I'm a former sportswriter/sports editor with the Los Angeles Sentinel who's mainly covered high school sports but also college and the pros. I still freelance with several publications including ESPN/RISE and the Torrance Daily Breeze.

Before I became a writer, I was and still a sports fan first. Lifelong Lakers, UCLA and Dodgers fan who grew up listening to Chick Hearn and Vin Scully call games like nobody else, reading the sports page every day and admiring John Wooden's legacy. I dreamed of being a Bruin but instead I became a Torero, graduating from the University of San Diego.

My writing inspirations are more literary than sportswriting but I feel fortunate to remember reading the late Jim Murray's final column for the LA Times and the late David Halberstam in college. Besides those two, I'm inspired by among others, Ralph Wiley, Michael Wilbon, Bill Simmons and JA Adande.

Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/evan_b