Just wanted to give y’all a couple of updates and a little bit of news:
— Today we launched a pop-up blog at Sports on Earth, my new employer. It’ll be active just during the Olympics and will feature London dispatches from my friend Joe Posnanski. We’ll have some non-Olympic stuff there, too — I’ve got a piece up now on watching people play in New York.
This is not the official Sports on Earth site. That’ll have a more polished look and feel. And by the time we officially launch in late August, pretty much all our writing staff will be on board. I already love our lineup — including Gwen Knapp, Shaun Powell and Mike Tanier as staff writers; Will Leitch as a contributor; Matt Brown doing pretty much everything; and some surprises I think you’ll like down the road.
For now, it feels good to have some words on the page. It’ll only get better from here.
— I’ve got a piece on Charlotte and the DNC in the latest Southern Living — it’s paired with a piece on Tampa and the RNC from my friend Mike Wilson at the Tampa Bay Times. There’s an error in the box about things to do in Charlotte — I wrote about the opening-night party planned at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and about a week after our final deadline, the DNC decided to have opening night uptown instead. So ignore that part. But absorb the rest with EVERY FIBER OF YOUR BEING.
— I’ve also got a story in the September issue of Reader’s Digest. It’s not online (I’ll holler if/when it is), but you should buy a copy anyway when it comes out — look for the laughing baby on the cover. My story? It’s about this guy:
— Finally, I found out this week that my story on Toomer’s Oaks will be in this year’s edition of Best American Sports Writing. This is a huge thrill for me — the BASW books have given me so much inspiration over the years, as well as hours upon hours of reading pleasure. It’s very cool to be included. More details later.
So, as you can see: Lots going on. Go check out that Olympics blog, and go ahead and bookmark the main Sports on Earth page. I’m really excited about what we’re going to do together. Hope y’all tag along.