So the phone rings yesterday and it’s Adam Schefter from ESPN. I assumed he was calling to set up a time for our interview later in the week and when I asked him what time was good for him he said, “how about now?”

Now is good. Let’s do now. It’s interesting (and somewhat behind-the-scenesish) that I always try and not only come up with questions to ask guests, but really take the time to put them in a cohesive order. So ‘how about now’ would usually throw me completely off. The good thing about the call being from Schefter is that I’ve been looking forward to this interview for more than four months, so the questions were pretty easy to think of.

We talk about his time at NFL Network and how that compares to his current tenure at ESPN. Does he feel he is able to cover the league any differently now that he’s no longer collecting a paycheck with their logo on it?

While he doesn’t approach the job differently, Schefter explains the biggest perk of the job is that when he’s needed in studio it’s a much shorter commute (read: drive) and not a cross country flight.

I ask if he feels different now that he’s part of the ESPN team and gets routinely put through the carwash? Let’s face it, people in the business knew who Schefter was at NFLN, but now he’s hosting Mike and Mike. It’s a whole different level of exposure.

We talk about his time off from NFLN and his latest book. It turns out, contrary to what I thought, he didn’t write his latest book during that time. It was actually done a year before and caught up in lawsuits. But his hiatus from NFLN before officially starting at ESPN was, in fact, a real break for him. On a normal day, there is no break. He sleeps with his phone.

We discuss the amount of information Schefter has to parse through each day – hundreds and hundreds of texts and follow-ups – and how he determines who to trust. He explains the amount of subterfuge (his word) this time of year and just how difficult it is to get correct information. And even then, information that WAS correct might change in a day (Cowher is a prime example) so even when you’re right you could end up being wrong.

I ask my age-old media question about being first or being right and how that’s changed in the current media landscape. We talk about Schefter’s fascination with Twitter and how he needs to try and do it less. I ask about the ESPN Twitter policy and how his model of “Just filed to ESPN” really seems to work. He explains that he just decided to do that (giving about 10 minutes after he files something before Tweeting it out) and that there’s no hard-fast rule about it.

During the interview Schefter breaks news. Actual breaking news! Of course, now it’s a day old. So you hear him break yesterday’s news. And he gets a call from the Raiders, which is always hilarious to keep on the show.

We talk about the difference between his job now and his job back in Denver as a beat writer. Does he miss talking with the players? I’m certain there is more I’m forgetting. And he teases a HUGE story before telling me he has to go. Damn breaking news.

Talking Baseball:

Nick and I discuss Randy Johnson’s retirement, his place in the game’s history and his decision to make the announcement the day before the HOF class is announced. And we discuss this year’s candidates, the process of voting and if the threshold has gotten too low.

Housekeeping:

Mark Cuban is bitching about the NFL. More on 3DTV. And Nick is a terrible bowler. My thanks to Adam and to you for listening.