It's like 10 years old But-

... forcing myself.

No I'd love...

Kind of forcing myself to relive this through it and I've literally never.

I mentioned it on the show on Actual Friends when it was um, the spouses.

It was Drew and Susan and me and my husband Dave.

And mentioned it a little bit there and I was shaking as I did it because it brings you back.

My guess is nothing will come of this but Sage, New York [laughs], it is what it is huh?

How has faith played a role in your life?

Oh man, as you know, gosh, what a journey it is.

I was raised Catholic, still consider myself Catholic.

I still have such appreciation for the tradition.

You know, I always said that I could, you can go anywhere in the world, anywhere in the world and walk into a Catholic church and feel comfortable based on those traditions.

This past April, my husband and I were in Italy, in Tuscany, and found this tiny church in this tiny village, an ancient village, and it was Easter Sunday.

And we just walked in, and the smell of the incense, I couldn't understand anything the priest was saying, because it's in Italian, but I understood it and I felt it.

Visit purgestore.com slash hisglory and use code HISGLORY for a 10% off discount.

Wow.

"I'm so sorry that I, I, I crossed a line apparently," because it could have hit me anywhere else, even on my head, and it hit me in my mouth.

So I do feel like it was this dark [laughs] it sounds crazy to some, but to me, I, I took it as God, or now I look at it as someone, something evil trying to tell me to be, like, "This is what you get.

This is what happens when you speak up and speak your truth.

Just stay quiet." So it took me a while to get through that and then reverse it and go, "Oh, no, no, no.

He actually is trying to, um, show you your strength, and that if you are able to survive something like that and come back to work less than three weeks later, there's a real point and purpose to this, so what are you gonna do with it since you've been spared?"

Yeah, it's pretty exhausting, huh?

It's exhausting, but honestly, I think if I, if I think deeply about it, I can go back to the, to the late '90s when I...

Thank God now you're doing great on your own show, and you're in charge of everything, so you can say whatever you want.

Yeah, I, I'd heard that that world existed, but I didn't really believe it.

It's true.

So for those of you who are afraid of cancellation, don't be afraid.

It might be the best thing that ever happens to you.

[laughs] I'll, I'll, I'll say this, yes, those two issues, um, did...

It was the beginning of the end of my career, and I sued Disney and...

Okay

Is there a person behind that, or is it just tech?

Oh, gosh.

First of all, you're asking great questions, and I will preface my answers by saying I am not a soccer expert.

I am learning quickly, but my life at ESPN and 30 years of sports is football, basketball, baseball, hockey.

So this has been new and awesome for me to go to this level and, and really learn about it.

Um, even if it's not intentional, there can be red cards issued, and that is exactly what happened.

The controversy...

[laughs]

Yes

... zero learning disabilities, zero intellectual disabilities, zero tics, zero psychological disabilities.

Vaccinated children, and the list is long.

Asthma, 4.29 times higher in vaccinated children.

Acute and chronic ear infections, 600% more likely with a vaccinated child.

Atopic disease, autoimmune disease, neurological disorders, 300 to 616% increase in vaccinated children.

ADHD, autism, behavioral disability, developmental delays, l- it is such a long list, and no one...

Mm-hmm

Mm-hmm.

It's obviously also been easier said than done.

I thought last spring of 2025, um, you know, what the president said at that time, where we have decimated them and it's over, it wasn't.

We know that now.

Um, and I- that's what has to happen.

I do have faith that it's going to happen.

Here, here's my issue with it.

Sure

Mm.

Because this is kind of how it used to feel, right? Where so much of our attention, yes, is focused on what's happening in the world, as it should be, right? There's more important things than sports, but sports is always, um, an escape.

That's the way I always approached it.

That's why I wanted to be a sportscaster, 'cause it was an escape from reality for so many people, no matter what was going on in your lives.

So over the last, let's just call it a week, it has been awesome to see.

I mean, the NBA has had a lot of issues over the last, I'd say decade or maybe five, six years with wokeness and really just taking it really too far, where people kind of stopped watching.

The ratings had tanked.

Of course

$500 million, you should love the country that makes that possible.

But, but, but let's, but let's condemn...

Right, and let's condemn capitalism altogether from his penthouse in Tribeca, right? So I, I...

But, but here's the problem, is that for so long the left has been able to just take low-hanging fruit and say, you know, "White man bad, capitalism bad," you know, with their iPhones in their hands and having that penthouse in Tribeca.

And people see it and go, "Yeah, you're right," just because you don't like Donald Trump.

So, uh, what I'm hoping for, especially with this younger generation, is that people dig a little bit deeper and don't just take that low-hanging fruit.

Just, don't just take those talking points and believe every single thing.

Of course

What do you think?

Yeah, I hope so.

Or maybe we should phrase it as a return, because this is kind of how it used to feel, right? Where so much of our attention, yes, is focused on what's happening in the world, as it should be, right? There's more important things than sports, but sports is always an escape.

That's the way I always approached it.

That's why I wanted to be a sportscaster, because it was an escape from reality for so many people, no matter what was going on in your lives.

So over the last, let's just call it a week, it has been awesome to see.

I mean, the NBA has had a lot of issues over the last, I'd say, decade or maybe five, six years with wokeness and really just taking it really too far where people kind of stopped watching.

Am I right?

Should we not have higher standards for people who run for office? I know.

I think it's safe to say we should.

I just think this is one of those moments, Ash, and I'm so glad to talk to you in person, that we've got to consider the source, right? Hunter Biden, let's be clear about exactly who he is, a convicted felon on more than one charge, a longtime heavy drug user, pictured countless times with sex workers who whose dad happens to be the ex-president owed the ex-president who gave him a full and unconditional pardon for all of the things, things we probably don't even know about.

So we got to consider the source.

And to your point, I don't understand how all of a sudden this man is the moral compass for the Democratic Party.

Is this who you want advising on who is and is not worthy of running for office? Like, it's absolutely incredible to me.

But go ahead.

How about we save the economy?

Yeah, yeah.

No one helped me.

Then I remember years later negotiating my own, um, rate for the Baltimore Ravens, uh, Ravens report on the weekends, where it's like a, you know, an extra show, a magazine show, and I negotiated my rate, and I remember every penny I made that entire season for 20 games.

It ended up being 750 bucks a show that I negotiated.

$20,000.

I had to write a check to the credit card company.

Yeah.

But it is an absolute choice to, um, ignore it and not say, "Karen, listen, I'm a Democrat.

And to play what I think is a positive role into such a negative, um, wave of developments has been the greatest honor of my life.

You've probably heard me talk about OneSkin before, but I'll be honest, this is one of those products that really changed how I think about skincare.

I've never been somebody with a complicated routine.

I, I need to keep things simple for me.

But at a certain point, you start to notice your skin just isn't keeping up the way it used to.

That's exactly where OneSkin came in for me, and actually works differently than anything else I've tried.

I've been using their OS1 in my daily routine, and what stood out to me right away wasn't just the lightweight, super clean feel of the product itself, but that over time, my skin actually started to look healthier, look smoother, more even, and a little more firm.

It's the same denial.

Oh.

Um, interesting.

But, you know, I just think it's really fascinating that now he says that, but you were fine in Oxford all those years.

You were fine in Oxford leading into last football season, saying, "It is so much more than just football." It's how the community has embraced him and his family, and he's come such a long way personally after struggling with alcohol and the divorce and all these things.

And then all of a sudden, they hold your feet to the fire, and no, you can't coach in the college football playoff, um, after deciding to leave, weeks and weeks of that back and forth.

And now you come out and take shots? And then he tries to walk it back.

"That's not what I meant.

The $91 million he's getting from LSU.

Am I wrong on that?

Yeah, no, I, I totally agree with you, and it was incredible to see Spencer Pratt, a reality star who we've been watching online over the last several months, but go right there head-to-head.

And he wasn't trying to crush them, but he inadvertently did by just speaking the truth and saying the things that I know and you know and everybody else knows Californians need to hear.

People in Los Angeles need to hear because they're done.

They're tired of stepping over bodies literally.

The homelessness problem is such a massive issue.

And I love how honest and real he has been about the effect that the Palisades fire has had on him and so many of his neighbors and friends and, and everybody throughout the Los Angeles area because they knew it was potentially coming.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it always happens, for the most part, right, whenever there's a championship of any kind won.

I love how they handled it.

They knew it was a joke.

They laughed, and they're like, "Yeah." Like, "We, we doubled up.

We're two for two." Like-No one cared until certain people told us we should care.

Um, yeah, the Kash Patel thing, I, I prefer to not see him in there.

Oh, he goes right at you?

Oh, he goes right at you?

Oh, but I...

And I was like, "Doc, remember that whole thing, diversity of thought? It's not just diversity of skin color," which is you guys alw- always wanna make it about race.

But it's Doc and who used to be a friend of mine and, and, and Steve Kerr, et cetera, who wa- you know, they lead with divisiveness and hatred and judgment 'cause I actually said to Doc, you know, this is a very long DM chain, and I s- and I was like, "You just hate the fact that you can't, you know, put me in a box.

Because of my skin color, I'm supposed to think a certain way and vote a certain way and marry a certain way.

You, people like you, and Steve Kerr are the problem.

How about respecting people's opinions? You don't know my story.

Cut seven.

Mm.

And her mother wouldn't do it.

And she said, the younger daughter said, "Mom, in our home, this is what we do." She did that to my dad, and he held her hand tightly.And later that day, on Thanksgiving Day, my grandfather, my mom's dad, kind of apologized.

We found out later it really wasn't his idea.

This was more my grandmother, who struggled so much.

My grandfather went along with it.

Um, and he said, "Listen, Gary, I'd like to put all this behind us and, you know, start over."

[laughs]

Sage, your thoughts from sportscaster and then sports fan, what does it feel like?

It's so nice to be able to be a fan and not have to be professional, because crying as a broadcaster would not have been a good thing.

Uh, Brian, I'm still in shock, and, and the way the game ended, it was definitely the most stressful sporting experience I've had in my 53 years.

It was amazing to st- to sit back and look at the number of grown men and women in tears, because there was never, ever any hope for this in football at Indiana University.

We got to give credit to the president of the university, Pam Whitten, a woman who came in four years ago and said, "You know what? The way to make your university great academics is to have a great football program." The financial benefit to this school is gonna be amazing.

Uh, but it was just, it was so special, Brian.

And by the way, home game for Miami, right? I mean, it was easily 65-35 red in that stadium-

So what did he s- tell us what he said in the very beginning there.

(laughs)

... and like I just had to forgive myself.

And, I mean, from a spiritual aspect, like, I thought God was gonna be really mad at me.

I had t- I talked to my priest and, um, it was very helpful in, in saying, "Okay, have you, have you prayed about this? What has been your process to get to this point, um, and then afterwards?" And then, by the way, when you have three kids, and at the time they were, um, all in high school, you know, like trying to make life as good as possible for them and then to co-parent, which we did well, especially at the beginning.

We did really well when they were younger.

Yeah.

30-plus years ago, our fathers were stationed together in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

So in the early '90s, um, they graduated from West Point a year apart, my dad 1970, his dad 1971.

Yeah, it was so sad.

(laughs) But I was super attracted to so many black guys, but guess what? Mm-hmm.

Not one of those black guys at IU that I knew- Mm-hmm.

... would date a black girl.

They only dated white girls.

Mm-hmm.

So I'm like, okay- That's crazy, right? ...

(laughs)

Mm.

That young man, that young man ...

On the cross, our Savior said, "Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do." That man, that young man, I forgive him.

I can't even fathom.

And I don't know.

I, I, she's so brilliant, as you know, and I do think she feels it.

She knows.

She knows the impact she has having with zero time right now to even grieve.

Yeah.

... until November 12th, 2024 when I met Dave, it was.

And I had asked God, "Don't bring me anybody until you bring me somebody.

Make it clear." It was clear as day.

And I...

That night when it hit me, I thought back to being in the ocean on January 1st and, like...He's literally answering my prayers because I said, "Make it really obvious." I asked him to make it very obvious.

Um, and I'll shut up after this, like, Dave asks me a weekend, he's in Nashville, I'm in Florida, you know, four or five hour phone conversations, all three kids had gone off to college, which was why I made the full-time move to Florida, only after they were gone and okay, um, and he said, "What do you want in a relationship?" Like, "What are your requirements?" And for the first time, I was unafraid to say what I really wanted, and the first thing for me was that I needed someone to walk this faith journey with me.

Oh, that's interesting.

(laughs)

...

but I- I just knew, knew, knew from that young age and got into it, and then local TV, regional TV, and actually, I don't think you know this story either, 2004, I got the call I'd been waiting for from ESPN.

I was working in Washington DC, um, at Comcast SportsNet covering the Baltimore Ravens and the Washington Wizards and, uh, Maryland Terrapins and you name it, and I got the call, and went up to Bristol, Connecticut for the audition, um, scared to death, kind of, sort of, but I was really, really, really pregnant, like 12 months pregnant with my second kid.

Um, by the way, my first is over here in the orange shirt.

Say hi, Quinn.

(applause) Whoo! Sorry.

Only if you wanna get rid of another body.

Or do you think it's something his dad said?

Uh, I mean, there are many things that it could be.

Um, I think...It is proven, based on the scouting reports, that many of these teams, their directors of scouting, their general managers, the coaches who were in on those interviews, they're anonymous right now but eventually will come out, but they are talking about how it seemed like he was disinterested, it seemed like he didn't want to be there at times.

I wasn't there, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall, but at the end of the day, these NFL teams, owners, coaches, they don't care.

They want to win and- will do whatever it takes to win.

So you've got to look, you've got to trust that within them and look at the other possibilities.

Um, also I wanna point out this.

Your thoughts?