Getting to Know Noah Weintraub
Noah Weintraub
Noah Weintraub has been a member of EmpireWritesBack.com’s team since December 2013. In February, he went from being a contributing writer to being a contributing writer/co-editor.
There are 10 questions Noah was asked in order for the readers/viewers to get to know him better.
1. What are your favorite teams?
NBA-New York Knicks
NCAA Basketball-St. John’s Red Storm
NCAA Football-Connecticut Huskies
NFL-New York Jets
MLB-New York Yankees
2. Why those teams? (Especially St. John’s and Connecticut)
My Dad is a big Knicks and Jets’ fan, so naturally I developed that from him. My Mom is a Mets fan, but I went to more Yankees than Mets’ games growing up. Thus, I became a Yankees’ fan.
I know the other two are kind of odd. I went to SUNY Oswego where almost everyone there was a Syracuse fan; since it is so close to the Carrier Dome.
I honestly watched a good amount of St. John’s games starting when I was 10-years-old. Thus, I became a Red Storm or Johnnies’ fan. I remember the really…REALLY bad years in the early 2000’s.
I had liked the sport of college football for a long time, but I could never pick a favorite team. When I was 15-years-old I started watching UCONN football games. Thus, I became a Huskies’ fan.
It is tough for me to watch my favorite teams right now outside of the Red Storm and the excitement surrounding the Yankees this upcoming season.
3. Who are your favorite players?
There are so many. Outside of my bias toward players on my favorite team they include Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Peyton Manning. I have so much respect for what those players and others have done that they are my favorite players who do not play for my favorite teams.
4. What sports did you play growing up?
Baseball, basketball, football and soccer
It was mostly basketball and soccer growing up, but that changed in high school.
I ran Cross Country and did Track and Field in high school. I was average in both sports; nothing special.
I started playing ‘pick-up’ football games and ultimate frisbee. If you don’t know what ultimate frisbee, then you have to try it. If not that, then Google it or watch YouTube videos of it. It is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it.
5. Your favorite moment while playing sports?
That is a tough one, so many great moments. I would have to say the first time I beat my buddy Steve Sklar in Cross Country.
We were both on the same high school team and no one on the team could beat that kid; despite us all being older than him. I was finally able to beat him in a race in 12th grade, he was in 10th grade, and that was an amazing feeling.
6. Your most embarrassing moment while playing sports?
There are a lot of those as well; unfortunately. I would have to say getting injured during my last basketball game in November.
I went up to visit Oswego for the first time since graduating last November. During the second day of my visit, I was playing a basketball game with some friends and some random people.
I was having a pretty good game with two nice assists and a fadeaway hook shot over Ryan Haas; he is somewhere between 6’3″ and 6’5″. To this day, he still considers it a ‘lucky’ shot…LOL.
Right after I made that hook shot, I was playing tight defense on this guy. The guy was facing one way, I am convinced he did not see me, and then cut back the other way and hit me. He hit the right side of my glasses, which caused the sharp part inside the right side of the glasses to scrape me right below my right eyebrow. (if you have ever worn glasses or touched one before, you will know what i mean.)
I had to go to the hospital because I was bleeding and I ended up being there for four hours. (NOT 1…NOT 2…NOT 3…BUT 4 HOURS). That was pretty embarrassing for me.
7. What is your memorable moment involving sports?
There are SO MANY MEMORABLE MOMENTS for me. If I had to pick one and that is really tough to do, then I would have to say watching the New York Yankees win the 1996 World Series. It was the first time I had ever seen one of my favorite teams win a championship, so it was a very rewarding experience. It doesn’t get much better than watching your team win a championship…it really doesn’t.
8. Since you said you have attended games; what is your favorite moment at a game you attended?
If you asked me this question before last September, then it would have been tough for me to answer it. Last September, I was fortunate enough that my Dad was able to get tickets to Mariano Rivera’s final home game (turned out to be his final game). He had some extra tickets and I was able to invite Darren Rosengarten and Eric Chung to see the game with me.
When Rivera jogged onto the field for the final time; from the bullpen, everyone in Yankee Stadium cheered for him. It was an amazing atmosphere that I am still mesmerized by. Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter went to the mound to ‘yank’ him from the game with two outs in the ninth inning. Those three players symbolized the great success the team has had since 1996.
Honestly, I can still remember being there and my voice going hoarse from cheering for him.
9. Have you always been into writing/Journalism?
Yes and no.
I grew up reading a lot of Sports Illustrated, the New York Times and New York Daily News‘ sports sections. Those men and women know how to write for sure.
I entered SUNY Oswego with a History major. I decided during Sophomore year to add a Journalism minor. I enjoyed the first Journalism class so much that I decided to switch my major and minor to pursue a career in Journalism.
Thus, why I am pursuing a career in Journalism and not History.
10. What is your favorite moment involving Journalism and your career aspiration?
I don’t know how often people have read my article, but I write a lot of ‘feature’ kind of articles. I have written so many good ones, but I am most proud of the one I wrote in November on Jameis Winston.
So many people that followed College Football were obsessed with ‘Famous Jameis.’ I am not going to tell you how, but in November I found out something that said that the University of Miami baseball coach projected him to be a first-round pick in baseball.
When I saw that I wrote an article about him potentially playing in either the MLB or NFL or both. That article got so many views, which was impressive since I did not really promote it so much.
I didn’t feel really good about it until I heard every media outlet start to talk about the idea in January. When I started hearing that, it felt really good to be one-step ahead of them.
My career aspiration is to work for Sports Illustrated. They write the best ‘featured’ articles I have ever seen. I would be honored to try to contribute to SI and learn from those writers.
If I can’t do that, then I want to be a reputable sports journalist. I want to be someone like Adam Schefter that people turn to for reliable sports news.