Have you ever interviewed geese?
The latest Twitter sensation on the Northern Illinois University campus is @NIUGeese.
My column in Saturday's Daily Chronicle will feature an exclusive interview with the geese. In print, however, there are space constraints. So some of the interview had to be cut and fell to the newsroom floor ... like goose droppings falling to the ground.
What? Too childish?
Anyway, here's a look at parts of the interview that didn't make Saturday's column.
How many of you exist?
@NIUGeese: Ah, the age old question, “How many geese in a gaggle”? Our flock is in the hundreds. According to the 2010 Census there are 432 geese on the NIU campus. However, the Gosling Boom of 2011 has increased our gaggle by an estimated 40 percent.
I thought I saw a tweet that indicated the geese were supporting the Ravens to win the Super Bowl. Is that also your prediction?
@NIUGeese: We are cheering for the Ravens. We met them at a bar in San Diego once. They bought us some Grey Goose Vodka and some 312 beer from the Goose Island Brewery. While the Patriots seem to have the advantage, we say a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
What's your favorite part of campus?
@NIUGeese: As you can imagine, we favor the lagoons and ponds around campus. Anywhere outside that has water works for us since we cannot get into the Anderson Hall pool ever since the goose dropping incident. We do like to visit Chick Evans Field House, where we play pick-up basketball against the ducks that float in the Kishwaukee River. Those games are very predictable as both of our coaches call the “Flying V” play the entire game.
Campus with students or campus without students?
@NIUGeese: Whether it’s following them on Twitter or following them around campus, we love our students.
Mac or PC?
@NIUGeese: We love the PC; we are old school. Tradition and loyalty matter in both baseball and computers. Plus, we are too bird brained to learn a different operating system.
Android or iPhone?
@NIUGeese: We like Android smartphones. You probably already guessed that we are really good at the Angry Bird app. Our tech support office within the flock is also working on a squawk-to-text recognition app that will help us tweet more efficiently.
Where do you fall on the Cackling Goose vs. Canada Goose debate?
@NIUGeese: We are a progressive flock and we believe that all geese, both Cackling and Canadian, have a valuable place in our lagoon. There are some older geese in our flock that still make the Cackling Geese fly in the back of the “V”, but we are working hard to educate all geese that we may be two species but one flock.
How many miles a year do you fly?
@NIUGeese: We are Canadian so we actually use the metric system so I am not entirely sure how many miles we fly per year. We do not fly as much as some other flocks because we like the cold weather here. Sometimes we fly as far east as Buffalo to watch the Huskies play football. If we have to travel much farther, we rent a 15 passenger van and drive. Ever wondered how many geese can fit in a 15 passenger van? Stop by the Lagoon just before our spring break trip to Cancun and you will see.
