Brant James

Brant is a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based journalist with three decades of experience covering professional sports and the American gambling industry.

As a motorsports, hockey, and baseball writer at the Tampa Bay Times, he had champagne jetted into his eyes in Victory Lane at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and jubilant locker rooms and clubhouses after Stanley Cups and World Series. It burned every single time. But being that close to the people making and celebrating these moments was crucial to also bringing readers along for the details that made them readers in the first place.

During his tenure at ESPN.com, SI.com, and USA Today, whether he was riding to the top of Mt. Washington in a rally car with Travis Pastrana, landing on an aircraft carrier with Dale Earnhardt Jr., or walking to the paddock with the Kentucky Derby field at Churchill Downs, Brant has tried to find the human in the story.

That's remained his goal since he began covering a gambling industry that will always be about numbers, specifically dollars. There are crucial details inside the revenue figures and winning numbers, but there's a person with a story behind them. That's where you'll find him. Wearing goggles. In case there's champagne.