“I’ve always had a love for the Indians,” he said. “I was born with a heart defect so I couldn’t play any other sport. Couldn’t play contact sports, you know. No football. No basketball. So, baseball was there.”
Crisan hails from Masury, a small town in Northeast Ohio populated by fewer than three thousand people.
Originally a chemistry major at Youngstown State, Crisan found his was to
broadcast in his sophomore year of college. Seeking something new, he bonded
together his passion for sports with his ability to communicate.
“I figured I’d put
two and two together and make it career.” he said.
Now he is a Broadcast & Digital Broadcast master’s student at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications with a Sports Communication Emphasis pursuing something he says matters.
."It brings friends together. It brings people. So definitely, when I started working in sports that’s when it all took off for me."
Now he is a Broadcast & Digital Broadcast master’s student at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications with a Sports Communication Emphasis pursuing something he says matters.
."It brings friends together. It brings people. So definitely, when I started working in sports that’s when it all took off for me."
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Interview Transcript
Q. Let’s talk about what first drew you to
sports and your favorite sport.
Corey: Well you know what, first off, my favorite
sport is baseball, I grew up loving baseball l- The Cleveland Indians, growing
up in North East Ohio. I’ve always had a love for the Indians. I was born with a heart defect so I couldn’t
play any other sport. Couldn’t play
contact sports you know. No football. No
basketball. So, baseball was there. I
grew up a big baseball fan. What drew me
to it? My grandfather was a huge Indians fan and everything else was second
tier to him. So, I’ve always loved
sports as a kid but I think baseball was always the number one for me.
Q: Cleveland Indians fan?
Corey: Go Tribe.
Q: How are they looking this year?
Corey: They’re looking pretty good. They’ve hit a few dark spots, they’ve had
some injuries. Maybe during the trade deadline coming up, they’ll have to make
a move but I still think on paper they have one of the best rosters in the
American league. They could get back to the World Series this year.
Q: What drew you to broadcasting? I can tell you
have a lot of love for speaking your mind on the game.
Corey: Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, but I really
don’t think I figured that out until, believe it or not, my second year of college. I started off in undergrad a chemistry
major. I was going for pharmacy. I wanted to go to pharmacy school, and I
figured well, I like science and could make a lot of money doing it. But then obviously I fell out of that and I
always loved sports like we said and I figured why not put two and two together
and make it a career. So I got in touch
with some people at my undergrad institution at Youngstown State. I got involved in their broadcasting program
they’d just implemented and I kind of fell into again. And so, it all worked
out for me. I got to work with the radio
station there. Call some games and
really it just all worked out for me.
Q: What else is there to do in your hometown.
Cleveland, I know it’s a big sports town.
But there’s always been a little bit of a cloud over your teams lately.
You’ve got to find something else to do when they’re not winning, what is it?
Corey: Well, when the Indians aren’t winning and the
Cavs aren’t winning championships. In
the city of Cleveland. I’m from northeast Ohio in general, but I go to Cleveland
a lot. There’s a lot of boating up
there. There’s a lot to do around the
lake. You can go in the river and do some boating around there up in the flats
around the city. There’s some good food
up there too.
Q: Really?
Corey: Really. There’s some Mable’s BBQ. There’s, anything on East Forest Street. Head up there, it’s a nice little
district. You can go to Playhouse Square
and spend the day there. There’s quite a
bit to do up there. I think people are just afraid to go up and explore it. I think there’s this national notion that
there’s just this dark cloud over the city, hanging around at all times. And
really, that’s not the case. It’s a nice
city if you go out and explore it.
Q: Favorite Food?
Corey: My favorite food? That’s a tough one. I love
chicken. …I love chicken. Probably BBQ chicken. It’s a tie between BBQ
chicken and during Christmas time we get pierogis from this local church near my
mom’s house. So, it’s either those pierogis, they’re cheese pierogis are
amazing or …I love BBQ chicken, it’s delicious.
Q: Any other sports you like covering outside of
baseball?
Corey: You know what,
growing up in Northeast Ohio – Big Football town. Big football area. I’m probably an hour outside of Canton. So, I’ve made some trips over to the hall of
fame. I worked over in Akron were there’s
a lot of good high school football. I
had the pleasure of covering my local football for The Vindicator it’s the
newspaper in Youngstown and I learned that high school football is really the
most fun form of football and I really enjoyed it. Just had a blast covering
it. So, to answer your question, specifically, I would say it’s high school
football.
Q: Yeah high school football, there’s still a
lot of passion still in the game. Still guys want to get recruited and
everything, right?
Corey: Yeah absolutely. And you play for your school. In college, you play for the school, but the
high school kids, a lot of them don’t make it to the college level so a lot of
them kind of lay it all out on the line anyway for their hometown. You know,
their parents get to see them play.
Maybe the girlfriend or whatever.
But it’s a lot of fun seeing that level of football. Because that’s where the raw emotion is so it
was a lot of fun covering it. I can’t even imagine coaching or playing in
it.
Q: Tell me about your college experience at
Youngstown State. How was that?
Corey: Oh the penguins! Well, like I said, the first couple years I
was in the sciences. I was busy with a
lot of school work and I just didn’t like it so once I got into the sports
field that’s when I started having fun.
I was a commuter to the campus so I didn’t do the partying or anything
like that. But working in sports opened
so many opportunities, it created a lot of friendships for me. I mean last year the penguins went to the
national championship game and along with that ride I made great friends
there. We would go to the games, working
the games of course, but the vibe around the entire community during that span specifically
– it was just outstanding. We all kind
of came together for it. We rallied behind
the team of course. And that’s one of
the things I like about sports. You as
well can attest to this, and how it brings together a community. It brings friends together. It brings
people. So definitely, when I started
working in sports that’s when it all took off for me.
Q: Thanks Corey.
Corey: Thanks Julian, ‘preciate it.
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