ESPN
Most sports fans assume that former athletes who go into the sports media business have it made in the shade with their cushy, stress-free broadcasting jobs. And while that might be true, there is no denying that some of them work insanely hard, including ESPN’s Ryan Clark.
In a video posted to his social media accounts, Clark shared what his typical Monday workday looks like, which begins at 5:30 a.m. at ESPN’s New York City location and ends at 3:45 in the morning at a hotel in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
In between all of that, Clark takes a trip out to Bristol, Connecticut for his NFL Live, Monday Night Football, and midnight SportsCenter duties.
“20 hour days for 6 hours of TV, & it’s a blessing. I wake up because he lets me, I grind because I get to, & I win because losing isn’t an option. 5:30 a.m. Monday walks to work turn into 4:00 am Tuesday morning hotel check ins. Never a complaint because this is the life that chose me. A day in the life of a “TV analyst”. Guess that’s all I am,” Clark captioned the post.
Prior to joining ESPN as an NFL Analyst in 2015, Clark was a safety in the National Football League and played for the New York Giants, Washington Redskins, and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Despite spending over a decade in the NFL, Clark actually went undrafted when he came out of Louisiana State University in 2002. The best years of Clark’s career were when he was in Pittsburgh with the Steelers, as he won a Super Bowl in 2009 and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2011.
Over the course of his 12-year-long NFL career, Clark played in 177 regular season games and made 929 total tackles. He also had four sack, five forced fumbles, eight fumble recoveries, and 16 interceptions.
Since joining ESPN in 2015, Clark has become one of the network’s preeminent football analysts as he appears on a variety of programs such as NFL Live, Monday Night Countdown, SportsCenter, Get Up!, and First Take.
In addition to his work with ESPN, Clark also launched a podcast with Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder titled “The Pivot.”