SB Nation
''SB Nation'' (an abbreviation for their full name ''SportsBlogs Nation'') is a sports blogging network owned by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Tyler Bleszinski, Markos Moulitsas, and Jerome Armstrong in 2005. The blog from which the network ...
, Nelson is most known as a writer/reporter for
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc.
History
Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...
's Enterprise Unit. She also served as a moderator for
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
SportsCenter
''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...
Outside the Lines
''Outside the Lines'', or also referred to as ''OTL'', is an American television program on ESPN that looks "outside the lines" and examines critical issues in mostly American sports on and off the field of play.
The primary host of the show is ...
''.
She is also a former American freelance multimedia journalist based in New York City. Her work has appeared in ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
The Hairpin
''The Hairpin'' was a women's website in The Awl network. It was founded in 2010 by Edith Zimmerman. It ceased publication at the end of January 2018.
From 2013 to 2014, ''The Hairpin'' was edited by Emma Carmichael, with Jia Tolentino as contri ...
After graduating in 2000, Nelson began working for SportsTicker, a now defunct sports news service, that was the official statistician of Minor League Baseball.
Nelson began her career as a writer, writing for the news service's editorial branch. Nelson also freelanced for SportsTicker in the Boston area, where she was based. This entailed calling in with score or stat updates to the main office in New Jersey, getting quotes from athletes and writing stories.Henry Parr The Climax: ESPN's Amy Nelson talks post-Hampshire life ''The Climax'', pg. 5, March 4, 2010
In 2004, Nelson left SportsTicker and worked for the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
before joining ESPN.
ESPN
Nelson wrote for ESPN for seven years from 2004 to October 17, 2011. She began at '' ESPN: The Magazine'' in late 2004 and transitioned to ESPN.com in 2005. Covering baseball, Nelson worked her way from feature writing to include frequent TV appearances on ESPN shows such as ''
Jim Rome Is Burning
''Jim Rome Is Burning'' (originally titled ''Rome Is Burning'' and often abbreviated as ''JRIB'') is a sports conversation and opinion show hosted by Jim Rome. Debuting on May 6, 2003, as ''Rome Is Burning'', it was originally a weekly show in pri ...
'' and ''First Take''.From Superpower Stalwart to Guerrilla Reporter Gelf Magazine, February 12, 2013
Some of her more notable pieces were featured on ''Outside the Lines'', including a profile on
Logan Morrison
Justis Logan Morrison (born August 25, 1987), nicknamed "LoMo", is an American professional baseball first baseman and left fielder for the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He has played in Major League Basebal ...
and another on Jim Joyce and Armando Galarraga's near perfect game.
On September 19, 2009, ESPN announced the launch of ESPNBoston.com. Nelson was hired as a regular contributor and Red Sox beat reporter for the new site.
SB Nation
Nelson joined SB Nation on November 3, 2011, as their senior correspondent
and to work on their new video channel hosted at YouTube.
As part of the channel launch, Nelson produced and hosted her own show, ''
Full Nelson
A nelson hold is a grappling hold which is executed by one person from behind the opponent, generally when both are on the mat face down with the opponent under the aggressor. One or both arms are used to encircle the opponent's arm under the armpi ...
''. The short-documentary based program covers a wide range of topics, from a Brooklyn arm-wrestling championship to a story on minor-league-baseball part-owner Bill Murray.
Nelson's most recent piece was an oral history on the Costacos Brothers and their sports poster empire. In an interview, Nelson said that it took her over nine months to research, interview and write the story.
Freelance
Nelson's freelance work has included pieces that have received wide pickup, including her story for ''The Hairpin'', about women in the sports media and their systematic disadvantage. It was shared widely and
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
media critic Richard Deitsch used it as a platform for a larger roundtable discussion on women in sports media.
Other recent pieces include her quest to find
Jeff Gillooly
Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey.
Music
* DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes
* ...
, figure skater
Tonya Harding
Tonya Maxene Price (née Harding; born November 12, 1970) is an American former figure skater, retired boxer and a reality television personality. Born in Portland, Oregon, Harding was raised primarily by her mother, who enrolled her in ice ska ...
's ex-husband who planned the attack on
Nancy Kerrigan
Nancy Ann Kerrigan (born October 13, 1969) is an American figure skating, figure skater and actress. She won bronze medals at the 1991 World Figure Skating Championships, 1991 World Championships and the Figure skating at the 1992 Winter Olympic ...
20 years ago prior to the
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...
in
Lillehammer
Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...
. Nelson was the only journalist to interview Gillooly and appeared in ESPN's ''
30 for 30
''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes three "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series un ...
'' documentary ''The Price of Gold''.
Her written and video piece of a black
Santa Claus
Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...
at
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
flagship store in New York City received wide pickup from news outlets worldwide, including
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
.
Nelson also covered the uprisings in Baltimore and Ferguson, the latter of whic garnered her national attention After moving to New Orleans, she wrote about artist BMike and his outdoor Black history art museum and public art project, Exhibit Be.
Mental Health Company
Two weeks after
Hurricane Ida
Hurricane Ida was a deadly and extremely destructive Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in 2021 that became the second-most damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, behind Hurricane Katrina in 200 ...
hit, Nelson threw a Mental Health Mutual Aid event through her company, Beautiful Bipolar, that was part of disaster response. The event served over 200 hot meals, had professional counselors leading support group sessions, yoga and various healing modalities for mental health help for the citizens of New Orleans.Gabriella Killett Local entrepreneur hosts mental health mutual aid for community after Ida "Loyola Maroon", September 25, 2021