As it pertains to insiders in the National Football League, Jay Glazer is a veteran who has broken many stories throughout his illustrious career in sports media. Over the years, he has been in competition with a variety of other reporters, including Adam Schefter, John Clayton and Chris Mortensen, the latter of whom recently announced his retirement from ESPN. Whereas Glazer used to view the profession as being somewhat of a fight, he refined the way he thinks about it over the years and currently has a strong relationship with his colleagues.
Glazer recently participated in an interview with Andrew Marchand of the New York Post where he discussed his career and how he maximized every opportunity he received to eventually make it to FOX Sports. As a former reporter who covered the New York Giants, Jay Glazer made it a point to be rooted around the team for as long as possible and forged relationships with players, coaches and other personnel around the organization. Today, Glazer has 3,912 contacts in his cell phone and is grateful that they all answer him when he reaches out. With the change in mindset about being an insider though, he makes it a point to annually reach out to his counterparts within the sports media industry.
“Nobody knows this,” Glazer said, 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 [you] both; let’s do this right this year [and] not steal each other’s stuff, and behind the scenes, let’s root for each other.”
While he reported on the Giants, Glazer formed a friendship with Super Bowl champion defensive end Michael Strahan, who he currently calls his colleague at FOX Sports. Throughout his years in the industry, Glazer and Strahan have leaned on one another through good times and very difficult times. As a player, Strahan validated Glazer to people around the NFL and asserted that he could be trusted to accurately and genuinely report information. Moreover, he also drove Glazer back into New York City from the Giants’ facility on a daily basis from the fall of 1993 to 1999 because Glazer did not have enough money to afford the city’s transit fares.
“Loyalty is everything to me,” Glazer said. “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.”
Glazer is in the process of writing his second book, which speaks on how to utilize mental health issues to empower oneself instead of letting them beat each other down. He also started two charities – Touchdown Dreams; Merging Vets & Players (MVP) – along with opening the Unbreakable Performance Center. Jay Glazer continues to host the Unbreakable podcast that discusses mental health, along with writing a book by the same name that divulges how he was able to turn depression and anxiety into motivation.
“I’ve lived in this dark ‘gray’ my entire life,” Glazer said. “It’s every damn day of my life, and it absolutely sucks. Incredibly painful existence. I know my life is great, but between my ears sucks and I didn’t sign up for it. But I know I can help people through their pain now because of the pain I’ve experienced.”
As an established and authentic media professional, Glazer finds it important to use his platform and put words to the mental health struggles he has faced throughout his life. Even though he is close friends with Strahan, Jay Glazer hid the hardship from him for 30 years. When he finally told him, Strahan was grateful that he would be able to finally help him and truly act as his best friend.
“Not one friend has shunned me for going to them,” Glazer said. “Even if I go to them over and over and over. Trust me… you are not a burden!”
