This fall, Tom Rinaldi will be one of the sideline reporters for the NFL on FOX for his second full season on the A team with Erin Andrews. Of course, the lead NFL FOX booth has changed slightly with Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen on the call for FOX’s big game of the week, including the Super Bowl this upcoming season.
Rinaldi was a guest on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch Podcast this week. He was mainly on the show to talk about the upcoming podcast series Wesley, a FOX Sports audio documentary that debuts July 18 on any podcast platform. It is about Lyman “Wesley” Bostock Jr. and is produced, written, and hosted by Rinaldi.
Towards the end of the segment, Rinaldi was asked by Deitsch about working with a different booth now that Joe Buck and Troy Aikman have joined ESPN. Even with the changes, Rinaldi is excited about the upcoming year and even mentioned something Erin Andrews has taught him over the last year:
“I think there’s a lot of excitement in that and discovery in that as we get to know one another and understand each other’s rhythms. Something that Erin is phenomenal at and has taught me a lot about is her communication in-break with the booth. I think that’s something Richie Zyontz and Rich Russo have really encouraged in the culture of their team meaning if there’s an observation, don’t care who gets the credit, serve the viewer. Erin is a leader in that. She hits the booth insightfully with hey, I notice this…I have tried to pick up the lead with that in that regard.”
“The booth appreciates that. They have so much going on…It’s very easy to miss. That’s what we are there for primarily, first and foremost. I know there’s interviews attached certainly. The reports that come from eyes and ears observations on the ground even with all the cameras deployed.”
Of course, Rinaldi might be still remembered by many for his work at ESPN on College Gameday and being on the sidelines for some of the big college football games. In fact, that experience has helped Rinaldi in his NFL coverage as he says he is able to see players in the pros that he used to cover while they were in college:
“One of the blessings of the many that come with my awesome time at ESPN is having the chance to meet some of the players collegially and the benefit now of seeing them as professionals. To be able to say to them with some authenticity, I was there when. To say to a player in a way that hopefully he interprets in the right way, wow, I’m proud of you, congratulations for what you are building in your career. I have been amazed with some of the emotion that has come back to me in pregame exchanges.”
