LA Sports Hub Talks With Sports Personality Jackie Mesa Pepper

LA Sports Hub got the chance to talk with Jackie Mesa Pepper.

Jackie Mesa Pepper is a local sports personality who has worked in many positions in the world of sports journalism.

She’s a Los Angeles native and University of Arizona alumn who has worked for Yahoo Sports, ESPN, USA Today and the NFL Network.

Locally, she has been seen on Fred Roggin’s NBC Los Angeles sports television show”Going Roggin”.

As an avid Lakers fan she had the distinct opportunity of covering their recent NBA Finals clashes with Boston Celtics as a sports anchor and reporter for Comcast SportsNet New England in Boston.

In our interview we discussed a myriad of topics related to her background, sports coverage, and Los Angeles place as a global sports city.

Enjoy:

J.A: Who were some of your sports journalism influences growing up?

J.M.P: Sports Illustrated and SLAM Magazine were my favorite subscriptions in high school and college.  I enjoyed everything from the small, but poignant “Sign of the Apocalypse” in SI to fun, wide-ranging cover stories, one of my favorites being SLAM’s “Rock L.A. Familia” with Elton Brand, Lamar Odom and Darius Miles (of the flawed but beloved Clippers) wearing each other’s jerseys.

J.A.: Who were your favorite players growing up?

J.M.P: My parents and I watched our local L.A. teams on television.  We watched a lot of Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers and the UCLA Bruins.  I fell in love with sports because so many of my friends played sports in school and I enjoyed going to their games, cheering them on, and learning the X’s and O’s from the stands.

Being emotionally invested in my friends’ athletic endeavors opened my eyes to professional sports.  I became 100% hooked on sports thanks to Kobe Bryant, Shaq and the Zen Master joining the Lakers in the late 1990s.  At that point, my Laker fandom turned me into a full-fledged sports nut.  As a fan, Kobe remains my favorite athlete of all time.

Without him, I doubt I would’ve cared about sports the way I do today.

J.A.: Did you get to cover Lute Olson’s U of A basketball teams when you were at the U of A…What is your favorite memory going to McKale Center?

J.M.P.: Unfortunately, I didn’t really get the chance to cover Lute’s Wildcats in a journalistic capacity.  I was the mascot of my high school (Vicky the Viking, Santa Monica High School) and auditioned to be Wilma the Wildcat when I was a U of A student.

I made it to the final three candidates but I bungled the audition, which consisted of ten minutes in the Wilma suit during a women’s hoops game.

I was devastated for two years over losing out on that job, but I later realized that had I been “working” every game through a fury suit with low visibility throughout college, I wouldn’t have been able to study sports in the way that being a “regular fan” allowed.

As for my favorite McKale Center memory, that’s a tough one.

I was a freshman at Arizona in the fall, after Arizona’s loss to Duke in the NCAA Championship game in Spring, 2001. Of that team, Gilbert Arenas, Richard Jefferson, Loren Woods and Michael Wright were all drafted to the NBA that summer.

One of my favorite memories is when we (yes, when it comes to the Wildcats, I use “us” and “we,” like I was out there playing) lost to a then-8th ranked Kansas, coached by the great Roy Williams.  It was an exciting game and I was lucky enough to see Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich in their heydays.

Another favorite experience came later that season when 9th-ranked UCLA was STOMPING us in the second half, up twenty points.

Jason Kapono was shooting lights out while Matt Barnes and Billy Knight were playing great ball as well.  Then, out of nowhere, there was a massive swing and within just a few minutes, the Wildcats went from being down 20 to up by 10 points.

We won the game and stormed the court.  That was my probably my absolute favorite memory inside of the McKale Center.

J.A.: Describe your feelings on your first professional assignment

J.M.P: My first professional assignment came as a production runner ( a gopher for an entire TV broadcast crew) for ABC Sports, working on a Washington St. vs Arizona football game broadcast during my senior year of college.

I spent a few days running errands and setting up the broadcast center and on game day, I was assigned to be sideline reporter Todd Harris’ assistant.

I was stationed behind the Washington State bench with the task of reporting any key observations and injury news to Todd.

I roamed the sidelines, casually chatted with players and other Cougar personnel, ran over to the training station when a player was looked at by medical staff, and watched my first-ever college football game at field level where the action is fast and furious.

My adrenaline was through the roof and when that game ended, I knew I wanted to be a sports reporter and broadcaster.

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J.A.: As an LA native what was it like reporting on the Boston Celtics/Lakers rivalry from the other side?

J.M.P.: Working the Lakers/Celtics 2010 NBA Finals was a dream come true.  The Lakers made me love sports and I had a job covering the Celtics, go figure — it was great.  Some of the Celtics players who knew I was an L.A. gal even asked me who I wanted to win!

I honestly didn’t care who won.

Considering how badly the Lakers played in the 2008 Finals, I just hoped for a good, competitive series, and that’s exactly what we got.

You can’t beat seven games.

J.A.: You covered sports in Boston — compare the sports scene there to the one here in Los Angeles

J.P.M.: Everything is more intense in Boston; it’s not just sports.

Weather, driving, drinking, walking, everything! Los Angeles has Hollywood, Boston has sports.  Athletes and team executives are the stars of Boston, so there is a huge emphasis placed on them and their roles in the culture of the city.

J.A.: Your Twitter page says you’re pro-social justice — does sports still have a role in social justice movements?

J.P.M.: I think perhaps the biggest social justice movement of all in sports right now is regarding women’s rights.  Female athletes have become superstars, many women have prominent jobs in sports media, and a few women have broken ground as the first to referee and coach in professional men’s sports.

Most importantly, there has been a recent push for journalistic truth and personal accountability regarding the sexual assault of and violence against women by athletes and others in the sports world, which has proven a public resurgence of the dedication to women’s issues in a male-dominated industry.

J.A.: Has social media made covering sports more difficult or has it opened up more to people in your profession?

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J.P.M.: Social media has allowed people to self-publish, landing them on the radar of folks with hiring power.  We’ve seen independent bloggers become household names while building their own empires (I’m looking at you, Bill Simmons).

But with more opportunity comes more competition.

Everybody tweets.  Everybody has a blog or a podcast.  The sheer volume of players makes it hard to find the real MVPs.

J.A.: With the NFL returning to Los Angeles are you going to try and be involved in any capacity when the Rams and a possible second team come here?

J.P.M.: Covering a new-to-town NFL team would be a fantastic opportunity for any sports reporter.   The most interesting aspect of working an NFL beat these days is actually the league office.

Player safety, labor issues, punishments handed down to players and organizations and what Roger Goodell eats for breakfast are sadly, more fascinating than the on-field action.

A new stadium means possible huge events for Los Angeles — the Super Bowl, the Final Four, and Olympics, to name a few — is Los Angeles now a global city when it comes to sports?

J.P.M.: L.A. has always been a global sports city, with or without an NFL team.

Since the Rams and Raiders left town, L.A. has won NBA, WNBA, MLB (well, the Angels aren’t in L.A., but it’s the same media market so I’m counting it here), NHL, MLS and NCAA championships; not to mention All-Star weekends and venues that host playoff games (like the Rose Bowl and March Madness games).

Plus, L.A. has sailing, surfing, skateboarding, the Summer X Games, etc.

The list goes on and on.

Will it be FABULOUS to have a Super Bowl and an Olympics here?  Yes, but I’ve never subscribed to the idea that the city was greatly diminished without an NFL team.

Next: Re-Signing Trumaine Johnson Is No Brainer

More importantly than having more football to watch in person is the fact that possibly hundreds of thousands of jobs are coming to Inglewood.

We’ll take it!