Blast(s) from the Past
One part of my job that always bums me out is the short shelf life of any article I write. My story will go up, attract some attention on ESPN.com (or wherever), then fade into the ether. It’s a shame, because I think a lot of the subjects have staying power, and can be interesting reads weeks, months, sometimes years later. With that in mind, I’m going to occasionally post links to some of my favorite old articles–especially when they’re relevant to what I’m doing now.
Last year I interviewed Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Pat Neshek for an ESPN.com Q&A. Since the time I last spoke to him, Neshek converted to a vegan diet. I found this fascinating, partly because the culture of professional sports tends to value, say, eating steaks, and also because I recently stopped eating red meat, and am contemplating phasing out poultry from my diet as well.
As we speak, I’m mere minutes away from finishing a big article on vegan and vegetarian athletes which includes Neshek. Since he was already a fascinating character who had his own blog, traded baseball and hockey cards with his readers and even sought out autographs from opposing players, I thought it’d be fun to dig up the interview I did with him from last year. So, here it is.
Meanwhile, look for my article on vegan and veggie athletes in the relatively near future at ESPN.com, on Page 2. Oh and if you really want to waste an afternoon, here’s the link to my ESPN.com archive, which includes all kinds of fun, kooky articles from the past. Hopefully you find that these hold up as well as I think they do.
