LeBron James: Jedi Master
December 18, 2015Cleveland Indians acquire reliever Dan Otero, DFA Jerry Sands
December 18, 2015WFNY is proud of our assortment of writers and are especially grateful to be blessed with its daily readership. As part of our year-end festivities, WFNY has put together an Author Spotlight series to allow the readers to get to know the writers a bit better by pulling back the curtain on their thoughts and pulling in some of their favorite pieces from the year.
We hope you enjoy a quick look back at Andrew’s 2015 year and maybe find something you like that you missed the first time around. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and we hope you continue blessing us by reading the site. Thank you.
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Andrew Clayman: Quick Biography
As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a regional sports writer on the internet. To me, being a home-based baseball ‘beat reporter’ with no press credentials was better than being President of the United States. Even before I created my first WordPress blog, I knew I wanted to be a part of them. It was there–with the stat geeks and the snark peddlers– that I knew that I belonged. To me, it meant being somebody in a neighborhood that was full of nobodies. Self-employed sports writers weren’t like anybody else. I mean, they did whatever they wanted. They double-parked in front of a hydrant and nobody ever gave them a ticket. In the summer when they played cards all night, nobody ever called the cops–even if it was a big Magic the Gathering tournament. These guys could recklessly quote unnamed sources and get rewarded with cheap re-tweets and local radio guest spots. Yeah, to be one of them, I would be the luckiest kid in the world.
Five works that best describe Andrew from 2015
Here are five things I wrote for WFNY in 2015 that merely scratch the surface at the full transcendent power of my word-craft in the arena of sport. Each work has a word association captioned so as to comply with the WFNY Author Spotlight rules and regs. Not included among these are Every Last Minute Browns Loss Since 1999 and The Cleveland Indians – Mad Men Timeline, which showcase a blossoming obsessive-compulsive disorder more than any particular skill with sentence structure.
Snarkoleptic : C-Cap Recap: Ducks on the Pond, Walk Walk Walk
Nostalgic : The Fall of ’95: Still Defining Cleveland Sports
Theatrical-Nostalgic : The Forgotten Saga of the Cleveland Rams
Defensive : Deconstructing #DellySucks
Satirical : Candidate Debate: Choosing the “Best” Browns Coach Since 1999
Explanation of works
In conclusion, and in all seriousness, writing is a great passion of mine. It’s important to me because most girls think it’s cool if you say you’re a writer, and the purpose of life is impressing women. If you’ve read any of the articles above, you might think I’m a fella who genuinely cares about his Cleveland sports teams and the psychological drama and heartache they’ve repeatedly left in their wakes. Some might presume I find sportswriting to be a great avenue for finding the intersections where sports, as entertainment, align with defining moments in our larger cultural histories, or how the Cleveland sports experience, specifically, has become the perfect metaphor for understanding the Sisyphean struggles of our own private lives. But again, to reiterate, I only actually write because of the chicks. If girls ever get over their famous obsession with sarcastic sports bloggers, then–and only then–will I put away my typing board and seek my fortune elsewhere. Thanks for your time, and apologies to Michael Bode for my apparent inability to use this very respectable forum in the manner of an adult.1
- Editor’s Note: Searching for this apparently respectable forum, I came up empty. What was found was an open forum to write being utilized properly here 🙂 [↩]
4 Comments
“…and apologies to Michael Bode for my apparent inability to use this very respectable forum in the manner of an adult.”
I will co-opt this for my ongoing assumed disclaimer anytime I desecrate WFNY with my nonsense.
PS. Thanks for making the Indians season entertaining, Andrew. You should be awarded the Adrian Cronaeur prize this year.
I’m offended people are calling me respectable, I think.
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Hey Andrew, unwilling to give our sports culture its oh-so-important due? How dare you? Ah well, in our heart of hearts we know it’s not very important. But creativity, style, humor, a pinch of irreverence and a dash of provocation … now we’re talkin’. Thank you for the unique voice you bring to the games.