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An Interview with Brandon Guyer |
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Written by Jadie De Lille Wright
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Thursday, 26 April 2007 |
 Finally, spring is here. You can see grounds flooded with baseball shirts and hats as everyone sports their favorite team’s colors. So for all the baseball fans out there, and all the smart ladies, I decided it would be a good time to get an interview with junior baseball player Brandon Guyer. Brandon has had an incredible recovery from recent injuries and surgeries by having an outstanding season thus far. “A tough interviewee” might be what coach O’Connor calls him, but Guyer proved to be quite the sport during this ‘grueling’ interview time. A natural born Phillies fan, he has showed UVA he has the heart for the sport and the school. Now you get to have a little glimpse his thoughts, future, and his gracious personality.
Fanatic: Do you have a nickname?
Brandon: Yea, everyone calls me G, because of my last name, Guyer. It’s always been B, or BG, or G.
F: How’d you get into baseball?
B: I started playing baseball when I was six years old. I started with t-ball and ever since then I’ve been playing my whole life, not just baseball, I’ve been playing every sport my whole life basically. Baseball just stuck with me and it’s my favorite sport.
F: In high school you we’re good in football, you got four letters, what made you choose baseball and UVA?
B: The way I looked at it, I just saw baseball as my future. I was getting recruited for football but I thought baseball would be my future, and after meeting the coaches and everyone here, I knew that it was the best decision. The coaches and knowing that I would get a great academic and athletic combination was a big part in my decision to come here. The academics, the coaches and the total atmosphere of the whole campus were the reason why I chose UVA.
F: So what are you doing academically and why?
B: Sociology, because I started taking soc classes my freshman year. I took soc, psych and computer science classes. Soc was the one that stuck with me because I thought it was the most interesting of all of them so I stuck with that.
F: What’s your favorite Major League Baseball team?
B: The Philadelphia Phillies.
F: And your favorite player?
B: Aaron Rowand, the centerfielder for the Phillies.
F: So do you hope to one day play for them?
B: That would be cool. I was born in Philadelphia, I love all Philadelphia sports teams and if it happens, if I get a chance of playing with the Phillies that would be awesome.
F: So you’re looking forward to a baseball career?
B: Yea, that’s been my goal ever since playing the sport, to one day be a professional. Right now I’m just enjoying the college life and being around all my teammates.
F: How has being on a team here at UVA helped you?
B: It’s been great, on and off the field being with the team. I couldn’t ask for anything more, they’re family, they keep you going. The team aspect with the coaches always creeps in and that can help you on and off the field with everything in life, I mean it can help you a lot.
F: What song do you listen to before a game to get pumped up?
B: Recently I’ve been listening to “Go Getta” by R. Kelly and “Headstrong” by Trapt.
F: How has the recent increase of fan attendance and the creation of a baseball fan group helped you and the team?
B: It helps immensely, the atmosphere at the school is just awesome. The team just feeds off our fans and the enthusiasm they have, they just keep coming out in number and it helps us hugely and we definitely appreciate all their support.
F: What are your aspirations for the end of this season and the next?
B: Number one is getting into the Omaha College World Series. That’s what we’ve been working hard for ever since we came here in the fall, winter work-outs, since we got back here in the spring, all season long we’ve just been thinking about going to Omaha, The College World Series. Nothing is going to stop us from getting there, we just have to keep playing like we have been and we should be alright.
F: You’ve been doing really well this season, what’s your main inspiration?
B: I just go by the rules. I play 110% all the time, I just like to play the game hard, I got that mentality from football. I just go out everyday like it could be my last day playing, not taking anything for granted, every game you could get injured and it could be your last game playing. So you just have to go out there and play, because you might not be able to play at the end, and that’s the attitude I take at every game.
F: Have you gotten injured in the past?
B: Last year I did get injured. I’ve had hand, shoulder and elbow surgery. At the end of the summer I broke my hand, so I was out all fall, this fall, so I didn’t get to practice. As an athlete you know injuries can happen and you just can’t take anything for granted.
F: Who’s your hero or inspiration?
B: I’d have to say my grandfather, because he was always there when I was little. He taught me all the fundamentals of baseball, he’s always there to ask me how the games go. He’s a big Phillies fan too, and he always keeps me up to date on how the Phillies are doing. He’s always wondering how I’m doing and he’s definitely an inspiration for me to play hard. He always gets on me when I’m not doing so well and gives me confidence, he’s just always been there to help me out in baseball.
F: Do you have any words of advice for future baseball college athletes?
B: If your in high school just keep practicing, don’t take anything for granted and work your butt off and good things will happen if you just keep working hard.
F: And for the ladies, do you have a girlfriend?
B: No, no girlfriend, I’m a single man.
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Jadie De Lille Wright |
| About the author: |
| Jadie De Lille is a first year at UVA, therefore undecided but inclining towards a major in physics. Although she may not look it, she was born and raised in Cozumel, Mexico. She has been an Olympic windsurfer since the age of 10, and in 2004 she gave up her shot of making it to the Olympics in Greece to pursue kiteboarding. Being far away from the ocean in Charlottesville, she has turned to The Fanatic to get involved in a different way with sports at UVA.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 06 September 2007 )
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