Austin Kelley is a writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Nation, and many other publications. He founded and edits the online literary sports journal, The Modern Spectator, and writes a weekly column about the culture of world soccer for ESPN the Magazine.
Austin’s chief area of interest is leisure, broadly construed. He even has a Ph.D. in leisure. For his doctorate in English from Duke University, Austin studied the origins of middle-class tourism and the strange idea that folks should walk around the country, guidebooks in hand, looking for beauty.
As a journalist, Austin writes about the places where sport and culture meet, as in his article for Men’s Vogue about the medieval Italian horserace, the Palio di Siena, and this piece in The New Yorker about the opening of a sports museum. He is also particularly interested in the spaces that we build to create the experience of fun, the architecture of our free time. He has investigated, for instance, a service that furnishes whole libraries “by the foot” and the worldwide spread of prefabricated Irish pubs.
Austin writes frequently about the politics of leisure as well. This book review essay, for example, traces the history of radical calls for the end of the work ethic — laziness activism. His more straightforward sports journalism has appeared in Play and Men’s Vogue, and he is a regular contributor to the travel magazine Endless Vacation for which he explores cultural landmarks. Austin has won several awards for his soccer coverage (Look back at his World Cup newsletter), and is not a bad midfielder, considering that he is old and slow.
When he is not writing for magazines, Austin loves a good game of bocce or shuffleboard. He is also a published poet and fiction writer, but that’s another story.
Read about the Masters, the Frozen Fours, and the gods at WSJ.
Letters to the Editor, or How Wigs Spell Victory for the Eagles
How do wigs spell victory for the Eagles? Look into the mailbag for answers.
Winning is pretty damn cool. Read on.
When Charlie Manuel was first hired as Phillies manager before the 2005 season, I was, like many Philadelphia fans, skeptical at best. Soon the skepticism turned to anger. Read on.
Why can’t the Brits win Wimbledon? Read the Wall Street Journal.
Barcelona was part of a revolution in Spain. Read about it in The Wall Street Journal.
Read about the history at the history of spectators standing Wall Street Journal.
The rich are getting richer and buying whole sports. Austin Kelley charts it in WSJ.
There are no asterisks at the Sports Museum of America. Read my Talk of the Town story at The New Yorker.
Inquiry Into the Morality of Soccer
Is there a morality to soccer? Check ESPN.
What’s in a crest? Read about it at ESPN.
Who are the best soccer players in the world over 33 years old? Read on at ESPN.
Sequels, any Hollywood exec will tell you, are money in the bank. Read about the Premier League II and some MLS heartthrobs at ESPN.
There is no greater enemy than one’s closest neighbor. Read about crosstown rivalries at ESPN.
Soccer clubs are trying to bail themselves out of dire straits. Read about it at ESPN.
Is Kissinger a curse to US Soccer? Read about it in ESPN.
Guus Hiddink, The Two-Timing Dutchman
Guus Hiddink is managing two teams at once. Go to ESPN.