Ask Me Anything: Jon Wertheim

Sports Illustrated’s executive editor confesses his love for tennis, but the Bloomington native still carries a torch for Indiana University basketball.
IM: Tom Crean or Brad Stevens?
I’m a restless IU fan. To be fair, I think people forget where the program was when Crean got there. It was a broom-and-dustpan job. But if Brad Stevens availed himself, if he was more forthcoming about expressing an interest in the job, that would make me very happy.

IM: What’s been the biggest change at SI during your tenure?
When I started in 1996, the interns were supposed to come up with a project to figure out if the Internet was going to be a fad. So, certainly digital media. I mean, I can’t imagine watching a game now without Twitter.

IM: Favorite sports follow?
My colleague Richard Deitsch is high on the list. Bomani Jones. Roger Federer. Kobe Bryant. Michael McCann. Katie Nolan.

IM: You write for print, blog, go on television, and do a podcast. Which of those do you like the best?
I like elements of all of them. It’s what it means to be a journalist these days. Saying you want to do one and not the others is like being a heart surgeon, but only wanting to do the double bypasses and not the triples.

IM: Are you getting too busy to write your weekly tennis mailbag?
Tennis is my mistress, and we have no plans to break up.