Varsity Kansas - The Blog

by joanna

CLFAN, I don’t know if he’s the Southeast student who yells I love you Joanna at games, but he says he’s a student and actually has an idea for a post. So here we go.

Best interview: My favorite coaches to interview are the ones you ask a question to and they just go — Collegiate basketball coach Mitch Fiegel, Heights coach Joe Auer, East coach Ron Allen; football — Northwest’s Weston Schartz, East’s Brian Byers, Heights’ Rick Wheeler, Mulvane’s Dave Fennewald, Carroll’s Alan Schuckman; soccer — Northwest’s Bobby Bribiesca; volleyball — Kapaun’s Terri  Hessman. Those are just a few. One of my favorite players was Collegiate quarterback Joseph  Houlik. Man, I’d ask him one question and he was off. Not just rambling, either. He was amazing.

Worst interview: Oh my. I’ve had plenty of those. I’m not going to name names — I’m not that evil. But it’s those coaches who just don’t want to talk, who are uncomfortable. The athletes who are bad usually are the ones who nervous. Not always, though. Some of the kids who are nervous are extremely honest. But then there are those who look at you like you’re the biggest idiot in the world. That happened to me during state basketball. Wow, how an 18-year-old can do that is truly impressive.

Best athlete: (this dates me — 1996 on) Southeast’s Rashad Washington. He could do it all, in basketball and football. I once did a story on him and Rashad Jackson, then at Northwest — the two Rashads. It was a fun interview. Others include Korleone Young, Brett Steven, Carlin Witten, John Randle, Kristy McClain, LaToya Jackson, Angela Buckner (she was a great inside player). These are just a few, off the top of my head. Can’t forget Bryce and Arthur Brown, Chris Harper.

Favorite athlete: Arthur Brown. That guy was always so nice, from the moment I did a story on him as a sophomore, about the biggest hitters in the area, to right before he left for Miami. Impressive. Rashad Washington was always one of my favorites, just a nice kid. Jordan Cyphers falls into that same category. Brett Steven, Andrea Mohr, Joseph Houlik, Tammie Rech. Again, just a few to name but these are kids I interviewed many times and were just fun to talk to.

Favorite student section: (Staying in the Wichita area) Goddard. It certainly can’t be anyone in the City League. Goddard does a nice job of being involved throughout the game, having chants. Nice job.

Best Rivalry: Kapaun vs. Carroll (always good, no matter what sport); East vs. Southeast vs. Heights

Favorite school to cover: I’ve always loved to cover Conway Springs football because I so enjoy those men in the press box. What a fun bunch of guys.

Best gym: McPherson’s Round house. Without a doubt, especially since they put in brighter lights in the past few years. It’s always a great atmosphere and it’s cozy.

Biggest celebrity (sports wise) I’ve met: (CLFAN has a lot of questions!)  I covered the St. Louis Rams while I was in college, so I interviewed Jerome Bettis frequently. There’s the high school kids who’ve gone on — Jackie Stiles, Kendra Wecker, Kamerion Wimbley.

Favorite moment: I always enjoy the state basketball tournament. It’s four days of basketball — that’s a lot of games — and you get to see so many different teams, talk to so many different people and chat with all the other media. That’s always fun.

Worst moment: When Brian Rosenthal, then of the Hutch News, unplugged my computer (which then didn’t have battery backup) at the McPherson tournament right before my deadline on a story about McPherson-Moundridge girls playing an epic game. I lost everything, 20 minutes before deadline. That was a scramble. I laugh about it now, but I about threw up then.

Thanks to CLFAN for the good ideas, anyone else have any other topics? I’m game!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 10:05 p.m. and is filed under Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.