Fans First
SB Nation is the largest and fastest-growing network of fan-centric online sports communities. From the beginning, we've focused on developing the highest quality grassroots sports sites on the web—recruiting only the most respected bloggers and writers to build their communities at SB Nation and empowering passionate fans to engage in the conversation.
We take a different approach to online sports media. Instead of providing all fans with a common experience, we offer nearly 200 (and growing quickly) distinct team and sport-specific sites, each with its own name, URL, team colors, writers, and guidelines. In a world where media companies are slashing their investments in team or sport coverage, no one matches SB Nation's commitment to serve fans across nearly all sports and teams.
Find the fan-focused sites for your favorite sports and teams at SBNation.com.
Executive Management
Jim Bankoff
Chairman and CEO
A fifteen year veteran of the online industry, Jim developed and led dozens of the most popular websites on the internet including AOL.com, Mapquest, Moviefone, AOL Music, Netscape and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) as an Executive Vice President at AOL. He initiated and oversaw the drive to open up AOL's content and services onto the web and was the first executive of a major portal to embrace professional blogging with his acquisition of Weblogs Inc. and development and leadership of sites such as TMZ, Fanhouse, BloggingStocks and Engadget. His accomplishments have earned him wide recognition, most notably the first Emmy ever awarded to a webcast, for his role as Executive Producer of the Live 8 concerts online. Immediately prior to joining SB Nation, Jim served as a Senior Advisor at Providence Equity Partners, the largest private equity firm focused on media and communications. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA from Emory University.
Faves: Japer's Rink', Blazer's Edge, Bruins Nation, Minor League Ball
Tyler Bleszinski
Founder / Editor in Chief
Tyler is responsible for recruiting and supporting the best sports bloggers on the web. He founded SportsBlogs Nation when he launched Athletics Nation in November 2003. Athletics Nation was the blueprint from which future SB Nation blogs would be built. He has recruited many of the great bloggers on the network and was integral in developing the overall vision for SB Nation. Bleszinski, known as Blez in the sports blogosphere, has interviewed A's General Manager Billy Beane, A's owner Lewis Wolff and A's manager Bob Geren as well as many players. His leadership in the field has opened the doors for many other bloggers. He has also written columns for the Oakland Tribune and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. He was also featured in Sports Illustrated and the New York Times and was named as one of the top two most influential people in sports blogging.
Trei Brundrett
VP, Products and Technology
Trei leads the highly talented team responsible for SB Nation's cutting edge publishing and community platform. He has been designing and building web applications for engaged audiences for over 12 years. As a founder of the highly regarded software development consultancy, Handwire, Trei developed enterprise internet solutions for Fortune 500 companies and large public institutions such as Microsoft, Royal Dutch Shell, and MD Anderson Cancer Center. Working with Microsoft's Xbox division, he led efforts to design, build, and scale the first web application empowering sports gamers to organize leagues and tournaments, track scores, and calculate standings. Before joining SB Nation, Trei ran the internet efforts for former tech CEO and Virginia Governor Mark Warner in the 2008 presidential primaries. Using innovative techniques to organize and connect supporters, raise online contributions, and reach out to the political blogosphere, Trei helped make Gov. Warner's organization the most tech-savvy in the race before the governor bowed out to run for US Senate. Trei's other achievements include creating a ground-breaking platform for Texas Monthly, "the national magazine of Texas," connecting Texans across the world, as well as developing technology for OzSearch, the first and largest online portal dedicated to delivering Australian web content.
Faves: Crawfish Boxes, Burnt Orange Nation, Bloody Elbow, Beyond the Boxscore
Kyle Ragsdale
VP, Business Affairs and Finance
Kyle Ragsdale oversees all marketing, sales and finance functions for SB Nation. Prior to joining SB Nation in October of 2008, Kyle was Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs at Georgetown where he was recognized as one of the top marketers in college athletics, receiving numerous awards and establishing all time records in revenue, attendance and ticket sales. Prior to Georgetown, Kyle founded a successful venture-backed sports technology start up. He is a CPA, has his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University) and is an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown where he teaches a masters level Sports Marketing class.
Team
Ryan Gantz
Creative Director
Ryan directs the visual design of the SB Nation blogs and publishing platform, including branding, user interface design, and front-end development. Before joining SB Nation, Ryan helped design and build political campaign and progressive community websites for clients including Senators John Edwards, Mark Warner, Tom Harkin and Sherrod Brown; the NRDC; and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig. Ryan has 11 years of web design experience and has been devoted to pure CSS page layout techniques since 2001. He grew up in Massachusetts and has a BA in English from Boston University. Ryan is a founding member of L.A. comedy troupe Mighty McPilgrim and lives in Santa Barbara with his wife Jenny and son Devo.
Faves: Over the Monster, CelticsBlog, South Side Sox
Chris Haines
Community Manager
As Community Manager at SB Nation, Chris Haines is the point of first contact for all of SB Nation’s bloggers and users and manages the launches of new blogs. Chris joined SB Nation in December 2008 after spending two years in the marketing department of an investment bank. He is a 2007 graduate of Georgetown University. Chris is a Philadelphia-area native and marks Game 5 of the 2008 World Series as one of the happiest days of his life.
Faves: Broad Street Hockey, Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician (much to his chagrin), Bleeding Green Nation
Jessica Jacobs
Marketing Director
Jessica works to grow existing and create new revenue streams for SB Nation and increase awareness of the company broadly and among advertisers. Prior to joining the team at SBN, Jessica ran the Washington Kastles, a World TeamTennis franchise in DC, and previously worked for the regional sports commission for DC, Maryland, and Virginia – the Greater Washington Sports Alliance. In her spare time Jessica likes to run, watch "Charlie Rose", go for drives in her ZipCar, and search for the perfect apple at the local farmers market.
Faves: Over the Monster, Pats Pulpit, Stanley Cup of Chowder
Michael Lovitt
Lead Developer
Michael is an architect and developer of the SB Nation sports blogging platform. Prior to joining SB Nation, he was a principal at Handwire, a software development consultancy in Austin, Texas, where he built XSN Sports, a ground-breaking community platform for Microsoft’s Xbox group; Access, a touchscreen kiosk wayfinding system for MD Anderson Cancer Center; and Easyjournal, an early blogging system acquired by Pluck. Michael also created Rubular, a popular tool for Ruby developers, and has a BA in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin.
Faves: Viva El Birdos, Uncommon Sportsman
Pablo Mercado
Lead Developer
Pablo is an architect and developer of the SB Nation sports blogging platform. His past roles have included principal at software development consultancy Handwire, senior programmer at Gov. Mark Warner’s Forward Together PAC, and software engineer at Meridian Global Solutions in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has contributed to projects ranging from e-commerce solutions for Sony Latin America to fundraising management systems for multi-million dollar events in the non-profit sector.
Faves: Global Futbol
League Managers
Peter Bean, Burnt Orange Nation
Manager of NCAA blogs
Peter Bean founded Burnt Orange Nation in December 2005, building the site and its readership steadily since that time. The community of readers at Burnt Orange Nation is one of the most active in the sports blogosphere and was presented with the “Best Community” and “Best Big 12 Blog” awards in the “2006 College Football Blog Awards,” as voted on by dozens of collegiate sports bloggers. Along with his work at Burnt Orange Nation, Peter Bean’s writing has appeared in numerous sports publications. He edited the "The Eyes of Texas 2007: An Annual Guide To Texas Longhorns Football," a 112-page book on Texas football published by Maple Street Press. Peter has been interviewed numerous times by various media outlets, including the Houston Chronicle, 790 AM The Sports Animal (Houston, TX), Pluck Media (BlogBurst.com), and Dime Magazine. Along with his writing and editing work, Peter is the co-host of EDSBS LIVE, a weekly online radio program hosted at NowLive.com.
Matt Bernhardt, Blog A Bull
Manager of NBA blogs
Matt started 'Bulls Blog' in the summer of 2003, making that site one of the very first in the then-fledgling NBA blogosphere. Born in the suburbs of Chicago and raised a spoiled Bulls fan growing up only knowing titles, he stuck through the lean post-Jordan years with pride, even through the Eddie Robinson era. As the readership of NBA blogs has grown, Matt was very active in trying to grow the readership and community of NBA blogs, most noticeably through his famous blogroll (awarded best among NBA blogs by Dan Shanoff). He started the Carnival of the NBA, a regular collection of links amongst NBA blogs. The Carnival is now in its 45th edition and when posted is always one of the most linked destinations for several days. It was primarily through these accomplishments that made ESPN's Henry Abbott call BlogABull.com 'The patron-saint of NBA blogging'.
David Halprin, Blogging the Boys
Manager of NFL blogs
A lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, David started writing his blog in August of 2005. He spent so much time talking and thinking about the Cowboys that a blog seemed like the right outlet for an obsessive fan. Later in 2005, he was asked to join SB Nation and has been blogging with us ever since. Outside of a part-time day job that involves software consulting, much of his free time is devoted to growing Blogging The Boys into a vibrant community about America's Team.
James Mirtle, From The Rink
Manager of NHL blogs
A sportswriter and editor at The Globe and Mail in Toronto, James started his eponymous hockey blog in December of 2004 and joined SB Nation in the fall of 2008. His blog was named one of the top three Canadian sports blogs in 2006 and 2007 and has received coverage everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to Hockey Night in Canada. James has written about hockey for The Globe, The Hockey News, The National Post, FanHouse and Deadspin, and is a senior editor with McKeen's Hockey.
Eric Simon, Amazin' Avenue
Manager of MLB blogs
Eric Simon began blogging about the Mets in 2003 and launched Amazin’ Avenue in 2005 for the then-fledgling SportsBlogs Nation. Amazin’ Avenue has grown into the premier community for intelligent Mets discourse on the web, stressing objectivity, proper grammar and thoughtful commentary in lieu of lolcats and ROFLcopters (okay, maybe the occasional lolcat). He has been interviewed for the New York Times on numerous occasions as well as for USA TODAY, and will contribute the Mets chapter to the forthcoming Hardball Times Baseball Preview annual. He doesn’t believe that clutch hitters exist but is willing to be convinced otherwise.
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