Jeff Pearlman

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Jeff Pearlman is an American writer, best known for his work on sports. He has written two well-received books about baseball and was the author of the infamous John Rocker interview in Sports Illustrated.

He is the author of The Bad Guys Won a biography of the 1986 New York Mets with the memorable subtitle, "A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo-chasing and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, The Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform--and Maybe the Best." In 2004, the book spent eight weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.[citation needed] Pearlman followed that up with his 2006 publication of Love Me, Hate Me an unauthorized biography of Barry Bonds for which the author interviewed 524 subjects. Because Love Me, Hate Me was released three weeks after Game of Shadows, it quickly faded despite critical acclaim.[citation needed]

Pearlman was born and raised in Mahopac, New York and got his start in journalism in 1989, when he interned at a weekly newspaper in Cross River, N.Y., entitled "The Patent Trader." After graduating from the University of Delaware, he was hired as a food and fashion writer by The Tennessean in Nashville. In 1996, Pearlman was hired by Sports Illustrated, where he spent nearly seven years as a baseball writer.

In 2002, Pearlman left Sports Illustrated, explaining to the New York Observer that he had grown tired of the monotony of sports. He spent the next two years at Newsday, but left to focus on writing books. His biography of the Dallas Cowboys is scheduled to be released in late 2008.

In addition to writing books, Jeff is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com's Page 2. In the fall of 2007, Pearlman wrote several controversial articles on Page 2 regarding the lack of a rivalry between University of Delaware's and Delaware State University's football teams. The article brought national attention to this disparity. The University of Delaware and Delaware State finally played a football game on November 23, 2007 at part of the NCAA FCS playoffs. University of Delaware won the game with a score of 44-7.