Matt Gaschk Interview

15/30 INTERVIEW – MATT GASCHK

Matt Gaschk served as a freelance reporter for the Seattle PI for five years covering the USL Seattle Sounders. The press box was often a lonely place in those days with only the Times and Prost Amerika for company.

However, Matt became a popular and respected figure both within the club and the sports journalistic community. With the arrival of MLS, Sounders FC were quick to pick up Matt to write for their website and one of his duties will be to write the official match report for the site. Matt is also the co-presenter for KJR 950’s online Seattle Soccer Show.

Matt is married with two children and is expecting a third early this year. Prost Amerika sat down with Matt to discuss his new duties, the art of the match report, his radio work and the future of soccer in Seattle and other related topics.

March 15, 2009

PROST AMERIKA: How did your new appointment come about?

No German Just Geordie!

MATT GASCHK: I found out I wouldn’t be working with the P-I anymore shortly after the season ended, but I still had some projects I was working on for the paper, so while I was finishing those, I let Adrian Hanauer know that I wasn’t in their plans to cover the team in the MLS. Within a few weeks, I was contacted by the club, I met with Frank McDonald and Gary Wright and eventually found myself in an office at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center getting ready to start the work day.

PROST AMERIKA: How have you found writing for the club as opposed to about the club to be different?

MATT GASCHK: My role isn’t to break stories with the club. So a lot of what I’m doing now can be a little more creative and fun, while still keeping the tone of serious journalism. In that regard, though, it’s much more laid-back than newspaper writing.

PROST AMERIKA: What are the plans for the website?

MATT GASCHK: The website has been evolving since I started. Initially, I was writing daily stories with notes attached to most of them. Then I got involved with the Rave Green blog and that has been evolving continuously. Now, I’ve done some video work as well.

PROST AMERIKA: What part excites you the most about it?

MATT GASCHK: I’m having fun with the blog right now, but it is sort of a new medium for me, so I’m still trying to get my footing with that. Eventually, I’ll be much more involved in blogging and the forum.

PROST AMERIKA: A fans forum is a new departure for Sounders FC, have there been any problems with allowing the free flow of debate?

MATT GASCHK: So far, it’s been outstanding. We are keeping it open and allowing the fans to moderate, for the most part. And they’ve done a great job. All we really need to keep an eye out for are factual inaccuracies and some colorful language. Generally, though, people are doing a great job of policing themselves, so to speak, in the forums.

PROST AMERIKA: Will it be difficult to make the transformation from unbiased match reporter to be be a semi-official voice of the club?

MATT GASCHK: I don’t think so, because it will still be an honest look at the game. I’ve always tried to be fair in any sort of criticisms of the team I’m covering and now I’m much more accountable. If something I write is unfair to a player or the team, I’ll have a meeting on the schedule before the second person reads the story. I don’t plan on having a lot of those type of meetings.

PROST AMERIKA: How will the Matt Gaschk blog begin to look different from the rest of the content?

MATT GASCHK: A lot of what I’m doing on the blog will be linking to other stories that I find interesting, some extra information, daily notes from the training grounds, things like that. I’ll try to include some entertainment as well. I’m a pretty sarcastic guy and I think that will come through a bit more in the blog than in the everyday writing and video that appears on the front page of SoundersFC.com.

PROST AMERIKA: How helpful will your four years covering the USL Sounders be in your new role? Do you miss the small club intimate atmosphere at all?

MATT GASCHK: There is a lot about the small-club atmosphere that I will miss. There’s a certain underdog mentality that comes with playing at a lower division. I’ll miss that portion of the US Open Cup. However, travelling with the team will be a new thing for me, and something that wasn’t likely to occur on the USL level.

PROST AMERIKA: What was your reaction to the appointment of Brian Schmetzer?

MATT GASCHK: At first I was a little disappointed that he wasn’t the head coach. As you know, I was the leader of the Schmetzer parade – I wanted him to be head coach of this team more than anything else (with regard to the team). When Sigi Schmid was chosen, it took me a moment to get past that. But like Brian, I quickly realized that there may not be a better coach in the MLS than Sigi Schmid. For him to be the head coach was great for the organization and I was ecstatic that he named Brian his top assistant. He has been an integral part of this organization for too long not to be a part of the club when it reaches the pinnacle in the MLS.

PROST AMERIKA: You’re a fan on Newcastle in the EPL, how did that happen?

MATT GASCHK: When I started following the EPL about four or five years ago, I knew I would need a team to follow if I was going to keep an interest in the thing for long. Newcastle is my favorite beer, so it was a no-brainer when I saw the logo on the front of their kit.

PROST AMERIKA: You are perhaps best known for breaking the Kasey Keller signing story, what can you tell us about the events leading up to that ?Has Adrian Hanauer forgiven you?

MATT GASCHK: Adrian has certainly forgiven me. I learned through a source that Keller was going to be named to the team, but I always try to confirm things with the club before I run with it. Adrian was at the US Open Cup semi-final in Charleston, so my timing was pretty unfortunate, but it ended up working out well in the end.

PROST AMERIKA: What is the most difficult part of writing a match report? What do you aim to communicate in yours?

Matt with Wife and Kids

MATT GASCHK: With the USL club, I always tried to write so everyone would feel like they were at the game themselves. Now, most who read my match reports are likely to have seen the game, so there will probably be less play-by-play and more picture-painting and background information. I will have much more space to use, as well, so it should have a lot more information.

PROST AMERIKA: What are the plans for the KJR radio show?

MATT GASCHK: We are back up and running every week again and plan to continue to do so online throughout the year. There will obviously be setbacks, like when I am on the road with the team, that we will have to work around, but we are shooting to continue the weekly show. We are also in conversation to have a one-hour pre-game show for select Saturday home games. That is still in the infant stages, but things look promising.

PROST AMERIKA: With Sigi, Brian, Adrian and David Tenney all speaking German, are you going have have to learn deutsch to find out what’s going on around the place?

MATT GASCHK: Maybe not German, though I probably should considering my own heritage, but I am planning on getting some Spanish in before the end of the season so I’ll be able to communicate better with Fredy Montero and the other Spanish-speaking players.

PROST AMERIKA: Has Freddie Ljungberg asked you for any beauty tips?

MATT GASCHK: Not yet, but he knows how to reach me when he needs them.

PROST AMERIKA: What will you do on the night of March 18th?

MATT GASCHK: That may bring me back to my Newcastle answer. Hopefully, I’ll be sleeping, but I know I’ll be nervous and excited for that.

PROST AMERIKA: Is Matt Gaschk man enough to make a prediction for Sounders FC’s opening game?

MATT GASCHK: Yes.

PROST AMERIKA: Do you call it football or soccer?

MATT GASCHK: I’ve had to remind myself that most know it as soccer. I was wearing a Newcastle United hat one day and someone said they liked the hat but didn’t know what it was. I told them that it was a football club in England and corrected myself when I noticed a look of befuddlement. You always have to know your audience.

For more on the Prost Amerika 15/30 Interview series, and a look at some of our past interviews and new features including “A Woman’s Voice”, please visit 15/30 Interviews Main page.