I’ve been pretty lucky over the last month and a half, at least in the Athlete of the Week department: Some of my top five or so favorite A.O.T.W. interviews happened in that timeframe. As someone who knows how accurate the Key & Peele comedy sketch with the football player’s post-game interview can be, it’s refreshing to see young athletes with open minds and dynamic answers.
Until last month, I’ve never had an interview subject flip the script and take me out of the driver’s seat. Durant lacrosse player Baylee Cauwels stopped by the Plant City Times & Observer office for an interview. Once I was done with my questions, she had a few of her own for me.
I’ll admit it: She stumped me with one of them. I didn’t have an immediate answer for a question about the “coolest person” I’ve ever interviewed, so I told her I’d have to get back to her on that one.
Well, now that the Florida Strawberry Festival is over, I was able to think about it. I can’t say I have one definite answer, though, because I’ve met a lot of people who I thought were really cool in different ways.
I’m sure most kids I interview would want to know which famous athlete I enjoyed talking to the most, and that would be former Tampa Bay Ray Matt Joyce. I met Joyce when I was working on a story about a new Florida Southern College baseball facility while interning at the Ledger.
Joyce couldn’t have been a nicer guy. He showed up late to the facility’s opening ceremony (can’t remember why), but made up for it by sticking around to chat with whoever wanted to meet him. My St. Pete friends have better, funnier stories about encountering David Price, Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton at bars, but it’s nice to know that a famous athlete can be down-to-earth when visiting the town he’s often celebrated in.
But, as far as people whose interviews have stuck with me the most, that’s a tough call. I can tell you from experience that Kellie Pickler is a total sweetheart and, even though I’m not a fan of anything but outlaw country, I’d love to talk with her again. As a classic rock junkie, I had a lot of fun talking to Lawrence Gowan, from Styx. Especially when I learned that we have the same taste in KISS’s music. And I’ve met a lot of people around these parts who have had fantastic stories to tell, such as B.J. Roetzheim, Buddy Mines and many more that I wish I had room to fit.
But, I suppose I have to pick somebody. So, aligning with my own personal interests, I’m going with former wrestler Tom Anderson. Anderson, whose story I wrote in August 2014, spent 15 years in the wrestling business as a manager and a competitor. I returned home from that interview with over an hour’s worth of notes to transcribe from my phone.
Longtime readers of this column know how much I enjoy professional wrestling, even if I’m not actively watching WWE every week. I honestly believe that there are no interview subjects in all of sports (or, maybe even anything) more interesting than wrestlers: These guys regularly put their bodies on the line in more ways than most people realize and come away from it all with fascinating stories. I’ve read enough wrestler profiles to fill a bookshelf, but speaking with Anderson still changed the way I watch and read about wrestling.
Baylee: I may have rambled a little bit, but I hope this answered your question.
