Assistant sports editor Paul Schwedelson has covered more than 10 beats for The D.O.’s sports department, most recently the women’s basketball team, which made a historic run in the NCAA Tournament. Schwedelson logged some serious miles this spring when he traveled with the team to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Indianapolis.

What was your favorite moment covering the NCAA Tournament?

It definitely has to be something in Sioux Falls. … I was stuck at the arena in Sioux Falls until 2 a.m. and I couldn’t get a ride back to the hotel. I was all alone. Yeah, that was pretty disastrous.

Basically, the hotel I was staying at had a free shuttle, which was great. …The shuttle to the hotel would only go until 11 p.m., the game only tipped off at 6 or 6:30 p.m. and ended around 8. I wrote a couple stories off the game…so that kind of pushed me back in terms of what time I got back to the hotel. I was there for a reason, and because it was such a big win I wanted to make sure I was doing a good job because I was the only one there covering it… I figured I could just call a taxi and it would be fine.

One of the media coordinators at the tournament was sticking around and I was one of the last two or three people in the media work room. He pulled up a list of 15 or 20 taxi numbers…eventually one picked up and said they would be there in 45 minutes and I said I didn’t want to wait that long, so I called another and they said “all right, I’ll be there in 20 minutes.” I don’t know how much time passed between the phone calls, but I don’t think it was that long…I called so many numbers, I got confused which one to call back to say “don’t come”…so then all of a sudden both taxis showed up at once. So then I got in one of the taxis and I guess the other guy must have been mad at me. It kind of sucked, the whole thing, but covering the game itself was fun.

 

How did you decide to go to Sioux Falls?

I sat down with Justin and Mara, trying to figure out different things, and they were talking about what the situation would be and I cut them off and said, “I’m going.”

Which of your beats was the most fun to cover?

I mean after you cover a team that goes to the Final Four, it’s hard not to say that one. Like I said, every beat has its pros and cons…Recruiting is crazy. It’s fascinating. I think recruiting is one of the best ways you can improve as a reporter because you don’t have to go through SU Athletics, which can be a huge barrier for us in terms of interviews and availability of the athletes. So recruiting, what’s cool about it is, obviously it’s different being in touch with high schoolers instead of college athletes, but the cool thing is, you don’t really have to go through any kind of barrier to interview them. You can just shoot them a quick text and say, “Hey, can you talk?”

What’s your favorite PUP food?

My own. I’m really good at getting PUP food. People really like the rice crispy treats, Gushers. I got Chinese food a couple weeks ago. People make fun of me because I always get the “third-grade snack time snacks.”

I think I’ve been a little disappointed when it’s a little repetitive with the pizza and Insomnia (Cookies), and you can quote me on that because I wouldn’t mind riling people up with that.

Published on April 15, 2016 at 6:48 pm

Contact Rachel: rcgilber@syr.edu