Slava Does America

Greetings, comrade!

My Twitter bio introduces me as “Twitter’s official Russian sports writer”, and every single word of it, as it stands now, is technically a lie. I don’t live in Russia, writing about sports is no longer my main occupation, and Twitter certainly never bestowed any official designation on me. What is true is that I am a Soviet-born American citizen who came to the US as a refugee in 1991 after deciding to not linger in a part of the former USSR that was getting into the business of civil war. Another thing that is true is that for many years I was one of Russia’s premier sports journalists while working for Sport-Express as the national daily’s foreign correspondent in North America. As such, I have been privileged to cover the Olympics, the Super Bowl, world championships, and innumerable NHL and NBA games. I have interviewed sports icons from Joe Frazier to Carl Lewis, with an occasional Shaquille O’Neal and Usain Bolt sprinkled here and there.

I have once written a 2000-word article with a second-degree concussion, was threatened by an ex-KGB officer, investigated a defection of a Russian sports star and broke up a fistfight involving a legendary Soviet hockey coach. I was once blacklisted by an NHL team and at another time fired at a direct request of Vladimir Putin’s press secretary.

My life tends to be interesting now and again.

I have appeared on TV, radio and podcasts, usually when folks need someone who can rant about Russia. I have written political articles in Russian media, usually when they need “a voice of the enemy” to get wound up about. I have produced several viral Twitter threads on politics, sports and pop culture. I am not good at hiding my thoughts and guarding my opinions. This blog is a direct consequence of that.