Linda Cohn anchored her final SportsCenter on Friday night.
Sitting alongside Madelyn Burke, Cohn was asked what the secret was to lasting 34 years at the top of her field, and her answer was the same way she had apparently been approaching every broadcast for three and a half decades.
"Even though I was on SportsCenter for 34 years, I make believe somebody is watching me for the very first time, and I have to prove to them that I belong and that I earned a seat in this chair," Cohn said.
Burke compared the mindset to Michael Jordan's line from The Last Dance — that there's always someone in the gym who's never seen you play — and Cohn didn't push back on the comparison. Staying a genuine fan of the sport, she added, was the other half of the formula. A lot of people in the business become jaded over time, she said. She never did.
The conversation turned to legacy, and specifically to a line from her farewell that had resonated widely, that what she was most proud of was that her career lasted long enough to watch little girls who grew up seeing her on SportsCenter enter the business and succeed in it. Burke, who is one of those women, asked why that thread meant so much. Cohn said she came to realize during her time in the chair that young people were watching and drawing conclusions about what was possible. The men who grew up watching her often told her the same thing — that she was the first person from whom they had taken sports coverage from a woman.
Sitting alongside Madelyn Burke, Cohn was asked what the secret was to lasting 34 years at the top of her field, and her answer was the same way she had apparently been approaching every broadcast for three and a half decades.
"Even though I was on SportsCenter for 34 years, I make believe somebody is watching me for the very first time, and I have to prove to them that I belong and that I earned a seat in this chair," Cohn said.
Burke compared the mindset to Michael Jordan's line from The Last Dance — that there's always someone in the gym who's never seen you play — and Cohn didn't push back on the comparison. Staying a genuine fan of the sport, she added, was the other half of the formula. A lot of people in the business become jaded over time, she said. She never did.
The conversation turned to legacy, and specifically to a line from her farewell that had resonated widely, that what she was most proud of was that her career lasted long enough to watch little girls who grew up seeing her on SportsCenter enter the business and succeed in it. Burke, who is one of those women, asked why that thread meant so much. Cohn said she came to realize during her time in the chair that young people were watching and drawing conclusions about what was possible. The men who grew up watching her often told her the same thing — that she was the first person from whom they had taken sports coverage from a woman.
4 months ago
