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When Emmanuel Morgan was employed as a sports activities reporter protecting the N.F.L. and fight sports activities for The New York Occasions in 2021, the job felt acquainted. In any case, Mr. Morgan, who grew up taking part in soccer, had been writing concerning the sport since highschool. He went on to cowl the N.F.L. for The Los Angeles Occasions for almost two years.
“I knew the N.F.L. and the U.F.C. and all these different sports activities so properly,” mentioned Mr. Morgan, 27, who additionally lined highschool sports activities and basketball for The Los Angeles Occasions, together with serving to report on the dying of Kobe Bryant in 2020.
So when The Occasions disbanded its Sports activities division final 12 months, he took the chance to stretch himself and pitch a brand new beat: the intersection of sports activities and popular culture.
“I’m not a film critic or a Broadway-goer, however I observe popular culture, I watch Netflix and I hearken to music consistently — within the bathe every single day, on the subway,” he mentioned. “I had my pulse on it.” Over the previous eight months, Mr. Morgan, now on the Tradition desk, has written concerning the popular culture phenomenon of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, the rising relationship between the N.F.L. and streaming companies and the rise of athlete podcasts.
In an interview, he mentioned how his each day information consumption has modified and what his favourite reporting expertise thus far has been. These are edited excerpts from the dialog.
You’ve been within the position for slightly over eight months now. How is it going thus far?
I’ve positively needed to be much more artistic with regards to discovering story concepts. Once I was with the Sports activities desk, I knew the N.F.L. and the U.F.C. so properly — protecting sports activities could be very formulaic. You realize it’s important to have previews for giant occasions just like the Tremendous Bowl and the N.F.L. draft, and because the season goes on the main story traces and the targets for profiles and options grow to be fairly clear. However with this new beat, I’m reporting on stuff you don’t see on TV or Twitter, and there are much more choices, since I’m not simply specializing in the N.F.L. and U.F.C. anymore. I’ve to make much more cellphone calls and discuss to extra individuals.
In March, a gathering with a publicist led to a well timed story about how Flau’jae Johnson, among the finest ladies’s school basketball gamers within the nation, balanced her sports activities obligations together with her music profession.
What are a few of your favourite articles you’ve written thus far?
I labored on a lot of items across the Tremendous Bowl this 12 months in Las Vegas — I adopted a retired participant round Radio Row for a day for a narrative about the way it’s reworked right into a colossus for the N.F.L. I wrote about how events on the Tremendous Bowl have grow to be a enterprise and use the occasion as a taking part in floor for model activations. It was cool to indicate different individuals on the Tradition desk that there’s extra to cowl than simply the halftime present.
I additionally wrote about Joel Embiid, a basketball participant who began a media manufacturing firm, which is an enormous factor within the sports activities area now. And I landed a front-page story on how the N.F.L. is attempting to department out and do extra long-form tasks for streaming companies like Netflix, Amazon and Apple.
Did you play sports activities rising up?
I performed soccer in highschool. I used to be a working again and a linebacker. I additionally wrestled. I’ve all the time been an athlete, however I cherished to jot down, too. So placing the 2 collectively made sense.
What’s essentially the most enjoyable factor you’ve had the possibility to do for an article?
I bought to observe the U.F.C. announcer Bruce Buffer round for a struggle. I used to be in a position to observe how he ready, together with color-coordinating index playing cards he reads within the octagon, which have the fighters’ names and stats on them.
What’s been your largest problem?
Making an attempt to detach myself from the video games. My intuition is to need to cowl what’s occurring on the sector or on the court docket. I’ve to step again and search for issues that aren’t concerned within the precise sport itself. I’m coaching myself to suppose otherwise.
What are your targets for future protection of sports activities and tradition at The Occasions?
To maintain constructing it out — it’s been cool to have the ability to experiment and take a look at new issues; to say, “The New York Occasions wouldn’t have lined that story earlier than, but it surely’s vital.” I’m not even a 12 months in but, and I hold discovering new tales to cowl. There’s an viewers for this crossover between sports activities and leisure, and my objective is to seek out it and inform tales that resonate with them.
