Blog | BrandonSneed.com | Writing and Journalism

Chris Jones on Dueling With GQ Writer Chris Heath for the Zanesville Zoo Story

2012-02-22T20:38:36Z

Been getting lots of questions from folks about where exactly to read about Esquire's Chris Jones "salting the earth" in trying to outduel rival GQ writer Chris Heath while reporting on his Zanesville Zoo story. Here is that portion of the interview. If you want to read the full interview, it was published here on Feb. 7, 2012. You can read Jones's story HERE. You can read Heath's story HERE. And you can read an excellent third version of the story by Cincinnati Magazine writer Jonah Ogles HERE.

Here's Chris:

Yeah, so, this is funny. So, I drive down to Zanesville. My first interview is with Sheriff Lutz at one o’clock on a Monday afternoon. We talk for almost two hours, and I’m getting really excited about the story. I know I have one on the line, you know? So I said something like, “You know, it’d be awesome if you didn’t talk to anyone else about this.” And the sheriff said he had one more interview to do at three o’clock, and then he was done. I jokingly said, “So long as it isn’t GQ.” And he just kind of had a look on his face. I said, “Wait. Is it GQ?” And he said it was. I just about shit. I asked him four times if he was joking. What are the odds?

So, it’s almost three o’clock. I hustle down some back stairs.

Who Kenny Powers Is Based Off Of, Whether He Could Beat Up Ricky Vaughn, the Sport Danny McBride is Actually Good At, and How He Learned To Pitch

2012-02-20T00:53:40Z

Danny McBride didn't know how to throw a baseball when he started filming for the cult HBO comedy Eastbound & Down.

For the uninformed: McBride plays the salty-mouthed, mullet-wearing burned out pitcher many believe is modeled after notorious former Atlanta Braves closer John Rocker. I was lucky enough to snag an interview with McBride for ESPN The Magazine a few weeks ago. You can read it here. Lots of good material ended up not making the final print version—hey, no worries, it happens all the time—so in honor of the show's Season 3 premiere tonight, I give you all kinds of extra goodies below, including the inside scoop on the sport McBride used to be something of a prodigy at, plus the truth about that John Rocker rumor. Enjoy.

Now You Can Watch the Game That Inspired 'Hoosiers'

2012-02-18T22:52:18Z

You can now watch, in all its grainy black-and-white glory, the final few minutes of the very game that inspired Hoosiers, possibly the greatest basketball movie of all time, the 1954 Indiana state championship in which Milan High (enrollment 162) defeated Muncie Central (enrollment 1,662) 32-30. (Clip and details after the break.)

Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated on his Mike Powell Story "Man In Full"—And Way More

2012-02-14T14:19:40Z

It's a good day here at The Blog. No, not because of Valentine's Day, which Katie and I totally loserishly do not celebrate, as is explained in my previous post. Not even because it's Tuesday. I actually kind of like Mondays. Well, most Mondays. Some Mondays are just ugly. But most are actually pretty okay.

Mostly though, it's a good day because today Sports Illustrated senior writer Chris Ballard joins us to talk more writing and journalism and his latest bonus story "Man In Full," which came out in last week's SI. We also talk dunking, fatherhood, husband-being, writing in bars, and how at 38 he can still dunk a basketball.

If you haven't read "Man In Full" yet, I high recommend you click here and get started. It's a master class in in-depth reporting and longform story structure. It's also about 7,500 words long, so give yourself a minute or two to really dig through it. Trust me though: it's worth it.

As always, I emailed Chris the questions and let him do with them what he does best: write. He got carried away. He wrote like 5,000 words total. He felt sort of bad about it. I told him he should feel the opposite, because I'm a vacuum for knowledge about this stuff, and I know lots of you are, too. So yeah, get comfy. If you want to print it out, click here.

Also, if you have any questions for Chris, go on and drop them in the comments at the end of this post. You can also hit him up on Twitter, where he is @SI_ChrisBallard. (If you have questions for me for whatever reason, I'm also on Twitter as @brandonsneed.)

Finally, it goes without saying: enjoy. I sure did.

Why Brandon and Katie Are Losers Who Don't Do Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T12:15:25Z

This originally ran on Valentine's Day 2011.

Happy Valentime's! This is a guest post by my beautiful and amazing and way-smarter-than-me wife, Katie. Enjoy. (The post. Not my wife. She's all mine. Um, okay then ...)

Why We Don't Do Valentine's Day
by Katie Sneed

Brandon and I decided a couple years ago to not celebrate Valentine’s Day. You can imagine how this goes over with people. Someone asks, “What did your husband get you for Valentine’s Day?” When I say, “Nothing,” then they look at me with pity and try and comfort me. Then I explain that we just don’t do V-Day, and they look at me like I’m crazy. They ask me why not, and I just sort of say, “Oh, we just don’t.”

Did The New York Times Steal Someone Else's Column? Journalism and Copyrights and Wrongs

2012-02-09T14:51:52Z

Interesting blog post from Carly Carioli over at thephoenix.com, who says the New York Times stole from her publisher:

Bill Keller: I heard you like copyright. You wrote one provocative print columnabout it on Sunday, one blistering blog followup on Monday, and pointed to a third Times op-ed piece from Sunday (headline: "Perpetual War: Digital Pirates amd Creators") that says basically the same thing.

So here's an interesting data point: on Saturday, the New York Times blatantly and willfully violated the copyright of another publisher -- our publisher, actually. On the Times op-ed (web) page. And in a blog follow-up to that op-ed column.

More on that in a second. But before we get our lawyers involved, and for the benefit of everyone else reading this, let's go back and start with the Times's feelings on copyright.

Read the full blog post here.

[h/t Jay Rosen]

Chris Jones of Esquire on His Zanesville Zoo Massacre Story 'Animals,' 'The Most Dramatic Story Of The Year'

2012-02-07T21:45:55Z

Maybe it's because I just had a Red Bull, but I'm way too excited right now. Esquire's Chris Jones stopped by the blog to give us an unreal behind-the-scenes look at his story "Animals," which comes out in the March 2012 issue of Esquire. It takes you inside last year's unbelievable Zanesville Zoo massacre, when Terry Thompson released more than 50 of his wild, exotic animals before killing himself. The story, billed by Esquire as "the most dramatic story of the year," went up on Esquire.com yesterday. It's long and it is terrifying and it is amazing. Sort of like this interview, only minus the terrifying part. I think.

Jones fills us in on how he went about reporting and writing the piece, who he talked to and why, why he likes to drive eight hours to report a story rather than fly, what he drinks way too much of while he writes, and he tells us all about duking it out with rival writer Chris Heath of GQ, who, unbelievably, was in Zanesville at exactly the same time as Jones.

Odds are you know Chris Jones. Or at least a Chris Jones. If you're a writer, especially a journalist, you probably know this Chris Jones, the two-time National Magazine Award-winning writer-at-large for Esquire and, recently, the back-page columnist for ESPN The Magazine. I've been following Chris for years. Honestly, it was his writing that what showed me what one can do with journalism. Few writers have made an impression on me like him.

Just because I love you all so much, I've gotten my three-year-old niece, whom I am babysitting right now, rotting her brain out in front of the TV just so I can work on getting this up. (Oh relax, she's just watching Tangled. Actually, wait, nope, now she's throwing her socks at me.)

Like with previous interviewees Tommy Tomlinson and Tom Lake, I emailed Chris a list of questions, which I like to do because, as I've said before, it lets writers do what they do best, which is write. And man, did Chris write. This thing runs a good 4,500 words. If you get a chance, give Chris a thank-you in the comments, or you can hit him up on Twitter, where he is @MySecondEmpire.

And now, the interview. If you haven't read the story yet, you might want to do that first.

The Grind

2012-02-07T13:38:02Z

The last couple weeks, I've been looking for my next story idea for ESPN The Magazine. It's been a tough, frustrating stretch.

I'm not complaining. Life is awesome. I'm just writing this to share some struggles I think lots of writers face, journalists in particular.

Thomas Lake on Pop Herring, How to Make It as a Journalist, Coffee, and Why You "Have To Get Yourself Good"

2012-01-23T15:41:26Z

Today I am totally stoked to bring you this interview with Thomas Lake. Lake is a senior writer at Sports Illustrated. He is 31 years old. He wrote a good story in a recent issue of Sports Illustrated. ("Did This Man Really Cut Michael Jordan?") Only by "good" I mean "phenomenal" and other such over-the-top adjectives. I asked him some questions about it over email. Which was great, because it let Lake do what Lake does best, which is write, and he writes—as always—really, really well down there. Lots of smart thoughts, lots of good sentences. Just good stuff all around.

Since it's pretty long, I'll shut up now and just let the interview go. So ladies and gentlemen, Lake on making it as a journalist, coffee, how and why to get yourself good at what you do, and, of course, Pop Herring. I'd say "enjoy," but I know you will anyway, because Lake responded to everything just amazingly, so I'll just stop saying things and let you finally get to reading.

Brandon and Katie Go To a Football Game

2012-01-18T02:31:48Z

So last weekend this guy and his girl who've been married almost three years and who sometimes feel like they’ve been growing up too fast and who got tired of being all super tight with money decided for a weekend to just say "Screw it" and go on an adventure.