Robert O’Connell is a writer from Kansas. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Atlantic, Defector, The New York Times, The Guardian, Baseball Prospectus, and other outlets. Inquiries: oconnell.robert.f@gmail.com Twitter: @robertfoconnell

Full archive of work here.

Recent and selected work below.

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Selected Work

Craig Finn Returns to the Scene [Defector, May 2022]

The World’s Premier Punter Factory [Defector, December 2021]

What Simone Biles Understands About Greatness [The Atlantic, July 2021]

The Last Glance [Sports Illustrated, February 2022]

Byron Leftwich Makes Tom Brady’s Offense Work [New York Times, January 2022]

‘Versatile’ Doesn’t Do Justice to Deebo Samuel [FiveThirtyEight, January 2022]

Minor League Baseball Is Optimized to Exploit [Defector, September 2021]

Bijan Robinson and the Rebirth of the Texas Running Back [Texas Monthly, October 2021]

The Optimism of Ohtani -The Guardian, July 2021 — The Optimism of Ohtani -The Guardian, July 2021]

Trading For a Deadline Star Doesn’t Always Pay Off [FiveThirtyEight, September 2021]

The Serbian Way [Sports Illustrated, May 2020]

Beyond Words [Sports Illustrated, June 2021]

Cade Cunningham’s NBA Blueprint Was Drafted in Texas [Texas Monthly, July 2021]

Generation Flex [Sports Illustrated, March 2021]

“Nneka Ogwumike: ‘Our hope is that this isn’t a moment but it is a movement’” [The Guardian, July 2020]

Houston’s Comets Came Around Every Year [Texas Monthly, May 2021]

Working Stiff [Sports Illustrated, December 2020]

Shaq, Straight Up [HeadFake, August 2020]

When Manny Ramirez and CC Sabathia Broke Baseball [Deadspin, July 2018]

Baseball’s Unappreciated Power Duo [The New York Times, March 2018]

The Coronavirus Is Revealing Football’s Human Cost [The Atlantic, September 2020]

The NFL Tries to Push Protest Out of Sight [The Atlantic, May 2018]

Doris Burke’s Expertise is Finally Paying Off [The Atlantic, October 2017]

Five years ago Stephen Curry’s 54-point game helped redefine the NBA [The Guardian, February 2018]

Kyle Pitts Is Set to Be the N.F.L.’s Next Revelation at Tight End [New York Times, April 2021]

Brother Nature [Sports Illustrated, August 2020]

The NFL is Making Colin Kaepernick’s Collusion Case for Him [The Atlantic, November 2017]

Darren Sproles Is Everything He Shouldn’t Have Been [Deadspin, September 2018]