Dishin & Swishin December 29, 2011 Podcast: A New Year’s present – Alysa Auriemma on life, health & basketball

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Every now and then, you have to look away from the basketball court to put things in perspective and have a little fun with writing and talking about the game, while still writing and talking about the game.

Since there is that dreaded lull in the action between the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays when the student-athletes get a few rare days with their families, I started to think family would be a great way to approach this week’s podcast. At the same time, I can also tell you that if there is one “non-basketball” person I have had requests to have on as a guest, it is today’s guest. So, considering all of these factors, today’s podcast is one of the most fun, entertaining ones I have ever had, and my guest is Alysa Auriemma, the daughter of Connecticut and USA senior national team coach Geno Auriemma.

If you have not been following Ally on twitter (@allyauriemma) you do not know what you have been missing. Ally is an extremely intelligent, out-spoken, colorful and entertaining tweeter, as well as a blogger with two different blogs of her own (theculturebarista.blogspot.com and girlvfood.blogspot.com). A graduate student and teaching assistant at UConn, Ally has the unique perspective of being an “insider” as family member, student body member and having also played basketball, the knowledge of a player.

So get yourself a cup of hot chocolate, as Ally would have you do, find a comfortable chair, and enjoy the next hour listening to our discussion of life lessons, changing and maturing, food and yoga, twitter and facebook. Oh yes, we also chatted about her father, growing up as an Auriemma, his tweeting, and the UConn program and teams.

Some select hilarious tweets from Alysa Auriemma