Sports on Substack
The top 100 Sports writers on Substack's Bestsellers and Rising boards, with moves between my reads, follower counts, who's gaining recommendations and who recommends them. Boards read once a day.
Board read · moves compare with the read at Oct 31 19:47 UTC
- Writers on the two boards
- 170
- Median followers, Bestsellers
- 9,395
- Smallest on the board
- 803
- Mindful Equestrian, #79
- New recommendations, 30 days
- 261
- to writers whose main category this is
Rising in Sports: new recommendations
Writers in this category who picked up the most new recommenders in the last 30 days. A new recommendation puts a writer in front of another publication's readers.
Marc Stein
73k followers · #11 Sports Bestsellers
Greg Cote
2.1k followers · #19 Sports Rising
Nick Kehoe
32k followers
Business of Sport
7.2k followers · #97 Sports Bestsellers
Tyler Dunne
44k followers · #10 Sports Bestsellers
Pablo Torre
67k followers · #49 Sports Bestsellers
Tom Pelissero
7.9k followers · #2 Sports RisingNew recommenders per week, last 12 weeks; the orange bar is this week to date. Same scale in every panel. Dated by Substack; only recommendations still live. Outlined weeks are incomplete: Substack lists only a publication's 50 newest recommenders, so for busy writers older weeks can't be counted, and a 30-day count marked + is a floor.
Bestsellers
Substack ranks Bestsellers by paid subscribers. Followers are my daily reading.
Climbed most since Oct 31: Josh Appelbaum #97 to #92, Andrew Marchand #67 to #64, Fulhamish #87 to #84, Cody Alexander #10 to #8, Judah Fortgang #25 to #23.
| # | Move | Writer | Followers | Recommended by | Paid | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 |  John CanzanoBald Faced Truth by John Canzano |
64,930 | 56 +4 | Thousands | |
| 2 | 0 |  Kareem Abdul-JabbarKareem Takes on the News |
330,615 | 74 | Thousands | |
| 3 | 0 |  Split Zone Duo@splitzoneduo |
29,572 | 53 +1 | Thousands | |
| 4 | 0 |  Ethan StraussHouse of Strauss |
105,182 | 68 +1 | Thousands | |
| 5 | 0 |  Joe PosnanskiJoeBlogs |
91,779 | 60 +4 | Thousands | |
| 6 | 0 |  Joe PomplianoHuddle Up |
152,145 | 54 +2 | Thousands | |
| 7 | 0 |  Zach LoweThe Lowe Post |
30,616 | 54 54+ | Thousands | |
| 8 | ▲1 |  Cody AlexanderMatchQuarters by Cody Alexander |
28,026 | 60 +1 | Thousands | |
| 9 | ▲1 |  Ben GretchStealing Signals |
13,873 | 52 +4 | Thousands | |
| 10 | ▼2 |  Tyler DunneGo Long |
43,645 | 59 +6 | Thousands | |
| 11 | 0 |  Marc SteinThe Stein Line |
73,369 | 64 +9 | Thousands | |
| 12 | 0 |  Bill LandisThe Bill and Doug Show: Premium Ohio State Writing & Talk |
7,057 | 25 +1 | Thousands | |
| 13 | 0 |  Cricket et alCricket Et Al |
16,718 | 52 +4 | Thousands | |
| 14 | 0 |  Justin RogersDetroit Football Network |
11,589 | 52 +2 | Thousands | |
| 15 | 0 |  Mark ZuckermanNats Journal |
7,826 | 35 | Thousands | |
| 16 | 0 |  Bob SturmSturmStack |
15,938 | 57 +1 | Thousands | |
| 17 | 0 |  ULXRARE@ulxrare |
15,642 | 41 +4 | Thousands | |
| 18 | 0 |  The IDP Show@theidpshow |
6,629 | 21 | Thousands | |
| 19 | 0 |  The Dumb Zone@dumbzone |
11,368 | 46 +2 | Thousands | |
| 20 | 0 |  Daniel BensonDaniel Benson's Cycling Substack |
10,847 | 54 +2 | Thousands | |
| 21 | 0 |  Rich CawleySouth London Sport: Charlton Athletic Edition |
5,417 | 15 +1 | Thousands | |
| 22 | 0 |  Geoff ShackelfordThe Quadrilateral |
20,478 | 54 | Thousands | |
| 23 | ▲2 |  Judah FortgangThrowthedamball |
5,852 | 32 | 100+ badge | |
| 24 | ▼1 |  Ben RothenbergBounces |
31,479 | 51 +1 | Thousands | |
| 25 | ▼1 |  Jamey NewbergThe Newberg Report |
15,236 | 51 | Thousands | |
| 26 | 0 |  Swiss RambleThe Swiss Ramble |
48,854 | 61 +4 | Thousands | |
| 27 | 0 |  Audrey SnyderInside The Lions: Coverage of Penn State football by Audrey Snyder |
5,984 | 33 +1 | Thousands | |
| 28 | 0 |  Justin FergusonThe Auburn Observer |
7,159 | 46 +1 | Thousands | |
| 29 | 0 |  James Dailey@jucojames |
5,726 | 1 | Thousands | |
| 30 | 0 |  Peter FornataleIn The Money Players' Newsletter |
6,508 | 50 +2 | 100+ badge | |
| 31 | 0 |  NTT20NTT20.COM |
11,669 | 52 | Thousands | |
| 32 | 0 |  Jakob SandersonThinking About Thinking: Mostly Fantasy Football Newsletter |
8,662 | 43 | Thousands | |
| 33 | 0 |  Neil MacSharp Side Soccer |
3,283 | 17 +1 | 100+ badge | |
| 34 | 0 |  Jonathan MacriKnicks Film School |
21,547 | 56 +1 | Thousands | |
| 35 | 0 |  Steven ChickenWe Are Terriers |
4,230 | 33 | Thousands | |
| 36 | 0 |  Joshua ColvinSmall Craft Advisor |
14,684 | 51 +2 | Thousands | |
| 37 | 0 |  Seth KeysorThe Chief in the North Newsletter |
16,859 | 55 +2 | Thousands | |
| 38 | 0 |  Ben StandigLast Man Standig |
8,957 | 39 | Thousands | |
| 39 | 0 |  Molly KnightThe Long Game |
25,062 | 57 | Thousands | |
| 40 | 0 |  Paul DaughertyThe Morning Line |
5,248 | 50 +1 | Thousands | |
| 41 | ▲1 |  FF Dataroma@ffdataroma |
4,404 | 8 | 100+ badge | |
| 42 | ▲1 |  James Huangn-1 |
11,308 | 50 +1 | Thousands | |
| 43 | ▼2 |  Jingles Labs@jingleslabs |
1,058 | 3 +1 | 100+ badge | |
| 44 | 0 |  Paul TomkinsThe Tomkins Times - Main Hub |
9,322 | 51 +1 | Thousands | |
| 45 | 0 |  Jake BurnsBrowns Film Breakdown |
3,964 | 17 +1 | 100+ badge | |
| 46 | 0 |  Joe CrannThe Wednesday Word |
6,406 | 35 +5 | Thousands | |
| 47 | 0 |  Sam MillerPebble Hunting |
9,404 | 52 | Thousands | |
| 48 | 0 |  The Basu & Godin Notebook@basuandgodin |
4,262 | 20 +1 | Thousands | |
| 49 | 0 |  Pablo TorrePABLO TORRE FINDS OUT |
66,546 | 58 +5 | 100+ badge | |
| 50 | 0 |  Josh WilliamsDistance Covered |
9,816 | 52 +1 | 100+ badge | |
| 51 | 0 |  Daniel PopperHops With Pop |
3,979 | 8 | 100+ badge | |
| 52 | 0 |  Shea SerranoGOOD MOVIE |
131,839 | 55 +8 | Thousands | |
| 53 | 0 |  The Chipping Forecast@thechippingforecast |
7,745 | 14 +4 | 100+ badge | |
| 54 | 0 |  Mike McMahonCollege Hockey Insider by Mike McMahon |
5,647 | 48 +2 | 100+ badge | |
| 55 | 0 |  Henry AbbottTrueHoop |
31,060 | 55 +3 | 100+ badge | |
| 56 | 0 |  Joe Marino@thejoemarino |
8,077 | 4 | Thousands | |
| 57 | ▲1 |  Si PhillipsSi Phillips Talks Chelsea |
30,833 | 51 | Thousands | |
| 58 | ▼27 | NTT20NTT20.COM |
11,669 | 52 | Thousands | |
| 59 | ▲1 |  KnowledgeiswattKnowledgeiswatt English |
9,395 | 50 | Thousands | |
| 60 | ▼1 |  Scotland's CoefficientScotland's Coefficient |
8,600 | 43 +3 | Thousands | |
| 61 | 0 |  Ned. Roads. Words.@nedboulting |
7,211 | 51 +2 | Thousands | |
| 62 | 0 |  The Elmonters@theelmonters |
3,574 | 17 | Thousands | |
| 63 | 0 |  Dan RafaelFight Freaks Unite |
17,788 | 52 +1 | 100+ badge | |
| 64 | ▲3 |  Andrew MarchandMarchand Sports Media |
5,916 | 28 | 100+ badge | |
| 65 | 0 |  PedroLE GROVE |
9,435 | 51 | 100+ badge | |
| 66 | ▼2 |  Jack HanHockey Tactics Newsletter |
10,887 | 51 | 100+ badge | |
| 67 | ▼1 |  Inside WolvesInside Wolves with Liam Keen and Nathan Judah |
2,082 | 4 | 100+ badge | |
| 68 | 0 |  Jon AMLB Data Warehouse |
5,199 | 48 | 100+ badge | |
| 69 | 0 |  Joe PatrickFive Stripe Final |
2,404 | 22 | 100+ badge | |
| 70 | 0 |  Coach Chad JohnsonGameDay Systems |
4,662 | 13 +1 | 100+ badge | |
| 71 | 0 |  Matthew CollerPurple Insider |
11,611 | 54 +2 | 100+ badge | |
| 72 | 0 |  Jeffrey BelloneMets Fix |
20,754 | 54 | Thousands | |
| 73 | 0 |  Grace RobertsonGrace on Football |
25,513 | 55 +4 | 100+ badge | |
| 74 | 0 |  Robert TiffinStars Thoughts |
2,171 | 18 | 100+ badge | |
| 75 | 0 |  Seaside Joe@seasidejoe |
4,426 | 31 | 100+ badge | |
| 76 | ▲1 |  Kevin ColeUnexpected Points |
13,525 | 55 +1 | 100+ badge | |
| 77 | ▼1 |  Andrew PetcashProfluence Sports |
33,680 | 50 +3 | 100+ badge | |
| 78 | 0 |  Eamonn BrennanBuzzer by Eamonn Brennan |
14,468 | 55 | 100+ badge | |
| 79 | 0 |  Mindful EquestrianMindful Equestrian Club |
803 | 1 | 100+ badge | |
| 80 | 0 |  Lance BrozdowskiLance's Pitcher Notes |
7,788 | 51 +1 | Thousands | |
| 81 | 0 |  Tanish Arora365247 Sports |
4,340 | 33 +4 | 100+ badge | |
| 82 | ▲2 |  Devils Insiders@devilsinsiders |
1,643 | 12 | 100+ badge | |
| 83 | 0 |  Fix Your Posture@fixyourposture |
89,161 | 33 +3 | 100+ badge | |
| 84 | ▲3 |  Fulhamish@fulhamish |
4,850 | 32 | 100+ badge | |
| 85 | 0 |  Rob HwangWrite For California |
5,907 | 50 | 100+ badge | |
| 86 | ▼4 |  No DunksNo Dunks Substack |
4,967 | 23 +2 | 100+ badge | |
| 87 | ▼1 |  Royce Webb🏀 5x5 | Royce Webb |
68,657 | 57 +1 | Thousands | |
| 88 | 0 |  Luke Thomas@lukethomasnews |
9,672 | 47 | 100+ badge | |
| 89 | 0 |  Port Vale - the ValiantValiant's Substack |
3,397 | 26 | 100+ badge | |
| 90 | 0 |  Spencer MartinBeyond the Peloton |
22,525 | 52 +1 | 100+ badge | |
| 91 | 0 |  Jerry RatcliffeJerry Ratcliffe's Substack |
1,694 | 7 | 100+ badge | |
| 92 | ▲5 |  Josh Appelbaum@joshappelbaum |
1,487 | 9 +4 | 100+ badge | |
| 93 | 0 |  Bob KravitzMusings of an Old Sportswriter |
8,396 | 51 +2 | 100+ badge | |
| 94 | ▼2 |  Mike WoellertMike Woellert's Every-Down IDP |
3,141 | 14 | 100+ badge | |
| 95 | 0 |  Ross BentleyDRIVING DIRECTIONS: Ross Bentley's Speed Secrets |
27,798 | 51 +1 | 100+ badge | |
| 96 | 0 |  Todd MillesVarsityWA |
2,106 | 11 | 100+ badge | |
| 97 | ▼3 |  Business of SportBusiness of Sport: The Breakdown |
7,178 | 25 +7 | 100+ badge | |
| 98 | 0 |  Brandon ThornTrench Warfare |
19,431 | 56 +2 | 100+ badge | |
| 99 | 0 |  Filip NovákData Dribble |
4,718 | 18 +1 | 100+ badge | |
| 100 | new |  Bernie Miklasz@berniemiklasz |
2,378 | 13 +2 | 100+ badge |
The top 20 on every read
Rank on each read of the Bestsellers board. Darker is higher. A gap means the writer was outside the top 100 on that read.
| Writer | Oct 3107:00 | Oct 3113:00 | Oct 3119:47 | Nov 621:50 | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Canzano | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Split Zone Duo | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Ethan Strauss | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Joe Posnanski | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Joe Pompliano | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Zach Lowe | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Cody Alexander | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | ▲2 |
| Ben Gretch | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 0 |
| Tyler Dunne | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | ▼2 |
| Marc Stein | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| Bill Landis | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| Cricket et al | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 0 |
| Justin Rogers | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 0 |
| Mark Zuckerman | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 0 |
| Bob Sturm | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 0 |
| ULXRARE | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 0 |
| The IDP Show | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 0 |
| The Dumb Zone | 19 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 0 |
| Daniel Benson | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
History starts on Oct 31, 2026. Each day adds a column.
Who recommends Sports writers
Publications with the most live recommendations pointing at writers whose main category is Sports. If you write in this category, these are the readers' lists worth being on.