After that, it was just a matter of working the beat. When I got to Sports Illustrated they had just started the CNN/SI partnership, but most of the writers didn’t want to go on TV. I did, so I was getting on the show before I was getting in the magazine. Then I got an […]
After that, it was just a matter of working the beat. When I got to Sports Illustrated they had just started the CNN/SI partnership, but most of the writers didn’t want to go on TV. I did, so I was getting on the show before I was getting in the magazine. Then I got an agent who got me a one-time appearance on CBS, and they brought me back the next year to work in the studio. I always say it’s like hopping from one lily pad to another, and I’m still hopping. Now, I work for everyone, CBS, TNT, Fox, Big Ten. It’s just the way the industry has gone.
I kind of always just did it. I grew up going to Redskins games with my dad at RFK Stadium and old Bullets games and reading about those teams, and I developed a love for sports and journalism. Once I realized I wasn’t going to be an NFL quarterback, I focused on journalism.
Where did you build up your basketball knowledge?
Then I went to college at Duke, which doesn’t have a journalism program. It seems counterintuitive but it worked to my advantage because no one else wanted to do it. I wrote a column for the paper and hosted a show called “Cameron Corner” on the TV station. My first guest was Coach Mike Krzyzewski.
I’ve always done both TV and writing and never felt like I had to choose between them.
They certainly hit it a lot farther than me, but we have unbelievable matches. Nobody gives anybody strokes.
April is the coolest month. CBS and TNT college basketball analyst Seth Davis, who started his career by working his way up the writing ranks at Sports Illustrated and has penned nine books, would no doubt cringe at the implied comparison to T.S. Eliot, but the paraphrasing applies.
Zachary is 20, Noah is 18, and Gabriel is 15. It’s not impossible to pick up later in life, but golf is one of those games that’s easier to learn when you’re young. That’s why I put a club in their hands when they could barely walk.
It was all about my dad [political consultant Lanny Davis]. I grew up in Potomac, Maryland, and we belonged to Norbeck Country Club. And when I visited my grandparents in Florida, I would play with them. It’s the best sport for that, something that multiple generations can do together.
After all, April brings the Final Four, the culmination of a three-week frenzy of March Madness that allows Davis and his colleagues to dominate the airwaves with talk of Cinderellas, buzzer beaters and bracket busters. When the confetti settles and the shining moment has passed, Davis can devote more time to his other love – golf.
And it comes full circle because there’s nothing I enjoy more than playing golf with my sons.
Davis will be somewhat restricted this spring after he co-founded HoopsHQ.com, a year-round basketball site for which he serves as editor-in-chief and head writer. “It’s been busy, but good,” he says. “I’m grateful for the opportunity. People often ask me if I prefer TV to writing, and my answer is TV is more fun, but writing is more gratifying. So there you go.”
“I moved to Southern California 11 years ago, and the weather and the opportunity to play golf year-round was a huge reason,” he says.
How old are your sons and can you still take them, or do they beat you?
When I was growing up my dad had a regular foursome every Saturday and Sunday. The same four guys, and they would have their little gambling match, but they did not pay each other. They paid it into a kitty, and at the end of the year, they’d take the money and do a trip to Pinehurst.
I always knew the time would come when they would improve enough to beat me at golf, but I don’t know that I factored in me getting worse. Both of those things have happened. I’m not that much worse, but we’ve drawn even.
I was cut from my high-school team. I don’t usually hold grudges, but I’m still hanging onto that one. My senior year at Duke they had tryouts for an open spot, so I went. They were the defending champs so I knew I wouldn’t get picked but I also figured I’d get a good column out of it. To this day Coach K reminds me how he cut me. I point out that they lost two games that year, so maybe he made a mistake.
How did you end up doing what you do for a living?
How did you start playing golf?
One of those guys is still my dad’s best friend, and his son is my best friend, Evan. And Evan’s cousin is my wife and the mother of my three golfing sons, so I owe golf a lot.
