See, I don’t see gender.  People tell me I’m male.  They also tell me I rip things off straight from the Colbert Report.  But I don’t know, I just take their word for it.  So, when it comes to gender, I always try to err on the side of caution.  Human being this, human being that.  Thought it was fail-proof.

That is until we interviewed Kate Troescher, the artist formerly known as Mic-Chick.   Perhaps I coulda just gone with Mic-Man or used noted R+B star T-Pain’s nickname for her: Mic-Shawty.  But to be safe, to err on the side of caution, I just went with what worked and well, it ended poorly.   Thankfully, Ms. Chick was able to look past my nomenclature transgressions and be nice enough to provide us with answers to our many, many, many questions, some of which were actually serious. 

So, without further adu, here is part I of an interview with a Cal legend, Kate "Mic-Chick" Troescher:

"What did a standard Saturday look like for a Mic-Human?"

Hahaha…first off, quit it with the Mic-Human crap. I’m cool and always have been cool with the Mic Chick label. Kinda flows off the
tongue. Anyway, a standard Saturday went something like this. Figure out a way to wake up, get dressed, and get your little blue and gold butt up to Memorial for the "March to Victory", which took place two hours before the game. For the "March", we just led the players, the band, dance team, etc. into the stadium by getting the fans to clap in unison, something mic-men are supposedly good at. Then it was down the hill to the steps of Sproul Hall for the pre-game rally, which is held an hour and a half before every home game. After the rally, we’d lead the march through campus toward the stadium, make a quick stop at Fan Fest on Maxwell to lead a few cheers and get fans ready for the game.  Then we’d head into the stadium, freshen up, and get ready to yell.  Once the game was over, our job for the day was done.

"Do all the Mic-Humans travel with the team?"

Geez…mic-humans…no, all the mic-men don’t travel with the team.  Two mic-men travel to each away game.

"If not, how do they determine who goes?"

We decided who traveled by seniority. Whoever had been on the squad the longest got to choose the games they wanted to attend before anyone else. But, we also had to look at pairing the new mic men with an older one at least once during the season, because we had a job to do on the road as well. There’s rallies at the tailgates and away game protocol - Tedford keeps things business as usual on the road as well - so the newbies had to learn how to roll.

"What have you been up to since graduation?"

Well, right after graduation I decided I wanted to avoid getting a real job for as long as possible, so I worked behind the tasting bar
at Darioush winery in Napa and waited tables at the Sunnyside Cafe on Solano Avenue. That was great for about six months, but by January of 2006 I was ready to grow up. My end goal was, is, and has always been to be a television sports broadcaster, but I’d always been interested in radio as well. So, I signed up to intern for the Sarah & No Name Morning Show @ ALICE at  97.3 FM. Six months later I had an interview at Shadow/Metro traffic - the folks that do the traffic, news, sports & weather updates on the majority of FM & AM Bay Area radio stations - and I’m currently working for them full-time, doing traffic for KCBS 740 AM. I’ve also started doing some freelance TV work for Comcast Sportsnet "On Demand". We did a few shows on the Cal football team over the summer that are posted in the Comcast "On Demand" section under sports. Okay, I think that’s about it.

"What can we look forward to seeing in your future?"

You mean where? Hopefully on TV! I’m trying my best to get my foot in the door at Fox Sports Bay Area and Comcast Sportsnet in Sacramento.  The two are merging sometime this spring and when that happens, there should be a few more local opportunities, so we’ll see what happens.  Ultimately, I’d love to end up with one of the networks…ABC, NBC, CBS, and of course ESPN…so keep your fingers crossed for me.

"Did you get to meet a lot of players?"

I did.

"Fav Cal player?"

Hmm…that’s a toss up. I loved Matt Giordano and Ryan Gutierrez, because I went to Clovis High School with Ryan and even though Matty went to our rival school, he’s always been an amazing athlete to watch, so I was stoked when he transferred to Cal. And of course, Aaron Rodgers, because he’s awesome.

"Nicest Cal player?"

I’d say the entire offense line. Every single one  of those guys works so hard, week in and week out, but because they never get to sack anyone or catch any passes, they go relatively unnoticed. They were always really sweet.

"Word on the street is that you are engaged. Is it to me?

Hahaha…the word on the street is true. Unfortunately, it’s not to you. I would hope that if it was though, you’d know by now!

"Ok, then, will you marry me?"

Um, I think my laundry’s done…

"What? Why not?"

See my two previous answers.

"Besides the above time, how many other times have you been propositioned by Cal fans?"

A good number of times, but it’s always been in good fun. My favorite was at Raleigh’s. I was hanging out with a bunch of friends and this random girl comes over, hands me a coaster and tells me to turn it over, then walks away. It read, "Are you the mic-chick? If you are, my friend over there thinks you’re hot." I started cracking up, then went over to say hi.
 

Keep an eye out for Parts II and III, which should be up in the future alongside Ragnarok’s Road Trip countdown and Yellow Fever’s Friday Roundups and Chat Transcripts.