Zander Freund

Joined over 3 years ago

• 46 articles written
• 1,258 comments posted
• 4 articles of the day
• Syndicated Writer

Zander's Fans (1524)

Zander's Lineup

Zander's Bio

Hey guys—I'm Zander, Bleacher Report's Community GM.

I started the site back in 2005 along with three of my best friends from high school: Dave Finocchio, Bryan Goldberg, and Dave Nemetz. From the get go, our mission was to legitimize the "fan-expert," offering aspiring sports writers, bloggers, and die-hard debaters a place to publish their commentary in a highly professional and collaborative manner.

The four of us have always been sports freaks; we spent many of our Friday nights debating a wide range of sports topics, and by the time we graduated high school I'm pretty sure we knew just as much about the games we watched as the media personalities who were paid to cover them.

We were certain there were more fans out there like us; millions more. We'd seen them posting on message boards and fan sites since we were in our internet diapers.

Three years ago we decided to act on our vision of giving these fans a centralized voice in the world of sports media. Bleacher Report has since become the premiere destination for citizen sports journalism on the web.

We work out of an office in San Francisco. B/R's company culture is exactly what you'd expect it to be: a highly productive, energetic atmosphere where teamwork comes first and Budweiser comes a close second.

But the story doesn't end there...

Ken Armer, BabyTate, Alan Bass, Issac Barrow, Erick Blasco, L.J. Burgess, Nino Colla, Sean Crowe, Justin Goar, Gray Ghost, Lisa Horne, Ron Johnson, Andrew Kneeland, Andrew McNair, Tim Pollock, Salaar Shamsi, Saraswathi Sirginia, J.J. Stankevitz, Bob Warja, Ben Weixlmann, Michael Whittenberg, Dorothy Willis, and the rest of the talented and passionate Bleacher Creatures have given me the best job in the world. They continue to amaze me every day.

For those of you newbies who aspire to be like these studs: there's no such thing as a free lunch. The site's top contributors did not become masters of the network by accident.

They studied the games they enjoyed like a Rhodes scholar studies schoolbooks.

They learned from their mistakes and listened to the advice of those who tried to help them improve their work.

They practiced their craft—over and over again—then practiced some more.

They never gave up in the face of criticism.

You, aspiring Bleacher Creature, will not get to the Top Writers list if you don't give 110%.

Fully digest the Writer's Tips on our company blog. Work with the editors who are there to help fine tune your skills. Seek the wisdom of those who came before you and cemented a legacy for themselves here.

Feel free to lean on me whenever you need help. I'm always available to show you the ropes and answer any questions you may have. I can be reached at zander@bleacherreport.com, or you can just post a note on my bulletin board.

Thanks again to all of you who have made this Community what it is today—we're just getting started baby.

Zander's Recent Articles

San Francisco NFL Draft Weekend: Living in the Past with Steve Young

Published 7 months ago
529 reads 11 comments

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Why Jayson Stark Is Wrong About Alex Rodriguez and Steroids

Published 9 months ago
844 reads 68 comments

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The Top 10 Reasons To Root for the Cardinals on Sunday—49ers Edition

Published 9 months ago
775 reads 44 comments

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National Disgrace: Graham Harrell Told To Stay Home on Heisman Night

Published 11 months ago
1,851 reads 76 comments

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See 42 more of Zander's articles »

Zander Writes About

• MLB (18),
• MLB History (15),
• Greatest Hits (13),
• B/R Hall of Fame (12),
• Football (10),
• NFL (10),
• Sports & Society (9),
• NBA (8)

The Short List What Zander thinks about sport's most pressing questions

• Favorite Athletes

  Tony Gwynn, Steve Young, Larry Bird, Joe Montana, Ozzie Smith, Dominick Hasek, Hakeem Olajawon, Barry Sanders, Greg Maddux, Magic Johnson, Brett Favre, Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, Kirby Puckett, Ronnie Lott, Fred Couples, Bryant Young, Andre Agassi, Pavel Bure, Lawrence Taylor, Pudge Rodriguez, Reggie Miller, Brent Jones, Tim Duncan, Pedro Martinez, Allen Iverson, Jerry Rice, Ken Caminiti, Ray Borque, Andre Agassi, Clyde Drexler, Peyton Manning, Mark McGwire, Ray Lewis, Ray Allen, Arturs Irbe, Bruce Smith, Steve Yzerman, Deion Sanders, Trevor Hoffman, Garrison Hearst, Hersey Hawkins, Wayne Gretzky, Darrell Green, Don Mattingly, Tim Hardaway, Jim Edmonds, Mike Alstott, Dave Stewart, Igor Larionov, Reggie Roby, Mario Lemieux, Steve Kerr, Tom Rathman

• Favorite Sports Teams

  SF 49ers (88'-present), Oakland Athletics (89'-93', 97'-01'), Golden State Warriors (89'-95', 05'-present), San Jose Sharks (93'-99'), Atlanta Braves (97'-01'), San Antonio Spurs (98'-present), San Diego Padres (98'), Dallas Mavericks (01'-03'), New York Yankees (83'-88'), Green Bay Packers (08'), Houston Rockets (95'-98')

• Favorite Coaches

  Bill Walsh, Paul Brown, John Wooden, Phil Jackson, Earl Weaver, Tony LaRussa

• All Time Sports Moment

  Owens! Owens! Owens!

• Most Memorable Game Attended

  Michigan vs. Michigan State, 3 OT, 2004

• Most Unbreakable Sports Record

  511 wins (Cy Young)

• Ruth or Mays?

  Mays is more well rounded, but no one ever dominated quite like Ruth

• Unitas or Montana?

  Joe

• Jordan or Russell?

  MJ

• Gretzky or Orr?

  Tossup

• Pele or Maradona?

  Pele

• Federer or Sampras?

  Roger—though Rod Laver won the grand slam as both an amateur and professional, and is thus surely the best male tennis player of all time

• Tiger or Nicklaus?

  The Golden Bear—Tiger will probably be the best when he retires

• Petty or Earnhardt?

  Earnhardt—With all due respect to The King, The Intimidator faced fiercer competition

• Schumacher or Senna?

  Schumacher

• Pac 10, Big 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC, or Big East?

  SEC—college football was made to be played down south!

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