Carrie Milbank: Sports Hottest Host

By Conditional Love on 10/06 at 08:19 AM

by John Gorman
Love of Sports Correspondent

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Carrie Milbank is living the dream.

Her undeniable charisma radiates in front of the camera, as she spits sports talk with a disarming sense of humor that would end wars worldwide.

A YouTube sensation, Carrie can be found all over the interwebs hosting an amalgam of sports shows, with topics ranging from Andy Roddick’s serve to Alex Ovechkin’s slapshot and Aston-Martin’s Vantage.

It’s been a fast, yet unexpected rise to stardom for the Texas-raised starlet. Carrie made waves at Texas Tech and the University of West Florida, where she graduated in 2000 with a degree in Communications.

Fresh out of college, while you’d probably already resigned yourself to a life of golf and shooting darts, Carrie became the youngest captain of an NFL cheerleading squad while spearheading the Houston Texans’ troop for four straight years. As her career took off, though, Carrie walked away - to the chagrin of NFL Films cameramen everywhere, no doubt.

“I still love to dance,” she says, “but now that my career has taken off, I don’t have time to do it professionally.”

She did what all starry-eyed individuals with big dreams and big talent do: she moved to the Big Apple and devoured it whole. Carrie hosted Sprint Powerview as an entertainment news anchor and gossip host and later was a CJ (Commercial Jockey) for the criminally off-the-air and defunct Firebrand. (Apparently, not everyone shares my same love of commercials.)

As host of Tennis Week, Carrie gives the inside scoop on all the latest tennis news and gossip from inside and outside the white lines. Just don’t ask her to play you in a friendly match.

“Personally, I’m a total spaz attack out on the court,” she explains. “I can’t even get anyone to play with me ... I am that bad.”

So, how did a football cheerleader from Texas come to love the game with bouncing green balls? She may owe a certain Roger Federer a debt of gratitude.

“It was the 2006 U.S. Open and Roger Federer had just defeated Andy Roddick for his three-peat win. He was exhausted, stuck in a tiny little room, his trophy on his lap, dozens of interviews lined down the hallway, mine being one of the very last of the evening. When it was finally my turn to sit down with Roger I was sure he would be dishing out one-word answers if anything more than just a nod. But instead, he was one of the most gracious, humble and patient interviews I ever had, and at that moment I truly became a tennis fan.”

On her work in the sport: “My gig with TennisWeek.com didn’t come along until a year later, so you can imagine how quickly I jumped at the opportunity to host a weekly show about one of the greatest sports and some of the most gifted athletes of our time.”

Many stars in waiting might stop at just one hosting gig. Not Carrie. This busy bee flees from one set to another, careening from sport to sport with effortless ease. She’s just as at home waxing poetic about horsepower as she is chasing Maria Sharapova.

Perhaps it’s her Texas roots, but the girl sure knows her cars. On Fast Lane Daily, Carrie mixes subtle sarcasm with engine-revving playfulness to deliver the latest and greatest from the world of sports cars and auto racing. She’d gladly chat your ear off about the intricacies of her dream car - that is, if she could make up her mind on which one to drive first.

“I’d have a whole garage full of them,” she claims. “Here’s my wish list: Lotus Elise, Pagani Zonda, McLaren SLR Roadster, and to top it off I need a big ass roughed up pickup truck. Is it too much to ask for my car to turn into a Transformer at the end of the day and cuddle?”

The Alfa-Romeo engineers are already hard at work on that one.

As if you weren’t already jealous, know that Carrie is in Prague right now, covering the NHL season opener for The Hockey Show, an NHL.com exclusive web series. Although she oozes love for the coolest game on ice, it wasn’t always that way.

“Growing up in Houston, I was deprived of hockey. The closest I got was playing Blades of Steel on my Nintendo.”

“These days I’m a huge fan. It’s the only other sport besides football (hello, I’m from Texas) where I yell at the TV without even thinking about it. I don’t play favorites. Just give me a gritty, action-packed game and I’m a happy girl.”

If she seems a little in-demand, your guess is probably right. Constantly on the go between gigs, Carrie uses her precious spare time wisely by hitting the gym with reckless abandon.

“Working out is my release. I’m at the gym five days a week.” Also, just like the personal ad us guys never come across, “I also enjoy rock climbing, running and, of course, trying to play tennis. I’ll try anything.”

Relax, gentlemen ... she’s married. Though, just to tease you more, why don’t we add “exquisite taste in alcohol” to her list of pleasantries.

“I usually go straight for the hard stuff ... Ketel One Vodka. [Though] on a beer night, it’s all about Blue Moon straight from the tap with a fresh orange slice, but at home it’s my boy Sam Adams Light.”

As for her future, the sky appears to be the limit. Presently, Carrie also hosts People Who Looked Hot This Week on People.com and is featured regularly on America’s Nightly Scoreboard on FOX Business Network. With NHL season just dropping the puck over the weekend, expect to see more of Carrie than ever before. Make no mistake, she won’t rest until she’s done it all.

“There’s just too much of the rest of the world to see,: she says. “I kind of like being a gypsy, going wherever life takes me.”

For a gypsy, she seems to have made herself quite at home in front of the camera.

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