawa and my dad would be waiting up -- because I lived with my parents -- at 4AM just to say "Hey, great job." Or coming home from Toronto and there would be a notepad on my bed that said "Great hit about this injury, great job with this, slow down about this." He was always so supportive, and even now ... You know it's funny, you work so hard, you travel from city to city, from hotel to hotel, you kinda forget how cool your job is. I'll go home and tell my dad, "I just sat in a five-hour long draft meeting listening to Chris Berman and Steve Young and Keyshawn" and my dad's like, "That's awesome! What did you learn!?" And I'm like, "That is awesome! You're right, thanks dad!" (smiling) ...

To keep you grounded ...
Yeah! And it's perfect for me.

What do you think is the toughest part of your job, that people may take for granted. Is it the studying or is it ...
The studying is a lot, it's a lot for me. I think I'm a person that kind of over-prepares, just because I know the stereotypes out there for someone like me, I know the stereotypes for women. And also I know what people like Suzy Kolber, Robin Roberts and Lesley Visser have done for women like me. I don't want to disappoint them, so I really just try to study my brains out.


I read that Hannah Storm also inspired you. Who would you say is leading the way for women in sports reporting today?
Gosh, I don't think it's one person. I think it's Suzy. I think it is Lesley. Lesley is awesome. The first really, really big college football game I ever did was when Rutgers upset Louisville. It was when Louisville was No. 3 in the nation, and the entire state of New Jersey ran out on the field. I didn't know Lesley very well, but after the game Lesley texted me and said "You should be so proud of yourself tonight." So it's somebody like her. Shelley Smith has been wonderful to me ... and Hannah, because that's somebody that I looked up to growing up. Sage Steele is another woman as well. Those are the women in my eyes that I strive to be like, still.

If you can remember, what has been your worst day as a sideline reporter in your career, and what do you define as your best day?
You know, some of the tough days have just been the stuff that people say on the Internet, and realizing I can't do anything to control it. I would say those are tough days. But then, the great days are days like, the one memory that I have in my mind was Virginia Tech. We went there for the first game since the tragedy that they had in April a couple years back. And having people that were there in that engineering building that day say to us, "Thank you so much to ESPN for coming and bringing normalcy back to our campus, for celebrating college football." That was like, "OK, forget all the stuff that people write about me," these people, we're helping them. They're so excited to get back to their way of life and forget about all the bad stuff. So that day really, really affected me in many ways. I need to remember those kind of things when reading about the stuff on the blogs and on the Internet.

You know, a lot has been said, most recently with the Rey Maualuga incident and the Women's Sports Foundation raising ire about it, and there was an apology. I showed the video to my fiancee, who doesn't watch sports at all, and she thought it was "pretty disrespectful." Did you find the apology sufficient? What would you say to those who took offense to it, or those guys who didn't see why it could be offensive?
Right. Yeah, we just kind of ... my statement and ESPN's statement was that we appreciate USC, Pete Carroll and then Rey for reaching out to myself and the network about the situation.

You seem to take a lot of things in stride considering how much is out there.
You kind of have to. You have to.

Has there ever been anything in particular that really got under your skin?
There's kind of just been a lot of things. The best piece of advice I got was from the current New York Rangers head coach and former Tampa Bay Lightning coach, John Tortorella, who was the first coach I had to deal with on an everyday basis when I was a sideline reporter for the Lightning. I think I came in one day really upset, and this was after I got the job with ESPN and I still kept in touch with him. And I said, "People are saying this about me ..." and he said, "You know what ... if you don't get tougher skin, you need to get out. Because it's only gonna get worse as you get better assignments with ESPN."

He was a guy that I admired my first year of working in television, because this was a guy who took the Tampa Bay Lightning, who were the laughingstock of the NHL when he was coaching. You didn't know who Marty St. Louis or Vinny Lecavalier was. He took them and made them Stanley Cup winners, and this was a guy that didn't put up with any kind of crap, at all. For him to come and kind of treat me like a player, and be like, "You know, toughen up, or get out." I try to remember that a lot. My dad will say that, "Remember what Torts told ya, toughen up or get out of it." So there are some things, but you know what, (slaps table) I gotta get over it, because I have a pretty darn good job.

You're right.
And I'm not gonna please everyone.

Well, thank you very much for your time. That was great. Thank you.
Oh, absolutely! No doubt. Thank you for asking!