Latest Articles Written

Full Archive »

About

As long as I can remember I've loved sports, and when professional baseball player didn't quite pan out as a career path (though I'm still holding out hope for a Jim Morris-type comeback), sports writing became the next best thing to being on the field.

I'm only 24 years old, but already have a good deal of writing experience, having written for my local newspaper the Elgin Courier News of Sun-Times News Group since 2006, covering anything and everything that falls under the scope of "high school sports". That has meant everything from your standard basketball or football game to cross-country meets and volleyball matches, and everything in between.

While the local sports scene is fun, there is no question my dream job is covering Major League Baseball.

I began writing for Bleacher Report not seeking employment of any sort, but simply looking for an outlet where I could hone my writing skills and get some feedback from the sports fan community.

In any event, I published my first article on April 29, 2009 back when the site was still finding its footing and I was thrilled to see my article be read by literally hundreds of people over the course of a few weeks.

In my four years writing for the site, I've managed to work my way up from contributor, to Cubs Featured Columnist, to MLB Featured Columnist, and now I'm in a position where I've turned writing for B/R from a hobby into a career.

I'm thankful for everything I've gotten so far out of my time here at B/R, and I look forward to watching the site continue to grow.

Now to brag about myself with a series of numbers and dates:

Surpassed 1 million reads on August 4th, 2011.
Surpassed 2 million reads on February 6th, 2012.
Surpassed 3 million reads on April 30th, 2012
Surpassed 4 million reads on June 17th, 2012
Surpassed 5 million reads on July 13th, 2012
Surpassed 6 million reads on August 13th, 2012
Surpassed 7 million reads on September 20th, 2012
Surpassed 8 million reads on December 3rd, 2012
Surpassed 9 million reads on February 8th, 2013
Surpassed 10 million reads on March 17th, 2013
Surpassed 11 million reads on April 9th, 2013
Surpassed 12 million reads on May 13th, 2013
Surpassed 12 million reads (again) on June 18th, 2013

7/12: First 1 million read month by an MLB writer
3/13: 1 million read month
4/13: Featured Columnist of the Month

Follow me on Twitter:

Short List

  • Favorite Athletes

    Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo, Jeff Samardzija, Walter Payton, Brian Urlacher, Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall, Charles Tillman, Michael Jordan, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah

  • Favorite Sports Teams

    Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls, University of Illinois

  • Favorite Coaches

    Mike Ditka, Phil Jackson, Tom Thibodeau

  • All-Time Sports Moment

    Glenallen Hill's Home Run onto the roof of the building across the street from Wrigley. 500 feet? Try 600 feet.

  • Most Memorable Game Attended

    1998 Cubs vs. Cardinals- McGwire hit two bombs, Sosa hit one...incredible atmosphere.

  • Most Unbreakable Sports Record

    Any pitching record set in the dead-ball era, Cy Young's 511 wins for example.

  • Ruth or Mays?

    Ruth, there will never be another player who dominates the sport the way he did.

  • Unitas or Montana?

    Montana, it's hard to argue with success.

  • Jordan or Russell?

    You're talking to a Chicago man, gotta be Jordan.

  • Gretzky or Orr?

    The Great One

  • Pele or Maradona?

    Pele

  • Federer or Sampras?

    Federer

  • Tiger or Nicklaus?

    Gotta be Nicklaus until Tiger proves he's back to form.

  • Petty or Earnhardt?

    Earnhardt

  • Schumacher or Senna?

    Love NASCAR, still not a Formula 1 guy.

  • ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 or SEC?

    Big Ten...I'm a U of Illinois guy.

Bulletin Board

Default-user-icon-comment
or to post this comment
  • Tiffany Brennan posted 5 days ago

    Tiffany Brennan

    You're welcome, Joel! Keep up the great work with the MLB coverage.

  • Mike Mattes posted 26 days ago

    Mike Mattes

    Joel, while it certainly was a long piece, I actually enjoyed it a lot. You're a great writer, and that's why I love what I do. Keep up the great work.

  • TAB posted 35 days ago

    TAB

    I believe it is YOU'RE talking to a Chicago man, not YOUR talking to a Chicago man.

  • Ely Sussman posted 50 days ago

    Ely Sussman

    Hey congrats on the "FC of the Month" honor and yet another month with a ridiculous number of reads! You're the gold standard for MLB content, so the recognition is very well deserved.

  • Joe Persona posted 62 days ago

    Joe Persona

    Make an attempt at credibility and put Major League Baseball's active Wins leader on your top 100 list.

  • Abdallah Awwad posted 62 days ago

    Abdallah Awwad

    Hey can you do an article ranking mlb closers?

  • Tyler Lorenzi posted 71 days ago

    Tyler Lorenzi

    good job on the 10 mil reads! but i doubt you recall any of my comments on your articles. i believe that your power rankings are always bad. Can you try a new perspective?

  • Tyler Duma posted 76 days ago

    Tyler Duma

    Congrats on cracking 10 million by the way. Pretty damn impressive.

  • Tyler Duma posted 76 days ago

    Tyler Duma

    Joel, thanks for the fan, and the twitter follow!

  • MARLINS . posted 81 days ago

    MARLINS  .

    SO JOEL HOW GOOD DO YOU THINK THE MARLINS WILL BE THIS SEASON? I'M THINK THEY'LL GO 162-0 AND THEY'LL WIN THE WORLD SERIES.

More
Syndicated Writer
#1 Top Writer, May 2013
#1 Top Writer, May 2013
#2 Top Writer, April 2013
#1 Top Writer, April 2013
#2 Top Writer, April 2013
#1 Top Writer, April 2013
#2 Top Writer, April 2013
#1 Top Writer, April 2013
#2 Top Writer, April 2013