The only wrinkle: my wife's pregnant with our second child, another boy, who arrives in June—so the deadline's been moved up. Wish me luck.

Anyway up top's a picture from like the one walk I took. It's of the greatest city on earth. #Books

I checked out of the hotel feeling fully the former—and newly confident in my ability to finish this damn thing, certainly by my September deadline. I see it. I'm getting excited about showing it to people.

Writing a book has simultaneously been the most engrossing thing I've ever done and the most soul-jangling. I vacillate between pure love for the material I'm working with and high-pitched anxiety over all the ways I'm sure I'm not doing it justice.

Last week I got a hotel room in downtown Oakland and did nothing but write for four days. I'd never done anything like that. I'm glad I did. To live in the book for so long changed my relationship to it. (And made me deathly jealous of people who can go on like a months'-long book leave.)

I'm writing a book. It's about Oakland. I usually work on it early in the morning, at night, in whatever pockets of time I can squirrel away from my three year old. It's always hard yanking myself out of the draft. Depending how long I'm away, it's even harder re-immersing myself in it. 🧵

Also went digging through some old Oakland Tribune archives. The people in the history room at @oaklibrary.bsky.social are maybe the kindest people on earth.

Logged 2k words today 💪

Hey this is what my book is about

👍

🫡🫡

Thanks Jacob!

Fall 2027

Reeeeeeeeally excited for this

👍

Thanks Melissa!

Pros may have left, but the tough and the plucky remain. Side note: Oakland is also home to California’s only dedicated curling ice.

I’m so excited to finally share this: I’m writing a book! It’s about Oakland—its rise as a great American sports town, its fall to the billionaires who abandoned it, and, most of all, the fans and activists and founders who fought to hold onto this aspect of the city’s identity and soul.

How to Start a Professional Sports Team, Win Games, and Save the Town After the A’s announced they were leaving Oakland, a pair of lifelong fans set out to do something audacious: start a beloved pro baseball team of their own. Remarkably, they pulled it off. Now the Oa...

I wrote about the Ballers last year for @theringer.com.web.brid.gy

See yall at game 4 tn 🍻

www.theringer.com/2024/08/13/m...

Oakland lost every single one of its big league sports teams. So a pair of fans built Oakland an independent pro team of its own. Now the @oaklandballers.bsky.social are competing for the Pioneer League World Series before sell-out crowds. Coolest story in sports.

Cleveland Browns fans know how to keep the faith The Dawg Pound has witnessed 30 years of futility. Will the team's bid for the burbs test the loyal fanbase?

Apropos of nothing, I wrote about the historic endurance of Browns fans.

#DawgPound

www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...

Finally, it’s a literal dream come true to be writing for ESPN. I’m so grateful to my editors Rebecca Hudson and Scott Burton for their hard work on this story and Tony Moss for helping make it happen.

I spent most of the summer in Cleveland reporting on this, and I left it enamored of the place. I sincerely appreciate everyone there who let me into their lives for a while. Cleveland rocks.

Cleveland Browns fans know how to keep the faith The Dawg Pound has witnessed 30 years of futility. Will the team's bid for the burbs test the loyal fanbase?

For my first story in @espn.com, I profiled the #DawgPound. It’s a story about Cleveland, the Browns, community in the Muni Lot, and what the most loyal fan base in sports is ultimately loyal to.

www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...

Stop AI-Shaming Our Precious, Kindly Em Dashes—Please Human writers have always used the em dash. In fact, it’s the most human punctuation mark there is.

God Bless @brianphillips.bsky.social

www.theringer.com/2025/08/20/p...

Finished The Pacific Circuit by @alexis-madrigal.bsky.social. So very good. Infuriates, illuminates, & captures Oakland's centrality to other larger infuriating stories all at same time. Elegantly synthesizes a shit ton of research / reporting. Weaves a good yarn. My pages runneth over w/ notes. 👏

Holy hell this is so good bravo @redford.bsky.social

The Ecology of Baseball Stadiums | Baseball Prospectus Nature is everywhere, except sometimes where the grass is greenest.

New from me at BP: An essay about the ecology of baseball stadiums, which stand as beautiful lifeless monuments to an era of urban command over nature, one that is quickly dying out. On ballparks, parks, and the growing divide between the two:

Thanks Melissa!

cc @theringer.com.web.brid.gy

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WHAT!