The Observer, April 13, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 24
Spartan Spotlight: Brian Chorney
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Name, year, sport, et cetera: Brian Chorney is a senior mechanical engineer on the crew team. As a captain and starboard rower, he hails from Portland, Maine and went to Deering High School.
Years participating in crew: Five.
Who/What inspired you to join crew: One of the guys in my freshman dorm said he was going to sign up for crew at the activities fair. I said, "If you do it, I'll do it." Five years later we're both still on the team.
Favorite athlete: Ken Griffey, Jr.
Athletic honors: Hold all Case Crew lightweight indoor records, Case Crew Male Rower of the Year, 2003-04 and 2004-05.
Hobbies/Extracurricular activities: Going to beaches, playing the drums and guitar, hiking, following baseball, playing any sport, video games (I am, after all, a Case student).
Jeffrey T. Verespej: As long as you play N64 Mario Kart, it's ok. Best memory?
Brian Chorney: Racing in the first boat to represent Case in the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. It's the biggest fall regatta in the U.S. and attracts up to 300,000 people a year.
JTV: Bigger than Youngstown! And your worst crew memory?
BC: Having to sit out the spring 2006 season after knee surgery.
JTV: I bet you were actually "Pacman Jones'd" for that year, but you won't admit it. What's something most people don't know about you?
BC: I hold my high school's record for the 1600M race walk (it's actually a track event in Maine).
JTV: From the east coast to the west coast…If you could invite three people to dinner, who would they be and why?
BC: Chris Rock, Wolfgang Puck, and Jessica Alba. Who can go wrong with good food, entertainment, and a hot date?
JTV: I didn't know Alba could cook. If a movie was made about your life, who would you want to play you?
BC: I've been told Sylvester Stallone, probably because we both pity Mr. T.
JTV: Well I hope you don't make "Chorney V." What's the weirdest nickname you've ever had?
BC: Chornstar.
JTV: I don't get it. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
BC: I'd have the power to take on any power I wanted to have.
JTV: Greedy but smart. What would we find in your locker right now that might surprise us?
BC: I didn't even know I had a locker.
JTV: Oh I get it now. It sounds like porn star. Favorite drink and why?
BC: Orange Milk, because it tastes like the milk from the bottom of Fruit Loops. Or Irish Car Bombs – it's like a drink and a game in one!
JTV: But it's so expensive. Trust me, I know. Describe rowing down the Cuyahoga River to me.
BC: Two words: character building. It's twisty, there are unmarked barrels, dead animals (even a cow once), freighters, a billion St. Ignatius boats, and you can tell where you are by the smell of the river.
JTV: What's your least favorite thing about crew?
BC: Nothing. Everybody should go to crew.case.edu, fill out our interest form and sign up! But, the twice a week 5 a.m. practices aren't a favorite of mine.
JTV: Shameless plug and a time that doesn't exist in my universe. So why do you row?
BC: Rowing in the early morning, snow, months of indoor training, and pushing your body to the verge of failure aren't most people's ideas of fun. But it all pales in comparison to the feeling you get when a boat hits that series of perfect strokes at full speed. It's the closest feeling you can get to flying while on the ground.
JTV: There are other ways to simulate flying too, but that's a different discussion. If you could be a girl for a day, what would you do?
BC: Stand in front of a mirror, clean people's houses, make sandwiches, fetch men cake, shop, whine a little bit about nothing, gossip, drive poorly, and go to the bathroom in groups. I'd also do whatever a man told me to do!
JTV: I'm not going to respond. Finish this sentence: Crew is like a girl…
BC: …because it rewards a group of guys who can take long hard strokes in unison, excite their coxswain, and work so hard they all want to pass out when they're finished.
JTV: I'm going to miss the Spartan Spotlight.
