On NFL insiders, TV projects, mental health

I hope you had a great and relaxing Thanksgiving break. To bring you back to work, we have a special Q&A with one of the most interesting people in sports media: Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer.

The 53-year-old Glazer emailed with the SportsClicker newsletter about his career, the TV show he almost had and how he got to where is in the business.

The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Clicker: Where did you grow up?

Glazer: A place outside New York City that rhymes with Persey Shore.

What kind of athlete were you? What were your hobbies?

I was a terrible athlete in my mind. I only played one year of football because I was devoted to wrestling and I cut a ton of weight all four years, so that wasn’t conducive to football. When I say a ton of weight, my junior year, I cut 26 pounds at first then usually 13 pounds each week for matches on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

To be real, I don’t think I was a good competitor until I started coaching guys. When I was growing up, I always felt like I was a dumb kid and wrestling was all I had to make myself feel special. So I wrestled not to lose too often instead of to win.

The way I learned to coach, though, was to completely take the ego out of it and appreciate the fight instead of the win and loss. That shift in mindset changed my life. Wish this version of myself could have coached that scared little guy that I was.

When did you first become interested in becoming a reporter? Why?

It happened because that was the first thing I got hired to do for pay. I started in sports and broadcasting interning in 1989/1990, and applied for every job I could. I was beyond broke. It took me four years to finally get a “paid” job in 1993 covering the Giants, and even that gig only paid for a few weeks before they went Chapter 11.

But, man, when I walked into that Giants locker room in July of ’93, I just felt like I belonged. Even though I wasn’t part of the team, covering the team gave me a sense of community that I was really craving.

Once I got in there and I realized one day that was my path to not being broker than broke, I craved being a reporter.

Plus, it gave me a sense of competition that I loved!

Where did you go to school?

I first went to West Chester University of Pennsylvania, but got kicked out during my freshman year for, um, let’s call it disciplinary reasons. Then the next year, I went to Pace in downtown Manhattan and lived in the building I took classes in.

New York City is the best college campus on the planet!

What was your first real job in sports media?

I still don’t have a real job. You kidding me? I’m still waiting to wake up in fifth grade and none of this happened, it was all a dream.

What was your first big break?

New York 1 TV let me do a weekly NFL show on Friday nights at midnight for an hour during football season starting in 1993 in exchange for a car service to the studio.

I thought I was so cool. But it allowed me to work at my craft and mess up and work, work, work at it. I don’t have a lot of talent in most cases, but I outwork the world, that’s my big advantage. So it gave me reps for six years. They eventually gave me $450 per year (that’s not a typo).

In 1995, because of all the scoops I broke on NY1, the great Steve Serby told Greg Gallo, the editor of the New York Post sports section, they had to hire me because I had better relationships in football than anybody. Steve changed my life! I’m forever grateful.

I had a tryout of sorts and sent Greg a scoop I was sitting on. He thought I was full of crap, so he turned me down at first. Two weeks later, that scoop came true, Greg called, said I was right and said, “OK, kid, I’ll give you $250 a story, you’re our new NFL Insider!”

You couldn’t imagine what 250 bucks a week meant to me back then. Absolutely life-changing. I will never take it for granted.

However, despite that, I definitely pushed back about only $250 a week. Greg said, “Look, kid, I appreciate your moxie [true word he used], but you’ve got zero experience, where else ya gonna go? This is what you’re getting!”

And that’s what I got from ’95-’99!

Yeah, between NY1 and The Post, I made $9,450 per year!

That’s it! Taught me how to go from broke to unbreakable, though.

Who was your mentor?

George Young, late Giants GM. Man, George took care of me. When I first started traveling to NFL owners meetings, I stayed up every night in the bar to meet people. George never drank a drop of alcohol in his life, but would sit with me in those hotel bars just to validate me to other people that I could be trusted.

When he passed, he had two funerals. One was in Baltimore. I believe there were 10-15 people from the NFL invited to that private ceremony. I was incredibly honored to be one of them.

How did you develop relationships with players?

I was crazy back then (still am), but I’m authentic. They appreciate that. But on my end, I need a community to help me settle down the crazy roommates in my head, get them to talk nicely to each other.

Those players and coaches never knew that while I was covering them, that entire time they were actually saving me. Relationships are everything to me, they are my antidepressants.

How did your relationship with Michael Strahan develop?

Back in ’93, we latched onto each other both of our first weeks [around the Giants]. It was crazy — I immediately felt like I grew up with him. God put that man in my life for a reason, and we’ve been able to lean on each other as brothers through the best times and some really, really hard times.

He’s the best friend I’ve ever had, and had I not met him, I wouldn’t be where I am. Michael also validated me to players, coaches, everyone, that I could be trusted. But the best thing he did was tell everyone how loyal I am. Loyalty is everything to me. My dad told me as a kid, “If you’re loyal and outwork the world, you can make your dreams come true.” Best advice I ever got.

But without Michael letting others know the loyalty was authentic, I’d still be broke and nowhere near where I am. The dude means everything to me.

Oh, and also he felt bad for me, so he drove me back into NYC literally every day from fall of ’93 to ’99! Every day. I didn’t have enough money for the subway and bus fare each day, so he drove me. Basically I owe him like 26 grand in Lincoln Tunnel fare.

List for me your other businesses and interests.

Obviously mixed martial arts. I was the first host of a nationally syndicated MMA show in America starting in 2004. Had two pro fights in 2003, learned what I didn’t know by losing the first one. It got me to learn jiu jitsu.

The fight community to me is a part of the fabric of my life. Once Fox told me, “Nooo, you’re not fighting ever again,” I learned how to coach because I couldn’t give it up. I started coaching the same NFL players I was covering in an MMA system I came up with. I was basically teaching football players the fighter mentality and grind and having those NFL players and coaches teach fighters sport IQ.

Crazy life.

Actually coached the whole Falcons team two different years, Rams, Browns, Saints. Hundreds of players. That led to me opening my gym Unbreakable in West Hollywood nine years ago. Brought that same MMA system to a ton of Hollywood folks. But more than anything, Unbreakable is a community. I look at the gym as a mental health place more than physical health.

I also host a mental health podcast now called “Unbreakable.” I wrote a book two years ago also called “Unbreakable” where I try to give mental health words.

What else? I was on “Ballers” for five years — played my normal knucklehead self.

I started two charities. The first one is called Touchdown Dreams to pair children fighting for their lives with their favorite NFL teams. And then, of course, MVP, Merging Vets & Players, to help give our military and ex-athletes a new team again after their income comes off. Losing that locker room is hard for both!

Trying to write my second book now, which gives people a tangible daily game plan and habits to help them through their mental health issues but also help people use their issues to empower them instead of beating us down. We are all going through something. I love coaching. This allows me to continue coaching between the ears and behind the rib cage in a different way.

I’m a partner in Jimmy Bars, a protein bar that also helps with brain health. Also trying to help a stem cell place in Panama called Auragens that saved me from having to get three fusions in my back. They are now trying to help veterans and children for free, and I’m helping them spearhead that. They already treated a close veteran friend of mine named Eliott Ruiz. Ellliot was injured in Iraq, had several surgeries and now multiple sclerosis, and the treatment, which they totally comped, had changed his life.

Also the spokesman for an ADHD medication I take named Qelbree that’s a non-stimulant.

Other than that, I got nothing going on, haha.

What is your best story about players you train?

Oh, the best is: I was training [NFL offensive lineman] Kyle Long and going over these hand-violence drills I came up with. Howie Long, his dad and obviously my brother from Fox, kept butting in like freakin’ Honey Boo Boo’s mom, like he’s a dance mom. Kept telling him to butt out and finally showed Howie the drill and whack, cracked him in his forearm with a hammer fist. Howie Long!

Welp, the Raiders version of Howie Long re-emerged. He says, “Why would you do that?!?!” Took his car key and tried to punch me in the eye. Yeah! He literally tried punching my eye out. I jumped back and we calmed him down.

Now I say, “So, maybe ya think your reaction was a tad excessive there, Sasquatch?” But in reality, my dumb ass probably shouldn’t be hitting the baddest Raider who ever lived.

He said, “Well, it hurt.” That was it. Yeah, that was a hoot.

How do you handle the potential conflict of training players and covering them?

I always told guys: If it’s going to come out, I want to have it first. I’d get in squabbles with guys about it, but I wore two hats at the time. What I was doing had never been done before. One time, I broke a story in the gym of a team trading for a player to replace the guy I was training. I couldn’t say a word and felt terrible, but I had to have my Fox hat on that day. That was a tad awkward.

What’s the most interesting phone number you have in your contacts? 

I don’t know how you rank that. I currently have 3,912 contacts, to be exact. Crazy names from all walks of life, and I’m grateful they all answer my call.

What was the first commercial you did?

Subway with Strahan when we were both bored and had nothing to do because it was the offseason. He was botching all the sandwiches and I was pestering the sandwich makers for scoops. Can’t make it up. They gave me a Subway Black Card back then, though. Coolest thing ever: unlimited Subway, baby. They didn’t know this, but I would actually use it to buy meals for the homeless. I’d take all these orders and load ’em up!

What’s the best story on commercials you’ve shot?

I convinced Michael Phelps to push me in the pool on a Subway shoot, but right before said, “You better not screw this up, Phelps, because I only got one suit!” He nailed it.

How do you look at competition with other insiders?

I used to look at it as a fight because that’s how I operated best. But now I’ve got a great relationship with them and have given a bunch of advice when some started off. I was in that first group to do this minute-by-minute breaking news when the internet first came out, so I’ve seen it all. It was me at CBS Sportsline.com versus the great Chris Mortensen, Len Pasquarelli and John Clayton from ESPN. Schefter came a few years later to NFL Network.

Nobody knows this, but before every single season I would call Mort and Adam and tell them, “I’m probably going to talk a whole bunch of crap about you both and ESPN, but that’s just because I like the fight of it. I love ya both, let’s do this right this year, not steal each other’s stuff and behind the scenes let’s root for each other.”

Nobody ever knew that.

How do you look at day-to-day minutia news breaks as compared to bombs?

Bombs, wow, absolute adrenaline rush. The day-to-day business changed. Now it’s whoever tweets the fastest, and too many people just take it as their own a minute later. I never got that.

I also never got “confirming” someone else’s scoop. Obviously that reporter already worked to confirm it, so just give that man or woman credit. There’s enough to go around.