Blog
A Walk Down Memory Lane
I’ve been thinking a lot about memories. Making new ones; remembering old ones. How a long-ago moment can stick vividly to the memory of one person who experienced it, yet completely slip from the mind of another. How two people can experience the same event, but remember it so differently. Reality is perception is reality.…
Read MoreLook Back: Pyeongchang 2018
The 2018 Winter Olympics marked the first time I covered an Olympics — my seventh! — without also writing a daily blog for this site. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about why, after writing a Daily Olympics Blog every Olympic day since 2008 (I hadn’t yet launched this blog when I covered the…
Read MoreRebooting the Blog
Last week, a former ESPN Mag editor reached out to ask me a question about a story I wrote nine years ago. He was recounting an anecdote about my reporting of that story, but he couldn’t remember the details. Sadly, neither could I! I stared at my computer screen for a while, trying to remember,…
Read MoreKnee Deep in Sleep
Today was an awake day. Not a “woke” day. An awake day. As in, I woke up at 8 am, went to physical therapy, spent most of the day on my computer doing actual work with a clear mind and now, at 9 pm, I am still awake. And writing! For the first time in…
Read MoreKnee Deep: Fighting the ACL Blues
A friend and colleague recently sent me a link to an article about ACL Depression Syndrome. In five simple words, he warned me, “Alyssa, for you to avoid!” I thought it was an odd note, considering I don’t know many people who would categorize me as someone who is easily struck by the blues. So…
Read MoreKnee Deep: Moving the Start Line
This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about starting lines. The excitement of them, the build-up to them, the promise they hold. For the past two months, I’ve been working toward a start line of my own. This Friday, Oct. 13, was supposed to be my surgery date. Two months of rehab and icing and…
Read MoreKnee Deep: Focus on Focus
Over the past two weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time around athletes and the people who care for them. I spent four days in Park City at the Team USA Olympic media summit, three days in Newport Beach at the espnW Women + Sports Summit and four days in Aspen hosting The Meeting. As…
Read MoreKnee Deep: An ACL Journal (Journey)
Six weeks ago, I earned membership in a club I never wanted to join. To be honest, I can’t think of a club I’ve ever wanted to join. Maybe it’s a side-effect of a lifetime spent participating in team sports. But when a friend mentions joining a “running club” or a “surfing meet-up,” I balk…
Read MoreDOB Days 18-21: Answers Only
No two ways around it, I let the DOB slip at the end of the Games. Typically, I write these blogs on buses and in vans and in bed late at night. (I spend an excessive amount of time in two of those three.) Once my computer died, that became tougher to do. I am…
Read MoreDOB Days 15-17: Go Team!
Last night, one of my colleagues told me a story that disturbed me almost as much as whatever the hell is going on with Ryan Lochte. He was taking a jam-packed, 30-minutes-late bus back to the media center after another late night at track, and he noticed an empty seat. When he tried to sit in the seat, he realized…
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