On the Beat with David Schuster

On the Beat, David Schuster of WSCR in Chicago has been covering sports for about 30 years.  Recently, Schuster was at a basketball game between the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals, but he wasn't covering the game...he was playing in it as a member of the Generals.  You can read Schuster's account of his experience on the Score's website. I can't imagine how cool it would be to play against the Globetrotters.  I grew up watching Meadowlark Lemon, Curly Neal, Marques Haynes and the rest play their brand of basketball on ABC's Wide World of Sports.
I emailed Schuster, expressing an interesting in learning more about his experience.  He graciously answered my questions.

Q-Did you win and do you know your stats line?
DS-The Generals almost pulled the upset as the final score was 90-85 and I was reminded that the last time the Generals won was 1971.  Of course, the whole thing is stages, but at least the score was close at the end.  I was in the game for all of about 90 seconds and tried a couple of their 4 point shots (missing both barely) from about 35 feet, but I was fouled going to the hoop and sank one of the two free throws...and then I was yanked.

Q-Did you have any goals going into the event?
DS-No individual goals.  I had no idea how this would play out and the only thing I was worried about was that I would be the one who they pulled the shorts down from so I wore three pairs. Fortunately they didn't do it to me.

Q-Did you prepare in any way?
DS-Again, no preparation or instruction, which sort of surprised me.  They just let  me shoot a few times and that was it.

Q-Did you sign any autographs or ask for any?
DS-Didn't sign any autographs either.  I highly doubt anyone would have wanted mine and to be honest, I had to scurry out of there because I was doing a late night talk show and had to get downtown quick so as not to be late for that.

Q-Was the experience as cool as it would seem?
DS-It definitely was cool and I will remember it forever (plus I got to keep the uniform).  I just wish I would have done a bit more in my short stint on the court, but I will admit I was a bit nervous and kept thinking that they were going to pull some of their normal tricks on me (which they didn't).

Schuster is one of the best and nicest in the business and I really appreciate his time and consideration in answering my questions.