The Yang Slinger: Vol. LXXXIX

There's a 14-year-old eighth grader in Highland Park, Ill. who's way ahead of the media game. And his name is Hal Steinberg.

So I have a second cousin via marriage named Elliot.

Really, he’s my wife’s cousin. Or, cough, second cousin. But back in 2002, I married into this crazy-ass (joyful) family, where once the vows are exchanged and the glass is shattered, the whole married-into and via-marriage tags vanish—and you’re just, well, cousin.

Hence, let me start this over.

(Clears throat).

I have a cousin named Elliot.

And back on April 24, two days after my birthday, Cousin Elliot sent me one of those DMs that—depending on what’s going on in life—can be a wee-bit annoying.

He wrote this …

Now, having once been a 14-year-old aspiring journalist, I consider it important to always help youngsters like (checks notes) Hal. Crap, I remember being in high school, and arranging a phone interview with Victor Kiam, owner of the New England Patriots. I was so excited, so thrilled, so giddy—and then Kiam answered the call, snapped, “I don’t have time for this!” and hung up. That shit stung, and to discourage a teenager in such a way is (at the bare minimum) cruel. So I get it. I do. But, well, I’m also painfully busy these days with a book deadline and a new podcast project, and … eh, chatting with 14-year-old Hal wasn’t exactly a top priority.

But, of course, I told Cousin Elliot to have Hal hit me up.

He did …

So … I’m not gonna lie. I’ve maybe possibly kinda/kinda not heard of Michael Pittman (I think), I’m sorta half-certain Race Thompson may well be Klay’s brother and, um, Shea Patterson could introduce himself to me as “Shea Patterson” and I’d stare blankly before saying, “And?” But, man, did I loooooove Hal Steinberg’s e-mail. It was polite, it was to the point, it was ambitious without being rude or pushy. It said, “I’m a dude who’s trying really hard to make something of myself.” I immediately wrote back, and we arranged a time to talk.

I figured I’d be spending 20 minutes via Zoom with a nice kid.

I didn’t realize I’d be meeting a future star.

Way before Tyler Kepner was covering the Majors for the New York Times and the Athletic, he was a 13-year-old kid/diehard Phillies fan self-publishing a baseball magazine titled, KP BASEBALL MONTHLY.

The thing came out, duh, monthly—and Tyler produced 64 issues in all. By age 15, he was interviewing Big League players, hitting up the Phillies’ clubhouse, getting a taste of what his future could (and, ultimately, would) look like. It was heady stuff for someone who had yet to shave or drive, and Tyler’s combination of knowledge and ambition set him on his way

Here’s a little excerpt from a 2008 interview Tyler did with Uni-watch …

And when I think about it, while Tyler may well be the gold standard of youths seeing the highway from 10,000 feet away, his is not an altogether rare saga for those of us who entered this field with drive and grit and big goals. Around the same time KP Baseball Monthly was rolling out, I was waking up early Saturday mornings to appear as a regular caller (in my mind, guest) on “Talkin’ Sports,” a local WVIP am radio show co-hosted by a station employee named Tim Malsbury and Joe Bucchino, the assistant general manager of the New York Rangers. I’d sit by the transistor, plotting for the right time to phone in and offer my genius. Every episode, Bucchino would hear my voice and bellow, “Jeff from Mahopac! My man! My man! My man!” Ultimately, I was brought in one week to serve as a co-host. It was a moment that inspired me to enter sports media.

The truth is, there’s something to be said for not merely wanting it—but chasing it. Not merely talking about—but manifesting it. Not merely waiting for an opportunity—but creating it.

Which leads me back to Hal Steinberg, eighth grader from Highland Park, Ill.

As promised, I appeared on “Beyond the Game with Hal” (he posts his content on both YouTube and TikTok) and I was genuinely impressed by his questions and his research. Yeah, Hal has that 14-year-old boy thing that can only be smoothed out with age and experience and puberty, but he takes his time, he shows real curiosity, he reads the room, he knows his stuff …

And (cough, cough) he has reached out to 1,600 athletes about appearing on his show.

I want to pause for a moment, so you can digest that. Hal Steinberg, eighth grader, has reached out to 1,600 athletes. Not 16. Not 160. Friggin’ 1,6000. He does so via social media DMing, and thus far 20 have agreed to come on “Beyond the Game with Hal.” And, truly, this is the shit of greatness. I can’t understate that—this is the shit of greatness. I mean, I could start a sentence with “Most kids wouldn’t …” but it’s not “Most kids wouldn’t.” It’s “Most people wouldn’t.” Most people wouldn’t birth a YouTube channel at 14. Most people wouldn’t seek out pro athletes. Most people wouldn’t seek out 1,600 pro athletes. And most people wouldn’t keep going when 1,580 ignored them.

“I DM or email every player or person in sports that I can think of from every team,” Hal told me. “I DM as many athletes as I can from all the list that I see and all the videos I see on social media. I am always appreciative of them for taking time out of the day to do an interview with a guy with a dream like me.”

I hit up Cristy Steinberg, Hal’s mother, to seek an explanation to the determination. She said her son’s interest in sports dates back to the dark ages of 2016, when his father took him to Wrigley Field for Game 6 of the Dodgers-Cubs NLCS. “His dad was worried he’d want to leave early,” she said.

It was misplaced concern.

Beginning that night, Hal turned sports geek (I say this endearingly, as a sports geek). Uniforms, numbers, colors, names, geography—it gobbled him up. Why did this player do that? Who is that guy over there? Why is it five feet, not three? Why are the helmets this way, not that? “He has always been an analytical kid so he started to learn all aspects of the game of sports,” she said. “He just sees the game differently that others his age. He loved being the one to explain to his friends and family everything there was to know about sports.”

Like many youngsters, Hal (an A student) thrives on praise and reward from his teachers—and, not surprisingly, praise and reward from his sports content. But unlike many youngsters (especially in 2024), Hal doesn’t take failure as a setback. With each ignored text came five more texts. And 10. And 20. He never gets mad at athletes for ignoring him. He gets it. They’re busy people. “But it fuels his fire to get another,” Cristy said. “And in the end, it’s a numbers game and Hal likes statistics.”

Of all the Hal chats, my favorite is probably the one he recently conducted with Andy Isabella, the journeyman NFL pass catcher. Hal picked the former UMass star because, “I used to play Andy a lot in Madden … so it was really exciting when I got to do an interview with him.” From jump, you can tell Isabella gets it; that his interrogator is young and passionate and worthy of praise. It’s endearing, x100,000—and speaks to the wide receiver’s decency.

But it also speaks to Hal. He’s a pro well before he should be a pro. Good questions. Good listening skills. “I usually have a lot of nerves and I settle them down by rehearsing and knowing all the questions that I’m going to ask,” he explained. “I also do a lot of research and listen to past interviews that these players have done with other people to see how they talk and what they like to talk about. I also treat every person the same no matter how famous they are.”

Hal, of course, has dreams. He wants to keep the channels going, wants to get more and more interviews, wants to improve at his craft. “My ultimate goal,” he said, “is to become a sports broadcaster.”

The beautiful thing: He’s already made it.

Ask Jeff Pearlman a fucking question(s)

From Breh7: I had an interesting conversation the other day that I thought may be something you would write about or address. What is the proper term for a team "reporter" who works for the organization and puts out articles, game stories, etc.? Are they a journalist, a reporter, correspondent, or PR?: Jesus, that’s a helluva question. So back when I was a college student, overflowing with self-righteousness and bullshit arrogance, I would have immediately dismissed such a creature to the PR trash bin. But soooo much has changed over the past 30 years, it’d be unfair for me (or anyone) to diss folks trying to make a living in this crazy industry when there are (sigh) so few jobs.

Hence, I think you can be a reporter and work for the league. I mean, places like MLB.com, NBA.com, NFL.com and NHL.com do tremendous work—even though, technically, they’re employed by the entities they cover.

In conclusion: Fuck if I know.

The Quaz Five with … Seth Davis

Seth Davis is a longtime college basketball writer and commentator as well as a good friend and the author of the definitive John Wooden biography. You can visit his new Substack, Seth Davis Writes Again, here, and follow him on Twitter here.

1. Seth, you’ve started a substack. Why? What’s the inspiration?: My inspiration is that I lost (yet another) job. I had been writing for The Messenger since last September. It was a new platform that I thought was pretty promising, but somehow the guy who ran it, Jimmy Finkelstein, managed to lose $50 million of his investors’ money in about 18 months. Really screwed over a lot of people. This happened in late January, and I was in the teeth of college basketball season. I had heard good things about Substack and was told you can drive some good revenue if you put in the time. But for me, writing about college basketball is a critical piece of my TV prep for the NCAA tournament. So it was a great way for me to stay engaged and on top of things while I plot my next move. (And there’s always a next move.)

2. We’re both products of SI who’ve been around a long time. How do you feel about the state of media? Do you feel as down as most seem to do?: Yeah, it’s pretty discouraging, but I’m a chronic optimist. Disruption begets opportunity. If you’re resourceful enough (and good enough), you can find ways to make it in this business. Look across the country there are still, what, tens of thousands of people working in the media. Hundreds of thousands maybe? The only constant through the years has been change. We can complain about the way things used to be, or we can adapt to the way things are. I choose the latter, evidence be damned.

3. You attended Duke, which is obviously a power player in college hoops. You also cover college hoops. Does it have any impact on your coverage, outlook, approach? And, if so, do you feel a need to own/acknowledge it?: It’s probably the question I get asked the most (perhaps second only to, “Can I have your autograph Mr. Sampras?”) But no, it has zero effect on my coverage. The problem is that Duke is not only a huge brand in college basketball, but it is (for reasons that frankly escape me) a despised brand. People ask if it’s hard for me to criticize Duke, but to the degree that this is an issue, it’s acutally harder for me to praise Duke because then people accuse me of bias. Of course Duke fans think I hate them. So I can’t win for losing.

4. I’ve never had the TV itch. You’ve been doing it a long time—and really well. So what is it about television you dig? And what’s the buzz difference between, I dunno, March Madness studio time and writing something you love?: For me, TV is just as fun as it looks – more fun, in fact. And yeah, the economics are a plus. You know as well as anyone that writing is a lonely endeavor. I like that part of it – I am an introvert by nature, which might surprise some people. Solitude is my vibe. But in TV, you’re working with a team, not just your colleagues on set, but everyone in the studio, the producer, directors, etc. It's just a wonderful energy to be a part of. I often asked often which I like more, and the answer is always the same: TV is more fun, but writing is more gratifying.

5. You wrote the definitive biography of John Wooden. If he were somehow brought back to 2024, how do you think he would feel about the current state of college hoops?: I think he would be pretty sanguine and big-picture about the whole thing. I remember one time I asked him if it could be argued that Tiger Woods was the greatest athlete in the history of sports. He started talking to me about Byron Nelson and Jesse Owens. The man lived a long time and had a lot of perspective. He was fun to be around. It’s kind of like my reaction to your second question about the current state of journalism. As the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun.

Bonus [rank in order—favorite to least]: Baltimore Oriole uniforms, King Rice, pecans, Miley Cyrus, Apollo Creed, “Sophie’s Choice,” TikTok, Joe Biden, Kendrick Lamar, tuna salad: King Rice, Apollo Creed, pecans, Oriole uniforms, Miley Cyrus, Sophie’s Choice. Couple of things here. First of all, I’ve never seen Sophie’s Choice, but I know what her choice was, and I have zero interest in watching a depressing movie like that. Also, it’s funny you mention King Rice, because he was Carolina’s point guard when I was at Duke and he was the favorite target of the Duke fans. He was, if I may say, of limited talent, but he got the most out of what he had, and he was tough as shit. Anyway, the Cameron Crazies used to have a chant that went “hey ref, you suck, you really really suck.” And I wrote a column riffing on that cheer but applying that to King Rice. It was kind of a love letter, actually, albeit an obnoxious one. So I went out one night in Chapel Hill with some buddies to a club called Players, and who was there but King Rice. Turns out he had read the column, and when I walked into the bar someone (probably one of my friends) pointed me out. So he came up to me, pretended to be pissed, then laughed, and we spent the rest of the night doing shots together. Our paths have crossed often, and as you may know he's the coach at Monmouth now. He went through some tough times and had to go to rehab for his drinking, but he's sober now, and he’s just a great dude. So thanks for asking!

A random old article worth revisiting …

On April 20, 1937, the Baltimore Evening Sun ran an AP piece about Robert Wadlow, an 8-foot-5 teenager from Alton, Ill. whose height could be chalked up to hormones secreted by the pituitary gland. Said Dr. Louis H. Behrens: “We surmise that his growth may continue for several years and he may or may not real 9 feet or over.” [He died at age 22—details here]

The Madness of Tyler Kepner’s Grid …

So unless you’ve been living beneath a pebble beneath a rock beneath a big hunk of cheese, you’re aware of Immaculate Grid, the daily game that’s drawn thousands of nerdy sports fans (guilty!) to its ranks. And while the NBA grid, NFL grid, NHL grid and WNBA grid are all fun, this game is at its best when it comes to baseball—where the names are endless and the transactions ceaseless.

Over the past few weeks I’ve often discussed the grid with Tyler Kepner, the Athletic baseball writer. And now, for kicks, every week I’m gonna feature one of Tyler’s bonkers grid results. He’s the ultimate baseball geek (I say this with great affection), and his outputs blow my mind.

So …

Tyler thoughts …

• Tim Lollar was part of the Padres’ trade to the White Sox for LaMarr Hoyt, and he was on the 1986 Red Sox World Series roster (but didn’t pitch)

• Jim Burton was a rookie who gave up the go-ahead single to Joe Morgan in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1975 World Series. Pitched one more game in his brief career.

• Dwayne Hosey is someone I wrote about in my first job out of college, in Riverside, CA, where he lived. He was a former gang member who, at the time, was headed to Japan to play over there.

• Dave Gallagher was a fourth outfielder kinda guy for several teams who is active on X

• Kevin Morgan was an executive with the Mets when I covered them after getting one at-bat for them in 1997.

• John Gibbons, a longtime coach and manager, was the leading hitter on the 1986 Mets, at .474 — and an all-around great guy.

• Mike Myers was a lefty reliever who pitched in 883 games for a bunch of teams; I covered him with the Yankees. He tells me I should stop using the same guys all the time on the Grid.

• JD Closser was a catcher for the Rockies in the mid-2000s. When he was a kid in Indiana, he actually subscribed to the baseball magazine I published in my teenage years.

• Ryan Spilborghs is an excellent broadcaster for the Rockies and analyst for SiriusXM. Another terrific guy.

This week’s college writer you should follow on Linkedin …

Kharley Redmon, Uniiversity of Mississippi

In the aftermath of some really ugly behavior by a bunch of racist frat bros at a campus rally, Redmon, editor in chief of the student newspaper, wrote smoothly, wisely, professionally for the Daily Mississippian. Her piece, UM NAACP HOLDS TOWN HALL CALLING FOR EXPULSION OF THREE STUDENTS, was extremely well done and wise in its usage of language.

Wrote Redmon:

One can follow Kharley on Linkedin here.

Journalism musings for the week …

Musing 1: I’m still sorta bewildered by the Indianapolis Star announcing Gregg Doyel would not be covering the Indiana Fever this coming season. On the one hand, yes, he exercised poor behavior and deserved some level of punishment. On the other hand—this is the lead sports columnist for the city’s big paper. To have him not opine on Caitlin Clark and Co. … eh. It seems silly.

Musing 2: Really fascinating piece in the Pittsburgh City Paper from Jessie Sage, their sex columnist, on the lucrative world of findom—financial domination. Writes Sage, a former guest on my pod and a really cool person: “It is clear why a Findomme (a dominatrix who engages in financial domination) would enjoy taking her submissive’s money; while money may also be a personal kink for any given Findomme, sex work is business, and like all business owners, sex workers want to make money. But what about the submissive? What is in it for them?”

Musing 3: A really, really, really, really bad take from Ethan Strauss and Bill Simmons on the WNBA, and that teams should just identify as their city’s NBA squad, only with a “W” in front. Their argument—that it’s too hard to remember the names of WNBA programs—is, um, painfully inane.

Musing 4: Kara Voght of the Washington Post is a star, and her latest article, FOR LAURA LOOMER, A TRUMP COMeBACK IS EVERYTHING, was a perfectly crafted story on an insane person. Wrote Voght: “Loomer is too much for even her ostensible allies in the MAGA-friendly media to stomach. She often claims Fox News has blacklisted her and laments that the right-wing media personalities of Turning Point USA and the Daily Wire don’t invite her on their shows — even though they’re quick to applaud her handiwork online. A Fox News spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment; a spokesperson for Turning Point USA said that Loomer has attended their events and that hosts have shared her reporting. In a recent post on X, Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing called Loomer ‘occasionally effective,’ if also ‘occasionally hyperbolic’ and ‘prone to seeing correlation as causation and connection as conspiracy.’”

Musing 5: Kendrick Lamar won. Then he stomped on Drake’s head—multiple times. It’s over.

Musing 6: What a powerful column from the New York Times’ Jessica Bennett. In WHAT KIND OF HUSBAND BEHAVES LIKE DONALD TRUMP?, she writes: “And as Ms. Daniels explained how Mr. Trump would call her ‘honeybunch’ when he phoned her, and tell her he missed her, I found myself wondering: Is this a man who is capable of missing anyone? Do we have evidence of that, evidence that this man who doesn’t seem to have lasting close friends, or a family who stands by his side at his lowest moments, is credible as someone who puts loved ones (let alone the country) before his own interests?”

Musing 7: Damn—Bernard Hill, the veteran character actor who you 100 percent know as the captain of the Titanic, has died at age 79. Wrote Alex Traub in Hill’s New York Times’ obituary: “In ‘Titanic,’ he was Capt. Edward J. Smith. Early in the movie, he grasps the ship’s railing, looks out to sea and instructs one of his crew to increase the ship’s speed, “Let’s stretch her legs,” he declares. The movie ultimately suggests that the undue speed of the ship was a factor in its fatal collision with an iceberg. After hearing the bad news, Mr. Hill walks in a daze on the ship’s deck, eyes lost in the middle distance, the official regalia of his captain’s outfit rendered absurd. He walks alone to the helm and stands there erect as water bursts through the windows, ensuring that he will go down with his ship.”

Musing 8: You just never know when your postgame presser is gonna be interrupted by sex noises.

Musing 9: The new Two Writers Slinging Yang podcast stars Sam Amico, the Hoops Wire do-it-all guru.

Quote of the Week …