Bill Shea is an award-winning reporter and editor who worked for daily newspapers in Ohio and Michigan for nearly 25 years. Prior to joining The Athletic, he spent 13 years as a reporter with Crain's Detroit Business, creating the sports business beat to the point that Forbes named him a Twitter must-follow on the topic for four consecutive years. Shea spent 2006-07 moonlighting as the last-string quarterback on a minor-league football team, an experience that will feature prominently in his eventual debut novel. A Cleveland native and jaded devotee of its star-crossed sports teams, he lives today in suburban Detroit, just across 8 Mile, with his family and polydactyl cat, Marti.