Name: Tracy Wolfson
Position: CBS Sports reporter
Where I’m from: Congers, N.Y.
Where I call home: Tenafly, N.J.
Focusing on right now: Usually after football season, I have two weeks to just unwind and spend some time with the family, but now I'm in crunch mode. My first game was Purdue-Northwestern on March 5, then we went into the Big Ten Tournament and now March Madness. I tend to focus on different teams, take notes in case I see them during the tournament.
Best advice: Be versatile. It’s something that I’ve learned from a lot of producers, directors and other reporters. Do whatever they need you to do, especially as a young reporter growing up. Carry cables if you have to. Don’t ask someone to carry your bag. Don’t be a diva. Just go out there and do your job to the best of your ability. Be nice. Be a good person. People will want to work with you along the way.
Person I admire: LESLEY VISSER. She is always forthright with advice and compliments. She's just constantly trying to boost me up. I’ve learned from her to do that to others as well.
First thing in the morning: I’m a mom of three boys, so I wake up with my kids. I make sure they’re ready, I make them breakfast, I get them off to school and drive them there, and then I head to the gym. I do not do any work until they’re in school or until they’re asleep. My time at home is my time being a mom to my kids, and it’s very precious time to me, especially with all the travel I do.
Talking tech: I do everything on the iPhone, and one of the apps I use is called Pocket. It’s the best app for me. It congregates all the articles that I’ve saved, and then you can read the articles anywhere; You don’t need WiFi. That to me is the best tool I use for my research. I’ll be saving things for football season next year.
Best book I’ve read: I read “The Boys In The Boat,” and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I know the Seattle area because I go up there for football. It was a great tale of willpower, courage and determination. I know that if I don’t finish a book now, I’m not going to finish it until May.
Must-have music: I like songs that I know, that I can belt out in the car. I’m a SiriusXM Hits 1 kind of girl.
Food for thought: I love wings, nachos, french fries, appetizers. I like to eat; I work out so that I can. I also love Mexican food and sushi.
How I unwind: Besides hanging with my kids, I go to the gym. I like to play tennis in the summer, and I play a lot of golf in the summer. And I hang out with my friends. We play a game called Mahjong. We’re like little old ladies, but it forces you to use your brain.
A day in the life: On gamedays I wake up probably around 7:00am. I usually prepare just the first report that I do on the air; write it out, have an idea of what I want to say. We’ll head to stadium about four hours before the game. We head out there and you do a lot of walking and talking around the field. Trying to get as much information as you can before the game. If you can just get that first report on the air, you can kind of take a deep breath and say, “Okay, now we’re in the moment, now we’re in the game and let’s just react.” That’s all it is; there’s no preparation, there’s no preparing questions. You just react to what’s happening in the game. And that’s my favorite part about it.
