Beth Mowins doesn't think too much about how important Monday night is, and that is probably about the most important thing.
Oh sure, she knows.
"I do appreciate the significance of the moment," Mowins said recently at a Mission Valley breakfast spot down the street from her home.
Yes, she is aware of the growing number of women watching sports, and she understands how much advertising folks covet the female viewers, who as any man knows are the ones making the purchasing decisions in the home.
As for her place as a trailblazer, well yes, Mowins is proud of that.
She will on Monday night become the first woman in 30 years (the second ever) to do play-by-play for an NFL game when she teams with Rex Ryan to call Chargers-Broncos for ESPN.
Later this year, she will work "three or four" Sunday games for CBS.
She always thought this day would come. That's not arrogance. That's confidence.
Just like any man in her position.
And she knows a play-by-play person's place _ describing the moment, not being the moment, even when she is as much the latter as the former.
"Just as a sports fan," she said, "I've never cared who called the game."
She did always know wanted to be the one calling them, ever since her brothers were hooping in the driveway and she was announcing the action on her Mr. Microphone.
The daughter of a high school basketball coach growing up in North Syracuse, Mowins played three sports in high school and then basketball at Lafayette (Pa.) College.
Her first job was as sports director of a radio station in upstate New York.
"Immediately, I realized I wanted to be where the action is," she said. "I wanted to be on site."
She joined ESPN in 1994. She has called men's and women's college basketball, volleyball, soccer and been the "voice" of the Women's College World Series (softball) for two decades. She's been doing college football play-by-play on ESPN since 2005 and Oakland Raiders preseason games for three summers.
Now, she is calling a game on Monday Night Football.
"You think about the other people who have been a part of that franchise," she said. "It's an honor and a privilege."
And that's where Mowins' focus repeatedly goes _ away from her history making.
It's not that she avoids the topic.
She is pleased to be the one taking this step and hopes it leads to more work _ for her and other women.
"First and foremost," she said, "we've worked very hard to be able to talk about sports."
She's certain it won't be 30 years _ as it has been since Gayle Sierens called a Seahawks-Chiefs game for NBC in the final week of the 1987 season _ before the next woman is doing NFL play-by-play.
"That's a big breakthrough for a lot of women _ just to be in the conversation when decisions are being made," Mowins said. "That may be the biggest step. In years past _ and it's nobody's fault _ (women) may not have been thought of."
So it's a big deal, for her. It's just not consuming.
She is more focused on her job.
"It's a strange thing to say since we're in an audio visual medium, but I've always believed actions speak louder than words," she said. "My job is to focus on play-by-play, be good at it and earn people's respect with the job as opposed to telling people I'm really good at it."
That's the thing. That Mowins is really good at what she does, that she will be really good Monday night, is what really matters.
