I had a choice

Use LinkedIn as my portfolio, which would mean using LinkedIn.

Or, I could make this website.

Who AM I?

I’m a reporter and cultural critic. My work interrogates how sports manifest, reinforce, and disrupt cultural and societal trends.

That said, I don’t stick to sports—which you’ll probably figure out by scrolling…two inches down. Instead, with an eye toward race, labor, health, and culture, I routinely stretch well beyond through influential investigations, gripping features, and incisive commentary.

I’ve reported from police departments, locker rooms, restaurants, and celebrity gatherings across the United States. While my stories regularly expose misdeeds, my writing is imbued with levity, wit, and an underlying hope that better things are possible through honest storytelling.

You’ve read me at GQ, Slate, New York Daily News, Business Insider, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Defector, and Front Office Sports. You’ve seen me on CNN, The History Channel, SNY, Cheddar, and Fox 5 NY, or maybe in person hosting an emerging author’s book launch. Right now, I’m a fellow with the National Press Foundation. I’m writing wherever your favorite stories are told.

Hm, what else? I was born and bred in Queens and I’m still in NYC and still paying NYC rent (derogatory). I love lifting, video games, crushing large bowls of ice cream, and cookouts.

If you’re a writer or editor and wanna hang — hit me up: holler@bwd.nyc.

Got a spicy tip? Wanna blow the whistle? Email me (bwdconnect@proton.me) or text me using Signal — but don’t use your work device.

Investigations

The unsolved murders of Eastern Avenue (Business INsider) | 2023 Scripps Howard Award

As part of Business Insider’s award-winning Deaths in the Family probe into transgender homicides, I explored the lives of two friends killed on the same block of a desolate sex-work stroll, explaining how their murders transcend simplistic, individualized narratives of “hate” while revealing structural causes of Black death and specific failures in the police investigation.

Major League Baseball SECRETLY used two types of balls again, and evidence points to

a third (Business Insider) | 2023 New York Press Club Award

An investigation based on research by astrophysicist (and expert knitter) Meredith Wills found evidence that MLB secretly circulated three distinct sets of game baseballs during the 2022 season – its third straight year intentionally manufacturing multiple balls. More stunning, MLB shipped their juiced ball to the Yankees during Aaron Judge’s record-setting, MVP-winning home run chase.

Insiders say RAINN, the nation's foremost organization for victims of sexual assault, is in CRISIS (Business Insider)

Spoke with 22 current and former RAINN staffers about its discriminatory, misogynistic, abusive and financially questionable operation. (Six executives resigned in the story’s immediate aftermath.)

MLB systematically excluded public health officials from its COVID policy in rush to open 2020 season (New York Daily News)

One of the first times I used my column to pursue a story with investigative heft, I spent much of 2020 assessing whether or not pro sports leagues were creating safe, equitable returns to play by contacting public health agencies in every metro area.

MLB promised free COVID tests for essential workers. They’re still waiting. (New York Daily News)

In a pre-vaccine United States, frequent testing was the bedrock of virus prevention. MLB assured the nation that it would leverage its testing program to benefit essential workers in each of its teams’ markets, and even placed the program in its rulebook. Then, they just…didn’t do it!

SELECTED Commentary and Essays

Finding Ourselves In Dragon Ball (Slate)

Celebrated iconic manga and anime illustrator Akira Toriyama’s particular influence on Black culture — most notably through his long-running Dragon Ball franchise — with an eye towards the complications between an artist beloved by a people often mocked by his depictions of minorities.

Willie Mays Fought for your Right to Stick to Sports (Front OFfice Sports)

After baseball superstar Willie Mays died, I revisited his often criticized or romanticized apparent absence of racial politics and its relevance to current discussions about what we expect out of entertainers.

How Mark Phillips Built His Anime Empire (GQ)

Profiled the prolific YouTube entertainer Mark Phillips, who has built his millions-strong following that includes NBA players and superstar rappers into a content creator empire. Now, he's putting his chips on something a little different: creating an anime universe for a passionate—and underserved—audience.