For this edition of 10 Questions, Sun Columnist Katie Schubauer sits down with junior sprint football running back Mike Angelo. They discuss Angelo’s off-the-field antics, particularly his filmmaking hobbies and pre-game rituals.
1. Mike, you are a junior on the sprint football team. What has the team meant to you during your collegiate experience?Well I joined halfway through the season last year after I transferred here. I was a little unsure about the time commitment and everything, but to be honest, the three hours we dedicate to football are the most fun three hours of the day. It’s great being able to play football with guys that are still doing it simply because of how much they love the game. And after 15 years of athletics, it’s cool that I’ll be able to go out on such a high level. In high school you played other sports, correct?Correct. I played football and baseball — hockey too, but I quit halfway through my senior year because my coach called me a pussy for sitting out with a fractured hip. Rugged leather-jacket wearing Canadian trying to relive his toothless pond hockey glory days, I guess. So how did you choose to play sprint football over hockey or baseball?I actually almost played baseball at Division III Washington and Lee down in Virginia, and I was real pumped about that. But when I found out I got a guaranteed transfer, I looked into sprint and thought it was pretty awesome. It’s nice to be able to strap up the pads and take out some aggression once a day, too.Growing up in a town suffering severely from lax fever (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), how were you able to avoid it? What made you stick with baseball in the spring?I had a real traumatizing experience as a six-year-old laxer. I balled my eyes out for about a week after the coach made an example out of me on “how not to scoop a ball”, so I never looked back and I started playing baseball. In high school, I just tried hyping up the baseball team. I talked to some administrators about some possible PR stunts at our games. They actually went for one, too, but then we realized there wasn’t enough budget money for a motorcycle and an additional 25 school buses. So when that failed, I turned to some devious maneuvers like organizing boycott parties at my house. When no one came, I just sat in the stands of the lax games with a frown on my face. Can’t escape that lax fever. 2. Is there any correlation between your mustache-growing skills and your ability on the field?Well, it makes me a little less aerodynamic out there but I think the confidence gained from it ends up helping more than it hurts. Football is all about confidence, and when I need an extra boost, I just give her a quick little brush-through and it’s back to invincibility.Do you think it contributes to intimidation of your opponents?Yeah. I think especially back in the U-9 peewee days. Now, it’s kind of more of an even playing field with facial hair out there, so I don’t know how effective it is anymore.How do you handle losses on the field?No one likes to lose. I’d say I try to have a positive outlook. You analyze what you did, fix your mistakes and come back the next time and win, win, win. 3. Can you describe some of your pre-game rituals?Well, for both meanings of the word “pre-game,” I’d say nothing gets me more jacked then overenthusiastic Nickelback improvisation … yeah. I just sing. Get the emotions out. Get my head focused. Next time you need some mental clarity, bust out a couple lines from “Photograph” and you’ll be right as rain. Do you think you have any future in a singing career?I’ve been asked — a couple times, actually. But I think I’d rather stick to filmmaking. 4. Aside from being an athlete, you are also known for your acting and video-editing skills. Have you always been interested in that?Yeah, actually. Shout out to Mom and Pops, who got me the best gift ever when I was just a young calf. I was like seven and they got me a Lego movie-making kit, which was just a little digital camera and a couple of “actors” and props. I cranked out some real emotional Legoman dramas, that usually — always — ended with dinosaur-fueled destruction. That dinosaur prop was fire. But yeah, then once I got to middle school, I started stealing my dad’s video camera to film some nonsense that I would somehow string into something coherent enough to show in school. I Spielberg-ed the holy hell out of an “Acorn People” remake in eighth grade — but got a C. Seven years later, that grade is starting to make a lot more sense.Your films have progressed from high school environmental projects to thoughtfully developed plots and most recently to a webisode series featuring a character called Frankie Bourgeoise. Please tell us a little bit about the new videos.Ah yes, Frankie B. It’s called “Sex Sells: The Erotic Saga of Frankie Bourgeoise.” Frankie is a lovable sex addict who, after a tough day at work (fired for nearly burning down the building with an errant cigarette toss during a wildly inappropriate striptease), gets fired and has to figure his life out. I wrote it last school year when I should have been studying for a policy class focusing on sexual harassment in the work place and I thought it would be funny to base a character off that. The idea kind of took off from there. It’s four or five episodes. Only two have been released so far. Comedy has a learning curve and I’m still in the infantile years of what hopefully will be a long career so hang with me because some of these videos are hit or miss. But they’ll keep coming and they’ll keep getting better so stay tuned. Does your inspiration for characters come from people around you?Yeah, absolutely. My dad is a big influence. I’m coming out with a new video about greasy Italian food reviewers called “Man vs. Grease.” The first episode is going to be about Louie’s Lunch truck. Not to say my dad is particularly greasy for an Italian, but the mannerisms portrayed by this character will definitely mirror the big beauty I call Pops. Also, shout out to Ben Sellew who will be playing my sweaty sidekick, Sal. But yeah, I absorb a lot of what is going on and somehow, in some way, every character is a reflection of something or someone I’ve seen or experienced.Which of your characters do you relate to most?I’d say the skater bro, J.J. McTavish. I think he’s got a couple of serious lessons to live by. His opposition to the rat-race is hard not to admire. What is your ultimate goal with these videos?Well I had an internship at Comedy Central lined up for this past summer, but I didn’t want to go in there empty-handed. So I took the summer to film these. So the goal with these recent video is to bring them to the internship next summer and show them around. It’s a lot easier to show that I want to be on SNL than to just walk in there and say it.Is that your long-term goal, to work on SNL?Hell yeah. Getting paid to hang out with hilarious people in the middle of Manhattan might not be such a bad gig. But the ultimate long-term goal is getting up on that silver screen. HOLLYWOOD.Favorite SNL skit?Got to be Coconut Bangers’ Ball with Robert Goulet. I love that one.
5. You have made quite a name for yourself here at Cornell. What would you say you are known for here?I sometimes think that the one thing I’m truly serious about is joking around. I just like to have fun and hopefully this pretty reckless approach to life will pay off. If not … screw it … there’s always that singing voice of mine to fall back on.Why is it that despite the frigid Ithaca weather, on any given night there are 90:1 odds that you will be seen shirtless?The frigid Ithaca weather becomes quite un-frigid when you are stuffed in certain classy Collegetown establishments with 500 other people within ten feet of you. You will rarely see me shirtless in the snow — that’s when the pants come off. But inside the clubs with that party moisture brewing — yeah, the shirt’s probably always going to sit the next couple of plays out.Many people would attest to the fact that you are a very verbal supporter of our country. Where does all that America love come from?Maybe I see America going down the tubes a little bit and I just want to bring it back to the Hulk Hogan, ass-kicking America days. It starts with street corner USA chants, you know? Just the domino effect: one chanting group will lead to another chanting group and so on and so forth and before you know it, the whole country will be chanting USA in unison. That might be my ultimate goal, actually. I’m just rousing the spirits of America. We’ll get back on our feet. We’ll be the country that we should be if just a few people start late night chants. A little patriotism goes a long way.Please describe your relationship with the recently popularized Collegetown establishment, which you often refer to on twitter, Facebook and in late-night shouts.Being a non-drinker, I like to go there to absorb what’s around me. I refrain from drinking, a personal choice, but I like to thrust myself into environments where other people are just to capture the essence of the true college experience without the negative health effects. 6. What is your relationship with Q-tips like?Jeez. Getting deep here, huh? My relationship with them is that they’re an orgasmic experience. I think I remember my mom used to do it for me when I was a baby and I just loved the feeling, so I just kept doing it. College has been sweet because a lot of people have Q-tips. So I just go from room to room and I take them. And I just clean my ears out; I mean they’re always clean but I do it for the feeling. And then I just throw them. My mom would always freak out about the Q-tips all over the house. It’s a guilty pleasure and if it’s making itself into the Sun I guess I have to seriously reevaluate my relationship with it. Maybe just stick to toe-nail clipping for the semester. 7. Please tell us about a certain traumatizing fire extinguisher incident that happened in your home several years ago.I passed out somewhere from being so tired in my house really early during a party and a certain group of ruffians thought it would be a hilarious idea to spray my room down with a fire extinguisher. They just came in and fire extinguished the whole room. By the end of it, it looked like Tony Montana had himself quite a bender in and around my bed, if you know what I mean.What was your reaction to that?My reaction was, “‘I’ll be downstairs. You a**holes clean this entire place and make it look spotless or I will blow a fire extinguisher down your mouth until it comes out of your skin pores. I was livid.Hopefully it’s something you can laugh about now that several years have gone by.Well I said the one regret was not doing it with them. 8. You have been known to frequent CTB for some late-night sessions. Why is that your late night spot of choice?Gotta get my bagel-dog fix. It also happens to be a great atmosphere and it’s on my way home. I like to pop in and assess the scene. Sometimes the employees give me guest call-outs. So I’m able to put my loud and obnoxious yelling to good use. “Clare?!” IS THERE A CLARE THAT ORDERED A TEX-MEX BAGEL! CLARE! NOW!” I like to keep things moving in there.Do you maintain a good relationship with the CTB employees?Yeah. Great report with them. They know my favorite bagel —Which is….?Ketchup and Reeses on a whole wheat bun. Nah, maybe buffalo chicken and blue cheese. I don’t know if that’s an option. To be honest I don’t really know any employees, but if I ever get to know them well, I hope I can just walk in there and have one of those bad-boys waiting for me. Oh and throw some bacon on that. Yeah, bacon. Bacon makes me feel good about myself. 9. What is your biggest regret in life?My biggest regret in life is not forcing my parents to make me a brother, however displeasing that conversation would have been … or being in ILR. 10. Which other Cornell team do you like to hang out with the most?I guess given my stature, I have a natural affinity for ladies’ volleyball. They came to one of our charity events — a volleyball tournament — and I was just amazed by their physical prowess. I think they made it to the finals against our seniors.Do you see yourself pursuing a relationship with any women on the volleyball team?Yeah. Come to one of my games and you will see me spin … or stand on the sidelines. Either way, I hope you’ll be as impressed by my physical ability as I was by yours.Is there anything else you want readers to know about you?Friend Michelangelo Comedy on Facebook or search “The Skater Bro” on YouTube and my videos will come up.
Original Author: Katie Schubauer