Albert Samaha

60,000 Gazans have been killed. 18,500 were children. These are their names. Palestinian children have been killed at a rate of more than one per hour since the war began.

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed 18,500 children. These are their names:

www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera...

New York gunman appeared to target NFL, had mental health history The suspected Manhattan high-rise shooter, a former high school football player, left a note referencing the brain disease CTE and appeared to have targeted the NFL’s offices, authorities said.

“Tamura was issued an older model of helmet, which the players jokingly called ‘concussion buckets’ because they didn’t absorb contact as well.”

Our @postsports.bsky.social story on the NYC shooter, a former HS football player who said he believed he had CTE: wapo.st/40FdWVt

WNBA fandom is shifting to a more tribal, toxic atmosphere An explosion in popularity has meant more divisive voices crashing into a community that long-time fans have centered on inclusion.

Men newly tuning into the WNBA have brought a toxic, tribal vibe. And longtime fans who built a culture of inclusion are getting priced out. Our story on the cost of progress in the W: wapo.st/4nzxYub

A firm targeted MLB stars’ pay. Next up: College athletes. Big League Advantage made waves paying baseball prospects for a cut of their future pay. Now it’s stirring controversy in the murky NIL market.

Fernando Tatis Jr. was the poster boy client for Big League Advantage, a firm that offers cash advances to athletes in exchange for a % of salary. Now, he’s suing them for allegedly “locking him into an unlawful and exploitative arrangement.”

Here’s our story on BLA from last year: wapo.st/4niJn1o

I spoke with them. They said they’re not here for deportation operations but for counterterrorism and “radiation screening” that they say is standard to major sporting events.

DHS agents at the Rose Bowl shuttle bus stop before the PSG-Botafogo Club World Cup game

Two nights in Vegas with the fan-bros of UFC In Las Vegas for UFC 313, a weekend of violence and ‘escape.’

“They had spent their money for an immersive experience with close friends, camaraderie forged through nerve-racking stakes in a space where men feel comfortable expressing their feelings.”

Two nights in Vegas with the fan-bros of UFC: wapo.st/3EYn1B5

Two nights in Vegas with the fan-bros of UFC In Las Vegas for UFC 313, a weekend of violence and ‘escape.’

Two nights in Vegas with the fan-bros of UFC, via @samaha.bsky.social:

‘VIP’ bettors say sportsbooks keep them playing, no matter the cost With online betting booming, some U.S. gamblers and lawmakers are pushing back against sportsbooks’ aggressive ‘loyalty’ programs.

Sports betting companies reward their highest spending customers with lavish perks and a personal host. A growing number of those customers say those “VIP” hosts helped enable their gambling addiction. Our latest @postsports.bsky.social investigation: wapo.st/42q01Tk

Trump administration says it mistakenly deported Salvadoran migrant The government blamed “an administrative error” for the accidental deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant married to a U.S. citizen. Officials claim they’re unable to return him t...

“The government blamed ‘an administrative error’ for the accidental deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant married to a U.S. citizen. Officials claim they’re unable to return him to his family in Maryland.” www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Jontay Porter’s basketball journey, through injuries and doubts, had been an NBA fairy tale — before it became a cautionary tale. A @postsports.bsky.social deep dive into the inaugural corruption scandal of the online sports betting boom: wapo.st/41ST7W3

Last Summer In Lebanon — Switchboard Magazine A deeply personal journey of a secret son who spends the summer crisscrossing Lebanon in a van with sisters who never knew he existed in a country he had never before visited. It's a story of about fa...

At 25, @samaha.bsky.social found out about 4 half-sisters living in Lebanon. He writes about his experience in LAST SUMMER IN LEBANON, a road-trip of reconnection - unearthing family secrets and shared histories of their beautiful homeland.

Read now! www.switchboardmagazine.com/january-issu...

Lessons for the End of the World On Octavia Butler, the L.A. fires, and the uses and misuses of the things that cannot be recovered.

“As the world requires more of the people in it, it also offers more opportunities to turn away.” www.newyorker.com/culture/essa...

Last Summer In Lebanon — Switchboard Magazine A deeply personal journey of a secret son who spends the summer crisscrossing Lebanon in a van with sisters who never knew he existed in a country he had never before visited. It's a story of about fa...

For the inaugural issue of @switchboardmag.bsky.social I wrote about a road trip across Lebanon to excavate family secrets: www.switchboardmagazine.com/january-issu...

Bob Lee's Murder Shook San Francisco. What Really Happened? Bob Lee and Nima Momeni came together in the new startup scene. Then Lee’s tragic killing slid both of their lives under a public microscope

Nima Momeni was found guilty of second-degree murder today for fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee in SF. Here’s my deep dive into the case from the lead up to the trial: www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

As court rulings, law changes, & policy proposals continue to shape how college athletes get paid, our project aims to shed some light on the burgeoning economy at stake, which operates mostly out of sight even as these debates play out in public view.

While the biggest NIL deals make headlines, the vast majority of college athletes string together small-money deals – all the more so in women’s sports

A talent management agency that represents Sanders produces a docuseries about his team & pays his players to appear on & promote the show – a total of around $600,000 during Sanders’s first season in Boulder. Top stars have gotten as much as $120k from SMAC Productions.

At Colorado, getting NIL money means keeping close to Coach Prime SMAC Entertainment represents Deion Sanders, produces his show and has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to his players. It’s all helping Colorado — for now.

Another finding opens a window to Deion Sanders’s effort to boost funding for Colorado football. One of his team’s biggest benefactors is his longtime business partner: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/...

A reason for this disparity is that booster collectives, run mostly by men, channel money mostly to men’s sports. While men’s basketball & football players get paid for athletic talent, women earn NIL money by building social media followings to tap into the influencer economy

As women’s hoops booms, NIL boosters favor men, records show Records obtained by The Post show that even as their sport explodes, women in college basketball put in more work for less money.

One finding that stood out was the vast gender pay gap, including in basketball, where men make far more than women even as the women’s game soars in popularity: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/...

The hidden NIL economy of college sports College athletes are finally getting paid. But how? And how much? A Post analysis of $125 million in payments reveals the patterns and disparities of a murky NIL market.

We laid out the patterns we found in the data, which reveal the contours of a market taking shape in real time with minimal oversight or accountability: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/inter...

The records contain info on $125m worth of NIL deals.

8 schools sent logs listing every payment athletes have disclosed – 22k transactions in all, from six-figure endorsement deals for top stars to lower-profile deals valued at barely a few dollars.

To get this data, we filed public records requests to 56 major conference public universities. (24 states require college athletes to disclose NIL deals to schools; some schools in other states do too.)

Many schools denied our request, but 25 schools sent documents

In 2021 the NCAA started allowing college athletes to get paid. But thanks to patchwork laws, this new market stayed mostly hidden, leaving disparities & chaos to fester in the shadows. 

We @washingtonpost.com got records illuminating this booming economy

The hidden NIL economy of college sports College athletes are finally getting paid. But how? And how much? A Post analysis of $125 million in payments reveals the patterns and disparities of a murky NIL market.

Lack of transparency means athletes navigate an unfamiliar economy in the dark, leaving them at the whims of those holding the purse strings. In a system that pays not for labor but presumptive value in a skewed market, some athletes get nothing:

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/inter...

At Colorado, getting NIL money means keeping close to Coach Prime SMAC Entertainment represents Deion Sanders, produces his show and has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to his players. It’s all helping Colorado — for now.

At Colorado, a talent agency that represents Deion Sanders became a major funder for his football team. Records offer a rare window into how Sanders has attempted to narrow the financial gap separating his underdog program from championship contenders:

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/...

As women’s hoops boom, NIL boosters favor men, records show Records obtained by The Post show that even as their sport explodes, women in college basketball put in more work for less money.

50 years after Title IX, NIL has reestablished gender inequities across college sports. The pay disparity is most notable in basketball, where men get paid to play while women must grow their social media following to cash in:

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/...

We obtained NIL records from 25 major conference schools. Our data spans $125 million worth of deals & includes details on 22,000 individual transactions. Here’s what we found:

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/...

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/...

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/inter...

Anthony Edwards is the Gen Z star USA Basketball craved Talking trash and listening carefully, 22-year-old Edwards is at the Paris Olympics to stake his claim as American hoops’ next big thing.

Anthony Edwards’s friends and teammates from every stage of his life say he instills a contagious confidence in those around him. My story on Team USA’s youngest hooper: wapo.st/3YmqqAT