John Walters, Newsweek sports writer/Mediumhappy.com/steakateria aficionado

One of the reasons I started following John Walters on Twitter — maybe the main reason — is because I loved that this former Sports Illustrated writer was tweeting about how he was waiting tables at a New York City steakhouse. Well, Walters has accomplished much more in his life than serving food for a big-ass tip. Instead, the two-time Sports Emmy winner recently landed a job at Newsweek, and he still writes daily for his own site, HappyMedium.com.

During our chat, we discuss how much easier it is to get interviews or call-backs from people when they know ESPN.com or the New York Times is calling and the cache those publications bring, what it was like clawing his way up from the bottom at Sports Illustrated, and why the iPad-only newspaper — The Daily — was a little ahead of its time.

Plus, we talk about his feelings on SI’s Oklahoma State college football story that caused such a controversy last September, and Walters tells me about why he went into the restaurant business as a waiter and why he loves it so much.

Interviewed on Jan. 16, 2014