October 27, 2010

10 Questions with Alex Botte

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1. Alex Botte, as a junior, you are the starting goalie on the field hockey team. What has field hockey meant to you for the past three years?

Honestly, I didn’t know what the sport was until my sophomore year in high school. My friend played so I tried out and it just became something that has really meant a lot to me. I didn’t think I was ever going to have a chance to play in college, but then I came here and it’s a huge part of my life at Cornell. When I think of Cornell, I think field hockey before academics, which probably isn’t the best thing but it’s true. I associate Cornell with field hockey and my teammates have been the best part of my experience with the sport.

Who is your favorite teammate?

Maura Greenwood … wait no, Jess Buckingham … wait no, I guess Olivia Boyd.

2. Please tell us about your recruiting video for field hockey.

[Laughing] Let’s just say that there were minimal clips of me playing field hockey. It was more about the camera angles than anything else, so if I were applying to be a film major at NYU it would have been more appropriate. But I’m actually embarrassed I sent that to D-1 coaches.

What was the video of if it wasn’t about field hockey?

Well, the camera would be filming me and I wouldn’t be looking at the camera. I would be facing a different direction and I would be talking about my interests. Also I was on the beach. I mean, there were some clips of me playing field hockey. None of them were from games or scrimmages. Most of them were people throwing balls at me and me ducking or trying to get out of the way.

Well, it clearly worked because you’re here now.

No. I came to camp and they saw me play in real life, when I wasn’t on the beach.

3. Also, I head you are known to break girls’ noses with your aggressive playing. Is that true?

No. Not at all. That’s not at all true. Ok, I broke one person’s nose.

At Cornell?

Yeah. It was last week. But other than that, I’ve never broken anyone’s nose.

Was this during a game?

No. It was a teammate. A freshman on the team. Her name is Mallory and I really like her. She “nose” I didn’t mean it.

4. Please tell us about your relationship with cats.

As to avoid conflict with the Cornell Vet Association, I just want to say that there may have been one or two cats that have died in my presence. And as a disclaimer, the one that died outside of 227 Linden … I was not in any way related to that murder. The other ones … well, that’s all I’ll say. There may or may not have been BB guns involved. I’m just more of a dog person.

Apparently also, you have a story about cats from when you were rushing a sorority.

Well, I was at a house of high prestige … you know, a house that I wanted to make a good impression at and it was the last round of the day. I had visited like thirty houses that day, talked to over 100 people and I was disillusioned. I really wanted to make a good impression and there were these girls that I was talking to and they were talking about how much they loved cats. And out of nowhere I just told them, “I have a cat farm.” And then I was like, wait, why did I say that? I blatantly DON’T have a cat farm, but I couldn’t go back at that point. I had to commit. So they pretended like they were interested and they were like, “Oh, a cat farm … that’s cool. What exactly is a cat farm?” And I was like, “It’s a center where we breed cats.” I was cut the next round.

5. Do you play video games?

Yes. I like to play Roller Coaster Tycoon. You can only play it on PCs so I got my old laptop from high school and I hooked it up to my TV.

How often do you play this game?

I haven’t played it in a while. It’s been almost a month since I’ve created a new park.

Do other people play with you?

No, it’s a single game, but sometimes people will crowd around me and cheer me on. I’ve made friends with the people in the park. They always clap for me and cheer me on when I beat a park, or throw their balloons in the air. I don’t know. It’s fun.

6. Do you drive a car this year?

Yes, Cameron — he’s a little rough around the edges. I got him for about a thousand dollars from a Cornell grad student. I saw an ad on Craigslist and I just needed a car to get me to Bartels and back. Sure it shakes when it goes over 40 mph and yeah, it has some trouble getting up East Buffalo but it gets the job done. I’ve put about 200 miles on him so far and … you know … he’s reliable.

Where do you park Cameron?

I don’t have a parking spot. I just rely on 24-hour parking.

Do you worry that you’ll get a ticket?

Yeah, I sometimes get nervous. I do worry about it at night because I worry about Cameron’s safety. All the people reading the Cornell Daily Sun, get the *&%# out of the 24-hour parking spots. You’re my competition.

7. Do you have any pet peeves?

I HATE worms.

Why is that?

Well I didn’t understand the process that when it rains, worms automatically come out. So my freshman year, it would rain and the worms would come out. And they infest the townhouses. There would be literally twelve-inch worms and I refused to walk from RPCC (that’s where I spent all my time freshman year). I didn’t want to leave RPCC for various reasons but one of them was the worms.

What were the other reasons?

Well I also really loved the ice cream there. You know this isn’t my first time being showcased in the Cornell Daily Sun, right?

I did not know that. Tell us about your first experience in the paper.

Well, my freshman year, I was in line at the dining halls and I was delving into a bowl of macaroni and all of a sudden I saw a beam of light flash. But I was too concentrated on the food to really notice. I was really just focused on getting the maximum amount of macaroni on my plate. And the next day, it appeared in the paper — it was literally one of the top stories in the Daily Sun — as a story about how kids eat too much. It was called “Gain the Freshman Fifteen” and there was a huge picture of me staring at the macaroni and just delving into it. The thing about the weight gain was that I didn’t understand the concept of dining halls. I didn’t understand that you didn’t have to hit every station. I would hit every station — the dessert station multiple times before I left — and so it made me gain the freshman … 40.

8. Do you like to cook?

No, I mostly just like to put things into the blender and make smoothies out of them. I really don’t like cooking. I get nervous sometimes when my roommates cook. Just five minutes ago, one of my roommates was cooking apples in a pan and I really didn’t think that was safe.

Why not?

Because you can’t heat up perishables because the heat will … you know … you just can’t. Like you can’t heat up milk.

Yes, you can.

Well, then you tell me why when I babysat a kid one time, she wanted hot chocolate, so I heated up milk in the microwave and she and I both got sick. Clearly, you can’t heat up milk.

I’m guessing you weren’t hired again?

Nope. That’s the one time I’ve ever babysat. Actually, my mom hired a babysitter for me this summer when she was away. She was this 28-year old girl who was really cool. But my mom was essentially paying her to hang out with me.

9. Who is your favorite roommate?

It’s a tie between Maura, Meagan, Olivia and myself.

10. What other Cornell team do you like to hang out with the most?

I would have to say, if you can’t find me in my room, you’ll find me at the men’s lax house aka SAE (all the guys there are like my brothers), partying with the men’s hockey team, the men’s basketball team or occasionally Psi Upsilon.

What about sprint football? My last interviewee gave you guys a shout out.

Yes. Also sprint football because they practice right next to us. I’ve seen them make a lot of athletic plays. Oh, and we also like to watch their butts bounce up and down in their tight little pads while we’re practicing.

Original Author: Katie Schubauer