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<p>Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon is &#8220;The Most Interesting Man in the World,&#8221; according to ESPN senior writer Tim Kurkjian.</p><p>Kurkjian even claimed that the popular Mexican lager, Dos Equis, blew it when it came to selecting their new &#8220;Most Interesting Man in the World&#8221; for its marketing campaign, in a Q&amp;A interview focused on the Hazleton native that was published Tuesday morning on ESPN.com.</p><p>The interview ranges from Maddon&#8217;s colorful attire, his vintage car collection, his restaurant business in Tampa, Fla. and, of course, his hometown.</p><p>The first trio of questions Kurkjian asked had to do with the Chicago Cubs manager&#8217;s Italian restaurant, Ava, in Tampa.</p><p>While asking what he&#8217;s learned from entering the restaurant business, Kurkjian was also curious about what makes his restaurant unique.</p><p>&#8220;We repurposed the windows from an abandoned elementary school in Alabama. They are cool,&#8221; Maddon said in the feature. &#8220;The big table in the middle of the restaurant we got from Verona, Italy, then we cut the table in half. There&#8217;s a story behind many of the features. I think people like those stories.&#8221;</p><p>And even though he doesn&#8217;t cook professionally at the restaurant, Maddon does cook at home, thanks to the help of his mother, Beanie.</p><p>&#8220;I can make sauerkraut and pork. I make spaghetti and meatballs, I got that from my mom,&#8221; Maddon said. &#8220;I&#8217;m good at palatable pops. I like to sit in the pizza bar across the street from the restaurant and drink coffee and talk to the chefs. I ask them lots of questions. I want to learn.&#8221;</p><p>However, it didn&#8217;t take long for Hazleton to work its way into the conversation.</p><p>Considering Maddon owns an Italian restaurant, Kurkjian was curious if the manager fancied wine, even though he&#8217;s a shot-and-a-beer guy, which was a salute to Maddon&#8217;s famous &#8220;a shot and a beer, that&#8217;s the Hazleton way&#8221; phrase from his introductory press conference with the Cubs.</p><p>&#8220;In my late 40s, I started sipping it, and I liked it. So I&#8217;ve transmogrified from beer to wine,&#8221; Maddon said. &#8220;With wine, you don&#8217;t really have to know what you&#8217;re talking about, you just have to know what you like.&#8221;</p><p>And the interview didn&#8217;t conclude without a question about Maddon&#8217;s pride and joy, the Hazleton Integration Project.</p><p>&#8220;What is HIP?&#8221; Kurkjian asked.</p><p>&#8220;All this other stuff we&#8217;re talking about here is fun, but this is the jewel, it&#8217;s the whole point of what we do,&#8221; Maddon answered. &#8220;To effect change on social issues, to integrate people and bring them together, is important. In our country today &#8212; and this worries me &#8212; if you disagree with someone, then you have to be wrong, and you have to dislike that person. When did that begin? Hey, bring me the other opinion, I want to hear the other side. We are doing that in Hazleton, trying to bring different opinions together. We want to set an example for all of northeast Pennsylvania. It is happening.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon watches batting practice before a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Monday, April 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_Joe-Maddon.jpg</photo0><caption0>Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon watches batting practice before a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Monday, April 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>ON THE WEB</strong></p><p>To read Joe Maddon&#8217;s full interview with ESPN senior writer Tim Kurkjian, <a href="http://tlgets.me/kow" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Hazleton in spotlight in ESPN interview with Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon