Jemele Hill is a columnist and analyst for ESPN.

Through the miracle of social networking I was able to secure a few moments with ESPN’s own Jemele Hill. We spoke about the Redskins, her 49ers, twitter, “Uncle Ron”, fantasy football and her road to ESPN. You can follow her professional account @JemeleHill and go ahead and give me a follow @KMawyer2, while you’re at it. Here is her interview in it’s entirety. Enjoy.

Riggo’s Rag - So, how did you get your start in journalism?

Jemele Hill – I’ve known I’ve wanted to be a sports journalist since I was 15 years old. I lived in Detroit and read both the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News sports sections every day. I was a huge sports fan and tomboy. I became involved with my high school newspaper and began working in the Free Press’ sports department, answering phones.

RR- Was working at ESPN an ultimate goal of yours or did the opportunity seem to present itself through the course of your work as a writer? Did you cover any other sports?

JH- I never thought about working at ESPN. I wanted to be the next Gary Smith, and work for Sports Illustrated. I was a newspaper baby. After i graduated from Michigan State, I worked as a general assignment sports reporter for the Raleigh News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. I was there for almost two years and then I returned to the Detroit Free Press to cover Michigan State football & basketball. I covered Michigan State for six years, but also got the opportunity to cover the NBA playoffs, and the 2004 Olympics. I left there in 2005 for my first column job at the Orlando Sentinel. I didn’t want to be a columnist, either. But I looked around the landscape and noticed how other columnists were able to use their platform to create multimedia opportunities in radio, television, and online.I did a piece on Willis McGahee, and it was noticed by some people at ESPN. I had a dinner meeting with Keith Clinkscales (who used to head ESPN’s content development department and recently started his own media company) and the rest, as they say, is history.

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Redskins LaRon Landry (30) looks to continue his pursuit of Cowboys Tony Romo (9), this Sunday. (Photo courtesy of US Presswire)

 As a Washington Redskins fan, things can sometimes get difficult… too difficult. They seem to always do well in the off-season then begin with some promise. Sometimes we win other times were not so lucky. Players and coaches come and go, seasons fly by, and opponents are always different. But one thing that never changes is our hate for Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys.

Its Cowboys week in Washington and nothing is more satisfying then to get a win against the inner-division rivals, being that this is the most anticipated game of the season for the Redskins faithful. Easily the most hated man in Washington D.C, Tony Romo has been battling the Redskins for a few seasons now. Jim Haslett’s defense loves nothing more than driving Romo to the ground, wiping his infamous smirk right off his baby-face. But no matter how hard we hit him, he always manages to squirm away like the little worm he is, making huge plays. Those huge plays have added up and given Tony Romo a 5-1 record against the ‘Skins, something that doesn’t sit well with the Redskins nation. In the most recent heartbreaker in Week 3, Romo and the Cowboys drove down the field in the final minutes to kick a game-winning field goal, their 6^th of the night, and only source of points. Maybe had DeAngelo Hall been covering his man (Dez Bryant), instead of blitzing the injured QB, Romo wouldn’t have converted the 3^rd and long to set up the win. I guess we’ll never know. All it left the Redskins with was a bitter taste in their mouth, and exposure to their weaknesses. (more…)

Fortunately Coach Zorn is great at rallying the troops (see exhibit A: The Eagles Game).   The Redskins didn’t panic and just kept chipping away like they always do.  Eventually they got back into a groove and gained a commanding lead and pretty much never looked back.  A questionable (and ultimately failed) attempt at a two-point conversion at the beginning of the 4th ended up keeping the Lions in the game longer than they had any right to be, but ultimately I have to give Zorn credit for taking a potential catastrophe and turning it around. 

There’s a reason why the expression “Any Given Sunday” is so familiar to us all.  There’s some truth to it.  Every team can have bad turnovers and any team can find itself in a hole against any other team after a missed assignment or unfortunate bounce of the ball.  I’m proud that the Skins had the moxie to pull together and turn it around.  I’m disturbed that they have yet to blow out any of their opponents, but in the end it’s far better to win the close ones than lose them.  Let’s hope the Steelers are still smarting from that awful loss against the Giants, because we’ve got a real test coming up next week. 

Hail Redskins!  Hail 6-2