Who YOU think does it well
Also, a call for questions for our first Mailbag
We’ve built up a nice little community over the past 10 months or so here, and I’m so appreciative of every one of you who take the time to read this blog every week.
Inspired by my man
, I’m opening the mailbag. Got questions about sports journalism, sports media, or anything else? It’s an AMA situation. Drop me an email at bmoritz99 (at) gmail (dot) com with your question. Or reply to this email if you read it there. Or leave a comment. However you want. I’ll answer questions in a few weeks.A few weeks ago, I shared a question from my former student
asking me who I thought did sports journalism well. It’s a simple but poignant question. We spend a lot of time here being critical of sports journalism, but it’s important to recognized the good stuff too.I asked y’all to share with me who you thought were the exemplars in sports journalism, and you did not disappoint. Thanks for everyone who commented, and I’m sorry if I missed anyone:
: “When it comes to sports media, there’s no one I trust more than Puck’s John Ourand”: “The incomparable Jason Gay at the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post's Adam Kilgore are today's equivalent to yesterday's John Lardner and W.C. Heinz.”: “On the Cleveland professional sports beat, The Athletic's Zac Jackson and Zach Meisel are hard to beat. They're the main reason I keep paying for The Athletic.Here on Substack, special shout-out to
, and . They're absolutely titans of CFB coverage and putting out some of the best content I've seen.ESPN is a must-see simply because you're forced to, but
(also on Substack!), Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel are must-reads for me. Pete Thamel is a great follow and Bill Connelly is invaluable to the CFB community.Other big CFB guys are Matt Brown with Extra Points and Ross Dellenger at Yahoo! Sports.
Finally, a shout-out to the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto. He's the absolute best and one of my inspirations to getting into this whole deal.”
: seems to have figured out the new media way to approach sports and culture. I’m also a huge fan of the way Katie Nolan’s “loosely based on sports” approach.: I'd say Defector for both it's writing and business model.: “I want to keep this brief, so I will first mention Wright Thompson (who never disappoints).We are fortunate at Auburn to have a fan site, The Auburn Observer, run by
, that focuses on football and basketball. It manages to be both incredibly smart and very engaging.For game commentary, I'm going to give a shout-out to former driver Kevin Harvick. As a driver, he had an icy, ruthless exterior. He has taken the best of that to his work with FOX NASCAR. Great insights, and he's not afraid to make strong comments with an even tone that has you thinking, ‘Did he just say that?’”
: “My fan allegiances align to the following: Penn State, Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pirates. Of those four teams, three of them have beat writers of whom I read prior to them joining The Athletic.However in the last 2-ish years, Penn State, TBL and the Pirates no longer have a primary or any dedicated coverage via The Athletic, which is extremely disappointing with what the idea of it was sold as.
I am keeping my sub for some of the national writers and there is some value to the Steelers access they give. But I really liked the convenience it provided to have three voices that I read regularly in one spot.
For the Lightning, I think Erik Erlendsson -- someone I also read regularly -- does a great job on his site, which is worth every penny.
For Penn State, there is a host of people that cover the team quite well, with Audrey Snyder leading the way, but The Athletic's decision to end her service was disappointing. Mike Poorman, Mark Wogenrich, Rich Scarcella also come to mind here as my regular reads.
Nationally, Jeff Passan is doing great work for baseball. I do enjoy the stuff that Jomboy's team puts out for baseball as well even if it isn't writing focused. Cespedes Family BBQ and what they write is great.
Football wise, Ross Dellenger has become an essential CFP follow, read with all of the landscape changes. Matt Brown as well. Bruce Feldman.
Greg Wyshynski is still the premier American voice for hockey in my opinion, while Elliotte Friedman's 32 Thoughts is also a must read for me.
Other notables include Ryan Hockensmith, a fellow Penn Stater and a hell of a feature writer,
, another PSU guy and the reason I found you, Brian. Mina Kimes is doing a great job. And Pablo Torre Finds Out has become an addiction for me.”: My list of trusted and respected sports journalists includes, but is not limited, to the following. I enjoy quality content. It's quite difficult to trim my list down, so here are all the names that come to my head as I type this.These are in no particular order:
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- Jeff Passan
- Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon (for their performances on "PTI")
- Richard Deitsch and Jon Lewis and John Ourand (for their sports media analysis)
- Bill Simmons (for his podcast and the other content he promotes via "The Ringer")
By email, Louis Keane wrote in:
I'd use this opportunity to highlight someone doing yeoman's work of independent beat reporting really well:
, who is covering the Blazers on Substack.
Thanks a lot, Brian!
Just seeing such a substantial list of doing-it-right picks is encouraging! Thanks for collecting the responses, Brian. Also, I need to add Sam Borden to this list. He can cover a month-long international event and write a top-tier feature.