Bad weather in the Northeast last Saturday canceled seemingly every flight out of New York. Ryan Ruocco and Rebecca Lobo, ESPN\u2019s lead tandem for WNBA games, weren\u2019t going to be able to join sideline reporter Holly Rowe in Dallas for a noon tipoff Sunday on ABC.<\/p>\n
Rodney Vaughn, ESPN\u2019s coordinating producer for WNBA coverage, had to figure out a solution. For a play-by-play replacement, he flew in White Sox TV voice John Schriffen from Las Vegas, where he was calling NBA Summer League games. And for an analyst, Vaughn felt he didn\u2019t need to fly in anyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe said, \u2018We\u2019ve got Holly Rowe,\u2019 \u201d Vaughn said. \u201cThere\u2019s not going to be another analyst that knows this league that could come in and do something in a one-game situation better than Holly. We felt that she could help carry the telecast and wouldn\u2019t need a third person.\u201d<\/p>\n
So Rowe called the Sparks-Wings game as a first-time national WNBA analyst. She had been an analyst for college basketball, the NBA\u2019s Jazz and the WNBA\u2019s Starzz, but never on less than 24 hours of notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was super nervous,\u201d Rowe said. \u201cI had butterflies in my chest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wings veteran Alysha Clark told Rowe what former WNBA star Tina Thompson told her when she joined the league: \u201cTrust the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
With 30 years of experience covering the WNBA, Rowe did just that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHolly was great,\u201d Vaughn said. \u201cHolly could step into an analyst chair and still drop nuggets, like [Wings guard] Arike Ogunbowale\u2019s brother being a football player. On a replay, she\u2019s describing how Arike\u2019s cradling the ball like an NFL running back coming through the lane. That\u2019s only because Holly is flexible enough where she could adapt that story into the role of an analyst.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowe won\u2019t have to be so nimble Saturday, when she\u2019ll return to the sideline for ABC\u2019s broadcast of the 30th WNBA All-Star Game at 7:30 p.m. at the United Center. She\u2019ll be joined by Ruocco and Lobo, who don\u2019t expect any problems flying to Chicago.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe shouldn\u2019t even be identified as just a sideline reporter,\u201d Lobo said. \u201cWhat she brings to a game is a lot more than what a typical sideline reporter would bring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed she does, and it\u2019s evident in her interviews. Players and coaches enjoy talking with her. Even when she\u2019s on a college football sideline for ESPN\u2019s biggest games, Rowe can unwind the most wound-up coaches. That comes from the relationships she has developed, and it\u2019s displayed most with WNBA players.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the biggest things is, I show up,\u201d she said. \u201cI show up to practices. I show up to press conferences. If someone\u2019s having an event, I show up. I want them to know how deeply invested in them and this game I am. I make sure that they know I\u2019m shining a light on them in every possible way. I think they appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of that, too, is trust. They know that I\u2019m going to have their best interests. I do ask hard questions when I need to. But I think they know I\u2019m going to do it in the most respectful way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite her credentials, Rowe said she\u2019s the one person on the broadcast who is never guaranteed airtime unless she sells the producer on a story. One story she has lined up for Saturday is a conversation with Tempo All-Star and former Sky guard Marina Mabrey, who\u2019s working with an \u201cenergy coach\u201d to ensure her fiery manner doesn\u2019t hurt her team.<\/p>\n
Though she\u2019s prepared for countless possibilities, Rowe wants most of her contributions to the broadcast coming live, whether it\u2019s information she\u2019s sharing or passing on to Ruocco and Lobo.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy job is access and observation,\u201d Rowe said. \u201cI am down there to tell fans something that they can\u2019t see at home. So I want 70% to 80% of my content to be something that I have observed and only I could observe because of where I\u2019m at. I need to be the eyes and ears of the fan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowe has been involved with the WNBA since its inception. Just to be a part of it, she began by pulling cables and serving as a stage manager for the Starzz, who are now the Aces.<\/p>\n
She worked her way to the top telling the stories of others.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s never been about Holly,\u201d Lobo said. \u201cShe\u2019s motivated completely by these athletes having interesting stories to tell, and I think sometimes she feels like, \u2018If I don\u2019t tell them, they\u2019re never going to get told.\u2019 And I think that\u2019s why she\u2019s better than anyone else at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
WNBA ALL-STAR GAME<\/p>\n
The facts: 7:30 p.m. Saturday at United Center, ABC 7.<\/p>\n
Pregame show: \u201cWNBA Countdown\u201d at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
Broadcast highlights: Coaches Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon and select players will wear microphones during the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bad weather in the Northeast last Saturday canceled seemingly every flight out of New York. Ryan Ruocco and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-780451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}