The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 17, 2004 - 9

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* ESPN began the second season of its hit show "Dream Job" earlier this week. The Michigan Daily
caught up with one of last season's finalists, Maggie Haskins, to find out what goes on behind the
scenes, what she has been up to since "Dream Job" and what she thought of "Dream Job II."
By Ian Herbert - Daily Sports Writer

THE MICHIGAN DAILY: What have you been doing since the
show ended in March?
MAGGIE HASKINS: I returned to Brown University, and I really
wanted to just soak up the last six weeks of school. The previ-
ous part of the semester had been so crazy with the commuting.
I really enjoyed my last six weeks, and my biggest support-
ers (on the show) were my best friends, so I was very happy
to spend that time with them. And then I went up to northern
Michigan near the Glen Lake, Traverse City area. I waitressed
there for six weeks, and my parents have been going up there
forever. I stayed with my grand-
ma, and just sort of had that time
(with her). Then, I was a produc-
tion intern with NBC Sports at the
Olympics, which was an amazing
experience. So I was in Greece for
the entire month of August. And D R E
I worked swimming and wres-
tling on the production team. That
was absolutely amazing, being at
the Olympics. And then I went to
Chicago for a week and got some
affairs in order. After that, I went
to New York to write for Sports
Illustrated on Campus, which
I'm really excited about because
I have a background in college
sports. When I was writing for the Brown Daily Herald, and
especially as sports editor my senior year, I focused on college
sports. I also played Division I softball for two years. So I have
an insight that way. I'm really excited about (Sports Illustrated
on Campus). I mean, it's Sports Illustrated. You can't start out
at a better place, in my opinion, in terms of building your writ-
ing skills.
TMD: What was it like on "Dream Job" last year?
MH: Well, it was an amazing experience. Especially having
just watched "Dream Job II", it was very surreal to look back
on it. To watch that, and not be a part of it, is very strange.
Because when you're setting the precedent for a show, you
don't know what to expect, and it's just so very weird. I loved
the experience. I met amazing people, and I learned a ton. My
background is basically been in print journalism. The previous
summer I had interned at a local Fox station in Chicago and
that was my first experience working in broadcast, and that was
fabulous. I got to do locker-room interviews after Cubs games
and stuff like that. But I hadn't really done any on-air training.
So (my training) was definitely a trial by fire.
TMD: Did you guys party a lot?
MH: Yeah, we bonded. I don't know if "party" is the right
word. One of the best nights though would be Sunday night
after "the show." For everybody who moved on, after the show,
we would have a bit of a debriefing, and then we would go to
this bar next to our hotel. We would all drink and usually at
some point they would be playing the show, which was real
funny. It was just great because we bonded with both the cast
and a lot of the crew members, too. It's funny because when
there is a television show you see people in front of the camera,
and I think you can tell when they're getting along and they're

bonding - and I genuinely feel like, for our cast, that was evi-
dent. But we also really, really bonded with all the production
people who were around us. There were producers who were
our camp counselors, as we called them, and some camera
people who shot the behind the scenes stuff that they used to
use for the advertisements. So there were like 15 people at the
bar on Sunday. We had a really fun party after the show ended,
after Mike won, which was great, where Zack (Selwyn) and
Stuart (Scott) freestyled, and they tried to bring me in. And
I got about four lines into it and stepped out knowing that my
white-girl freestyle was lacking.

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TMD: We did an interview
with Michael Quigly - a
"Dream Job" contestant last year
- last semester, and he said that
SA Myou guys played some pranks on
him. Is that true?
MH: Yeah, I read it. It was
funny. We did play some pranks.
I think I made up something to
Quigs along the lines of Kevin
Frazier was getting fired from
ESPN because he invested in
porn films. And I kind of got
other people to go with it. We had
a lot of time before we shot the
show at night. We had to be sequestered all day because we
couldn't know results of any games. So we would go nuts in the
green room just bouncing off the walls. There would be peaks
and valleys of no energy then just going crazy. During those
crazy moments, I had to think of something to do. So that's
when I made up the Kevin Frazier-investing-in-porn rumor.
TMD: Did you get to talk to LaVar (Arrington) and Tony
(Kornheiser) at all?
MH: Yeah, we got to talk to them briefly. During commercial
breaks, things would go back and forth. It was really funny. At
the beginning of the show, Casey Stern mentioned that he was
a (New York) Giants fan, and (Arrington) was making cracks
about how he was going to come after Casey. I would say that
Tony was the most removed from interacting with the guests.
We had gotten to know Al Jaffe from the interview process
and Kit Hoover was just bubbly like Kit Hoover is. I love Tony
Kornheiser, too, but he was definitely the most removed.
TMD: What was the fan response when you went back to
Brown?
MH: That was great. What was really great about the show
was that I got to go on and prove myself and improve week by
week. I was able to prove myself to the community. Because
when anybody puts themselves out there in that way it's very
nerve-wracking because you don't want there to be backlash.
You're doing something that's on television. I was very aware.
I didn't want to carry it around and be like, 'Oh yeah, I'm that
girl from "Dream Job." I'm so cool.' But there wasn't any of
that negative stuff. People saw that I was going out there and
trying to improve and trying to do my best, and I wasn't assum-
ing that I was a professional. So, the response was great. And
there was some funny times in the bar where someone would

like notice me but just not say anything. There were just funny
experiences, but everyone was really supportive. It sounds real-
ly cheesy, but I thank everybody at Brown for that. It's a tough
experience because you're getting criticized. You are reading
the nasty stuff on the Internet about what you're doing wrong
or how much you move your head when you talk. It's great to
have people come up and be like, 'Hey, you're doing a great
job.' The response I got from the people that I didn't know was
super-supportive. You guys were great. That was cool. Hearing
from people who were writing about sports and genuinely care
- that was especially neat because you want to be respected
by people who care. And then I got this one email from a bunch
of flight attendants from Southwest (Airlines) who said that
they were horribly upset when I got cut because they would
all gather around and watch and root for me. There was a wide
variety of support and that was really helpful.
TMD: Have you kept in touch with the other people on the
show?
MH: Yeah. I actually have. Last night I went to Nick Ste-
vens's apartment, and we watched the debut of "Dream Job
II" together. And randomly Aaron Levine was in town and
stopped by Sports Illustrated to chat. And I talked to Mike
(Hall) the other day to just catch up and see how he was doing.
So yeah, we do a decent job. We are bonded by this experience
for a long time.
And, hopefully,
we'll all be able to
help each other out
as years go by.
TMD: So you
watched the pre-
mier? What did
you think?
MH: It was
pretty surreal.
I thought it was
really good. Any
time a show is
done a second
time in terms of
production qual-
ity, it's going to
be tighter. Theyt
know what they're
dealing with; they
know what they're x
getting into; they%
know what to cut.
It was interesting
because I thought
that Anish (Shroff)
did an absolutely
stellar job on all
his stuff. That was
really cool. I think
you could tell that
they had some Dream Job contestans Nick Stevens a
sort of advantage of Drean Job II on Tuesday night at Ste

in knowing what to expect and being prepared in that way
because they had seen us. Something I was talking about
today randomly with my mom is that I saw a different type of
nervous energy out there than we had. I felt like because we
had no idea what was going on, our nervousness was sort of
amped. For them, it was like, "If we mess up, we know we're
going to get laid into." It's on at like 7 p.m. Eastern, so it's not
the best time for people to be catching the show.
TMD: What would you pass on to these new "Dream Job"
contestants?
MH: The biggest thing I learned is that sometimes they
can be harsh with the criticism, but you have to take it and
you have to improve upon it. I think that's why I stuck
around for so long, because I really paid attention to what
they were telling me. No matter whether or not I was going
to be judged on it the next week, it was something I worked
on. In week three I was criticized when working with Lori
that we didn't have good chemistry up there. So the next
week, when Mike and I were writing our scripts, I made
sure to pay more and more attention to that stuff. And that's
just something that you learn as you go along. So my biggest
advice is that whatever they throw at you, even if it's super
hard, you take it and you run with it and really think about
it. Because if you're not willing to do that, why are you even
in this busi-
ness? Nobody's
perfect up there
- it takes time
and it's iot
something that
you can accom-
plish in six
weeks. I was
really happy
with the strides
that I made.
TMD: What
are your favorite
sports?
MH: My
favorite sport
to watch is
baseball. I love
baseball, and
love the Cubs.
I'm furious
that they can't
get out in the
wild-card lead.
My favorite
sport to play is
actually bas-
ketball. I grew
up in Chicago
with Michael
PHOTO COURTESY OF MAGGIE HASKINS Jordan. So that
d Maggie Haskins watched the premier does something
vens' apartment. to you.

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LAZARD


Cordially invites Michigan University Juniors and Seniors
to a presentation and reception
On
Monday, September 20th, 2004
Wolverine Room
4:30 PM
Career Analyst Interviews: Thursday, October 14th, 2004
Summer Analyst Interviews: Thursday, January 27th, 2005
Seniors interested in interviewing for Analyst positions
in our Investment Banking Group
should submit resumes and cover letters through MTRAK

by September 23rd


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