11/04/2025
“I never really thought about it as something I would ever do a story on. I didn’t even think of it in terms of a story … these were just our friends.”
from ESPN joins us for a deep dive into his moving feature story on the friendship between Abby Zittoun and the UConn women’s basketball team.
Sam discusses the intensely personal nature of this story for him, how he navigated being both a friend and reporter in telling Abby’s story, and why being transparent and intimate as a journalist is so vital to doing stories like this. He also talks about how he dealt with the personal pressure he felt writing this story.
Sam and Brian also discuss the writing and reporting of the story. The details make this story so memorable, but how does Sam know he has the right details, and how do you keep from overwhelming the reader with them? Sam also talks about how he avoided making an inherently sad story like this feel like a long march for the reader. This is not a story about grief, it’s the story about an amazing young girl, her family, and the connection she had with this team.
“I want Abby to be alive for as much of this story as possible.”
