My Short, Sweet Stint With ESPN

A long, long time ago, when I was single and goatees were cool, I wrote a column for ESPN.com's hot "Page 2" section. 

It was on my then girlfriend's (now wife's) Red Sox-crazed family. I sent it to them unbidden--I believe I actually pasted the entire thing into one of those "Comments" boxes--and they published it.

It was 2001. 

Then I wrote another and another, and the editor there said, "you know, if you, like, want to turn this into a regular thing..."

I didn't think I had a "regular thing" in me, and at the time, didn't think dudes who wrote about sports minutia every day or even every week were all that cool.

Clearly I could've done much more with that opportunity. ESP-freakin'-N!

Around the same time, a young Boston writer with a lot of energy and style started writing for Page 2 as well. He turned it into a regular thing, and then some.

So lookit Bill Simmons today. 

And lookit me! When you click on the "Michael Malone archive" on ESPN.com, under my headshot, the record for the NBA coach of the same name comes up.

No respect.

You can access most of the columns I wrote back then here.