Left to right: Zach Messitte, Ben Bradlee, Tony Kornheiser
The Bay Net Photo by Christopher Rodkey

St. Mary’s College Board of Trustee Benjamin Bradlee, vice-president of The Washington Post who is famous for his key role in uncovering the Watergate Scandal, brought fellow Washington Post reporter and ESPN Monday Night Football sports analyst Tony Kornheiser to an overflowing St. Mary’s Hall Friday night for The Center for the Study of Democracy’s 5th Annual Bradlee Lecture.

Professor Zach Messitte and two college newspaper student journalists, Eric Schlein and Jennifer Ridgley, accompanied Bradlee and Kornheiser on stage for a half hour round table discussion before opening the floor to questions from the audience. Kornheiser covered topics ranging from the growth of his career to the relationship between politics and sports. Ironically, Kornheiser never took a journalism course in his career, majoring in English instead. He went on to convince the sports editor of his hometown Newsday paper in New York to give him his first job covering high school sports. He attributes much of his career to thinking outside of the box and being lucky enough to have someone recognize his talent. Kornheiser said, of his career, it was like “I started at 3rd base and thought I hit a triple.” He grew to become a New York Times journalist before moving to The Washington Post. In Kornheiser’s words, “No one has a better resume than that.”

Soon, Kornheiser’s career launched him into the radio and television broadcasting world. When asked about his transition from print to live broadcasting, Kornheiser said his poor typing skills made print media so much harder than “yodeling on TV,” but admitted that “print is the hardest but most satisfying,” because when his column appears in the newspaper, people can “save it forever.”

Kornheiser always had a passion for sports, saying that he used to read the Sports section of the paper as a kid because it was the only section not being read in his house. “It’s in my DNA – Sports. It’s all I’ve ever cared about.” Part of Kornheiser’s move to Washington was to become involved in the political scene. Messitte said, “Politics is a sport in Washington.” Kornheiser recalled how the taxis in D.C. would all be tuned into political radio stations, which was not the case in New York City. Kornheiser drew a connection between politicians and athletes saying they are both driven by the same force: a win or a loss.

At the closing of the lecture, a curious audience member asked Kornheiser who he should bet on to win the Superbowl. Kornheiser replied that without much deep analysis, the AFC has been a stronger league this year so he would pick the Colts, but suspects the game will be close.