Meet the BGN writing staff

A new Philadelphia Eagles season is here, so I figured now is as good of a time as ever to re-introduce you to the Bleeding Green Nation staff you’ll be following along with here at BGN this season!

I’ll start things off: my name is Brandon Lee Gowton and I’ve been the Manager/Editor-in-chief of BGN since September 2013. (Can’t believe it’s been exactly five years now.) Some people refer to me as BLG. I originally joined BGN as a commenter back in 2010 and worked my up way up to where I am now. You can obviously read the billion articles I post daily here at BGN. You can also listen to my 100% correct and never wrong opinions on BGN Radio. You can follow me on Twitter (@BrandonGowton) to see me tweet reminders that the Eagles did in fact win the Super Bowl.

And now for the rest of the BGN crew, in alphabetical order:

Cody Benjamin: I’m an Eagles Country transplant living in Minnesota, where, believe it or not, my in-laws’ lifelong Vikings fandom has yet to damage my marriage. I spend my days writing for CBS Sports and Sports Spectrum, but the Birds flew with me to the Midwest, so Bleeding Green Nation is still like a home (or rental property?) for my columns. Oh, and I wrote a book (“Hatched”) about the Eagles winning the Super Bowl, which actually happened.

Alexis Chassen: I’m excited to be the new Assistant Producer for Bleeding Green Nation! I spent the past year as the Co-Managing Editor for SB Nation’s Ohio State blog, Land-Grant Holy Land, and have worked for SB Nation as an NFL news desk writer and utility writer for the past few years. I’m not from Philadelphia, but both my parents are, and I spent the better part of my childhood sitting next to my Dad watching Eagles games from our couch in Columbus. I’m really looking forward to focusing on the reigning Super Bowl Champions this season, and hope to keep up with the amazing work by BLG and the rest of the BGN crew!

T.B. Eisen: Everyone knows me from writing the WTS Articles, but I’ve also taken on a community manager role which allows me to use snide, soul crushing comments when banning trolls. I have two children, both of which are obviously being raised as Eagles fans. I’m much more vocal during the season when the WTS articles start back up, however, I’m always lurking in one form or another. I also enjoy Vodka.

Matt Harkenreader: (BLG Note: Matt didn’t send a bio in because he’s too busy working on his Crunching The Numbers series.)

Tyler Jackson: Hi, I’m Tyler, the social media manager for Bleeding Green Nation. All good tweets from the BGN account are mine, all bad ones belong to Dave. I do primarily write film breakdowns and create spoof videos/graphics for BGN. I also write full time for a daily newspaper, covering sports at the high school/lower college level.

James Keane: I’m a five-year BGNer who drinks fine craft ales and creates killer barbeque. I’m married with a five year-old son and two year-old daughter who replace “victory” with “victories” when they sing the Eagles’ fight song. Before coming to BGN, I wrote for Sports Illustrated’s Fansided network and my own blog, which was an ethereal attempt to improve my writing through football. Since then, my posts have become more statistical in nature, often using Tableau to visualize the results for draft and game simulations, all of which aligns better with my career outside of BGN. I also beat played golf with Jaws, and my football team is the reigning Super Bowl champion.

Michael Kist: I’m the producer for Bleeding Green Nation podcasts and host of The Kist & Solak Show/Fireside Chats. I also contribute to Bleeding Green Nation as their Lead Voice. I’m a Scouting Academy alum and winner of their Prove It competition judged by former college scouting directors and college head coaches. I also work for Inside the Pylon and have contributed to their yearly NFL Draft Guide as a WR/DB scout.

Dave Mangels: Hi, I’m Dave Mangels. You might remember me from such hard hitting journalism as “An Oral History of the Frank Gore Era in Philadelphia” and my career as an aspiring poet. Today I’m here to tell you about me. I’ve been here at BGN since 2014, when we still thought Chip Kelly was good, and an Eagles fan since they were wasting away Randall Cunningham’s career. True story: I got CBS to turn down Phil Simms’ mic! Then they demoted him. I also make all the good tweets that Tyler takes credit for. The Eagles won the Super Bowl. Go Birds.

Ben Natan: I am the lead draft writer at Bleeding Green Nation! I love watching,writing about and discussing college football and how NCAA stars of today are the future of the NFL.

Lee Sifford: I am the newest contributor at BGN and my background helps me bring a unique perspective to the group. Since graduating from Penn State in 2014, I have worked as Mechanical Engineer in Pittsburgh. As a numbers guy by trade, my writing tends to focus on the statistics behind the game of football as well as in the art of Fantasy Football. I previously wrote for The Eagles Wire of USA TODAY Sports Media group prior to transitioning to the greatest Eagles site on the web and I currently write for Pro Football Focus. In addition to writing, I am also an analyst with PFF where I watch film and collect data among other various tasks. While I am a new contributor to this great site, I have been a long time reader and commenter under the username General_Lee12. I look forward to my first season with BGN and will try my best to piss you off less than Ben Natan did when he started.

Benjamin Solak: I am the Deputy Editor of Bleeding Green Nation. I am the co-host of the Kist and Solak Show on BGN Radio. I am a Draft Analyst for The Draft Network. I am a student at the University of Chicago. I am an avid college softball fan (Boomer Sooner!). I am Groot.

John Stolnis: (BLG Note: John mostly writes for The Good Phight but he does occasionally contribute some Eagles articles here. He’s also my co-host for BGN Radio preview shows!)