Louisa Thomas

The Detroit Pistons Fight Back to the Top Two years ago, the team set records for losing. Now they have the best winning percentage in the N.B.A. They’re doing it their own way.

Write about the pistons www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

Team U.S.A. Won More Than Gold in Men’s Hockey The U.S.-Canada men’s gold-medal hockey final and the Olympic Games serve as a reminder that national pride isn’t always a bad thing.

Wrote about the hockey and pride www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

At the 2026 Winter Olympics, Peril and Promise Coincide In Italy, some of the world’s greatest athletes encountered physical risk, and even failure. But the most memorable moments of the Games were not just feats of skill but examples of resilience—and rea...

my ode to the Olympics www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

Alysa Liu Comes of Age The figure skater retired in 2022, at sixteen years old. Now she’s back at the 2026 Winter Olympics with a newfound confidence and sense of control—in her skating and in her life.

wrote about Alysa Liu over the weekend - www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

I interviewed Alysa Liu in 2021 for NYT Kids and have been fascinated by her career arc ever since — loved this appraisal of how she got here

Alysa Liu Comes of Age The figure skater retired in 2022, at sixteen years old. Now she’s back at the 2026 Winter Olympics with a newfound confidence and sense of control—in her skating and in her life.

Wrote about Alysa Liu + figure skating www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

How Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin Have Defined Greatness The two skiers have each had claims to be the best ever in their sport. But they have chased that ideal in very different ways.

I wrote about Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin, and greatness. Perhaps for Vonn it could have only ever ended this way. www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

What We Expect Athletes to Say Now Not long ago, taking political stands almost seemed to become part of the job. These days, in another moment of social crisis, expectations have shifted.

wrote about athletes + politics www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

Amanda Anisimova’s Resilient Return After stepping away from the game in 2023, the tennis star had a dream run at Wimbledon last year end with a humiliating defeat in the final. But it’s the clarity of her confidence that continues to d...

wrote about the remarkable Amanda Anisimova www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

How a Sixtysomething Coach from a So-So School Turned Indiana into World-Beaters Curt Cignetti has the Hoosiers on the verge of a national championship. Everyone wants to know the blueprint for his stunning success.

Wrote about Indiana football www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

Aaron Rodgers, Football’s Rorschach Quarterback The Pittsburgh Steelers gambled on the forty-two-year-old, one of the N.F.L.’s most polarizing players, to try to end their playoff disappointments. Will it pay off?

wrote about Aaron Rodgers, football's Rorschach test www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

Can Professional Women’s Soccer in the U.S. Keep Up with the Global Market? The ability of the National Women’s Soccer League to retain Trinity Rodman, one of its biggest stars, could determine its future.

wrote about Trinity Rodman and the NWSL at a crossroads www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

Come for my sadness! Stay for the brilliant insights of some great writers.

Watching Philip Rivers Play Football Makes Me Feel Old He and I are the same age, but only one of us is an N.F.L. quarterback.

wrote about my infirmities! and philip rivers. www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

How the Celtics Are Winning A team that once could seem a little bloodless has, in the absence of its best player, become scrappy and slightly unpredictable.

"There is something a little deranged about hearing Mazzulla talk about love." Excellent piece by @louisathomas.bsky.social www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

The Weird Spectacle of the World Cup Draw At the event, the matchups seemed beside the point, eclipsed by FIFA’s bizarre Peace Prize ceremony for Donald Trump and other cringey moments.

The FIFA Peace Prize ceremony at the World Cup Draw, with its blatant political pandering, was one of the more embarrassing episodes even in the history of an organization famously rife with fraud and corruption, @louisathomas.bsky.social writes.

The N.B.A.’s Breakneck Momentum Are the higher speed and intensity that have made the game so fun to watch the very forces that are sidelining its stars with injuries?

wrote about the nba‘s injury crisis + fun fast-paced play www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

The Odd, Shifting Role of the N.F.L. Punter He is the vestigial organ of a football team, a remnant of the time before the forward pass. And yet, now and again, he can be vitally important.

Wrote about everyone’s favorite topic (or maybe only mine), punters www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

The New New England Patriots The team lately seems to have found that elusive balance of confidence and calm, accountability and community. Where did it come from?

Wrote about my local nfl team www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

Image of a monument on the Boston Common, engraved with an image of a football. Above the monument is text reading, "What's the true story behind this monument on Boston Common?"

Join us for a conversation about football, monuments and memory on Nov. 18. Authors Kevin Tallec Marston and Mike Cronin of “Inventing the Boston Game” will take on sports, myths, and Boston Brahmins in conversation with @louisathomas.bsky.social. Register here: www.masshist.org/events/inven...

Why Can’t the N.B.A. Move On from Its Old Stars? Even as the league drastically evolves, the narratives around it are still orbiting its aging icons.

www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

wrote about Old Testament-y Durant, NBA narratives, gambling, etc. linked below

Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers Are a Sight to Behold Haters may complain about payroll disparities, but you can’t love baseball and not stand in awe watching perhaps the greatest player who has ever lived.

Friday night’s game between the Dodgers and the Brewers will be remembered for a long time—in large part owing to Shohei Ohtani’s inimitable, Bunyanesque feats, @louisathomas.bsky.social writes.

Helen Garner’s Ode to Her Grandson and His Sport “The Season: A Fan’s Story” paints Australian-rules football in epic, manly terms, with a bard’s sonorous cadence.

Helen Garner, renowned for her unsparing novels and journalism, has penned a sonorous tribute to her grandson and his sport, Australian-rules football, that looks at masculinity in epic terms, @louisathomas.bsky.social writes.

Helen Garner’s Ode to Her Grandson and His Sport “The Season: A Fan’s Story” paints Australian-rules football in epic, manly terms, with a bard’s sonorous cadence.

wrote about sport www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

Consider the Quarterback The position is a uniquely American institution—a calling, connected to foundational myths about leadership and manhood. Why does it matter so much?

Quarterbacks manage such a distinctively American mix of violence and spectacle, @louisathomas.bsky.social writes. There is “no one who is exposed to such risk of public failure week after week.”

Consider the Quarterback The position is a uniquely American institution—a calling, connected to foundational myths about leadership and manhood. Why does it matter so much?

wrote about the terrific new book by @SethWickersham and the essential quality of the quarterback www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

Coco Gauff’s Long Game The tennis star has been fixing her flawed serve at the U.S. Open, subjecting herself to the exquisite torture of public scrutiny.

Coco Gauff is not the first top tennis player to change her service motion in the past couple years. But she’s doing it under the microscope of the press and fans during the U.S. Open—her biggest tournament of the year, @louisathomas.bsky.social writes.

The Dog Days of New York Baseball The Mets are Metsing, for better and worse.

checked in with the Mets www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

The Hyped Revival of Mixed Doubles In the U.S. Open, the format is being redesigned as a popularity contest engineered to generate buzz.

www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...