Quotes from Samantha Ponder

What I'd always liked about Art Briles before is he seemed like a straight shooter, in all my time with him. I respected that.

We have such a weird celebrity culture in our country where we elevate talented, successful, or beautiful people to a level of perceived greater value.

I think there is pressure when it comes to the perceived notion that if you are woman in sports you're there for your looks. You cannot try to look nice on TV and also know what you're talking about.

I'm of the opinion that fans are often best served by broadcasters who have the best relationships with the people they are talking about.

I got into sports broadcasting because I loved sports, not because I loved TV.

The funny thing that still cracks me up is when you get a grown man coming up to you shaking asking for a picture. I'm like 'Dude, you know I'm a scrub, right?'

I didn't have cable growing up. I never saw ESPN or GameDay.

I don't know how I lucked out so much because I have a baby who likes to fly. She is awesome on the plane.

I got some big breaks early on, and the attitude around it was always 'You're just lucky to be here.' No one came out and said that, but that was the clear message. And I felt that way.

The best thing about college football, to me: You can tell when you're on campus.

Within the industry, and maybe people don't want to hear this, but everyone has a conflict of interest. It's a relationship-based industry. There are people we like and don't like.

It's scary to criticize Beyonce in this country. People take their Beyonce very seriously.

I grew up in a family where we had dessert for breakfast.

I've been asked a lot about filling Chris Berman's role - to be honest, I don't even allow myself to see it that way. He is a total legend and created so much of what ESPN is known for and specifically our NFL coverage. That's an impossible task.

You can find me sleeping on the floor at Terminal B at the Atlanta airport any time.

I have nothing to complain about, but it was new for me to figure out how to balance being the best at my job, and also as a woman, to be a good friend, girlfriend, daughter, and all of the things away from my job that are important to me.

As long as you have a firm foundation elsewhere and don't depend on other people to make you feel good or bad, then I think Twitter can be a great thing.

Whenever someone says something to me like 'Oh, another blonde at ESPN,' I would like to crunch the numbers. First, I think we have more brunettes than blondes. And second, there are only three normal hair colors. You're either a redhead, brunette, or blonde. It's really not that complicated.

I thought I wanted to be on ESPN, but I didn't know what the heck it was. I knew it was sports television, but we didn't have it. We didn't really watch TV growing up.

Shame alone makes people hide, not change.

Look, the term 'high-profile relationship' for us is laughable because we are probably the biggest scrubs when it comes to the way we live our lives.

Knowing and being secure in yourself keeps you from being held hostage by the approval of others.

Growing up in a sports household where my dad was a coach, I never had to fake my knowledge.

TV and social media has such as huge impact for what we think is normal and what is OK. And that's for good and bad a lot of the time.