Adam Schefter Will Do Some NBA Sideline Reporting

A conversation with Schefter about his renewed interest in the NBA that will see him dipping his toe into some sideline reporting, Jim Harbaugh's future at Michigan, and why the 9/11 attacks will never leave him

On this week's episode of The MMQB Podcast with Peter King, I sat down for conversations with ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter and Fox Sports host Katie Nolan.

Schefter talked about why he grew up so curious, what he owes to Will McDonough and Chris Mortensen, and why 9/11 will never leave him. He also reveals that the NBA that fascinates him to no end (and makes him wager), and he will soon be covering some NBA games as a sideline reporter at ESPN.

Katie Nolan discusses how she got into this business, her dream job, and why she admires Jon Stewart and John Oliver. She also explains why the Darren Sharper for the Hall of Fame argument really sets her off.

Adam remembers working for Peter at Sports Illustrated as a stringer (2:00) but before that he was an intensely curious kid growing up (3:00) who waited for the newspapers to be delivered every day. At first, Schefter didn't think being a sports journalist was an attainable career (5:00) and he still has tremendous respect for greats like Will McDonough and Chris Mortensen (7:00). Schefter takes us back to his time at Michigan and corrects a factual error made by Rich Eisen in a previous episode (8:00). A proud Michigan alum, Schefter speculates how long Jim Harbaugh will stay in his job at Michigan, the "best job in all of sports" (10:20). Peter and Adam play the What If game. What if... Drew Bree's had signed with Miami (13:00). Schefter explains how the 9/11 attacks will never leave him and his family (14:15). When the ESPN feature about Schefter's family and 9/11 was finished, he struggled to explain the 9/11 attacks to his 8-year-old daughter (18:45). Schefter explains how Chris Mortensen has influenced him and how much he misses being around him daily (23:45). Schefter confesses his closet addiction to playing NBA daily fantasy (28:45) and how his renewed passion for the NBA will lead to him working add sideline reporter for some NBA games to his regular duties (30:45). Schefter doesn't worry about the future of football, but he is very curious about the future and feels fortunate to be covering football during it's golden years (32:20). Schefter plays in two fantasy football leagues and has noticed how much fantasy has changed viewing football and driven the sport's popularity (34:00).

Peter realizes that Katie is half his age (37:00) so they talk about her youth growing up as a Boston sports fan (38:00) and her average softball career marred by a Jon Lester-like quality of getting the yips when throwing to first (38:35). Katie grew up as a rink rat watching her older brother who was a star hockey player, so naturally she hated hockey (39:00). Katie describes her favorite Fenway moment and feeling uncomfortable being part of the Red Sox locker room champagne celebration because she really didn't do anything to deserve to be there (40:00). Katie was a late comer Pats fan, because of a bad experience her mom had while on a date at a Pats game but her grandma has a huge crush on Tom Brady (41:00). Katie was in Italy on vacation at the time he Red Sox went down 3-0 to the Yankees and didn't even try to watch the fourth game (41:12) and pulled out the Italian English dictionaries to find out how to watch game 5. Peter and Katie bring up some old beef between them, the issue that prompted her to call him "Peter King of the Idiots": the Darren Sharper Hall of Fame argument. Katie explains why separating athlete and criminal really pisses her off (41:12). Peter asks Katie how Hall of Fames should treat athletes with criminal records (48:20) which leads to a discussion on the NFL's personal conduct policy and the difficult position Roger Goodell is in as judge, jury and executioner (50:20). Katie's stance is that if a guy is currently in jail, he should not be eligible for the Hall (51:20) but Peter has a problem with how to determine which crimes get you automatically excluded and which crimes don't (51:30). Peter and Katie discuss how individual bias affects Hall of Fame voting (53:00). Katie points out the biggest problem in media today- the rush to report something without checking facts (54:30). Katie and Peter think how John Oliver is really good at his job (57:30) and Katie is glad to also have the luxury of a once a week show to do a lot of research on every topic. Katie talks about a recent show on Josh Brown (1:00).

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