To those on the outside, the life and work of a sportswriter is the object of curiosity. The usual question: "Exactly what is it that you do?" What is it that I do: I wish that could say that I spent my working day writing, what I always wanted to do from the time I learned cursive. In fact, the majority of my time is dedicated to: chasing down stories to write but too often winding up in dead ends; dealing with recalcitrant p.r. guys and shady agents; going over pieces word-by-word with fact-checkers; pleading my professional standards to those who want me to get a star player's autograph; ignoring people who say, "I wish I got paid to go to games." So I'll offer up here past stories and the stories about the stories. Some have been printed after I did my best and they've received a little acclaim. Others were near-misses (and here I get to give myself mulligans and do-overs). A few never saw the light of day and will appear here for the first time.
I've written for ESPN The Magazine and espn.com the last five years. My work has made the "notable" list of the Best American Sports Writing seven times and won four Canadian National Magazine Awards. My most recent book is Future Greats and Heartbreaks: A Year Undercover in the Secret World of NHL Scouts. I've written three other sports books: When the Lights Went Out: How One Brawl Ended Hockey's Cold War and Changed the Game; Sidney Crosby: Taking the Game by Storm; and The Only Ticket Off the Island: Baseball in the Dominican Republic.