Beyond the Bylines: Getting to Know the Nothin’ But Nets Team

Sandy Mui

Favorite NBA team: Brooklyn Nets

Favorite NBA player(s): Kevin Durant

Player(s) you want to meet: This list is extensive because I love so many players… Kevin Durant, Jamal Crawford, Devin Harris, Thaddeus Young, Sean Kilpatrick, Chris McCullough, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, and Damian Lillard.

How did you become interested in NBA basketball?

I love telling this story. I’m probably the most athletically challenged person on this planet, which is why many people are shocked when they find out I’m a sports fan.

It all started in fourth grade. My elementary school gave out two tickets to a Nets game. This was in 2006, so the Nets were still in New Jersey. I couldn’t attend that game because of a family dinner that night, but when I came home, I turned on the television to watch NBA basketball for the first time, and was immediately hooked. Since then, the Nets and shortly afterwards, the Knicks, have been my two favorite teams. It’s even better now that the Nets are in Brooklyn, my hometown. I’ve already attended four Nets games this season (the only Nets game I attended prior was a preseason game last year), and I realize how lucky I am for them to be here.

If you’re pursuing sports journalism as a career, when did you realize this was what you wanted to do? If not, what is your career goal, and what drives you to cover sports?

I’ve actually only been writing for a little more than a year. I’ve never been a huge fan of writing (and certainly never tried journalistic writing), but I was the bulletin editor of a club in high school and wanted to continue something similar in college. The only club that interested me was the school newspaper. I immediately began covering sports, mostly because that was the subject I was most comfortable with. Words flowed smoothly for me, and I enjoyed covering sports. Fun fact: my first-ever NBA piece was about whether Tristan Thompson is worth $80 million (my answer: duh, no).

At the time, I was taking science classes because I considered pursuing a career in environmental chemistry. However, I realized that I enjoyed writing a lot more than this supposed goal of mine to save the planet, so I tried scientific writing for a couple of months before I realized that I only enjoyed covering sports. That’s when I knew this was what I wanted to do. My dream job is to cover the Nets as a beat for a major publication.

What is your favorite piece you’ve written for NBN? If you haven’t been here long enough, what is your favorite piece you’ve written for any publication?

Without a doubt, ‘Why We Shouldn’t Be Worried About the Nets’ Preseason Woes.’ This is the one piece I’m extremely proud of on Nothin’ But Nets. It took me all day to write, and I was extremely satisfied with the final product. The piece combines a bit of my personality, me as an observing fan, and me as a journalist.

Biggest Editor Pet Peeve: Already, on multiple occasions, WordPress randomly deleted the slides of some of our writers’ slideshows. It’s ridiculous. To recover the lost text, I have to go into the old revision to copy and paste the code into the text editor. This sometimes works for formatting and sometimes doesn’t.