Jimmy Traina is a senior producer at SI.com and the creator, writer and editor of the website's popular "Hot Clicks" feature.

Traina joined SI.com in 2000 and has covered the NBA, NFL, major league baseball, fantasy sports, tennis and golf among other sports. He cites baseball as his favorite sport to cover and says the 1998 Yankees are the greatest team's he seen in person. "Baseball is truly a soap opera," he says. "No matter how good or how bad you are, there are ups and downs every single day. And no matter how long you've watched it, you still constantly see things you've never seen before. It's also the best sport to be at in person. It sounds clichéd and corny, but there is something special about the green grass, sound of mitts popping and the crack of the bat."

Before SI.com Traina worked for the Associated Press, writing game previews for the wire service. He has also worked for Scorephone and WBAZ-AM radio, where he did afternoon drive-time news updates.

A Long Island native, Traina received a bachelor's degree in broadcasting from C.W. Post University. "I wouldn't want to trade places with any SI staffer," says Traina. "I don't think anyone here has more fun than I do, and no one has a crazier, funnier and more creative audience."

EXTRA POINTS

• Favorite SI Vault story: Coming Into Focus (August 30, 2007) "I was always intrigued by Andre Agassi's on-court journey and it was fascinating to see the similarities to his off-court journey in this Gary Smith story. I remember being riveted to every word of the article. It gave an extreme insight into Agassi's whole life."
• Hobbies/Interests: "Pop culture, television, music, movies, web, blogs."
• Writers who have inspired your work: "I don't think I've been inspired by writers. I've been inspired by personalities such as Howard Stern, David Letterman and Mike and the Mad Dog."
• Person you would most like to interview: "Howard Stern. I think he's a genius and I don't think people understand how difficult it is to do radio for five hours a day every day. And he's been doing it for 30 years."
• Favorite TV show character: "Alltime character: Tony Soprano Probably the most complex character of my lifetime. He was a bad person, yet you couldn't help but like him. It was also rare to see a TV character who had a bad mother, which made Tony even more fascinating."
• Favorite book: "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty by Buster Olney. A perfect book for any Yankees fan even though it ends on a sour note. Ultimately, it was homage to the teams that won all the World Series."
• Nonsports websites regularly visited: "Twitter.com, TVTattle.com, YouTube.com, PerezHilton.com, HuffingtonPost.com and Egotastic.com."

Updated 21 October 2009