Goat Post: Issue 15

Pictures on the walls of our workplace are up for a reason.

There’s Faye Dunaway, the morning after “Network” had an unforgettable showing at the 1977 Academy Awards. She’s sitting at a table, poolside, at the Beverly Hills Hotel with her Best Actress Oscar and the scattered morning paper.

The chemistry in the photo is much deeper than the beckoning, undisturbed water. The photographer, Terry O’Neill, did an amazing job. Straight outta Hollywood, he and Faye would date and become husband and wife. I trust that wasn’t part of Terry’s assignment.

The result — putting aside their divorce many years later — spoke to the sort of indescribable trust a subject deserves to have with storytellers, particularly those capturing them meaningfully.

Some of our other pictures: Pat Benatar, rehearsing in a warehouse, before she became iconic on MTV and in high school girls’ hairstyles and rock star confidence; Nirvana, just as Smells Like Teen Spirit would shift music itself back to what you hear vs. what you see; the Cars, posing for a photo shoot in New York but hilariously interrupted by a Flashdance-era jogger; and the Beatles taking jabs in a Miami gym from the proclaimed Greatest Of All Time, Muhammad Ali.

All of them speak to what frames Goatnet: Powering valuable content, championing great achievements and pursuits, and embracing the importance of experiences and relatability that earn engagement.

This week’s Goat Post happily shares our appreciation for people in the media who carry themselves in ways that slam dunk each of those points.

There’s Jarrett Payton, son of a dude named Walter. Search Sweetness and best running backs ever, and you’ll see his Pop.

Jarrett played soccer in his early athletic years, influenced especially by a Mom who knew well that football can be a real kick in the head. Eventually, Jarrett got to don the helmet and pads.

He was so great, by the way, that he was wanted by the Miami Hurricanes and, later, the Tennessee Titans. Pretty amazing run in our book.

Before winning Orange Bowl MVP and compiling sweet highlights of his own as a player, Jarrett had a trending moment that eclipsed it all. He presented his Dad for induction at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Walter’s eyes were so wet that he lost a bet.

Flash forward, decades later, Jarrett is a father, a sports media personality in Chicago, a giver, a GOAT. You want to know how to transition from player to broadcaster?

Add Jarrett Payton to your G List.

If heavenly spirits could endorse somebody down here as a friend and journalist who’s wired with both wit and compassion, you’d know that’s what another larger than life Bear, Steve McMichael, would do.

Jarrett presented Steve in Canton, too.

Not just as a member of the media. As a great human being, the thing that forms awesome lifetimes.

@itsgoatnet

Not just “Walter’s son.” Jarrett Payton built his own legacy — shaped by the same kindness and values his dad lived by 🐐❤️

We pivot here from Second City greatness to the many moving parts of free speech.

We’ve never had so many channels, apps, platforms, trolls, bots, messages, noise, live feeds, untruths, fakes, failures, cancellations, manipulations and ungated dangers, doubts and beliefs presented as knowledge than we have right now.

What that Wild Worst leads to? Opportunity.

Accepting life as it is never h as been how we’ve advanced.

So we turn here to great women who thank God never looked at obstacles, shrugged, and said ok, you win.

That’s how we got a better NFL Today and tomorrow: Because of Phyllis George.

And how we heard from Anita Martini, the first woman on the air who was admitted to a locker room full of grown ups making big bucks for playing kids’ games.

Anita, with the help of the Dodgers’ Walter Alston, Tommy Lasorda and Jimmy Wynn, broke through that boys clubhouse barrier and became one of the most respected figures in sports broadcasting.

This was only five decades ago.

Anita’s track record is so unbeatable because, get this: Two days after surgery for a brain tumor, she was on the air from her hospital bed taking calls live on sports talk radio in Houston.

First time, strong time.

And yet, you look her up today, and there isn’t nearly enough that showcases her story. That doesn’t have to remain true. We’re on it.

As we do our work, there are many more women who’ve taken the baton and earned their own Iron Cam triumphs. For starters, there’s Julia Morales, in Anita’s stomping ground, as beloved a sports media personality as Texas has ever known.

Why? Because she cares, works round the clock, is thorough, personable and gets every platform right, including when asked to call a game live.

There’s Nicole Briscoe, genuine and consistent, a Mom and dog person, a race car heart, and a reason to still tune in for linear highlights.

@rb_mrs

Egg Challenge. Gone wrong. Or as expected. #goldenretriever #goldenretrieverlife

And we’re also lucky to have Stormy Buonantony, an amazing rising star who walks the impressive balance of sharp sideline reporting and holding court among sports betting personalities. Stormy, as you can see in the stitched together compilation, gets the Goatnet big picture.

@itsgoatnet

The voices that built the game — true broadcasting trailblazers 🎙️🔥

The future? It’s there for the making.

Shout out to Jessica Kleinschmidt, who doesn’t just cover the A’s — no matter where they play — she covers the people, covers the hearts, souls, silliness, insights and news behind the scenes using a textbook honesty she lives every day.

Jess has Orioles territory roots. So she had known about Oprah on TV before she became a GOAT. Which is part of the reason, when Jess and her Dad later went to an A’s game, daughter matter-of-fact noted to her father that she didn’t see any girls in high-profile media roles.

Having played baseball herself and respecting Eric Chavez’s game, Jess decided to put on the proverbial eye black and pursue that game-bettering dream.

She’s one of the best people in any credential scrum anywhere. The game, humanized.

So where this all goes, girls and boys, is up to you.

The storytellers and stories you appreciate make a difference. The way your content is presented is how it breaks through.

Be real. Bet on you.

Take Pepper Persley. The kid is growing up and thriving before WNBA and red carpet eyes. The questions she asks big-time stars, live, are spot on.

If you want to get into broadcasting or get reps for that move someday, don’t put it off.

There are great footsteps to study and fresh tracks to make.

Our closing segment begins with Sherman Jocko Maxwell, the first black sports broadcaster. He lived to be 100. He was from Newark, NJ, and died in West Chester, PA.

In 2001, a grateful man at 93, Sherman visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Renowned voice of the game Ernie Harwell, 84, was there.

Ernie, while addressing spectators, saw Sherman in the crowd and singled him out, recognizing Jocko as more than a peer. As a legend.

Sherman got his picture taken with Ernie and Dale Petroskey, Hall of Fame President at that time. Sherman called it one of the great days of his life, and remember this was in his 10th decade.

"Imagine that!” Sherman said later, talking about Harwell.”He remembered me. I have to say this, I never had a nicer day in my whole life.”

Oddly, there’s barely any discoverable multimedia on the so-called World Wide Web about Sherman Maxwell.

Yet there is, for example, easily found footage of Vin Scully at 26 covering our National Pastime.

@vintage_bubble_gum

Did you know that Vin Scully was a member of his first World Series broadcast booth in 1953 when he joined NBC at the age of 26? Scully, w... See more

Really goes to show, content may be king, but to get it in every color used to be a royal pain.

Nowadays? It still requires action. And realization.

You never know who is going to tell, shape or spread great stories, but having a vehicle to do so like never before will only help.

What used to be a picture day or is now a platform. Goatnet is like those photographs on our walls. Taken by the times. Developed for keeps.

Signing off with one more GOAT, Bob Uecker. His legacy of love and humor is as unmistakably vibrant as the plaid jacket he wore on The Tonight Show … and no, that one wasn’t paused.

@goatnetbleats

What’s your Bob Uecker line?

Goat Big!