A quick note before we get into Brook’s interview, as of this week, I will be bringing you two Off Topic’s per week… one from the volleyball team, the team I cover, and one from another team outside of volleyball, giving you a chance to hear from more people. Enjoy! Name: Brook Dieter Class: Sophomore Position: Outside Hitter Number: 6 Full Bio: Gophersports full bio Brook Dieter came into the Minnesota program last season, and immediately took on a major role on the team. After a year’s experience under her belt, Dieter has become an even more consistent player, and leads the Gophers in kills per set at 3.60. For more information on Brook, please refer to my story on her, which published today. Between that story and this Off Topic, it was a marathon interview, so hopefully you enjoy the results! Mark Heise: Just to start things off, from what I hear, piano isn’t your thing… Brook Dieter: I am probably the least musically-inclined person you will ever meet. I’m tone-deaf, I don’t understand music, I love listening to it, but my parents put me in piano and… I Hated It. It was terrible. I mean, my mom would always force me to practice and I was just not into it at all. I would take out the piano and just sit there for 10 minutes and not do anything and then be like ‘OK mom, I’m done…’ MH: Can you play ANY songs on the piano? BD: No. I don’t think I can even play Hot Cross Buns. I think I can play… what’s that one… (starts singing… later identified as Heart and Soul) MH: Oh… BD: Yes, that one. Maybe. MH: I know that one. BD: I’m good at that. MH: I’M good at that. BD: (laughs) that’s probably the only one that’s even close MH: I’ll figure out the name. (I did, Heart and Soul). Moving on, you took dance lessons as a kid. Tap, Ballet, Jazz… can you still dance? BD: Oh, now my team doesn’t know… MH: They don’t know you danced? BD: No, I don’t think I can dance, however I still have a few ballet moves I can do and a few tap moves… But I don’t dance very much… I don’t enjoy it… I’m not a very good dancer. MH: Is there ANYTHING you enjoy anymore? BD: Reading. Love to read. Shopping, hanging out with my friends… oh… The Cabin! I love to go jet-skiing and tubing and skiing and out on the boat. Anything out on the boat in the sun is perfect for me. MH: Last book you read? BD: I think it was “19 Minutes” MH: You played two years of hockey as a kid… I understand you didn’t enjoy that either, can you still play? BD: I can still skate. Frontwards, backwards… MH: Hockey-stop? BD: Hockey-stop is a little bit of a struggle for me, I’m better at the whole figure skating stop, but I can definitely still skate, that’s one thing I took away. MH: Last year, when Eric Perkins from Kare 11 came to interview the team, you exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, it’s Perk at Play!” Is he your favorite media member? BD: Oh gosh… I do love Perk. I grew up watching him, and I think he’s hilarious. I love all the things he does, and it’s entertaining for me. However, I really enjoy Belinda Jensen, from Kare 11. She always just seems so nice, and one day my mom and I were shopping and we saw her getting a manicure… I’ve always liked her. MH: What do you read the Daily for? BD: Dr. Date. I think that is hilarious. I just think it’s so interesting what people write in. I love it, it’s great. The crossword puzzle, I get two words, maybe, so I look and if I know it I fill it in, but other than that it’s mostly Dr. Date. MH: You’ve never written in to Dr. Date? That you’ll admit…? BD: You never know… but No! MH: Question of the year… One of the players on the basketball team, Travis Busch, and Zach Eisendrath from Gophersports have an online TV-blog calledThe What Else? Show where they sit online and just talk about things that they’ve seen recently or things they’re thinking of, current event-type things. The question is if you had a show like this, what would you call it, and what would it be about? BD: What would it be called? (laughs) oh my gosh… did you ask this for Lauren? MH: Yes BD: I would have to do it on… (Long pause)… the amount of clothes that the volleyball team interchanges between each other, like how much of our clothes gets shared and then it gets lost on whose shirt or shoes they actually are… and it would be called… (laughs again) Whose clothes… are they? MH: First person you would interview on your show? BD: Kelly Schmidt MH: Is she the clothes stealer? BD: She is the clothes owner. MH: Gotcha. New topic, we’ve all seen you jump, most of us are probably jealous of your vertical. Can you dunk? BD: I have never tried to dunk a basketball, I’m too scared to fail. I can dunk a tennis ball pretty easily. I think it would come down to the fact of whether I could palm the basketball, because I probably couldn’t two-hand dunk. MH: Could you dunk a volleyball? BD: Maybe a volleyball. I should really try it, but I’m a little bit frightened. However, when we took physical training, we had to jump and touch the basketball rim or whatever you touch, and that’s when she gave us tennis balls to dunk. Well I grabbed the rim, and hung on it by accident, then I let go and fell on my tailbone and bruised it for about 3 weeks. So now I’m even more scared. MH: I don’t understand how that could have happened… BD: Trust me. It was quite the show. MH: Ok. Ben Flattum in athletic communications is working with the team for the first time this year. What are your opinions on Mr. Flattum? He appears to handle the scoreboard well. BD: He does, he does a good job. His Mohawk was a little distracting the other day, a bunch of us were a little disappointed in his hair cut. However, he does do a very good job. He’s always very nice to everyone, he seems to always be good for a laugh, and he’s not too bad looking. MH: May or may not edit that. (I chose not to, for your entertainment.) You get to chose the next volleyball player to do Off Topic, who would you like to nominate, and what would you like me to ask them? BD: I nominate Rachel Hartmann, because she just has some very interesting stories. And what I would ask her about is her transformation from high school to college, in looks as well as personality. That will get you a good story. Thanks Brook, we appreciate your time, all 28 minutes of it. And readers, keep checking in for an opportunity to be the first to read the first non-volleyball OFF TOPIC of the season, coming later this week!