Tom Kludt

New York

Journalist at Freelance

Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair

contributing editor @vanityfair, covering sports (and occasionally some other stuff) || email me: [email protected]

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Articles

ROMAN EMPIRE | Vanity Fair

2 weeks ago | archive.vanityfair.com | Tom Kludt

ABOUT AN HOUR into our flight, Joe Anoa'i tells me a secret: Roman Reigns isn't going to win the Royal Rumble. As far as spoilers go, this is akin to finding out who was getting whacked on The Sopranos the night before an episode aired—and if James Gandolfini was tipping you off. Anoa'i, after all, knows Reigns the same way Gandolfini knew Tony Soprano. Or like Terry Bollea knows Hulk Hogan.
A Guide to Donald Trump’s Jockocracy: 100 Days of Sports and Politics

2 weeks ago | vanityfair.com | Tom Kludt

When the Philadelphia Eagles visit the White House on Monday to commemorate their Super Bowl title, it will be just the latest photo-op for President Donald Trump and some of the country’s top athletes. Championship-winning teams have been fêted by presidents for decades, of course, but Trump’s athletic engagements have gone well beyond the customary. Since taking office nearly 100 days ago, Trump has been a frequent presence in the sporting arena—literally and figuratively.
Roman Reigns’s Quest to Be WWE’s Next Great Crossover Star

4 weeks ago | vanityfair.com | Tom Kludt

About an hour into our flight, Joe Anoa’i tells me a secret: Roman Reigns isn’t going to win the Royal Rumble. As far as spoilers go, this is akin to finding out who was getting whacked on The Sopranos the night before an episode aired—and if James Gandolfini was tipping you off. Anoa’i, after all, knows Reigns the same way Gandolfini knew Tony Soprano. Or like Terry Bollea knows Hulk Hogan.
Can ESPN and Major League Baseball Still Play Ball?

1 month ago | vanityfair.com | Tom Kludt

Peter Gammons is synonymous with baseball on ESPN. Never mind that he hasn’t worked there in more than 15 years. Gammons––like Dick Vitale and college basketball, or Chris Berman and the NFL––will forever be linked to the network’s coverage of the sport. When he was hired in 1988, Gammons was already regarded as one of the preeminent baseball reporters, with tenures at the Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated. ESPN, meanwhile, wasn’t even airing big league games.
“So Damn Depressing”: How the Luka Dončić Trade Left a Team and City Reeling

1 month ago | vanityfair.com | Tom Kludt

Tim MacMahon’s book was finished. After three years of extensive reporting and travel, he had managed to write the definitive story of Luka Dončić’s time with the Dallas Mavericks––his ascendance to superstardom, the fluctuations to the roster, and, ultimately, the team’s emergence as a bona fide NBA contender.
How Trump’s White House Return May End Pro Golf’s Civil War

2 months ago | vanityfair.com | Tom Kludt

When Brandel Chamblee stepped on the course for a round of golf with Donald Trump, his reputation preceded him. “[Trump] said straight away, ‘I know you and I differ on LIV, and we differ on the Saudi involvement of the game,’” Chamblee told VF. “Differ” was probably putting it mildly. As a commentator for the Golf Channel, Chamblee has established himself as perhaps the most outspoken critic of LIV Golf, the breakaway tour bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s nearly trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund.
Tom Brady’s TV Chops Will Be Put to the Super Bowl Test

Jan 10, 2025 | vanityfair.com | Tom Kludt

In August, while looking ahead to his new job, Tom Brady saw parallels to his old one. “In some ways, now I’m just quarterbacking something a little bit different,” he told the commentator Stephen A. Smith during an appearance at Fanatics Fest in New York City. “But in the end, you’re sitting in that hot seat, you’re the one calling the shots, and that’s where I like to be. That’s where I’m most comfortable.”The seat in the broadcast booth has, in fact, been plenty hot.
Netflix Is Dialing Up Live Sports With an NFL Christmas Spectacular

Dec 23, 2024 | vanityfair.com | Tom Kludt

As rival streamers eagerly snatched up the rights to Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association, Netflix balked. The company wasn’t “anti-sports,” Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos in 2022.
Is the NBA’s Three-Point Frenzy Sinking Ratings?

Dec 16, 2024 | vanityfair.com | Tom Kludt

Few individuals in NBA history loved the three-pointer more than the late Gene Shue. A pro coach for more than 20 seasons, Shue encouraged his players to hoist it from beyond the arc at a time when the shot was mostly seen as exotic. In 1979, the first year the league introduced the three-point line, Shue’s San Diego Clippers chucked 543 threes––121 more than the next-closest team.
The “Trump Dance” Craze Signals a MAGA Shift in the NFL

Nov 21, 2024 | vanityfair.com | Tom Kludt

In September of 2017, about eight months into the first presidency of Donald Trump, I attended a game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and my beloved Minnesota Vikings. This particular NFL Sunday––like so many days back then––was both subsumed and suffocated by the first-term president. That weekend, Trump had launched a series of broadsides at the country’s most popular sports league.