Boca and Mooseknuckle

Recently, 'Prince' senior writer Sofia Mata-Leclerc sat down with a pair of men's water polo players, junior center Nick Seaver and freshman driver Brendan Colgan, to discuss nicknames, David Hasselhoff and spandex.

Daily Princetonian: What do you think about this season's men's water polo team?

Nick Seaver: The team looks much improved from last year. We have a lot of really good freshmen, and I think we'll be able to make a run at the NCAA championship.

Brendan Colgan: I didn't see much of the team last year, but from what I've seen we have a lot of fast freshmen.

NS: We're bigger, stronger, better.

DP: Do you have any nicknames?

BC: They call me 'Moose' ...

NS: Mooseknuckle, actually. They call me Boca Burger or just Boca and sometimes Maximus.

DP: Why do they call you Mooseknuckle?

BC: They don't call me Mooseknuckle, they call me Moose, and actually I have no idea. They just started calling me that one day.

NS: They call you Mooseknuckle. Sometimes nicknames are given for a reason, sometimes they're just given...

BC: On instinct.

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DP: And what about you?

NS: They call me Boca because I have many of the characteristics of a meat, but I'm not meat at all.

BC: You might want to expand on that a little bit.

NS: Being meaty means doing a lot of those chest exercises and biceps and abs and eating a lot of steak at dinner. I have many of the characteristics of someone who would be very meaty, but I myself am not really meaty. Like, I don't go around beating up nerds.

BC: He's sensitive.

NS: Yeah, I'm a sensitive meathead.

BC: I'm more rough and tough.

DP: And what about Maximus?

NS: To win your freedom you have to win the crowd. I'm really good at winning over the crowd. Most of the reason they call me Maximus is because most of the time when I've scored, I just throw the ball as hard as I can toward the goal.

DP: So Brendan, do you ever feel overshadowed by your sister Elyse, the star of the women's team?

BC: Overshadowed? Not really, I think it's the other way around. I just started here, but I'm learning fast.

DP: How do you mentally prepare for games?

NS: I get really angry, and I just punch anything around me. I listen to a lot of Pantera and Megadeath ... and 'Mr. Jones' by Counting Crows.

BC: I get really pumped up for games as a result of getting punched by Seaver. It really pisses me off. I've got to take my rage out in the pool.

DP: Brendan, I hear you played in a band in high school?

BC: Yeah, we were called Trial and Error. We won a Battle of the Bands last year and got to be in an anti-smoking commercial because of it. I played the keys.

NS: You'd think he would have been really popular because of it.

BC: Yeah, and it was the exact opposite. Even though we were a good band, we weren't popular.

DP: Nick, is it difficult for you having to be an academic, social and athletic icon on campus?

NS: Dealing with fans is probably the most difficult thing I do, especially groupies. You know when you have people writing you letters all the time and signing autographs? I just can't sign 200 autographs after every game.

DP: Nick, have your roommates had a positive or a negative influence on you?

NS: I consider the room, which I don't want to reveal to the press actually because I don't want to be overrun, to be the positive force behind our team. Kind of the Bat Cave of the Princeton water polo team. It's where all the magic happens. We have a mahogany bar, a mahogany bookcase and many leather-bound books.

DP: So it's kind of a big deal.

BC: Yeah, it's kind of a big deal.

DP: Brendan, why do Germans love David Hasselhoff?

BC: Germans don't love David Hasselhoff. They love David Hasselhoff like we love Chuck Norris. Don't get me wrong, I love Chuck Norris, but it's not like a true love.

NS: I heard your [German] girlfriend really loves David Hasselhoff.

BC: Meeka does not love David Hasselhoff. I spent like four weeks in Germany, and I definitely saw more Hasselhoff hating than I did loving. It's like a love-hate relationship.

DP: Brendan, I hear you have a good speech to fire up the team.

BC: Yeah, I memorized the Independence Day speech that the president gives to the air force before they go attack the aliens.

DP: Do you do this before every game?

BC: Just very special games.

NS: When we're fighting for our lives.

DP: Let's do some free association, so I'll just throw out a word and you tell me what comes to mind. St. Francis.

BC: Euro.

NS: I love St. Francis. They are basically the meatiest team you will ever play in your life.

DP: Spandex.

NS: We don't wear spandex, we wear Speedos. One of the things that is really important to the water polo team is not necessarily swimming. We have a really great lifting routine because it's nice to be able to play well when you're in the water, but it's really important when you're out of the water and the fans see you. The biceps, the chest and the abs are very important. I mean, the butt is also important, but it's secondary to the biceps.

DP: And the two inches of crack — is that optional?

NS: I would say, the better the player you are, the more crack you show.

BC: We also like to do team Euro stretches where we turn up techno music and we do these really cool like ... [begins flailing arms wildly].

NS: I think it's more of an art form, really. Imagine a really bad aerobic video.