Mike Freeman is a columnist for Bleacher Report. He has previously written for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'', '' Dallas Morning News'', ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', ''

Florida Times-Union ''The Florida Times-Union'' is a daily newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Widely known as the oldest newspaper in the state, it began publication as the ''Florida Union'' in 1864. Its current incarnation started in 1883, when th ...

'' and CBSSports.com. He is also the author of five books, including a biography on

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

football coach

Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...

. His book ''ESPN: The Uncensored History'', which alleged sexual harassment, drug use and gambling, was the first critical study of

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%). Th ...

. In January 2004, Freeman resigned before starting a columnist job at ''

The Indianapolis Star ''The Indianapolis Star'' (also known as ''IndyStar'') is a morning daily newspaper that began publishing on June 6, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It has been the only major daily paper in the city since 1999, when the '' Indiana ...

'' after he was discovered lying about his education, specifically falsely claiming a college degree. Tom Jolly, sports editor at ''The New York Times'', said "Mike's career here speaks for itself, he did some great work here". Freeman subsequently said "There are no excuses and I have never made any. Never will either. I’ll get my degree this summer or fall and start my pursuit of an advanced degree the following spring." Freeman's columns have included accusations of racism and sexism against his colleagues in the New York press. His columns are often seen as far-left and anti-religious. He was unsuccessfully sued for libel by golfer John Daly, with a circuit judge ruling that "Freeman's statements were either true or constitutionally protected opinion". In 2002 Freeman called for a tougher program from the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

for monitoring off-the-field violence and drug use. As of 2023 he is a columnist in

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

References

External links

Biography, CBS SportsBiography, Harper Collins Publisher
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Mike Living people American sportswriters The Indianapolis Star people Year of birth missing (living people)