ALEX KARWOWSKI: How’s it going, everyone, and welcome back to the Gold Standard. My name’s Alex Karwowski, your Minnesota Daily sports editor, and I’m here today with Eitan and Andrew. 

Eitan and Andrew are two of our longest tenured sports reporters on this desk, and you know, it’s December, meaning a new semester is upon us. And that new semester will not include Eitan and Andrew on the sports desk. 

ANDREW CORNELIUS: Or you. 

EITAN SCHOENBERG: Or you, yeah.

KARWOWSKI: Or me or me.

CORNELIUS: Talking like you’re gonna be here. 

KARWOWSKI: I graduated. Eitan and Andrew are leaving for their own separate reasons. But yeah, let’s, uh, let’s get into it. So you guys have been here for quite some time. What was it like working at the Daily in the sports? Just how did you get your start? What made you want to apply? Give me your life story pretty much. 

CORNELIUS: It was actually Eitan that kind of got me interested in the Daily. For some random reason we were both eating lunch at Pioneer Hall. And I was doing GDP and he was doing GD, like thinking about getting into GDP. And then I, we talked about the Daily because he worked there and wrote, I think it was soccer, right? Your first beat. 

SCHOENBERG: My first beat was soccer. I covered soccer for like a whopping, like two weeks, I think. 

CORNELIUS: Yeah. And so he was doing that, talked about it and was like, applications open up next semester. Ended up applying, talking to Tony Liebert, who was the editor at the time, got the position and ever since then it’s been off and running, obviously learned a lot.

The stories that we all look back on for our first or few were probably not the greatest but a lot of improvements over the two years.

SCHOENBERG: Yeah, and we were talking about that like the other day about how the conversation in Pio, I have no recollection of this. I don’t remember having the conversation, but it probably happened.

KARWOWSKI: My first, not even conversation, but the first, like, impression of Andrew was on LinkedIn, and he was, like, so excited to be working with the Daily, and I stalked his LinkedIn profile. 

SCHOENBERG: Did we, like, flip flop? Did you get me into GDP and I got you into the Daily?

CORNELIUS: I think so. I think it was because, yeah, you started at Daily and I started at GDP first semester and then we added both. 

SCHOENBERG: Well, I started both first semester too. 

KARWOWSKI: For context, GDP is Gopher Digital Production and that’s like the live production team at the university. They do like all the in-house shows for a lot of the sports. 

SCHOENBERG: I, my beginnings with the Daily started when I’m like literally the my first day on campus and I was talking to, I just met Ethan Fine, who was a photographer here. And he was also a journalism major, and he’s like, “Yo, you should apply for the Daily because, I don’t know, journalism, it’s a good way to get started in writing.” 

And I’m like, “Why not?” And I hadn’t done anything beforehand. Like, in high school, I did no writing. Like, journalism writing. And I just, like, applied. And I didn’t expect to get it, but then Tony’s like, “Let’s do an interview.” And then I had my interview with Tony. 

And Tony at the end of the interview, I thought the interview went fine, at the end of the interview Tony’s like, “You know what, I have a fantasy football draft coming up actually, so we’re gonna just we’re gonna wrap this up”. 

But he was like you’re hired. I’m like, “Oh,” I was like, “Great.” And yeah, yeah, I’m at the Daily ever since. Started with soccer and then eventually got to men’s hockey starting my sophomore year, which was pretty cool.

KARWOWSKI: Yeah. Yeah. Tony hired me also at the very end of my interview. I have never done that, as a sports editor, but you know, it’s kind of interesting to see the different approaches editors have taken in terms of just hiring. 

I guess that just brings me to my next question, but what have you guys, favorite reporting instances or just like favorite, like stories you’ve done or a favorite moment at the Daily? 

SCHOENBERG: Yeah, I’ll go first on this one. My favorite like reporting experience was probably when I went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the men’s hockey regional 2024 tournament.

That was just really cool because I, that was like my first quote, unquote professional sports environment. Because there was the whole setup with like a media room, getting like credentialed was a thing too. I don’t know, it was a like a multi-day event. I had to go to two games.

I was in the press box. It was like that rush, you know where you have to like run downstairs, get quotes from people, run back up, write your story and whatever. And I was working on deadline, the first story. And that was like, because we didn’t usually do gamers for hockey.

But this was like my first time, like, doing a gamer for men’s hockey, where I had to get it in, like, within an hour of the game ending. And it ended up being pretty good. My friend came with me, and he got a really, he got really good pictures for me, too. Which was nice, but that was like my favorite reporting experience because it involves like traveling, staying there and just like I don’t know.

I met a lot of cool people. I got to explore Sioux Falls. I don’t know. We go to school in Minneapolis, it was cool like yeah, smaller town vibes. I don’t know. But overall it was a pretty cool experience. 

CORNELIUS: Yeah, and then for mine, I’d definitely say it’s been this year. It was the football game against USC where they got a big win, top 12 win. First time they’d won at home against. 

SCHOENBERG: Gold rush. 

CORNELIUS: Well, yeah, 49er country is where they come from in Southern Cal, so. Kind of wanted to put that into the story in some way. But yeah the experience of that, the stadium being full, pretty much full for that game as it hasn’t been for much of the year. Just everyone showing out and then them actually performing to the level that fans have expected them to was a very cool experience.

And then I got to go down onto the field after the game and just seeing the sheer number of students just running up and like either shoving or just running into P.J. Fleck in the tunnel was kind of hilarious. It was a great moment. 

KARWOWSKI: How could you, I mean, I’m sure that was a great moment, but like, not, not the Olympics? Like the trials? 

CORNELIUS: No. 

KARWOWSKI: Really? 

CORNELIUS: That was more so like I enjoyed it, but it’s not the thing I like to do the most. It was a cool experience, but like for football, for me, getting to watch like a top 12 matchup where your team, you’ve grown up like on the Minnesota through and through, because I was born in Eden Prairie. Seeing them get a big one like that on the stage and actually being able to cover it was very cool.

SCHOENBERG: Right. I was going to say, I think the school aspect is just like, cool. I think that makes it even better. It’s like, for growing up here and then for him and then going to school here too. It’s just, it’s pretty cool. 

CORNELIUS: Like I’ve been going to games since I was like six years old at Huntington bank stadium. It was TCF beforehand. So like, it’s been a place that I’ve known very well over my life.

And that was a nice culmination and kind of covering the last game where they played really well against Penn State and then just kind of threw it away. But a lot of years now it’s kind of coming to the end. 

KARWOWSKI: So, you know, as reporters, I know I’ve experienced it and I’m sure you guys have too, as we talk about it almost all the time, but we get a lot of like access to student athletes that, you know, a lot of other people don’t get. And, you know, you kind of develop those relationships. So is there anything in like particular, like one relationship that you just kind of like sticks out to you or one that you’ve kind of grown to build outside of like a professional setting? 

CORNELIUS: I have two contrasting stories. So football, the access is the most limited, most structured, impossible really to gain anything but a professional relationship or basically, you can’t really talk to them unless it’s in a structured time with other reporters.

So, it is hard to build relationships like you can in other sports. So, I’ve done my best over the years. The two years that I’ve been on the football beat, to kind of get to know the people and show my face enough so that they know who I am.

I think that’s just the best way you can do it for a sport like football with how they handle it. Basically a PR type thing, but for softball where there’s not as much coverage, that was really fun. Like I got to know basically every player on the team last year and the year before that kind of just getting in there for the first time.

Like I got to grow up with Jess Oakland, with Kayla Chavez coming over and with Taylor Krapf, those type of players that I’ve contacted outside. And obviously Jess Oakland entered the transfer portal and got to reach out to her, see what she was thinking on that subject. So it’s just obviously in that sense, I got to build some relationships. 

SCHOENBERG: Yeah. Talking about SIDs, like, Scott for, for, for men’s hockey. He was. 

CORNELIUS: Call him out. 

SCHOENBERG: He was great. He, like my first time ever going to men’s hockey, like media, whatever. It was like the beginning of the season thing. It was like in the club room at Mariucci. And he was just like telling me like, “So this is what they’re going to do. This is like, what type of questions they’re going to ask.” Like, you just got to get a feel, you know, be around.

And like I don’t know he just really helped me like get acclimated because I hadn’t done like a team that gets pretty decent national coverage, too. I hadn’t done that before and Scott was pretty helpful for that and then I met his parents.

KARWOWSKI: Yeah!

SCHOENBERG: I met his parents in Sioux Falls. Yeah, that was great. They were very sweet. It was really funny, too. I don’t really remember exactly how it started. I think they just like I don’t know. We just like struck up a conversation with them randomly and then I’m like, “Why are you guys here?”

And they’re like, “Oh, our son is like the works for the team,” or whatever. And I’m like, “Is your son like Scott?” They’re like, “Yeah, it’s Scott.” I’m like, I got to take a picture. I’ve got to send this is Scott. 

So yeah, he was probably like the best connection, I guess. When I was doing cross country, it was pretty cool. Ali Weimer is pretty nice. Yeah, some of the those athletes are really nice. Erin Reidy was nice, too. We had a good conversation because she’s also from Illinois. 

KARWOWSKI: Oh word. 

SCHOENBERG: So yeah, Illinois proud. Shout out. What about you? 

What was your best, like, athlete connection? 

KARWOWSKI: Good question. I felt like last year especially I really connected with the women’s basketball team a lot. I was around so much. I attended almost every game, and I got to know the team really well.

I think what really helped was doing that Amaya Battle story on her, like, photography. That one was really, really fun to do. And then also, Mckenna Wucherer was one I followed a lot just because I, she was kind of like the first athlete I ever talked to when I was a reporter at the Daily.

I remember I was so nervous. I was such a nervous wreck when I was doing that interview, but EJ was really helpful. He like pulled her aside and we just like sat on a bench and talked. And then I did the one of her mother passing away, which was really impactful. I felt like I’d talked to her dad and he was, he was so much fun to talk to.

I, okay. I love talking to parents. I think they’re some of the craziest people and they just share so much with you. So that’s just one that I really connected with. 

I love it like when like you’re I just know like some of the things her dad was telling me I’m like, “Oh, she’d be so embarrassed if like she knew that I knew this information or like if she was there.” And I just think it’s so funny because like, I know I’d be embarrassed if my parents told people that information, but like, it’s just like a, a normal thing that like parents do. 

But yeah, I mean, and EJ, obviously I was, was introduced to him first. He was pretty helpful. And he was, he always has been, he always asked me like, “Hey are you coming to availability? Let me know if you’re coming to the game.” He always asked me if I needed, like, I remember my very first time he goes, “You want to talk to coach? You want to talk to CC McGraw?” 

And it was a good time to just like be introduced. And then obviously Trenton was also a huge, yeah, no, he was always been a huge help. And even Michelle too. Like she’s always been like super great at what she does. She’s obviously a lot busier than a lot of the other SIDs just cause she does a lot of like with the men’s basketball team. But like always very helpful like when she can be. 

I don’t know, just, I guess internally from the Daily, how have you seen it like progress and how do you think like, it’s maybe helped you guys as a reporter or just work in like a newsroom setting? Yeah, just speak your truth. 

CORNELIUS: I think more so it’s, it’s given me the opportunity to grow as a reporter more so than it has been something like internally. I think it’s just like the platform you have to go out into the basically, just the space around the campus and talk to athletes, talk to coaches.

Get your foot in the door, make connections, like, and then have published clips, which is really important if you’re looking to go into journalism. So like the opportunity is the biggest thing that it’s provided me. And then I’ve kind of self taught and learned a lot of things along the way. 

SCHOENBERG: I’d say starting from like freshman year when things were kind of fresh out of COVID and the in person aspect, like really wasn’t the top priority or maybe it was the top priority. But it wasn’t like, you know, that people were still just getting back to living life after COVID. 

So like I was barely in the office my freshman year and then like last year and this year it’s a lot more time coming in for meetings and stuff and just like seeing everyone in person like. I think all of us can attest to the fact that our freshman year was just like, or me and Andrew’s freshman year and then your sophomore year, like our desk like I don’t think we met in person that often, no. 

KARWOWSKI: No, not really. We did like our in person pitch meetings and that was it.

SCHOENBERG: Yeah, but I think that’s also just part of being in like Hubbard is that we see each other like every day, like I see you guys every day now. Like I see Alex’s face like a little bit too much now. But it’s you know I see everyone and it’s like there’s like you get familiar with people and I think that’s a good thing is like we’re also all learning together.

So that’s a really cool thing is like, and I also had the chance to like write a non like sports story this year. And it just shows like how well the Daily can help, you know, develop your natural journalist instincts. And like, it will care. It can help you carry over to, you know, other aspects of life.

KARWOWSKI: Yeah. To Andrew’s point, I think there’s a lot of uniqueness in being a sports reporter. Because like we’re always like we work on weekends, like let’s be so for real. We don’t work during the week. We are like kind of a hundred percent on the weekends. And you know, we’re always out in the field, so we’re almost like never really in the office.

But like when we are, like, I feel like it’s kind of an interesting time to just like connect with different reporters on different desks and just see the inner workings. But I think there’s a lot of learning that happens, especially like you kind of just have to figure it out on your own. 

Like, as much as an editor or like somebody internally can like help you, it really just comes down to like you doing it and getting reps in. Which I think is something that’s very unique to sports that like a lot of other desks don’t experience. 

SCHOENBERG: I was gonna say Theo definitely helped me like develop a lot. Theo knew it was up, miss you Theo. Like there was only so much he could tell us like there was like you had to just go out and do your job and learn. Like ask the bad questions and then like see how people reacted to that and it’s like that’s how you learn. 

You learn like what type like I learned what type of questions to ask like post game and I’ve Gopher hockey and when they lose or whatever. Like you can’t there’s certain questions that you can and can’t ask to people and like where to put yourself things like that.

KARWOWSKI: It also just comes down to like reading the room, you know, especially in a postgame like you don’t want to be like so. 

SCHOENBERG: I was in that. I was in the Gopher locker room after they lost like immediately after they lost to BU. You had to just like. 

KARWOWSKI: You got it, it’s so hard like cause I don’t know. I remember just Kent being like he would just ask some crazy questions sometimes.

Even Marcus, like after a really bad Gopher basketball lose, he’d be like, “So Ben, how do you put your finger on that loss?” And Ben’s just like, “Oh.” 

SCHOENBERG: It’s, was, yeah, that was tough. I was going to say like, there was just that’s people like their season just ended. And now they have to talk to like journalists, and it’s like crazy.

KARWOWSKI: I will say the WNIT my last year, there was a girl from Elle Evans from NDSU, she plays on Kansas now. First time I’d ever seen like a player full on start crying, like during a press conference. She started bawling her eyes out and I felt so bad. I was just like, her season’s over, like.

SCHOENBERG: I was going to say, but that was also the point where I felt like I got like, you see the real side of them. Like, yeah, I got, I think I talked to, it might’ve been Sam Rinzel and he just said something about like, how they loved like the leadership that I think was Bryce Brodzinski and Jaxson Nelson going out the door.

I don’t know it was like they they wish they could be that type of leader or something like that. It was just like a really good, a really nice thing to say about somebody. 

CORNELIUS: I think there’s topical on that response too. Obviously, like, the human side of things, but there’s also something to speak about on why it ended the way it did, why you lost the game.

And providing the reader with information that they can utilize to themselves cope with, within the season ending. Because, like they lost against Quinnipiac in that overtime game, and every fan, not even just the players, is shocked. But, they want to know why, immediately into overtime, we aren’t ready, they score a goal quickly, and the game is over, and we’re not winning a game.

Basically everyone probably on the team and the coaching staff thought we should win this game and they ended up losing it. So that’s kind of what I think of as the journalism side is like, we also have to understand the human emotion, but you also need to get the answers for the questions that your readers want to know.

KARWOWSKI: Yeah, you got to do your job, but also like understand that like, this is, it’s just part of what makes the job like a little tricky. You know, you gotta be like ethical in how you behave.

Couple last few questions, but is there a story that you guys did that you feel like you’re most proud of or that like had the most influence on you?

SCHOENBERG: Yeah, I’ll start that religion story I’d say probably.

KARWOWSKI: The Gophers finding themselves through religion.

SCHOENBERG: Through religion yeah. Because I was telling you, I’ve talked about with you how like different it was the freshman year to sophomore year reporting experience. Like the freshman year I didn’t do any journalism classes, you know, like I was still very new to this. 

KARWOWSKI: And you found that like, pretty, like it took some digging to find that. 

SCHOENBERG: It did take some digging to find that story that, that asked, not like digging, but like it happened and it wasn’t like a, I don’t know, it happened by chance. Like it wasn’t something that I was intending to like go in and find.

It just happened by one of them telling me something and I’m like, “Oh, that’s interesting.” And it turned into a story. And I’d say, yeah, I mean, that was probably one of my favorite stories doing reporting on. Like it required hours of like talking to people having interesting conversations with people, but, I don’t know that’s the one I’m probably most proud of.

The one I can like look back on and be like I’m really glad I did this story because it helped me grow a lot as a person. Because that was like also my first time having to have not sport conversation. Like it wasn’t I wasn’t talking about sports with them like I was talking about like personal beliefs and things like that like. 

When you go into like, you go to post game conferences and it’s like, they’re talking about the sport. And now this is your chance to like, this was a story that I like, saw their true character and like, who they really were and like, what they believed in. 

KARWOWSKI: Just the human element a little bit. 

SCHOENBERG: Yeah, the human element, which is, yeah, that was probably one of my favorite parts of like, this job and role in general was like, seeing the human aspects and like, what people don’t see when they’re watching like, a broadcast or they’re at the game. Like this is what you don’t see.

CORNELIUS: I have a few, I’ll start with the one from this year, “Bring the boom.” That was kind of a nice change for the football team. And it seemed to be very well taken by our readers as well. So that was a fun one to put together. 

KARWOWSKI: I don’t think I told you this, but that was, that story resulted in our highest clicked newsletter.

SCHOENBERG: That’s awesome. 

CORNELIUS: That was an enjoyable piece to write and I saw it like right away because Koi Perich did it, after he got an interception against Maryland, I believe it was. And then it just took off from there and it’s like, I had already seen it so many times in college football so I knew it was definitely like a national trend and then we kind of jumped on that, that week. And Alex, I think, brought it forward and the editors to actually make it happen, so. 

That’s the first one. Then again, it was really fun this summer covering that Indiana Fever game when they came to play the Lynx. And it was just like a, basically, ESPN, like every national site, was there covering the game because it was the hype and the hype train for Caitlin Clark. 

And she’s in Minnesota where Maya Moore, her kind of person that she looked up to, where all these little girls are now looking up to Caitlin Clark, and all those things that came from that game got posted by ESPN in one of my videos that I got, so that was like a nice bucket list thing. 

And then, the final one is a friends for life story I did on the Gopher softball team, which I heard about the six seniors that were graduating a lot of given, they’d given a lot to the program and just being able to tell their stories and, and kind of encapsulate who they were as people along with their softball side. And kind of a sending them out on a high note, even though they didn’t make the NCAA tournament just that team and what they gave to the university and those players was really cool for me.

SCHOENBERG: That’s actually, that actually kind of reminded me of one too, the, when the PWHL started. Yeah. I was, cause that was like, and Taylor Heise was the first overall pick. That was just cool because I got to talk to her like after, like she was drafted and like, I don’t know, it was just cool.

And I got to talk to the people who were like at the start of like this historic league. That was really cool to, you know, again, this is the start of something like that will hopefully last for a very long time. And, again, something super historic talk to like current Gophers. It was a pretty cool like experience to be a part of and the beginning of that foundation. 

KARWOWSKI: What’s next for you guys?

CORNELIUS: I can. I’m going to be a broadcaster with the Twins, so I’ll be working 130 out of the 162, a good portion of the Twins games this season. Working with their radio team, help produce some parts of the broadcast and other stories, where I’ll be interviewing players and doing some stuff behind the scenes as well. 

SCHOENBERG: I mean, I’ll be doing the practicum course where I was placed at Fox 9. So that should be pretty exciting. Just, I’m not sure what my coverage is going to look like or what exactly my roles are going to be, but I’m excited to, you know, be a part of like a bigger organization that will help me further my career.

KARWOWSKI: And I’ll be looking for another job.

SCHOENBERG: Can I ask you a question, Alex? What’s like, the one thing you are going to take away from reporting and being an editor, like what’s the one thing you’re going to take away from working at the Daily?

KARWOWSKI: I think the importance of being a reporter is keeping the community at first, or keeping the community at the forefront of what you do in writing for them and just knowing your audience and what they want. The importance of relationship building is critical, especially in journalism and beat writing. 

I were to take something from being an editor, it’s patience. I think I really tested my patience this year. I think I did it pretty well because I felt like it was, it was definitely very different just managing people.

And just working, communicating, like our needs as a desk to like the other editors. And just knowing what you guys needed and what you guys were asking and making that ask to the other editors, it’s something that like, I feel like a lot of people don’t really do because like they’re scared or they’re just like, “Oh, they’re going to say no.” 

But just making the ask is also something that I feel like is pretty important for any kind of professional career. And just like putting myself out there feel like I asked a lot of questions to like SIDs or random people. I was like, “Couldn’t hurt to ask.”

And I learned a lot from you guys too because you guys were never afraid to like just jump in on something even if I just threw it at you. Champ was especially good at that. He just took everything I threw at him. 

So, yeah, I think just like not being afraid to put myself out there and you know, just same old, same old. Just good writing, keeping the community at first and listening. 

SCHOENBERG: Andrew, what about you?

CORNELIUS: I think the writing aspect really helps because it helped me kind of put together a thought process for myself when I’m going into these sporting events. Whether it be for announcing games like we’re doing with Gopher Digital Productions or just working on a broadcast in general.

Cause that’s kind of the more side that I wanted to, but I wanted to learn the skills necessary to write stories. And now just the storytelling aspect of that. I think I’ve gotten really, really a lot better over these last two years about how to tell a story, whether it is on paper or over a broadcast. So I think I’ll take away just the experiences and the learning I’ve had to go through to improve at this skill.

KARWOWSKI: What are you going to take away from the Daily? 

SCHOENBERG: No matter who you’re talking to, everyone has like their own story and like life, I guess. So, that was like the biggest thing that the Daily helped me with or like just reporting on assignments for the Daily was like just talking to people and like. 

Hearing like a million different stories, but again, at the end of the day, the one thing that all connects like us, not even like as reporters, like people outside of the Daily, is that we’re all people and that you’re just talking to it. Like journalism is literally just talking to people and writing it down.

So it’s yeah, breaking it down also is what really helped me. So that was something I just kind of took into all my like reporting experiences. So people are people. Talk to people, get paid for it. 

KARWOWSKI: This episode of the Gold Standard was brought to you by myself, Alex Karwowski, Eitan Schoenberg and Andrew Cornelius, and was produced by Ceci Heinen. Thanks again for listening, and we’ll see you next time on The Gold Standard.