Knee 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…

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DOB Day 4: Opening Ceremonies. Done.

Last May, I came to Brazil to shadow surfer John John Florence and his film crew on the final surf trip for his much-awaited film, View From a Blue Moon. It was a special week. On that trip, I met a new friend, Rosaldo, who is a journalist and surfer and knows everyone from the local jiu…

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The DOB Returns for Rio!

For the past eight years and five Olympics, I’ve written a Daily Olympics Blog — a once-a-day personal journal about what it’s like to cover the Olympics. Like this blog itself, it’s been a way for me to share the stories behind the stories I write while I’m on the clock at ESPN. I started…

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Remembering Aug. 5, 1984

Thirty years ago, Joanie Benoit Samuelson won the first Olympic women’s marathon. She did so in a time–2:24:52–that would have won 13 of the previous 20 men’s marathons at the Olympics. Tuesday was the anniversary of her gold-medal performance, and I had the opportunity to emcee an event hosted by Nike honoring Joanie at the LA…

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London 2012 – Day 2, Glasgow

As of tonight, I am officially a soccer writer. Sure, in the past, I’ve written about soccer, and about soccer players. But I’d never covered a soccer match. So what better time to start than at the Olympics, on sports’ biggest stage? Seemed like as good a time as any. The opening game between USA-France…

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Back in the City

After a little more than five weeks, I am back in New York City. Just in time for the start of the college and NFL football seasons and the U.S. Open here in NYC. But I still can’t stop thinking about the Olympics. Probably because that’s what everyone is asking me about. They want to…

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Day 18: Closing Ceremonies

Last night was the last night of Club Bud, our favorite hangout here in Beijing. Today is the last day of the Olympics. Writing both of these sentences makes me a bit sad. This has been quite an experience, to say the least. And a large part of me is sad it is ending. A…

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Day 16: BMX is a Success

This morning, the rain finally stopped. So again, after about three hours of sleep, I headed to the Laoshan BMX track for the finals of the inaugural Olympic BMX race. I think it was a glowing success, and at least for now, it is here to stay. The U.S. did fantastic, as expected. Mike Day…

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Day 13: Tour de Beijing

This morning, it finally happened. It was fairly quick (lasted about two hours) and not nearly as bad as many of my friends have experienced it. I got a touch of food poisoning. I’m not sure what I ate, because everything at dinner last night was great. My friends Amy and Gretchen and I had…

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