When the game on the field ends for players, the one in the locker room for reporters is just beginning. Each Sunday, reporters try to masterfully navigate a team's locker room to try and do their jobs as best they can, and it's not always easy.
Erin Andrews might be a household name now, but she needed to carve out her legacy through hard work early on in her career. It's something everyone in all walks of life must do, and one of the most valuable lessons that can be learned is that not everyone is going to help you out when you need it.
On the flip side, there are people who will counteract anyone who is making your job difficult either because of great leadership or the kindess in their heart -- or both.
That's what Andrews found out early in her career when she went to try and cover a story in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers locker room.
Erin Andrews recalls 'nasty' Bucs player who made her cry early in her career
On the latest episode of her podcast 'Calm Down' with Charissa Thompson, Andrews told a story from early in her career when a Buccaneers player was so rude to her it brought her to tears in the team's locker room.
"I was working freelance for an Orlando station, and they wanted sound from the Bucs' locker room. A particular player was so nasty to me. He physically turned his back away from me in the middle of his scrum. He also told me to go back, rehearse my question and come back when I was ready. I was mortified," Andrews recalled. "I was 19, 20 years old. I had practiced. I did slip up a little bit, I stumbled. He knew it. He knew I was young. I instantly started having tears come down my face."
She doesn't name the player, but that part doesn't really matter. What matters is that someone made her feel that way in a professional setting and that's never alright. The story does have a happy ending, though, as Andrews does mention two players by name who took her aside and tried to help her out.
"Two players in particular, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch, saw it, pulled me over, and said, ‘What do you need'," she said. "Royalty!"
Whomst among us is surprised that the Nice Guys in this situation would end up being Brooks and Lynch. Whoever the doofus was in this situation is beside the point, as those two guys coming to comfort Andrews and help her do her job is exactly why they meant so much to the Bucs during their time in Tampa Bay.
It didn't matter if it was a young reporter or a teammate on the field, the leadership from Brooks and Lynch is the real takeaway here and is proof of how far it extended beyond the game.