Lang Whitaker is a

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

who works for the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division of the ...

as the General Manager of Grizz Gaming, and a contributor to Grind City Media, as well as a contributor to

GQ Magazine ''GQ'' (short for ''Gentlemen's Quarterly'' and previously known as ''Apparel Arts'') is an international monthly men's magazine based in New York City and founded in 1931. The publication focuses on fashion, style, and culture for men, though ...

Career

From 2000–2013, Whitaker worked as a writer and editor for ''

SLAM Magazine ''Slam'' (stylized in all caps) is an American basketball magazine in circulation since 1994. History Founding and early years ''Slam'' was launched in 1994 as a basketball magazine that combined the sport with hip hop culture at a time when ...

'', a hip-hop-influenced basketball magazine. From 2006–2008, Whitaker was the editor-in-chief of Striker, an American soccer magazine. From 2008–10, Whitaker wrote a weekly column for Hawks.com, the official site of the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

. During the 2008–09 NBA season, he did color commentary on several radio broadcasts of Hawks games. In 2010, he was one of the co-authors of the book "FreeDarko Presents: The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History." In 2011, he co-founded the sports website

The Classical The Classical was a sports website featuring long-form sports articles. Described as the sports equivalent of The Awl, the site was launched in December 2011 by several members of the basketball blog ''FreeDarko'', including Bethlehem Shoals and ...

alongside FreeDarko founder Bethlehem Shoals and several others. From 2011–2013, he was '' GQs NBA writer for GQ.com. Since 2015, Whitaker has written regularly about cooking and food for GQ. From 2013–2017, he worked for NBA Digital, writing for NBA.com, co-hosting the Hang Time Podcast, and appearing on NBA TV.

Personal life

He attended the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

and has written for magazines, newspapers and made guest appearances on television. He is an avid fan of Atlanta's three major professional sports franchises: basketball's

, baseball's

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

, and football's

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

as well as English soccer team

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. Whitaker has also been written about in

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

and The New York Times. He appeared as a cultural commentator on VH1's series "

I Love the New Millennium ''I Love the New Millennium'' is a mini-series and the tenth installment of the '' I Love the...'' series focusing on the 2000s and premiered on VH1 Monday, June 23, 2008. Each night, from Monday to Thursday, two of the eight episodes premiered, ...

." His memoir about growing up as a fan of the Atlanta Braves and Bobby Cox, titled "In the Time of Bobby Cox: The Atlanta Braves, Their Manager, My Couch, Two Decades, and Me," was released in March 2011, from Scribner.

References

External links

SLAMonline The LinksThe Classical-Lang Whitaker
American sportswriters Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Sportswriters from Georgia (U.S. state) {{US-sportswriter-stub