SportsJones Online Magazine Launches

Posted on October 22, 1998

SportsJones is a new, daily online magazine for sports and sports culture. The online magazine contains book reviews, satire and commentary, personal essays and professional experience, statistical analysis and international reportage.

The senior editor is Teri Bostian, athlete, coach, and alum of the University of Iowa writing program. Along with Bostian, there is: Scott Page, game theory professor and statistical analyst; Michael R. Hicks, from the University of Louisville; Erin Edom, left-coast fitness instructor and writer; Tim Morris, author of Making the Team: The Cultural Work of Baseball Fiction; Richard Crepeau, author of Baseball: America's Diamond Mind, 1919-1941; Wes Jackert, a 'soccer rocker' from Seattle; Howard Z. Unger, writer for The Village Voice; Amanda Smith of The Sports Factor, a weekly sport-culture program from the Australian Broadcasting Company; and two dozen other writers, scholars, and athletes.

In a recent interview with the online journal Newsies, SportsJones editor-in-chief Royce Webb says, "The mainstream sports media is an industry, a sausage factory. But not every sports fan wants a steady diet of sausage. SportsJones sees the world of sports as a world of great artistry, achievement, meaning, and fun. We love sports and its participants, and we're tired of the cynicism that passes for real criticism. Instead, we believe that sports is ripe for the kinds of thoughtful analysis that all other aspects of our society and culture receive. We shouldn't leave writing on sports to the sportswriters."