Sublime

he was who I wanted to be when I grew up. He’s one of the great nonfiction writers of our time, a genius of reportage and the profile, someone who could take any curious whim and turn it into a compelling book.

Smith plays in a different lane than traditional sports journalists, and ESPN’s highest-profile reporters say Smith is the best at what he does.

“Booker could just come out on social media or anywhere else and be like, ‘No, that’s just not true,’ and then you have the back and forth,” Van Pelt said. “The back and forth then becomes its own content.”

Thus, as the cable-tv-dominated status quo crumbles, pro sports will develop a new playbook, centered around better telling player stories. Players will also have more opportunity to tell and sell these stories themselves, direct-to-consumer: