Quotes from Rich Eisen

Everybody is owned by somebody.

Celebrities love the NFL just as much as the guy who paints his face every week.

As a former stand-up comic from my University of Michigan days, the opportunity to participate in a Friars Club roast was bucket-list stuff.

There's no greater cause in the world than finding cures for our sickest children. And no one does that better than St. Jude because its families never have to worry about paying the hospital for anything.

In broadcasting, you're pretty much married to your job.

Right before I left ESPN, someone suggested doing a NFL story in the spring. The person was laughed out of the room.

The NFL has captured the casual fan.

Being a huge football fan, the chance to work for the NFL and do a show combining sports and entertainment is truly a dream come true.

Wednesday is always a ramp-up day during Super Bowl week. This is the day that players who didn't make the big game always appear or arrive in the Super Bowl city to hawk their wares or promote a sponsor, so that's why NFL Network always holds the bulk of their coverage from Radio Row at the Super Bowl Media Center.

The Tuesday before the Super Bowl is all about the media. Well, to be honest, every day at the Super Bowl is about the media, but Tuesday of Super Bowl week is specifically called Media Day.

The NFL is part of the pop culture landscape, so sports fans don't bat an eye when you stop in the middle of a piece to talk about a new movie.

Sports is part of the pop culture landscape in this country, just like music and television and movies.

I realized early on in my life that I couldn't hit the curve or throw the 50-yard post pattern, so talking about it would be my way in.

It's my job to take the fans sitting at home on their couch and put them in my shoes.

There is a lot of information to know, but I prepare for the NFL Draft by coming to work every day.

We just have fun with our NFL Draft coverage because we understand that it's a long process, and there can be technical glitches that we don't profess to ignore. During our late coverage of the Draft, we sometimes get slap-happy and distort the heads of our analysts.

I have some guests who get angry when they don't get to talk about sports and have to talk about the project they are promoting.

The days of a tennis champion as a gender rights leader are over.

I always thought that first jump from a small market should be as big as possible. But never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be ESPN.

Italian wines are my favorites. I like a big, booming red wine that blows your taste buds away.

Thanks to the proliferation of information being consumed on mobile devices and the Internet, management changed 'SportsCenter' from being a show where highlights and storytelling ruled the day to a show where analysts ruled the day.

Nothing trumps good conversation.

I just want to have folks be comfortable and just share and have a good conversation. To me, that's kind of a lost art.

The raw emotion and physical nature of the NFL definitely push a lot of peoples' buttons. It's played once a week, so every game is important.