{"id":702,"date":"2014-01-06T12:42:15","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T12:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/?p=702"},"modified":"2017-07-10T19:36:41","modified_gmt":"2017-07-10T19:36:41","slug":"erin-andrews-tampa-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/erin-andrews-tampa-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Erin Andrews on growing up in Tampa Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"<div\n\tclass=\"ngg-galleryoverview\"\n\tid=\"ngg-gallery-1a94bab44b60084f903a7b9ac7410c05-1\">\n\n    \t\t<!-- Thumbnails -->\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"ngg-image-0\" class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box\" >\n\t\t\t\t        <div class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/0310_coverimage_v2.jpg\"\n               title=\"The cover image from blu&#039;s spring 2010 edition.\"\n               data-src=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/0310_coverimage_v2.jpg\"\n               data-thumbnail=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/thumbs\/thumbs_0310_coverimage_v2.jpg\"\n               data-image-id=\"245\"\n               data-title=\"0310_coverimage_v2\"\n               data-description=\"The cover image from blu&#039;s spring 2010 edition.\"\n               class=\"ngg-fancybox\" rel=\"1a94bab44b60084f903a7b9ac7410c05\">\n                <img\n                    title=\"0310_coverimage_v2\"\n                    alt=\"0310_coverimage_v2\"\n                    src=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/thumbs\/thumbs_0310_coverimage_v2.jpg\"\n                    width=\"120\"\n                    height=\"90\"\n                    style=\"max-width:100%;\"\n                \/>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"ngg-image-1\" class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box\" >\n\t\t\t\t        <div class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/a0039097_bw.jpg\"\n               title=\"A black and white of Erin Andrews at Oystercatchers.\"\n               data-src=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/a0039097_bw.jpg\"\n               data-thumbnail=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/thumbs\/thumbs_a0039097_bw.jpg\"\n               data-image-id=\"246\"\n               data-title=\"a0039097_bw\"\n               data-description=\"A black and white of Erin Andrews at Oystercatchers.\"\n               class=\"ngg-fancybox\" rel=\"1a94bab44b60084f903a7b9ac7410c05\">\n                <img\n                    title=\"a0039097_bw\"\n                    alt=\"a0039097_bw\"\n                    src=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/thumbs\/thumbs_a0039097_bw.jpg\"\n                    width=\"120\"\n                    height=\"90\"\n                    style=\"max-width:100%;\"\n                \/>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"ngg-image-2\" class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box\" >\n\t\t\t\t        <div class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/a0039147.jpg\"\n               title=\"A shot of Erin during our shoot at Oystercatchers\"\n               data-src=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/a0039147.jpg\"\n               data-thumbnail=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/thumbs\/thumbs_a0039147.jpg\"\n               data-image-id=\"247\"\n               data-title=\"a0039147\"\n               data-description=\"A shot of Erin during our shoot at Oystercatchers\"\n               class=\"ngg-fancybox\" rel=\"1a94bab44b60084f903a7b9ac7410c05\">\n                <img\n                    title=\"a0039147\"\n                    alt=\"a0039147\"\n                    src=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/thumbs\/thumbs_a0039147.jpg\"\n                    width=\"120\"\n                    height=\"90\"\n                    style=\"max-width:100%;\"\n                \/>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"ngg-image-3\" class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box\" >\n\t\t\t\t        <div class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/a0039182.jpg\"\n               title=\"A shot of Erin during our shoot at Oystercatchers\"\n               data-src=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/a0039182.jpg\"\n               data-thumbnail=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/thumbs\/thumbs_a0039182.jpg\"\n               data-image-id=\"248\"\n               data-title=\"a0039182\"\n               data-description=\"A shot of Erin during our shoot at Oystercatchers\"\n               class=\"ngg-fancybox\" rel=\"1a94bab44b60084f903a7b9ac7410c05\">\n                <img\n                    title=\"a0039182\"\n                    alt=\"a0039182\"\n                    src=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/thumbs\/thumbs_a0039182.jpg\"\n                    width=\"120\"\n                    height=\"90\"\n                    style=\"max-width:100%;\"\n                \/>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"ngg-image-4\" class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box\" >\n\t\t\t\t        <div class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/a0039185.jpg\"\n               title=\"A shot of Erin during our shoot at Oystercatchers\"\n               data-src=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/a0039185.jpg\"\n               data-thumbnail=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/thumbs\/thumbs_a0039185.jpg\"\n               data-image-id=\"249\"\n               data-title=\"a0039185\"\n               data-description=\"A shot of Erin during our shoot at Oystercatchers\"\n               class=\"ngg-fancybox\" rel=\"1a94bab44b60084f903a7b9ac7410c05\">\n                <img\n                    title=\"a0039185\"\n                    alt=\"a0039185\"\n                    src=\"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/erin-andrews\/thumbs\/thumbs_a0039185.jpg\"\n                    width=\"120\"\n                    height=\"90\"\n                    style=\"max-width:100%;\"\n                \/>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n        \n\t\t\n\t\t<!-- Pagination -->\n\t<div class='ngg-clear'><\/div>\t<\/div>\n\n<p><strong>Sitting Pretty<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>From 2010:&nbsp;<\/em>Everyone has to start somewhere \u2014 and for ESPN&#8217;s Erin Andrews, somewhere happened to be Tampa Bay<\/p>\n<p><em>Story by Erika Vidal Holmes<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Erin Andrews orders a grande hazelnut latte with a triple shot of espresso at a Brandon Starbucks. It is 7:30 a.m., and she already had breakfast (coffee, strawberries and a cinnamon bun), but still she craves \u201clots of caffeine\u201d and is eyeing the refrigerated food case. Standing 5-feet-10-inches tall and wearing a bright purple velour tracksuit and Nike tennis shoes, Andrews has no makeup on, and her long, wavy blonde hair is slightly unbrushed, yet most still would consider her drop-dead gorgeous.<\/p>\n<p>If this were a coffee shop in Gainesville, Florida; Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Blacksburg, Virginia, or some other college town, she would probably be fighting her way through a mob of caffeine-crazed fans, most being of the male persuasion. But here in Brandon, Andrews\u2019 hometown from second grade through high school, she can remain, for the most part, anonymous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy dad is recognized here more than I am,\u201d she says. \u201cI can\u2019t go inside a college sports bar. It gets pretty obscene.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Erin and her father, Steve Andrews, a senior investigative reporter for WFLA News Channel 8, sometimes play a game of \u201cwho will be recognized\u201d when they\u2019re out and about in the Bay area. A University of Florida graduate who also attended Bloomingdale High School, the younger Andrews has worked as an ESPN sideline reporter since May 2004, and her girl-next-door beauty has made her a No. 1 pick of sports fans and sports-oriented web sites. She began with the network\u2019s NHL coverage and has since moved on to college football, college basketball and Major League Baseball. But her first full-time gig came right here in Tampa, as a Tampa Bay Lightning reporter for the Sunshine Network from 2001-02.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">***<\/p>\n<p>Although Andrews now calls Atlanta home, she considers herself a grits-loving, sun-worshipping Florida girl at heart. Her parents still live in the same house they moved into when they relocated to Tampa from Maine after Steve took a job with WFLA.<\/p>\n<p>On this morning, as <i>blu<\/i> staff knocked on the door of the family\u2019s single-story home, Steve answers wearing jeans and a T-shirt, the family\u2019s 11-year-old golden retriever Emmy Lou trailing behind. Meanwhile, Andrews\u2019 mother, Paula, sits at the kitchen counter having breakfast. Before getting into the car to leave for her photo shoot, Andrews kisses her dad on the cheek and makes plans to meet him for lunch afterwards. She is thinking La Teresita sounds good.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough I probably don\u2019t need the Cuban bread,\u201d she says, fiddling with her iPhone. She\u2019ll probably eat it anyway because Andrews does not diet; food is one of her favorite things in the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s a great thing about working with so many men,\u201d she says. \u201cThey love to eat a lot and they like women who eat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s from her father that Andrews inherited her love of sports, tomboy tendencies and at-ease nature on camera, and it\u2019s from him that she learned to wear her most important on-the-job accessory: a thick skin.<\/p>\n<p>In an industry dominated by men, Andrews, who turns 32 in May, says she has had to work twice as hard to prove she\u2019s not just another pretty face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEspecially in the beginning, I felt I had to prove myself,\u201d she says. \u201cYou have to prove you love sports. You have to do the research.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She wishes people could see all the work that goes into preparing for a game. Her pre-game-night rituals include late nights studying up on team, coach and player histories. Andrews is not just a woman who wanted to be in TV and ended up in sports. She loves sports, wanted to be on TV and made her career happen. Her decision to attend the University of Florida was a strategic one.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<\/em>It was important to have successful sports teams because then all the big-time sports networks would come out,\u201d she says. \u201cCBS and ESPN would always be in town and it was cool to see them out at football practice. I would be out there with the student TV station and I would kind of just mimic and mock what they did. To be out there asking [former football coach] Steve Spurrier and [men&#8217;s basketball coach] Billy Donovan questions \u2026 it was a great learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her good looks are inextricably linked to her success and popularity, but it\u2019s her knowledge, passion, quick wit and tenacity to uncover stories on the sidelines that have solidified her as a reputable reporter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have such great contacts,\u201d she says. \u201cCoaches trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the last few years her fame has skyrocketed, and she has arguably become a sports culture icon. She\u2019s featured as a sideline reporter in &#8220;NCAA Football 10,&#8221; a video game by EA Sports, appears in a Sony commercial featuring Peyton Manning and Justin Timberlake, was named \u201cAmerica\u2019s Sexiest Sportscaster\u201d in 2008 and 2009 by <i>Playboy<\/i>, and in February she hosted a Super Bowl party alongside music mogul P.Diddy.<\/p>\n<p>Though her position as ESPN\u2019s sideline star has been a mostly positive experience, the greatest test of her endurance came last July, when Andrews was forced to live through what most would call their worst nightmare after an illegal peephole video showing Andrews in the nude surfaced on the Internet. Former insurance executive <strong>Michael David Barrett <\/strong>was arrested and charged with interstate stalking. He followed her to various hotels, and authorities suspect Andrews isn\u2019t his only victim. The public release of the video devastated her and her family, but now she is back on the air full-time, determined to move on and taking a fight-back approach, using her high-profile status to make a change and empower women by working to strengthen stalking laws and make them more uniform throughout the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause he didn\u2019t physically hurt me, it\u2019s a [lesser charge], which is ridiculous,&#8221; she says. &#8220;Also, the laws behind video voyeurism are an absolute joke. They have not been able to keep up with technology. We had to beg for it to be a federal offense, and the only reason it is because they said it caused me \u2018great anguish and anxiety.\u2019 Everybody thought when he did this to me it was on some little snoop camera \u2014 it was on a cell phone. He ripped the peephole out, took his cell phone and videotaped me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She speaks passionately of the responsibility she feels to crime victims like her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything that happened to me over the summer,\u201d she says, \u201cI\u2019ve cried and screamed, \u2018Why is this happening to me?\u2019 But I had so many women write me and say, \u2018We had this happen to us, can you please fight this, because we weren\u2019t able to do anything about it.\u2019 I was fortunate enough to be able to hire a very talented lawyer\u2026.and maybe I can make a difference. I hate the cards that were dealt, but now I have to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also plans to work with hotels on improving their security measures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWomen don\u2019t even know \u2014 when you check into a hotel room, your room is pre-assigned. That\u2019s how he would find me. He would call and ask to be put right next to me the day before I got there. So he was already there, waiting for me. He was in the room next to me, sharing a wall with me. Now when I go to hotels I say, &#8216;Can I have a new room?&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople just don\u2019t take it seriously,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t, until it happened to me.\u201d<em>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>***<\/em><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Andrews\u2019 relaxed demeanor says she is happy to be back home. On this January morning, sitting barefoot on the dock at Oystercatchers, a restaurant off the Courtney Campbell Causeway, in a white T-shirt and skinny jeans, black Tory Burch sandals within arm\u2019s reach, she is surrounded by water and palm trees, the two things she misses most \u2014 other than her family \u2014 about living in Tampa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnything that can get me outside by the water,\u201d she says. \u201cI just feel like with the water you can do so many things. It\u2019s kind of a way of life. It\u2019s fabulous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Take away the personal stylist (which she calls the best purchase she ever made) and fame, and Andrews is much like many other 31-year-old women. She loves &#8220;Sex and the City&#8221; reruns, &#8220;Gossip Girl&#8221; and &#8220;Keeping up with the Kardashians&#8221;, listens to Lady Antebellum, Britney Spears and Beyonc\u00e9, reads a lot and admits to being starstruck in the presence of longtime celebrity crush Justin Timberlake. She scrolls through her iPhone and shows off the picture of them together. She also pulls up photos of her baby sister, Kendra, a 28-year-old classically trained dancer wither fiery red hair who is about to make her big-screen debut in <i>Step Up 3D.<\/i> It was Andrews who bought Kendra her plane ticket from L.A. to New York so she could audition for the role.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m close with my family,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are not many calls lately that haven&#8217;t been three-way calls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her father still watches every game she covers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019ll TiVo all my games, and if he can\u2019t stay up late and watch them, he\u2019ll wake up early the next morning and watch the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the height of college football and basketball seasons, Andrews is on the road five days a week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLiving out of a suitcase, sometimes I forget what city I\u2019m in,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>At this stage of life, she\u2019s not quite sure what her next step is, career-wise. Sometimes she thinks about moving to New York City so she can take advantage of its nightlife and fashion scene while she\u2019s still young and single.<\/p>\n<p>But Andrews is keeping her options open.<\/p>\n<p>Ten years from now, Andrews hopes she\u2019s still in the business and married with kids (she\u2019s in a long-term relationship, but her lips remain sealed and won\u2019t reveal her Prince Charming\u2019s name). For now, being the eyes and ears on the field suit her just fine. She relishes in the competitive nature of games, the gritty, down-to-business mentality that permeates the playing field, the high that accompanies her on-the-ground \u201cdetective\u201d work and, of course, \u201chaving the best seat in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow, she\u2019s off to freezing Manhattan, Kansas. Today, she\u2019s soaking up all the warmth she can in Tampa.<\/p>\n<p>From the pool deck, Andrews looks up. \u201cI just want to stay in the sun for as long as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sitting Pretty From 2010:&nbsp;Everyone has to start somewhere \u2014 and for ESPN&#8217;s Erin Andrews, somewhere happened to be Tampa Bay Story by Erika Vidal Holmes Erin Andrews orders a grande hazelnut latte with a triple shot of espresso at a Brandon Starbucks. It is 7:30 a.m., and she already had breakfast (coffee, strawberries and a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1768,1771],"tags":[1585,1586,1588,1587],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southtampamagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}