Ep. 3: Simon Cambers

"I always thought that having a grounding in another, more general area was good for being a sports journalist. Maybe I’m being sort of pious about this stuff, but if you only know sport and only talk about that, you cannot bring anything from outside your life into your writing."

Simon Cambers studied government and sociology at university, but his professional life has seen him cross the globe as a sportswriter, spending most his time as a freelancer. Over the years, his coverage has included cricket, golf and soccer, with the most recent years being dedicated to writing about tennis.

Being a freelancer is a different animal than simply being on assignment for a single publication. For Simon, being opportunistic has been a key to building a successful career as a freelancer. He does share that there is certainly a little bit of luck that comes into play as well.

In this episode, Simon talks about the challenges of balancing multiple assignments for a variety of outlets during a single event, how he generates ideas to pitch to editors, his preparation for interviews and touches on what Americans should know about gambling on sports.

Below are Show Notes from Episode 3 with Simon Cambers.

Simon Cambers

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• History of horse racing in Britain 

• History of golf in Scotland

• England's football (soccer) team

• Grand National 

• FA Cup 

• Wimbledon 

• 2019 ICC World Cup Final highlight

• 2019 Wimbledon Gentlemen's Championship, long highlight  

• 2019 Wimbledon Gentlemen's Championship, short highlight

• One Day in July 

• Greg Norman 

• Tom Watson 

• Diego Maradona 

• Great Brazilian footballers 

• Pele 

• Socrates 

• Aldair 

• Zico 

• John McEnroe 

• 1984 Wimbledon Gentlemen's Championship, NY Times

• Premier League history 

• Premier League on Sky Sports 

• Premier League access issues • Phil Mickelson 

• Vijay Singh

• 1987 Toyota Match Play, LA Times  

• Colin Montgomerie 

• Tiger Woods

• 2002 Fed Cup Final, NY Times 

• Reuters 

• Bloomberg 

• 2003 ATP Halle Draw 

• 2003 Halle final, The Guardian 

• Roger Federer 

• 2003 Wimbledon Gentlemen's Championship, BBC 

• 2006 ATP San Jose Draw (ed note - referenced 2005 on pod, but it was 2006) 

• Andy Murray 

• Murray wins first career title, The Times 

• 2008 ATP Marseille Draw

• Marseille coverage in The Times 

• Marseille coverage in The Guardian 

• ESPN.com

• Cambers news article on ESPN 

• Cambers feature article on ESPN 

• Cancellation of 2020 Wimbledon, ESPN.com • ASAP Sports 

• ASAP profile, USA Today 

• British and American spelling differences

• ITWA 

• Isabelle Musy on Twitter

• Charlie Wyett on Twitter

• History of Sports gambling 

• Gambling in UK, NY Times

• Gambling in US, SB Nation 

• Gambling sponsors in Premier League, The Guardian

• Racing Post

• Sporting Life 

SET PIECES

Stephen Fry’s 7 Deadly Sins 

Ricky Gervais is Deadly Serious 

Racquet Magazine 

Novak Djokovic

Jelena Djokovic 

Chris Clarey 

Chris Clarey in NY Times

John Branch 

John Branch in NY Times 

Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey 

Inner Game of Golf by W. Timothy Gallwey 

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 

The Killing (US)

Forbrydelsen (Original)

Borgen 

The Bridge (Brin/Broen) 

1980 League Cup Final highlight

Bjorn Borg 

Borg at Wimbledon video

Borg vs McEnroe