Nickel to tell stories of state’s sports

In Wisconsin, our sports fans want to know all they can about the players on the Packers, Brewers, Bucks, Badgers and other teams that elicit cheers and groans from Milwaukee to Madison to Marinette.

They want to know the stories behind their successes and failures.

They care about the X’s and O’s, for sure, but also about the motivations and emotions that drive Christian Yelich and Aaron Rodgers and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Lori Nickel has been telling these stories for 20-plus years as a sportswriter in Milwaukee. And starting today, she will take on a new role with a weekly sports column that delves beyond the score of the game and the play on the field.

With her perspective on our sports culture, she’ll tell the stories of the athletes, trends and issues that we follow here with so much passion.

Nickel started at the Milwaukee Journal in 1997. Her first assignment was covering high school sports and arena football. She was the beat writer for Marquette basketball in the early 2000s and part of the Journal Sentinel’s team covering the Green Bay Packers for several years. She’s also written about the Bucks, Brewers, Badgers and more. Recently, she’s written extensively on health and fitness, including in her “Chin Up” column that will continue monthly in the Journal Sentinel sports section.

In 2015, she was named Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.

Nickel grew up in Milwaukee and is an alum of Riverside High School and Indiana University.

Nickel also has worked short stints at The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Sports Illustrated, Gary Post-Tribune and St. Petersburg Times.