The Best Day Ever by Jr. Reporter Keegan Kohorst

11.04.2009

When I was chosen to be the Junior Reporter for a Day on Monday, October 26, I thought it was the best day of my life. But the day I actually got to meet Brady Quinn on October 29 was really the best day ever.

I practiced my questions in the car on the long drive from Iowa. When I was asking the questions, I felt like an adult. When we got to the Browns Training Facility in Berea, we took a lot of pictures and looked at the Browns Hall of Fame and retired numbers. There is also a really cool Jim Brown display there

When we went into the press room, I got a lot of Browns gifts and there were a lot of other reporters working and writing stories for their newspapers. Coach Mangini came in, answered some questions about changes in the offense and defense to face Jay Cutler and the Bears. Coach Mangini told the reporters that the team had to do a better job on defense and scoring on the goal line. After the other reporters finished asking their questions, Coach Mangini called on me. I asked, "Coach Mangini, if you could have any player in the NFL, who would you want and why." Coach answered, "I like the players I have." Then Coach Mangini talked to me about Iowa and left to get ready for practice, but he invited me to come watch, too.

Next, after talking to some of the other reporters, Brady Quinn came into the room. I didn't know if I would be able to speak, I couldn't believe I was looking at the real live Brady Quinn. Brady shook my hand and sat down so we could see each other better, he was so tall and I am too short to hold the microphone close enough. This was our conversation:

Q: Who is on your ipod?

A (Brady Quinn): Matthew West, Coldplay, Poison, a lot of 80's rock. I'm kind of all over the map with my music.

Q: What is your favorite video game?

A: When I was your age, I really liked a game called Tecmo Bowl (released in 1987... it's a football game) . It had really simple graphics, but I liked it a lot.

Q: What food do you eat before a game?

A: I like a place called "Chipotle". Do they have Chipotles in Iowa? I get their burritos all the time.

Q: What do you do for luck

A: I don't really believe in good luck. I do have a routine though. About 20 minutes before a game I take a big swig of honey and drink a lot of water

Q: Who was your favorite player or team when you were my age?

A: My favorite player was Joe Montana. My favorite team was the Browns, of course.

Q: Why did you pick your jersey number?

A: I'm kind of a perfectionist and 10 was like the perfect score when I was younger, so I went with 10.

Q: If you didn't play football, what would you do?

A: I would definitely play another sport, baseball or basketball. I love the competition.

Q: What is your favorite color?

A: Green. Well, today it's green. It kind of changes. I have a lot of favorites.

Q: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

A: Some island in the Pacific. Fiji, maybe. I would go somewhere isolated and tropical.

Q: What's the best part about being an NFL player?

A: Playing football for a job. It's the best.

Q: Have you always been a quarterback?

A: My first position, about your age, was wide receiver but I moved to quarterback and have been there ever since.

After these questions, Brady took some pictures with me and autographed my cap and a ball. Then Brady had to get to practice, we got to go out and watch some of the practice, too. My last minutes of our visit in Cleveland, we went for a stadium tour and visited the Browns shop.

I didn't want to leave Cleveland, I want to live there now because it's so big and the people are so nice. I want to thank Reagan, Melanie, Coach Mangini and Brady Quinn for taking the time to make our visit so special and making me feel so special. Go Browns!