WRITING

Below are links to some of my favorite stories I’ve written, showing a range of topics and styles, pieces both serious and silly. Check out my complete SI archives for much more.

Sports Illustrated

11/9/2023: How an NFL Sideline Works: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Dolphins’ Support Staff (5,500 words)

My one Sports Illustrated magazine cover story (co-written with Conor Orr). Looking at the chaos of a crowded bench area may make you wonder: Who are all those people? Unsurprisingly, everyone has a job and everyone has a story. Here’s a look at the typically unsung people who help keep an NFL team running.

12/30/2022: Remembering the 2022 Phillies’ World Series Run, Even Though the Story Got Spiked (2,300 words)

I wrote a first-person essay about the experience of realizing your favorite story you wrote all year never actually got published.

2/8/2022: In Reshaping the Rules, Have We Written Future Devin Hesters Out of Football? (5,100 words)

An SI “Where Are They Now” story on Devin Hester, five years after his NFL career. I spent time with him in Florida and examined his Hall of Fame case, with input from some of the other greatest return men ever, placing his career within the context of the league’s deemphasis on special teams.

9/24/2020: What Rulon Gardner Has Been Up (and Down) to (8,500 words)

An SI “Where Are They Now” story on Rulon Gardner, 20 years after he pulled one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history. I spent a week with him in Utah to talk about his life as a high school coach, and he shared personal details about overcoming tragedy, battling his weight, misconceptions about him on The Biggest Loser and more.

10/25/2018: Punters Deserve Fantasy Football Love. Believe It Or Not, Some Already Get It. (2,200 words)

I spoke to three NFL punters about what it’s like to be mostly excluded from—but occasionally included in!—the world of fantasy football.

6/13/2018: Ringz Culture: Are Championships All That Matter? (4,000 words)

After Cavs-Warriors IV, I spoke to several NBA Hall of Famers about the “championship or bust” mentality and the way Ringz Culture has come to dominate conversation around sports.

10/11/2017: Inside the Arena for the Golden Knights’ Emotional Home Opener (1,270 words)

One week after a mass shooting in Las Vegas, I reported from an emotional city on the night of the new NHL team’s first ever home game.

7/5/2016: Pat Croce, ex-Sixers owner and part-time pirate, at peace with retired life (2,200 words)

For SI’s annual “Where Are They Now” series, I wrote about being in a tiny plane with Pat Croce, retirement, meditation and pirates.

3/18/2016: What it’s like to lose—badly—as a No. 16 seed (1,350 words)

I spoke to players from small schools who got brief tastes of March Madness, to discuss fond memories of losing by more than 40 points to future NBA stars.

5/5/2015: Even mascots are not immune to baseball’s emphasis on pace-of-game (800 words)

“In other words, there’s some added pressure for Chorizo and his bratwurst buddies to sprint through the finish line.”

The New York Times 

11/19/2014: Rivalry Earns Its Pinstripes: 150th Meeting Between Lehigh and Lafayette is Set For Yankee Stadium (1,100 words)

“Tucked away in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania is a great college football rivalry many fans have never heard of.”

Baseball Prospectus 

8/7/2014: Amaro’s Phillies: The Lessons Unlearned (1,250 words)

“It’s been almost five years since Amaro inked his first pitcher to a long-term deal. We now have enough hindsight to examine the fallout from what we later learned marked a shift in organizational philosophy.”

Republished by FOX Sports’ baseball website Just a Bit Outside

Huffington Post 

8/7/2014: Richmond Puts the Name Mitch in the Hall of Fame (750 words)

“It seems every name from Adolph and Arvydas to Zachariah and Zigmund had its day on stage before Mitch.”

12/17/2013: Race for data feeds the sports analytics revolution (3,000 words)

“Except this is December 2013, so six SportVU motion-detecting cameras overhead will capture every movement from the jump ball to the final buzzer. This is the year everything in the NBA has changed.”

3/18/2012: Lehigh beating Duke shows why March Madness is so great (1,250 words)

“Suddenly we were the random school that everyone else was interested in. One minute the UNC fans were asking where Lehigh is located, the next minute it was trending nationwide on Twitter.”

NBCOlympics.com 

8/2/2012: Shaherkani first Saudi woman to compete (350 words)

“Flip through the photo galleries after every Olympic judo match, and they eventually begin to look the same. One fighter wears blue, the other wears white, and each has a black belt. Aside from the name on the back and the flag over the heart, the uniform—or gi— is, frankly, uniform. That was, until this morning.”

7/31/2012: Malloy medals in London (650 words)

“An ocean away from home, the 57kg judo fighter took her first step onto the tatami and, standing barefoot, she was literally toe-to-toe with the second-ranked fighter in the world.”