Two Writers Slinging Yang

On her amazing, important piece on Kentucky hospitals and the awful impact of COVID; on interviewing people experiencing the worst days of their lives; on the Kentucky mistrust of the vaccine; on the amazing rabid raccoon and his tragic/non-tragic drowning.

On the blissful art of great food writing; on techniques to have people open up; on the oft-exhausting New York Times editing.

On the weird world of covering the Donald Trump White House; on why members of the administration were so willing to talk; on the pure hell of being an author during a pandemic.

On the nerves and anxiety of a first book release; of the greatest timing in the history of sports biographies; of what to do when an NBA team locks you out.

On the nerves and excitement of covering his first-ever Major League Baseball game; on deciding how to approach Joe Maddon; on laughing at the jokes of nearby writers; on failing to eat before languishing inside the Angels press box; on tie or no tie.

On making an in-his-prime Larry Bird quite angry; on the changing nature of the newspaper sports columnist; on David Oritz and PED; on covering the 1986 World Series and not caring who won.

On overhearing Barry Bonds' grand jury testimony—and debating whether he could report on it; on the wonderland of Bobby Valentine and the early-2000s New York Mets; on calling it quits at 10 pm because (yawn) we're old.

On his explosive Sunday piece exposing a football scandal at KU; on calling people who r-e-a-l-l-y don't want to hear from you; on covering year after year of brutally bad football. 

On chronicling her late father's ALS—and the accompanying emotions; on leaving behind the world of ESPN and discovering some inner zen; on the craziness of the last-gasp Iverson 76ers.

How how his Nicaraguan culture impacts his journalism; on how to make clubhouse time useful; on the general manager who wasn't so happy to see him; on the awfulness of writing short pieces.