My 11 Favorite Stories and Videos of the Decade
With the 2010s coming to a close, I wanted to share the 10 pieces I’m most proud of creating this decade.
So, Wait, Who Actually Won All Those Tour de France Titles? Vice, 2012
As someone who followed Lance Armstrong’s rise and fall, I wanted to take a clear-eyed look at the doping culture of cycling in the wake of the Tour de France stripping the Texan of all seven of his titles. What I found is that if you try to crown an alternate winner to replace Lance in those years, it was nearly impossible to find a clean rider.
Helmets Won’t Save Football from Concussions, Sports Illustrated, 2012
As the NFL stared down a concussion crisis, lots of people thought helmets could save the day. Of course, a lot of people were trying to profit off off the idea that they could. However, when I dug into the science of concussions in sports, you find that helmets don’t offer the solution you think at all.
Witness to the Suicide of the Seattle Sonics, Deadspin, 2012
One of my first jobs was with the Seattle Sonics as they were ripped away from Seattle. For years I blamed Clay Bennett and the OKC ownership, but as I went back to write this story, I realized it had been Howard Schultz’s fault all along.
How Athletes Get Great, Outside, 2013
One of my most read stories of all time is a longform conversation I had with my friend David Epstein when his first book The Sports Gene came out and we discussed the balance of nature and nurture in the creation of elite athletes.
Guy Fieri Is the Hero We Need, Playboy, 2015
There was something that never quite sat right with me when Pete Wells wrote his big Guy Fieri takedown. I get that Fieri’s food ain’t the greatest, but something stunk of classism in one sector of the food world’s criticism of the mayor of Flavortown. So I contacted nearly 100 restaurateurs who had appeared on Triple-D and they told me tales of how much Guy had helped their business. So while so many people who hated on Guy liked to espouse their commitment to independent restaurateurs, I wanted to show that few were doing as much for those small business owners as Fieri.
Bartender Confidential, Playboy, 2015-2016
I gathered some of the world’s best bartenders and asked them all the same series of questions. I then took that 30 hours of footage and spliced it into these tight little videos where we let the bartenders impart their wisdom on our audience.
Tasting Notes with Patrick Cappiello, 2015-16
The wine video series I co-created with award-winning sommelier Patrick Cappiello is a primer for anyone getting into fermented grape juice. It also became a testing ground for me to try out new video formats, from taste tests, to cooking segments, to how-to videos.
Has Eric Wareheim Made the First Celebrity Wine That’s Actually Good? GQ, 2017
I wrote about how Eric Wareheim turned himself into a wine guy, so much so that he launched his own label, Las Jaras.
Jordan Kahn Is Cooking Weirdness for Weirdness Sake, Robb Report, 2018
I became intrigued with how Vespertine was a meta commentary on how memories play such an important part in the affinity we have toward certain foods and how could you create a restaurant where the chef intentionally tried to obscure point of references from you.
Molecular Gastronomy Was the Restaurant World’s Moneyball Revolution, Robb Report, 2019
I became obsessed with the idea that something could be as huge as molecular gastronomy could so quickly be thrown aside that I just started asking everyone I talked to in the food world why it seemed so loathed. In truth, molecular gastronomy didn’t go away. At the same time a bunch of industries were undergoing Moneyball revolutions from baseball to political punditry and more. What I found was that molecular gastronomy didn’t go away. It won, and changed cooking forever.
The 10 Restaurants That Defined the 2010s
To understand the cultural changes underpinning the restaurants we enjoyed this decade, you need to know these 10 places.