It’s a typical rainy Tuesday here in Eugene, Or. About a few minutes from campus sits Autzen stadium, home of the Oregon Ducks football team. Across the stadium sits the practice facility, Marcus Mariota Performance center, and the Casanova Center, where I had the pleasure to sit down with Rob Moseley, editor-in-chief for GoDucks.com
Moseley has covered many duck moments including Marcus Mariota’s Heisman win, Sabrina Ionescu cutting down the net when they made their final four appearance, and the women’s track and field team winning the triple crown championship in 2016-17. A UO graduation himself, Moseley has seen a lot of iconic moments.
What inspired you to work as a sports reporter?
My roommate started working at the Daily Emerald, the school’s paper, building their first website. I needed to make some money and I love reading so I thought I could try writing. I also love sports and started as a freelance writer and that’s how I figured out what I wanted to do.
How do you keep up with engagement and find new article ideas?
Any job is going to be repetitive but if you take pride in what you do, you can find little nuances that make things different. It’s challenging but also rewarding. In athletics, you find different athletes who have something special, and everyone deserved to be recognized. Just because they aren’t the quarterback of the football team doesn’t mean they aren’t special.
What made you want to start the Mighty Oregon Podcast?
Someone came to me with the idea and I was like, “yeah that’s cool, let’s do it.” The podcast is an awesome outlet for longer story telling. It provides the insight without being as time intensive as news articles.
You have interviewed a lot of people, who’s your favorite?
Devon Allen and Sabrina Ionescu both stand out to me. They always came across down to earth, never cocky or egocentric at all. They have the ability to seem like normal people, even though they are exceptional people in so many ways.
Sports can be very emotional, how do you remain professional?
I’ve worked in this industry long enough where I have trained myself to be dispassionate in those moments. But, I’m also watching the game and experiencing the emotional roller-coaster internally. There’s no cheering in the press box. Part of my job is be accountable for fins, win or loss and that means asking tough questions.
I have one final question for you, what’s your favorite moment as a Duck?
Oh, so many. My Freshman year in 1994, I was in the student section for Kenny Wheaton’s interception. In 2016, Men’s golf won the national championship, and there was this huge interest that came around it and it was awesome to capture it. And of course when women’s basketball won the game to go to the final four and Sabrina cuts down the net and runs over a gives me a piece of it.
As always, sco ducks.
