Will Leitch Author Archive
Give A Gift
MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Will Leitch

Contributing Editor

Will Leitch has been a contributing editor at New York since 2008, covering sports and film. He is the author of six books, including the Edgar-nominated novel How Lucky and The Time Has Come.

  1. games
    LeBron Turns Out to Be Just Another EmployeeThe NBA star’s response to the China controversy demonstrates his limits.
  2. games
    The NBA’s China Posture Is Indefensible. It’s Also Inevitable.Because the league’s players are all in business there, a backlash to the backlash isn’t going to happen, either.
  3. games
    The Postseason Is Sleepless Season for Baseball DiehardsThere’s a simple logic driving the late start times and low TV ratings.
  4. games
    The Thrill of DefeatIt’s impossible to keep sports fans happy, but maybe that’s not the point.
  5. vulture lists
    Every Rambo Movie, RankedHow does Rambo: Last Blood stack up in the franchise?
  6. games
    Who Will Be the First Star Athlete to Make a Serious Run at the White House?In a world in which sports are politicized and politics has turned into a celebrity sport, the rise of the athlete-politician is inevitable.
  7. games
    Winning Ain’t What It Used to BeThe twin goals of maximizing profit and maximizing championships aren’t aligned anymore for modern sports franchises.
  8. games
    We’re All Fake Fans NowWe know more about athletes than ever, but it hasn’t made them more human to us.
  9. games
    The Joyous Masochism of Rooting for the Cleveland BrownsThe most desultory team in the NFL is going to be very good and very fun this season.
  10. games
    Dabo Swinney Is College Football’s Real Evil VillainHe’s everything wrong with college football.
  11. games
    Politics on the Field of PlayAlejandro Bedoya’s activist celebration shows a new way for athletes to be political.
  12. vulture lists
    The 25 Greatest Buddy-Cop Movies EverWhat is it about mismatched cops that we love so much?
  13. games
    Peyton Manning’s Undeserved Reputation Is His Greatest AchievementSomehow, none of the scandals seem to have stuck.
  14. games
    Baseball’s Latest Identity CrisisMLB players are hitting more home runs than ever, and that’s all right with me.
  15. games
    A National Team for the Trump EraThe U.S. Women’s World Cup victory was sweet because of Megan Rapinoe’s and her teammates’ activism.
  16. games
    Kevin Durant Just Told You a Lot More About the Knicks Than the NetsAnd let’s maybe not coronate Brooklyn just yet.
  17. games
    Could O.J. Really Be This…Boring?His Twitter is a mind-numbing, delusional void.
  18. games
    The NBA Finals Moment That Is Modern Pro Sports in MicrocosmWhy arenas and stadiums just aren’t designed for the average fan anymore.
  19. games
    The Women’s World Cup and the Future of American SportsThe last American triumph in the Women’s World Cup felt like the birth of a new era in women’s sports. Another win could lead to the era’s maturation.
  20. games
    Why You Should Cheer for the Warriors in the NBA FinalsAnd why, even if you don’t, you’ll end up lying and saying you did.
  21. games
    Abolish the DraftSports drafts aren’t fair to players, and they don’t even work on their own terms. We should just get rid of them.
  22. games
    Stephen A. Smith and the Lure of LosingThe Knicks’ strategy worked better than statistics predicted. So why does it feel like it failed?
  23. games
    There Is No Sports Without PoliticsSinclair, a conservative local news broadcaster, will not have to change much about itself when it expands into sports.
  24. games
    The Quest for Perfection Is Ruining SportsIn the fiercely contested Warriors-Rockets series, both teams think they’re getting screwed by the refs. They’re missing the point.
  25. games
    The Confederate Monuments Culture War Comes to New YorkThe Yankees are having an easy reckoning over Kate Smith. But what happens when they have to confront the legacy of a real icon?
  26. games
    Tiger Woods Just Gave Us the Feel-Good Sports Story of the CenturyBut why do we care so much?
  27. games
    A Championship Game Only College-Basketball Fans Could LoveBut, for us, what a game.
  28. games
    The Era of the Old Athlete Is OverWhen did every sport become obsessed with youth?
  29. games
    Why the MLB Off-season Explains Our Response to the Mueller InvestigationWe see the trees, but not the forest; we see so many atoms that we barely react when the bomb hits.
  30. games
    Hardly Anyone Knows Mike Trout, the Greatest Baseball Player of All TimeOur generation’s Mickey Mantle is going to play his whole career in total obscurity.
  31. games
    The Varsity Blues Scam Shows Paying Athletes Is Cheaper Than Bribing CoachesWhat’s surprising about the college admissions scandal is the going price for college admissions.
  32. games
    Baseball’s New Rock N’ Jock EraHow much should a sport try to change?
  33. games
    Losing Ain’t What It Used to BeIn sports, losing is as natural and inevitable as time or death. Everyone loses, eventually. But the way our culture treats our losers has changed.
  34. games
    The Bucks Are the NBA’s Most Compelling (On-Court) DramaThe NBA is a soap opera off the court. But if you want some on-court fireworks, look to Milwaukee.
  35. games
    Lessons From a Very, Very Bad Super BowlIt was the first time I’d ever experienced FOMO while being at the Super Bowl.
  36. games
    Good-bye, Kristaps Porzingis, I’ll Miss YouThe Knick I unconditionally loved the most, and for the longest.
  37. games
    Was the NFL’s Success This Season Just a ‘Dead Cat Bounce’?After years of trouble, football got popular again in 2018. Why?
  38. games
    The Most Radical Sports Film I’ve Ever SeenSteven Soderbergh’s High Flying Bird takes aim at the whole system.
  39. games
    If You Could Play Any Sport, Which One Should You Choose?(I don’t think it’s football or baseball.)
  40. games
    College Football Players Are Going to Start Quitting Bowl GamesMaybe even on college football altogether. The only question is how soon.
  41. vulture lists
    Every Robert Zemeckis Movie, RankedFrom uncanny valleys to hoverboards.
  42. games
    Why Tom Brady’s Decline Sucks Even for Tom Brady HatersAll of a sudden, we can’t even hate the guy guiltlessly.
  43. games
    It’s Good That MLS Has Finally Accepted That It’s a Second-Tier Soccer LeagueWhy did it take so long?
  44. games
    The NFL’s Real Problem Isn’t Kareem Hunt. It’s Roger Goodell.The NFL’s incompetence and apathy in responding to domestic violence makes it seem like the league is awash in abusers. It isn’t.
  45. games
    The Weird Dwight Howard Saga Shows the NBA Still Has a Problem With the ClosetLike other major men’s sports, the NBA still has no openly gay players.
  46. games
    How Did Everything Go So Wrong for Carmelo Anthony?The short answer: The NBA he was made for doesn’t exist anymore.
  47. games
    There Is a Professional Wrestling Angle to the Murder of Jamal KhashoggiThe WWE is forging ahead with its plan for a major event in Saudi Arabia this Friday.
  48. games
    College Basketball Is on Trial, But Its Victims Are the Ones Being ProsecutedEven federal prosecutors have a hard time explaining why they’re doing the NCAA’s dirty work.
  49. games
    The NBA Now Feels Like the Future, and the NFL the PastBut it was not, at all, destined to work out that way. How one decision by then-newbie commissioner Adam Silver changed the course of sports history.
  50. games
    What Happens When the World’s Most Famous Athlete Is Accused of Rape?Five divergent scenarios are possible for Cristiano Ronaldo — and each means something very different for the future of sports in the age of #MeToo.
More Articles