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Emily Giambalvo

@emilygiam.bsky.social
7.9K followers 276 following 142 posts

data reporter for The Athletic

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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Awesome reporting from The Athletic CFB crew — identifying the estimated roster budget for every major college football team. Great to work with the incredible @yurikoschumacher.bsky.social on this! www.nytimes.com/athletic/int...
nytimes.com
Does your college football roster cost $8M or $50M? Here's our report on 68 teams
The best teams are, on average, the ones paying players the most, but there's a wide disparity between the schools at the top and the bottom of major conferences.
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The Upshot @upshot.nytimes.com · 13/08/2026
Do your emojis give away your age? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
😭 or 😂: Do Your Emojis Make You Look Old?
When it comes to emoji usage, we’re all just following teen girls.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
How much did it cost to attend the 2026 World Cup? Seven fans shared itemized expenses from their trips! – a software engineer from Philadelphia who went to 16 games – a Norwegian who traveled here with 10 friends – and more! www.nytimes.com/athletic/int...
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
In every World Cup host city, on the nights of nearly every match and even for the high-stakes games in the coming weeks ... hotel prices are dropping (sometimes by a lot!) www.nytimes.com/athletic/int...
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 24/06/2026
From @theathleticfc.bsky.social: Seven out of the 32 spots in the Round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup have been clinched. Wednesday marks the start of teams' third and final group stage matches. This is every team's possible path to the knockout rounds: nyti.ms/4veyNLP
A graphic titled World Cup Group Standings Following Round 2
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
How can your team advance to the World Cup knockout rounds with a third-place berth? It seems complicated, but this chart explains with an easy answer! If you finish third with three points, you are likely to advance unless your goal differential is worse than -2.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
in honor of the U.S. having something like a 1-2% chance of winning the World Cup, a list of things in sports (and in everyday life) that happen roughly 1-2% of the time … www.nytimes.com/athletic/735...
nytimes.com
Will the United States win the 2026 World Cup? Here’s a list of things about as likely
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Henry Bushnell @henrybushnell.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Where does the 2026 USMNT come from? And how did they ascend from soccer-loving kids to the World Cup? Story + data viz on the many paths to the U.S. World Cup team, w/ @emilygiam.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/athletic/734...
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
How much does a hotel room cost during the World Cup? We tracked the prices at hundreds of hotels in host cities! Rates on game days are ~50% higher than they are at other times. And those prices are falling. Some variation from city to city but the trend is similar everywhere.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
How much will it cost to attend the most expensive World Cup in history? www.nytimes.com/athletic/731...
nytimes.com
World Cup 2026: How much will it cost to attend the most expensive tournament in history? (Gift Article)
The Athletic has built a calculator to help you tally up the three main costs — a match ticket, transportation and lodging. Try it out...
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
I’ve joined The Athletic as a data reporter!  I’m super excited to be part of a talented and ambitious data + visuals team. I feel so lucky that I’ll get to keep doing work I enjoy and learn new things!
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
In 2010, men's figure skaters attempted a combined 11 quad jumps in the free skate at the Olympics. The gold medalist didn't do any. That number has been increasing over the past few Olympics. And Ilia Malinin has done as many as seven in his free skate. wapo.st/4asxnVy
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Which places in the U.S. give people the most opportunities to participate in Winter Olympic sports? (Spoiler: The cold places. But it's more interesting and nuanced than that!) We mapped it! And you can look up your city and see which sports are nearby. wapo.st/4qlkAKf
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
More jumps, more difficulty: Olympic figure skating keeps upping the stakes An analysis of every men's and women's figure skating element performed at the Olympics since 2006 — and how Ilia Malinin's free skate compares: wapo.st/4asxnVy
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Do you sometimes watch the Winter Olympics and think ... who even does these sports? We analyzed the locations of more than 2,500 training facilities for Winter Olympic sports. Check to see what's near you — and which sports are hard to find. wapo.st/4qlkAKf
wapo.st
Explore where Winter Olympic sports are most accessible across the U.S.
See which winter sport facilities are near you and if any Winter Olympians come from your state.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
The past eight years at The Washington Post have been a dream. I am so sad but so grateful.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
The Jordan Chiles Olympic bronze medal case is going back to the Court of Arbitration for Sport: Swiss Federal Supreme Court determined "new evidence may justify a modification of the contested award" & has "referred the case back to the CAS for it to re-examine the situation."
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Indiana football compiled a .384 winning percentage in the 25 seasons before this one. No national champion performed worse during the stretch preceding its title, according to a Washington Post analysis.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Indiana football compiled a .384 winning percentage in the 25 seasons before this one. No national champion performed worse during the stretch preceding its title, according to a Washington Post analysis.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
How rare would Indiana football’s turnaround to a title be? We analyzed data, comparing Indiana to – every national champion – every team with a perfect record – every team in the history of top-level CFB The answer here, in the form of seven charts: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2026/...
washingtonpost.com
Seven charts that show Indiana’s historic path from doormat to dominance
Few teams in college football history have been so bad before reaching the national title game.
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Caitlin Gilbert @caitlingilbert.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
You can also use the map in the story to look up vaccination rates in your local schools! This was a HUGE data lift: we reviewed and mapped tens of thousands of individual schools’ data, assembling the most comprehensive public database. And we published this data here: github.com/washingtonpo...
Screenshot of interactive look-up tool map where you can see the vaccination rates of individual schools as well as county and statewide rates
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Really incredible work
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
How happy *should* the fans of every major college football team be based on performance over the past five years? 1. Georgia 5. Oregon 38. Iowa 66. Auburn 70. Stanford Full rankings: wapo.st/49iK71p
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Meghan Hoyer @meghanhoyer.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
The Washington Post (dream team of @emilygiam.bsky.social, @katiperry.bsky.social & @arturgalocha.bsky.social) has created a metric to calculate precisely how happy — or miserable — fans of each major college football program should be based on their team’s résumé. See how your school fared:
washingtonpost.com
The college football happiness rankings
Should your team make you giddy or despondent? We crunched the numbers.
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Post Sports @postsports.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
How happy (or miserable) should you be about your favorite college football team? We came up with a foolproof formula (of course you'll all agree with it). Georgia fans should be ecstatic. Stanford fans? Well, you went to an excellent academic school.
washingtonpost.com
The college football happiness rankings
Should your team make you giddy or despondent? We crunched the numbers.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
The preseason college football rankings were really, really wrong See how each team over or underperformed the average regular season winning percentage for teams that have earned the same preseason ranking. story w/ @jessedougherty.bsky.social: wapo.st/3XCOM7U
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Jesse Dougherty @jessedougherty.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
The preseason AP poll was really, really wrong this year, which was even more notable because the preseason AP poll is often pretty predictive. Story with @emilygiam.bsky.social, who dug up a lot of fun data on this: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...
washingtonpost.com
The preseason college football rankings were really, really wrong
Led by Penn State, teams in the preseason top 15 have the second-worst winning percentage for programs ranked that high in decades.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
As preseason No. 1 Texas underachieved, No. 2 Penn State flopped, and No. 9 LSU and No. 15 Florida fired their coaches ... I wondered: Has the preseason college football poll ever been *this* wrong? We figured out the answer! Gift link: wapo.st/3XCOM7U
wapo.st
The preseason college football rankings were really, really wrong
Led by Penn State, teams in the preseason top 15 have the second-worst winning percentage for programs ranked that high in decades.
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Jonathan Corum @13pt.com · 20/11/2025
Monarch butterfly tracks in today’s NYT. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/s...
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Meghan Hoyer @meghanhoyer.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Data journalist @jeremybmerrill.com analyzed 38,000 ChatGPT conversations and found AI has gotten less formal -- dropping some words and adding contractions -- while clinging to the EmDash and some cliched constructions. w/ @emmakumer.bsky.social & SzuYu Chen: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
a chart showing Chat GPT curbed its use of words like Ensure, Various and Crucial from as high as 20% to about 2%A line chart showing ChatGPT now uses you're and it's in almost a third of chatsseveral examples of ChatGPT using "not just ... but" constructions in it's responses: for instance, "Not just techniques, but habits of being"
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
USA Gymnastics looks to soccer executive Kyle Albrecht as its next leader He hasn't worked in gymnastics, but his background is in sports marketing and player development. In an interview with the Post, he said he wants to "elevate the profile of the sport." Story: wapo.st/3LADIFy
wapo.st
USA Gymnastics looks to soccer executive as its next leader
Kyle Albrecht, MLS Next general manager, takes over organization with 2028 Los Angeles Olympics on the horizon.
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Marco Hernández @mhernandez.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Yesterday we counted +900 flight cancellations across the US: tinyurl.com/3sddyscd –One of the most affected was Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) with 17% of its flights cancelled ✈️
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
Uhh not great!
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Jesse Dougherty @jessedougherty.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
When you think of college football, you think of Saturday, right? Then there are teams like ECU, which played four of its first seven games on Thursday night. "You don’t need a map and a compass to find our games on TV." (w/ @emilygiam.bsky.social) www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...
washingtonpost.com
The college football team that’s barely played on Saturday
East Carolina went five consecutive weeks without playing on the sport’s traditional day, part of a growing strategy to increase television exposure.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
College football is a Saturday sport. But then there are those Thursday and Friday and sometimes Tuesday games you turn on because why not? A fun story with @jessedougherty.bsky.social on how teams from smaller conferences try to grab TV eyeballs on weekdays. wapo.st/47W6Q1J
wapo.st
The college football team that’s barely played on Saturday
East Carolina went five consecutive weeks without playing on the sport’s traditional day, part of a growing strategy to increase television exposure.
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Meghan Hoyer @meghanhoyer.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
The great @dtkeating.bsky.social is retiring after 25+ years as a data reporter at the Post. He published his last story today, and true to form, it was a banger. With reporting from @arianaec.bsky.social, @lmelgar.bsky.social & Jahi Chikwendiu: www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
washingtonpost.com
The mysterious rise of cancer among young adults in the Corn Belt
Communities across the Corn Belt are confronting a rise in cancers among young adults — and few clear explanations.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
The U.S. women's gymnastics program won just two medals at world championships this week — their fewest since 2001. What happened? Analysis of the state of the U.S. program: wapo.st/3JuJl7s
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
The Russians are back. And Angelina Melnikova is the world all-around champion. Winning gymnastics medals just became more difficult for everybody else — including the United States. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olymp...
washingtonpost.com
Russian gymnasts are back in full force, led by a former political candidate
Angelina Melnikova won the women’s all-around as “individual neutral athlete” months after winning a primary for United Russia, the country’s ruling party.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Angelina Melnikova, the Russian back at worlds for the first time since 2021, wins the all-around gold. She was just one-tenth ahead of American Leanne Wong, who had an excellent performance after qualifying in ninth.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Time for the women's all-around final at worlds! Angelina Melnikova, an Olympian and world champion, qualified with the top score. (This is her first major competition since 2021 because Russians were banned.) More on Melnikova here: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olymp...
washingtonpost.com
The Russian gymnasts are back, led by a former political candidate
Angelina Melnikova leads Russia’s return to gymnastics’ global stage months after winning a primary in elections for United Russia, the country’s ruling party.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
She's an Olympic gold medalist & world all-around champion. Earlier this year, she won a primary held by United Russia, the party that supports Putin (then withdrew from the race). Now she's a "neutral" athlete & could win the world all-around gold tomorrow. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olymp...
washingtonpost.com
The Russian gymnasts are back, led by a former political candidate
Angelina Melnikova leads Russia’s return to gymnastics’ global stage months after winning a primary in elections for United Russia, the country’s ruling party.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
U.S. gymnasts advance to each individual final at world championships, but medals are far from guaranteed. All-around: Dulcy Caylor (5th best qualifying score), Leanne Wong (9th) Vault: Joscelyn Roberson (8th) Bars: Skye Blakely (7th) Beam: Caylor (6th) Floor: Caylor (8th)
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John D. Harden @jdharden.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Climate change is coming for D.C.’s trees, and the city won’t look the same wapo.st/43ijIxq
wapo.st
Climate change is coming for D.C.’s trees, and the city won’t look the same
The Post examined data that shows how the decisions being made now about what trees to plant in place of dying ones will change the city’s treescape.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
October is the most popular month for weddings. And it's the heart of college football season. Last year, we analyzed wedding data to see if it actually made a difference: It kind of does! In major CFB markets, especially the SEC, bye weeks were more popular wedding dates than game-day Saturdays.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
How America’s favorite sports bet is fueling sportsbook profits Parlays are becoming more popular, accounting for an increasing share of the money wagered on sports, according to a Post analysis of betting data. Bettors lose billions a year on these bets. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/inter...
washingtonpost.com
Americans can’t stop betting parlays. Sportbooks are cashing in.
As betting booms, parlays are accounting for an increasing share of the money wagered on sports, according to a Washington Post analysis of state data.
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Meghan Hoyer @meghanhoyer.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
The @wpdatateam.bsky.social used hundreds of real people's TikTok data to show how the app sucks people in and keeps them there. In 5 months, the lightest users doubled their time on TikTok (to over an hour a day!), swiped faster and opened the app more: www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/int...
A chart showing that casual users opened TikTok 8 times a day -- up from 4 five months' earlier. Power users opened the app 20 times a day on average, and that stayed constant over time.
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Emily Giambalvo @emilygiam.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Sportsbooks generate far more revenue per dollar wagered on parlays than straight bets. And yet the popularity of parlays is soaring. Sportsbooks heavily promote these bets — and many people probably never bother to do the math to understand why they're such a bad deal. Story: bit.ly/47hUFwJ
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Tom Schad @tomschad.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Terrific work here on parlays, replete with data on just how lucrative they are for sportsbooks. Craziest stat to me: In Maryland, parlays have made up 36% of sports bet spend this year -- and 67% of sportsbooks' revenue.
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Meghan Hoyer @meghanhoyer.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
This story was the brainchild of sports data reporter @emilygiam.bsky.social, who collaborated with @katiperry.bsky.social and @asteckelberg.bsky.social to allow you to try parlay betting yourself. It's often not pretty
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Meghan Hoyer @meghanhoyer.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Parlays have become incredibly popular, with many betting apps encouraging these high-stakes multi-leg bets. But as legs are added, the chance of winning drops faster than the growth of the potential payout - which means sportsbooks have the advantage. Explore the math and and try your own bets:
washingtonpost.com
Americans can’t stop betting parlays. Sportbooks are cashing in.
As betting booms, parlays are accounting for an increasing share of the money wagered on sports, according to a Washington Post analysis of state data.
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