Bram Weinstein, the radio voice of the Washington Commanders NFL football team, is teaching the spring semester sports media course in the Department of Communication.
His course, COMM371 Sports Writing and Reporting, will draw on his more than 30 years as a print and broadcast sports reporter, including seven years as an anchor and reporter at ESPN and the last six years as the play-by-play commentor for the Commanders. He also hosts a weekday program from 11 a.m. to noon on ESPN 630 AM.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Bram Weinstein to George Mason this spring as an instructor in COMM371 Sports Writing and Reporting,” said Brenna Maloney, communication instructor.
“Bram is an exceptional journalist whose experience—from local reporting in Washington, D.C., to national coverage at ESPN—will offer our students a rare and invaluable opportunity to learn directly from one of the industry’s most respected voices.
“His passion for storytelling, deep knowledge of the sports landscape, and commitment to mentorship make him an outstanding addition to our program. We couldn’t be more excited for our students to benefit from his expertise.”
Weinstein, a former adjunct at American University, said his class will experience “what it’s like to be on a beat and cover a specific team, and at the same time, we’re going to talk through all the different aspects—and job opportunities—of modern sports media.”
Weinstein said he will share the key to getting meaningful quotes from athletes who are trained, by and large, not to give them, a technique he learned from a professional interview coach at ESPN.
“It’s a method that’s easily described as concise and lean, open-ended: When you ask a question, don’t build up all the things you think the person should know or think about but just ask an open-ended, non-yes-or-no, very lean question,” he said.
For example? “’Why did you do this?’ ‘Why did this matter?’ And let them answer it.”
Another rookie mistake is ramping up the next question while the first one is being answered.
“If you don’t listen to their answers, you will not hear what should be a natural follow-up question. It should be a conversation, not an inquisition,” he said.
The course is writing-based, not video or audio, “because the basis for everything that we do is based in writing,” he said, adding, “but I will probably have some classes on podcasting and video so we’ll do some recording as well.”
So is he an “easy A”?
“I’m an easy A if you show up and participate and you contribute, and I’ll help you will all the other skill sets,” he said. “If you are not willing to do the work, you’re going to have a problem in my class.”
February 23, 2026