Michele Tafoya will work her 250th NFL game as a sideline reporter tonight at AT&T Stadium when the Cowboys host the Giants.
That's one of the favorite venues for Tafoya, who is now with NBC but also has worked games for ABC and ESPN.
"Dallas is a lot of fun, a completely different atmosphere than, say, Lambeau Field," she said. "It's like a big party in there. There are people at field level, club seats, music, dancers, all of it making it a party atmosphere."
It's also an indoor facility, and that's a key for Tafoya -- or any sideline reporter working football games.
Indeed, one of the first things she checks out when the Sunday night schedule is released by the NFL is how many outdoor games she will have in cold weather.
"The elements are probably always the biggest challenge," she said. "We worked the third-coldest game in NFL history, the Seattle-Minnesota playoff game when the Vikings were playing at the University of Minnesota. It was very cold, so we tried to get things in a situation where we had some hot soup to warm us up.
"You really learn how to layer clothes. I get those hot inserts in the boots to keep warm. You can have a battery in the gloves. You really learn which parkas are warm and which look warm and really are not."
The real test in such conditions is, well, doing what Tafoya is paid to do: talking.
"Just trying to speak in that cold, it's very difficult," she said, almost shivering at the thought even though it's still warm. "Your face is so cold, your nose is frozen, your mouth is freezing, and you're trying not to shiver and trying to get out a coherent sentence.
"Rain stinks, it's impossible to take notes. You try to stay camera ready, which is really impossible. You just learn a lot of tricks along the way."
Once was enough
Georgia State Coach Shawn Elliott celebrated his team's touchdown in a 41-7 loss to N.C. State with a fist bump -- and tore his right biceps doing it.
Wrote Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times: "Luckily his team scored just that once, or Elliott might have wound up in traction."
Rats!
No, no one in the New York Mets dugout was upset over their 8-0 victory Friday at Fenway Park. They were upset about an actual rat in the dugout.
The furry visitor -- the sort New York City-dwelling fans will be familiar with -- showed up in the visitors' dugout in the third inning, sending some of the Mets onto the railing to get away.
Catcher Jose Lobaton bravely grabbed his bat and went searching for the little fella, who could be seen scurrying around on the field during the game, including running along the backstop as Noah Syndergaard delivered a pitch.
Syndergaard, who went seven scoreless innings and allowed just three hits in a gem of a start, was unfazed by the circumstances -- the rat and making his first career appearance under the bright lights of Fenway.
"So ... Fenway was a surreal ballpark to pitch in ... from a childhood dream perspective," Syndergaard wrote on Twitter after the game. "As visiting pitcher on a team and city I love ... #dontfreakout ... and NYC rats are way bigger and meaner."
Sports quiz
Name the Georgia State basketball coach who tore his Achilles tendon rushing on the court after his team clinched an NCAA Tournament bid in 2015.
Sports answer
Ron Hunter
Sports on 09/16/2018