NFL Insider Reveals Her Toddler Once Hit Up a General Manager for $50

Every parent can relate to this terrible-twos moment.

A prerequisite for being a successful NFL general manager is the ability to carefully oversee a team's finances, ensuring the franchise doesn't run into salary-cap issues. 

That means on occasion having to make hard choices about which players to pay and which not to pay—precisely the kind of decision a league insider such as Dianna Russini may write about for The Athletic.

Russini shared a hilarious story Friday on The Dan Le Batard Show from a recent back-and-forth with a general manager that all started by her 2-year-old kid stealing her phone.

"My fear is what my son did the other day," Russini said. “He took my phone and charged ... a very, very respected general manager in the NFL $50 at five o'clock in the morning."

We're thrilled to be joined by our old friend @DMRussini, who told us about her two year old requesting $50 in Apple Pay at 5am from a "very, very respected" NFL general manager. 😂😂

📺 https://t.co/26pQiE4FtW pic.twitter.com/rrjphU29I4

— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) December 8, 2023

The show's panelists all busted up laughing, while an exasperated Russini continued.

"This is why I will fight for this GM until the day I die," Russini said. "He wrote back to me, 'Hey, is everything OK? Do you need money?'"

The last text messages in their thread were about a recent roster move on the general manager’s team.

“And then three days later, it’s a $50 charge at five o’clock in the morning,” Russini laughed. “I said, ‘I’m so sorry, that was Mikey.’”

The moral of the story for parents? Some of the most respected sports reporters in the country are perpetually tired mothers and fathers, too.