All semester, assistant sports editor Jens Deju has interviewed SIU athletes for our weekly Q&A. We decided to have a little fun and turn the tables for the last one of the semester, so men's swimmer Jeremiah Cortez recently sat and grilled Jens. The following is an edited transcript:
Jeremiah Cortez: How have you liked your stay with the DE?
Jens: It's been a good time so far. A lot of work, a lot of having to put up with extra crap and all that from work, but it's fun when you get paid to go watch sporting events. You get to talk to people about sports and get paid for it. You get to make your living off that, so I mean that's cool as hell.
JC: What's been your most favorite sport to interview out of all the sports? What's been your favorite as an overall team?
Jens: Swimming and basketball have the funniest quoters. They have the best people for quotes. They have some quotes that get them in trouble every now and again, and I get joke quotes every now and again. I'd say one of those two for sure.
JC: Who's been your most interesting interview?
Jens: That would be a close one. That would either have to be this guy named Jeremiah Cortez for the swim team, or Sly Willis off of basketball's always a good interview. That guy's funny as hell. Corne (Prozesky) is always a fun one. There's a lot of good quotes out there. Kristie Kemner's always an easy interview because she talks a lot. Coach Kill's always fun because he's a good ol' boy. I'll stop there.
JC: How have you liked working with your colleagues?
Jens: There's definitely a lot of good friends there, kind of like it'd be with a sports team. We're working with each other all day long, so we kind of get the same types of bonds and all that.
JC: How do you feel about being the only Cuban on the DE?
Jens: Actually, I'm not. This girl Alexa (Aguilar) is part Cuban, not full Cuban, but part Cuban. Although she's more of a gringa. She's not really true Cuban.
JC: Now I'm going to take it to your type of questioning. NBA or college?
Jens: College.
JC: Favorite movie?
Jens: You know, I ask this every week. You'd figure I'd have an answer. Anything funny. I like comedies. The one I've been watching the most lately is "Spaceballs."
JC: If you could sum up in one word your experiences with the DE and SIU, what would it be?
Jens: Busy, but worth it.
JC: Have you ever gotten any truly negative feedback from one of the articles that you've printed that's manifested into anything serious?
Jens: I remember getting a letter once on a swimming story I did. It was a story about the rivalry with SMS and SIU, and some former swimmer from SMS wrote me a pretty nasty e-mail. That's pretty much it.
JC: How do you think athletes view you coming in and interviewing them? Do you think they enjoy it, do you think they like it?
Jens: I think I have a pretty good rapport with all the teams I've interviewed. I've never really gotten a feeling like when I go to interview someone they're like, 'oh crap, here's another interview.' I've become friendly with pretty much everyone I've had to interview and every team I've had. I think they all respect me, I respect them and I think that's why they give me good quotes every now and again.
JC: What's your favorite food?
Jens: Pizza.
JC: What kind?
Jens: My favorite pizza is Little Caesars. The one I order the most is Papa John's. I order Papa John's a couple of times a week, and my roommates would kill me if I didn't admit to that.
Reporter Jens Deju can be reached at jdeju@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
