When Varsity Letters, the reading series for sportswriters, starts tonight at its traditional location in Chinatown’s Happy Ending lounge, Gelf magazine’s Carl Bialik will replace founding host Dan Shanoff. “Basically, he just asked me if I wanted to do it,” Bialik (who we’ve traditionally known as the blogosphere’s go-to guy at WSJ) said when asked how he got the gig. “I’d been going to all the events loyally.”
As well he should; I’ve only been once, but have always looked at the guest list and rued the times I couldn’t make it. Tonight’s guests are Joshua Prager, Brad Snyder, and Jack McCallum, all of whom Gelf has interviewed so you can familiarize yourself with their stories before tonight’s show.