North Carolina State University Athletics
Catching Up With Colby Cobb
9/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Sept. 1, 2004
School's in and GoPack.com sat down with NC State women's golfer Colby Cobb to catch up with the senior oddball from Mt. Pleasant, S.C. Any conversation with Colby is far from serious and here is how this one went...
What did you do this summer?
I went on vacation a couple times ... Key Largo and New Jersey. That was fun. Summer school first session - if I could take summer school all year I would. That was great. It's really short, I made good grades, so I'll take that. I played in about four golf tournaments and I did pretty well in those. I also worked a couple summer camps here, making and pouring Gatorade for the kids. Overall it was a pretty relaxing summer.
How was Key Largo?
I went with two teammates, Molly Birmingham and Leslie Stubblefield and a former teammate of ours, Sarah Bonner. Leslie's aunt and uncle have a place down there that they let us stay in for a week. We just kind of hung out and laid out. We drove to Key West one day and to Miami's South Beach one day.
Do you surf or anything crazy like that?
No, I'm actually afraid of the ocean.
You're from the beach!
I know, it's crazy, but I almost drowned when I was little! When I was in kindergarten, my friend Deseray and I went to the beach one day after going to KFC. We always went there to get biscuits and we'd put honey on them. Oh man those are so good. Anyway, we went to beach one day and I think we got swept out in a rip tide and we panicked. We probably weren't going to drown, but I thought we were going to die. Luckily we didn't, but I haven't really got in since. I wade around a little bit, but I don't like spending a lot of time in there. I definitely don't like putting my head under. Same thing in a pool. I just don't really like to hold my breath.
Not a big swimmer then?
Here's something else - I don't remember this, but my parents told me that when I was nine months old, when we lived in Tucson - where spiders are just rampant, I picked up a black widow spider and started pulling its legs off. It bit me and I was in ICU for two days. Leave it to me!
So how was your vacation to New Jersey?
I went to New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia with my boyfriend and stayed with family. We went to a play, Raisin in the Sun. It had P Diddy and Clair Huxtable in it. That was fun. I also did a lot of shopping. Fifth Avenue in New York was great. So was the big mall in Philly - the King of Prussia. I love to shop.
How was your experience with the Gatorade camps?
A kid threw up in the trashcan right beside me one day. He blamed it on the Gatorade. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the entire pizza he ate right before he got out there or the omelets that they cook for them every morning. After he blamed it on the Gatorade he started drinking more Gatorade. I was telling him that he needed to stay away!
What did you take in summer school?
I took an intro to film class, which was really interesting. I signed up for it thinking that we would watch a bunch of movies and not have to do a lot of work. I ended up learning a lot more about movies than I expected to. I learned things about movies that I never had thought about before. It is interesting now to look for certain things when I watch movies. I also took a COM 250 class that I needed for my major. At the end of the class the teacher said 'If you think that this class was about the history of media then you missed the point." And that was exactly what I thought the class was about! So I completely missed the point. I don't think I was the only one though.
Are you scheduled to graduate this spring?
I was, but I tacked on journalism minor, so now I'm not. I thought it would help me out though to get into broadcasting, which is what I ultimately want to do.
So do you some TV internships lined up yet?
I actually went to talk to the sports director at a TV station in Charleston that last week before I came back to school about that. He said he was open to me coming down and doing an internship there. It just depends on when. He used to interview me at some of the tournaments that I played in there, so we've known each other for a few years. I would like to do something here in Raleigh, but it's kind of hard to line anything up right now, since our season goes pretty much all school year.
What are some of the reactions and assumptions people, like in your classes, have when they find out you play on the golf team?
They're like "Oh wow, is that fun? I like to play golf. Where do you play?" Then if the conversation goes on for a while they'll say, "We should go play golf sometime. Can you get us on for free?"
What's your favorite class that you've taken at NC State?
Step Aerobics. Me, Leslie and a former teammate of ours, Erica, took that class together. It was a joke. All you do is step up and down on the stool, do some crunches and some stretch and reach test.
How are workouts going?
I'm a workoutaholic. I usually go in there everyday to at least do cardio. We have mandatory Monday and Wednesday morning workouts at 6:30am.
Why so early?
It's just hard to work around everybody's schedules. We're trying to get out on the golf course in the afternoons, so it's easier to get it out of the way first thing in the morning that to try to hustle back from the course at the end of the day and get it in. We have to burn 1,000 calories a week doing cardio on either the stepper, the treadmill or the bikes, so our workouts take about an hour.
I don't have class on Monday, Wednesday, Friday this semester, so it kind of stinks for me to have to get up that early for them, but what can you do?
So what do you do the rest of the day on Mondays and Wednesdays until practice?
I run errands, set up doctor appointments, I come talk to you! I try to get everything done that needs to be done because my Tuesdays and Thursdays are awful. I go from eight to 2:30 with no breaks. After that I'm pretty tired and am hustling to get to practice.
What is golf practice like?
We usually go out to Crooked Creek or Prestonwood and spend about two or three hours doing stations of chipping, putting, sand shots, driving range, stuff like that. Coach usually sets up some kind of competition in the last hour of practice where we keep track of strokes. When we have a tournament coming up, we'll go play 18 holes.
How much will the new short-game practice facility help?
It is really nice. We are probably going to be spending a lot of time there. It will be a blessing for us since it is so close.
What is your most embarrassing moment on the golf course?
When the wind was blowing so hard it blew me over!
What's your first memory of playing golf?
When my father made me walk home from the golf course for cursing when I was 11.
Really?
No, I made that up. I lived like 10 miles from a golf course.
Why does everyone on the team list you as the funniest person on the squad?
I don't know, I guess because I make everybody laugh. You put me in certain situations I can try to be serious, but it's kinda hard. I feel like everybody around me is too serious, so I try to lighten the mood a little bit.
Have you always been the team comedian?
Yeah, I've pretty much always been the clown in the group ... even as a freshman. When I was in high school I played on the boy's team and I was a little shy at first, but it didn't take long before I realized that there was no reason that I shouldn't say something funny.
Who would you like to switch places for a day with?
Charlie Murphy.
Chappelle Show fan?
I'm beating a dead horse here with this, but I've never laughed so hard as I did when I first saw the Rick James skit they did when Charlie Murphy played Rick James. That was hilarious.
If a movie were made about you, which actress would you choose to play the part of you?
Lois Griffin. You know the show The Family Guy? It's a cartoon and I'm obsessed with it. It's not your normal cartoon. It's got some pretty racy stuff in there. It's crazy. My boyfriend bought the DVDs of the first two seasons and we'll sit there and watch the DVD until 11, turn it off to watch the 11 o-clock episode on the Cartoon Network. It's got kind of cult following I think. It's hilarious. She's the redheaded mother on the show.
What is a typical day in the life of Colby Cobb like?
It kind of depends on if it's a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or a Tuesday or Thursday this semester. During the summer I would usually get up and run in the morning. I would do about two miles to get going and then I would go ... oh wait, I try to make time for my soaps. Oh yeah. I watch the ABC soaps, All My Children, General Hospital and One Life to Live. If I miss any of them then I watch SOAPnet to get caught up. Leslie records them everyday, so sometimes I'll go over there to watch them on her DVR. We've got Molly into them now too so we've got her roped in pretty well.
Nobody knows how much you like to do what?
Watch Saved by the Bell.
Who's your favorite character on that?
Probably Lisa.
Those guys have gone on to do great work.
No kidding. Especially Jessie with Showgirls. That was a great decision. Have you seen that they're selling the Showgirls box set now? You get mugs and coasters or something with your special edition DVD.
When you played golf as a kid, who did you pretend to be?
Carl Spackler
Nice. Have you ever done any groundskeeping, or did you play any other sports?
I played basketball and softball for a while. I quit playing basketball because I decided to put more time in to golf and figured that might work out better for me since I was a 5-5 forward. I missed a softball game in seventh or eighth grade because I failed a science test. It was awful. I was the greatest first baseman. Somebody else took my position while I was out and I never could hit the ball because I would always swing down, like my golf swing. So I just never really went back. I've been playing a little tennis lately, but I'm not very good at it.
If you had to give up all your possessions but one, what would you keep?
Laughing Boy - my stuffed monkey. It's older than I am. My parents got it at a swap meet or a flea market before I was born in Tucson. It used to have all this hair sticking out from its face and now it's all matted down and it smells. I love it though. It has one of my old t-shirts on that I used to wear when I was real little. The shirt has a picture of Snoopy fishing off a cloud or something cheesy like that. He's got a little potbelly.
Does Laughing Boy go on road trips with you?
No, he stays at home. I'd be too afraid that I'd leave him in a hotel room or something and lose him.
Do you have any pets?
We bought a guinea pig in May. I was like ohhh look; it's cute and fuzzy. It won't smell. It won't make noise and he'll stay in his little cage. Wrong! It stays in its cage, but then it's constantly gnawing on something, anything, keeping me up all night. If you let it out of its cage, it poops and pees everywhere, staining the carpet. It makes weird noises. I don't know what's wrong with it. I mean strange noises. And every time you try to pet it bites you.
I had a cat when I was little. It was a black cat named Shady.
Oh yeah, I also had a hamster. This is a funny story. You remember the guy named Jazz on the show Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? Uncle Phil always kicked him out of the house. Well I found this hamster in a bucket on the back porch one day. Well I think it was a hamster anyway. It wasn't a rat. So we got it a cage and kept it. I named it Jazz because I figured it got kicked out of its house like Jazz did. It died from enflamed gonads or something.
What?!
It was definitely the oddest diagnosis I'd ever heard. I was like, well if that's the case, then he needs to go! That's got to be uncomfortable!
What would your perfect day consist of?
Shopping.
Where would you go?
Fifth Avenue, New York City.
Do you collect anything?
I've got a strange obsession with buying really expensive handbags. They're not the most expensive ones out there, but I certainly can't afford them. I have three different Coach purses. I also got a Fendi bag off of E-Bay. I don't know if it's real, but it better be because I paid enough for it to be real! Then there are the wallets, scarves, belts and hats - it's got to end!
Do you have nickname for your car?
I drove a van in high school and called it the tank. It was a Carolina blue van with a 'GO HEELS' vanity plate. Kind of ironic huh? It smoked and it was big so you could see it coming from miles away. It was so embarrassing. The AC for the better part of the time I had the tank only worked on 'off' or 'high.' So I sweated a lot. My dad sold it at the end of my senior year to some guy for about $400.
Why did you choose to come to NC State?
It was close to South of the Border.
That place has more billboards. Have you ever stopped there?
Oh yeah! I got my place mats from there and some little glasses. I also got Coach Marsh a big sombrero from there too.
What is your favorite Coach Marsh quote?
"Take your purse off your putter."
Does she say that a lot?
No, I just remember she said that to Ashlee (Dean) one time last year. I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever heard.
If you were in charge of practice for a week, what would the team do?
Fly to Ireland to play. It would be expensive, but oh well. It would be fun.
Speaking of the Ireland, how are Dawn-Marie Conaty (from Dublin) and the rest of the freshmen getting along?
Good. It's always fun to have new people around. It looks like they are going to bring a lot to this team. They seem very excited to be here. Dawn-Marie is hard to understand and I've had to ask her to repeat things four or five times before. She starts laughing and then it becomes even harder to understand her. So that's funny.
Thanks Colby. We'll have to do this again sometime.
