EndScore was lucky enough to have an audience with SI.com’s Adam Hofstetter to talk about his weekly column, Uncommon Sense, which publishes every Wednesday.  If you want to read a different slant on the sports landscape, Adam’s weekly is a must!

EndScore: Can you tell me about your SI.com column, Uncommon Sense, and how it came about?
Adam: I knew one of the other columnists, who told me that SI.com was looking for a new columnist for the Scorecard section. I sent the Managing Editor a brief bio explaining my expertise and experience, and I also wrote a sample column. I figured that instead of submitting previously published writing samples, I was better off giving him a taste of what my column would be like if he hired me. I guess it worked, because I got offered the job a few days later.
EndScore: Can you tell me what you wrote about as a sample or is it a trade secret? 
Adam: I knew they were looking for something humorous, and I wanted to be original. It was the week before the Super Bowl, so I wrote a column about how the Lingerie Bowl is a good idea in theory but there’s no way I (or anyone else) would ever get “permission” to watch it.
EndScore: (Laughing) Good stuff! So, you’re telling me your wife was looking over your shoulder as you wrote it?
Adam: (Laughing)
EndScore: Can you tell me about your previous sports writing experience?

Adam: In college I majored in creative writing and minored in journalism, and I planned to be the next Clark Kent. Except, you know, without the super powers. Unfortunately, I had trouble getting a job in journalism that was both interesting and didn’t pay too horribly. I ended up taking a pretty boring editing job just to pay the bills, but what I really wanted to do was write. So just for fun, in 1998, my brother and I started a Web site called Jerk of the Week, where we made fun of the bad behavior of athletes, coaches, fans, and anyone else having to do with sports. The site was basically a sarcastic contest to determine the biggest jerk in sports each week. We never made much money from it, but the site became pretty popular, and we were written up in newspapers and magazines across the country. That led to some regular guest spots on sports radio stations in a few different cities, and an offer to write a chapter of an obscure baseball stats and analysis book called The Big Bad Baseball Annual.
So we wrote the book chapter, and also wrote a few short humor pieces for the Web version of ESPN The Magazine.
EndScore: Wow…. impressive.  So now you’re with the enemy on SI.com.
Adam: Wait, I’m not finished.
EndScore: Oops, my bad.
Adam: Then last year, I got hired to write a book about careers in sports for Rosen Publishing. That book went well and led to a few more sports books for Rosen, including an overview of softball for new players, and a couple of books in a series called “Great Moments in Olympic History.”  And then came Sports Illustrated.  OK, I’m done now.
EndScore: (Laughing) Sorry about the interruption.
Adam: Am I being too long-winded?
EndScore: No way.  Go for it, man.  It’s your time to shine.  In any case, I notice that your columns are very “Seinfeldian” if you will -  seriously, who would have ever thought OTB would be featured on SI.com – so can you tell me who some of your writing influences are?
Adam: Hmmmm, that’s a tough one. I don’t really have any particular writer or anyone else that I’ve necessarily patterned myself after. Honestly, I think I still have a lot of growing ahead of me as a writer, and I just hope venues like SI keep giving me the chance to do that.
EndScore: I hope so as well because I’m digging the style. Tell me, what makes you decide “Okay, this week, I’m writing about this…”
Adam: Finishing that sentence is the hardest part of the job, no doubt. It depends on what’s going on in sports that week, of course. I always try to find something that hasn’t been said, or some new way to look at something old. My column comes out on Wednesdays, so it’s usually too late to write about the big stories from the weekend. Sometimes there will be a big event coming up (like the Kentucky Derby, in the case of last week’s column), and I’ll try to find a new angle or new way of looking at it (like making fun of the OTB). Sometimes I’ll get ideas for future columns, and I’ll jot them down and save them for when they might be more newsworthy. Sometimes friends will give me ideas, too. I guess I’m just always on the lookout for something in the sports world that strikes me as funny or interesting.
EndScore: So, considering your experience, have you gotten the chance to meet any sports personalities? If so, can you give me a few names? And who was the most interesting?
Adam: I’ve only been writing for SI for a few months, and I’m just a commentator, not a beat writer, so it’s not like I spend all day in professional locker rooms. But I have had a few fun interactions… When I was writing the sports careers book, I got to interview Robert Boudwin, who is the guy inside the costume of Clutch the Bear, the mascot for the Houston Rockets. He was great. My first column for SI was about curling, and I made a little fun of Hans Frauenlob, who is on the New Zealand curling team but also won a couple of World Series rings working in the Blue Jays’ front office in the early ‘90s. He saw the column and e-mailed me. He had a great sense of humor about it and we ended up e-mailing back and forth a bunch of times, chatting about baseball.
EndScore: (Laughing) He must have had a ton of stories.
Adam: Yeah, he shared some about how Pat Gillick put that team together.
EndScore: So, is there anything else you want to talk about before I give you THE FIVE ENDSCORE QUESTIONS TO END ALL INTERVIEWS, which is my homage to James Lipton?
Adam: (Pausing for a few seconds, pondering) Hmmm, guess not.  Hit me.
EndScore: Who is your favorite sports team?
Adam: New York Mets.
EndScore: Who do you like to watch play?
Adam: Jose Reyes is so much fun to watch. Besides him, I’d have to say Dontrelle Willis, Gilbert Arenas, and Jaromir Jagr.
EndScore: What is your favorite sports term and why?
Adam: Definitely my favorite sports term is “Mets win!” Actually, I love that famous quote from Vin Scully that statistics are like a lamp post to a drunk: more for support than for illumination. It’s absolutely true and couldn’t have been phrased better.
EndScore: Ha!  I love it!  Great quote.
Adam: Yeah, Scully is just so damn good.
EndScore: Yeah, he’s the best… at least that’s what my friends from Los Angeles keep telling me.  Okay, what is the hardest thing to do in sports?
Adam: Hit a curve ball. God knows I can’t do it.
EndScore: (Laughing) When you die and go to sports heaven and the sports god says that you can play any sport with anyone (team or player), whom would it be and why?
Adam: I’d love to play baseball with the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies. They really enjoyed themselves, and a lot of them have physiques that would make me look like a professional athlete in comparison.
EndScore: I hear you on that!  Adam, thanks for the time…really appreciate it!
Adam: My pleasure.