“It was front and center, and Raygun from Australia stole the hearts of so many around the world,” Jbara said. “I got to see her in person, and I’m like, ‘Oh, is that what break dancing is like?’ and I’m like, ‘Oh no, that’s not what breakdancing is.’”
The opportunities have kept coming for Jbara, who just wrapped up her first season of Unrivaled coverage with Olympic gold medalist Candace Parker and Atlanta Dream co-owner Renee Montgomery. But she noted that TNT Sports combination of confidence in her range of abilities and respect for her family life—when she had to take time off for her wedding and honeymoon last summer and “they were like, ‘Done, say less, tell us the dates, and we’ll make it happen’”—will likely make it a long stop on her career path.
“It is family first to TNT, and I feel like it starts with the guys that are at the head of the whole thing, especially when it comes to talent like Ernie and Chuck,” Jbara said. “It all trickles down just the way that they treat everybody else. Inside those walls, everyone’s looking out for each other, and then outside the walls, everyone has their own lives and their own families too, and everyone at Warner Brothers at TNT does make that a priority.”
Jimmy Rollins, MLB Tuesday/MLB on TBS
A three-time All-Star and 2008 World Series Champion, Jimmy Rollins may have had some baseball left in him when he retired in 2016 at age 37.
After he called it quits, he contacted another former player, his Tampa neighbor, Gary Sheffield, and got an audition for the MLB on TBS postseason show. While Rollins had always looked up to Sheffield, played with co-host Pedro Martinez on the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009, and had deep knowledge and strong opinions about the game, he felt himself holding back out of concern that he’d offend someone he might be in the clubhouse with a year later.
Producer Tim “TK” Kiely took Rollins aside and encouraged him to speak up and jump in if he disagreed with a point being made. Rollins also started watching film of himself on camera: “It looked like I just had some AirPods in my ears. I’m rocking back and forth to my own little rhythm.”
The surrounding environment gave Rollins the space to learn on-camera etiquette from Sheffield and Martinez, who sat more stoically when listening to other hosts. By the time TNT Sports launched MLB Tuesday in TBS in 2022 and gave Rollins more opportunities to be on camera—and his contemporaries some time to leave the game—he’d grown comfortable in the chair.
