Dan in Cleveland’s Little Italy with local baseball hero Rocky Colavito (summer, 2021).
Hi, I know it’s been a while. I live in Cleveland now! I’m updating this site with some new information, but for the time being, please take a look at my resume.
-Dan
I’ve been filling in as the host of The Sonny Side of Sports on the Voice of America’s English to Africa service. Here’s the aircheck for Friday, Feb. 23.
Here are some recent stories I’ve done about the world of whisky (how it is spelled in Scotland) and whiskey (how it is spelled in the U.S.):
Some women are getting involved at the highest levels of whisky-making. They may be making it better than ever. “Whisky-Making Not Just for Men Anymore” (Voice of America Learning English, 2017)
In the summer of 2016, an unknown rye whiskey from a well-known bourbon-maker came out. No one even knew the barrels were in the warehouse, aging. It hit shelves at $299. Today those bottles are worth two or three times the price after Booker’s Rye won multiple awards at the end of 2016. Beam-Suntory, the corporation that owns the Booker’s name, held back some bottles for charity. Now, some people may be finding out they are able to buy a bottle they thought they could never get their hands on. For Men’s Journal, in September 2017. “Extremely Rare Booker’s Rye Whiskey Being Re-Released…”
The sought-after Booker’s Rye.
For two years, starting in October 2015, I worked as a writer and producer for web, video and audio stories at Voice of America in Washington, D.C. I worked for the Learning English department (learningenglish.voanews.com) where a great staff and I produced material to help English learners around the world. We wrote stories, produced a daily podcast and educational videos about world events and life in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world visited the site daily.
Dan at VOA.
I came up with stories, wrote them and produced them for both the web and our podcast.
The Learning English service at VOA is targeted at people who speak English as a second language and are trying to improve their skills.
I mostly write about current events, entrepreneurs, sports and “trending” topics.
In two years, I wrote hundreds of stories. You can check them out!
I also contributed regularly to the “Sonny Side of Sports” as a sports analyst with host Sonny Young. Listen to our conversation previewing the MLB All-Star Game from July 2017 below.
For the last four baseball seasons, I worked as a tracking system operator for MLB.com (mostly at Nats Park in Washington) initially on Pitchf/x (it’s called Fox Trax when it’s on TV in some markets) and for the last year, rotating onto the system we internally call Baseball Tracking System, which feeds data to what you may know as Statcast. You’ll be seeing Statcast this fall during the MLB postseason.
Here are a few plays I tracked when running the Statcast system during the 2015 MLB regular season:
Bryce Harper in Washington:
Cespedes in Washington:
Yan Gomes in Cleveland:
And I didn’t track this play in Tampa, but it was still pretty sweet.
Started doing some stories for the American Sports Network, including a feature about what it’s like to be a Naval Academy football player doing summer training in Quantico, Va.
Navy football players navigate obstacle course at Quantico.
Here are some other topics:
Phillies prospect Mitch Gueller thriving in third year of short-season ball
University of Richmond, a year after a balloon crash killed two coaches
Diamondbacks select College of Charleston’s Taylor Clarke
Biloxi Shuckers: Road Warriors
ESPN asked me to work on three stories for the Jan. 2015 Music Issue of the magazine.
I checked out rapper Wale’s performance at the Washington Wizards home opener for the 2014-15 season. He told me he had asked Kanye West to design some uniforms for the team.
Did you see Katy Perry’s performance at this year’s Super Bowl? Sarah Moll is in charge of booking the act each year.
Are you a fan of the EA Sports FIFA soccer video games? Ever wonder who is in charge of choosing the music that makes it on to the soundtrack? Now you know.
Wale with the Wizard Girls in November 2014.
Check out this photo gallery: USA Rugby vs. New Zealand from Soldier Field in Chicago. I wrote the captions!
ESPN the Magazine rugby photo gallery