Featured Columnist of the Month: Roy Burton

Roy Burton, Bleacher Report’s Featured Columnist of the Month for September, has a certain theory whenever he puts pen to paper, or in present cases, fingers to the keyboard: “It’s one of those things where you have to dance like everybody’s watching.

“No matter what you write—whether it’s a fan, a writer, an editor, whoever—someone’s always watching.”

Burton has taken that philosophy of making sure he puts his best keystroke forward with every piece he’s published (213 so far) on Bleacher Report in the past year and a half to rise from simply an approved writer to one of the top Featured Columnists on the NBA team and a standout in the rough-and-tumble Philadelphia blogosphere.

“Roy would be a great example to any aspiring Bleacher Report writer,” NBA Deputy Editor Chris Trenchard said. “His willing attitude has helped him grow as a writer and an expert on all things NBA.

“Great things are in store for Mr. Burton.”

In fact, Burton’s love of the 76ers and everything Philly has helped him flourish in the fiercely competitive and similarly critical market.

Philadelphia “is really one of the most passionate sports cities I know of,” he said. “We’ve had our fair share of ups and downs but the passion is unmatched; we all love our sports teams so much that everyone tends to be highly overcritical.”

Burton had dabbled in other Philadelphia-based sports blogs when he came across Bob Cunningham, then an Eagles FC, now an NFL FC, who was the lead writer for one of the aforementioned blogs and convinced Burton that he could reach a broader audience at B/R.

Since jumping on board, Burton has compiled almost 1.5 million reads and added to an already impressive résumé of athlete interviews.

“Roy has repped B/R as a strong hoops ambassador, whether it’s talking 76ers on CSN Philly’s ‘Lunch Break’ show or interviewing the likes of John Wall, Jameer Nelson and Jason Terry,” Communications Manager Aron Glatzer said.

A Technical Support Specialist at Temple University by day, on top of contributing to B/R on the side, he is also a co-host of “The Broad Street Line” on BlogTalk Radio, which has allowed his words to be heard as well as read.

In time, he hopes that his experiences across various mediums will potentially propel him into a more sports-specific line of work.

“It really all started as a hobby, but I’m definitely hoping to make it more of a career as I’ve progressed and diversified my work,” he said. “It’s become such a large part of what I do on a daily basis.”

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Check out Burton’s published work on B/R here and follow him on Twitter at @TheBSLine.

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