Monthly Archives: August 2010

Lately, my reporting and research has taken me places I never imagined I would go as a sports writer. Like into the mind of a streaker and inside the research of a group of quantum physicists.

For a story on blacklisted fans and the heads of stadium who chase them (out in our List Issue in two weeks!), I’ve spent hours learning the ins and outs of streaking (at a baseball game, sit on the first baseline, in one of the first two rows … carry a spare pair of shorts … make sure you’re okay with that being the last game you ever attend), stadium ops and what motivates people to act in a way they would never dream of acting in the real world once they are inside their favorite team’s home. It’s been an informative and comical few weeks and I think this will be a fun read for anyone, even if you don’t give a hoot about sports.

When I sit down to begin writing a story about someone, I often think to myself, “If I were writing a story about me, would that story be the truth about me by the time it went to print?” The answer, inevitably, is, “No.” Sure, the general story would be the same. My back story wouldn’t change, nor would the details of my life over the past 33 years. But I would have changed. We change every day. Our story changes every day. Something I think today, I might not think tomorrow. I might change my mind about an opinion I was certain I had yesterday. Something might happen in my life to alter its course, and my story, drastically. So no, no story is ever the full and complete truth. I don’t think writing such a story is possible.

The most impressive thing about climbing Mt. Whitney wasn’t that I climbed Mt. Whitney. It was that, 15 minutes after arriving back at our hotel in Lone Pine, swollen and sore, I hopped on the phone and interviewed Shaun White. Then Tricia and I drove four hours home to my apartment in Santa Monica, unpacked, re-packed, went to sleep and woke up the next morning in time to be at skateboard vert practice at the Nokia Theater in downtown LA at 10 a.m.

This summer has been a climb.

At its start, I had big plans to stay at home in Storybookland as much as possible. I was going to soak in summer and get to know this city that still feels brand new to me. Somehow, as tends to happen, my plan fell apart, my planner began filling up with reporting trips and adventures, and the next thing I knew, it was August. In between, I had one of the most fun and exciting summers of recent memory. I just didn’t spend much of it at home. Or at sea level.