The hug was heartfelt, fortified by a three-day, multi-state, exhilarating and enervating odyssey of trust and truthfulness. And when I pulled away from Dennis Rodman at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas in May 1995 and began walking toward my gate, I knew I was headed back to Northern California armed with an abundance of compelling material that would grab people’s attention like the idiosyncratic NBA star’s multi-hued hair dye.
I took about 10 steps before his ultra-low, distinctive voice stopped me cold.
“Bro,” he implored, “what are you doing? Where the hell are you going? Why are you leaving now? We’re about to get into the good s—!”
Rodman was so obviously right that I didn’t even hesitate. Within seconds we were running together toward a different gate, talking our way onto a flight back to Texas (Pearl Jam blasting on his boombox, as per usual) and another 24 hours of insanity. After stops at a strip club and a gay bar, we went back to Rodman’s house, where I stayed up all night writing a memorable Sports Illustrated cover story while exotic birds squawked amid other, less wholesome noises.
It was a wild time. It helped propel us both toward bigger and crazier things. And it reinforced a journalistic tenet which, as I join The Athletic after almost three additional decades of resolute reporting and sincere storytelling, remains near and dear to my heart.
Get to the epicenter, and don’t overthink it.
Sometimes, that’s a literal goal: In the summer of 2005, I was the first outside sports journalist to enter New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, accompanying Saints star Deuce McAllister and witnessing some stark scenes I’ll never forget.
On numerous other occasions, I’ve merely been reminded how crucial it is to try to get to the source. I’ve been on a hotel balcony with John Elway as he smoked a cigar and drank a beer after an MVP performance in Super Bowl XXXIII, and I’ve had Jared Goff pull me into an already closed locker room to break down his failures after the Los Angeles Rams’ Super Bowl LIII defeat. And my recently released book, “The Why Is Everything: A Story of Football, Rivalry, and Revolution,” is full of firsthand insight and information from many of the NFL’s most innovative coaches.
Sometimes, things don’t go as smoothly as envisioned. I’ve been banned from locker rooms by Al Davis, threatened by future Hall of Famers and ex-communicated by one of the greatest coaches of all time — and don’t get me started on the driver-propelled golf ball that whizzed past my ear as I stopped to talk to a buzzed former NFL linebacker in the crowd while covering the U.S. Open. It’s all part of the gig, for better or worse, and it’s a vocation I’ve been drawn to since watching “All the President’s Men” in a Westwood, Calif., movie theater when I was in elementary school.
Since then the job descriptions have varied, and their meanings have evolved. I’ve been a columnist — including at the Daily Californian, UC Berkeley’s student newspaper, where I worked alongside my close friend Vic Tafur; at Yahoo Sports, where Alison Cotsonika helped get my copy into fighting shape; and, most recently, at the San Francisco Chronicle. I spent 13 years as a senior writer at SI, where I covered the Minnesota Vikings’ Love Boat scandal with Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter George Dohrmann. I’ve also been pretty lucky along the way: While volunteering at Oakland Tech High School, I met a star student in the journalism class — a kid named Marcus Thompson II — who’s now one of my favorite sportswriters.
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As a television analyst for NFL Network from 2013 to ’21, I routinely worked with and competed against some of the highest-profile personalities in the business. I got to see whose journalistic styles I admired and who had the chops to propel the profession forward. In terms of work ethic, toughness and an unrelenting desire to uncover the truth, Dianna Russini stood out more than Rodman’s tattoos back in the day. Getting to work closely with her is a dream, and it’s an opportunity I won’t take lightly.
Joining The Athletic feels right — in this moment, and as the culmination of an amazing journey. I’ve experienced a lot of thrills and taken some lumps along the way, and I wouldn’t change any of it, because the mission has never been clearer.
I’m stoked to be part of a great team, and now that I am, I’m not planning on going anywhere.
After all, we’re about to get into the good s—.
(Top photo of Richard Sherman and Mike Silver: Michael Zagaris / San Francisco 49ers / Getty Images)
